Federal Republic of Nigeria
Nigeria Flag
coat of arms
Motto: "Unity and Faith, Peace and Progress"
Anthem: "Arise, O Compatriots"
Capital - Abuja 9°4′N 7°29′E
Official languages - English
National languages - Hausa • Igbo • Yoruba.
Other languages.
List
Berom
Bura
Bahumono
Ebira
Edo
Efik
Eleme
Esan
Etsako
Fulfulde
Gbagyi
Gokana
Humono
Hyam
Ibibio
Idoma
Igala
Igede
Ijaw
Ikwerre
Itsekiri
Izere
Jju
Jukun
Kanuri
Margi
Nigerian Pidgin
Ngas
Nupe
Obolo
Ogoni
Okrika
Ogba
Oron
Tiv
Tyap
Urhobo-Isoko
Fier
Legislature - National Assembly.
• Upper house - Senate.
• Declaration - 1 October 1960
• Federation - 1 October 1963
• Current constitution - 29 May 1999
• Total- 923,769 km2(356,669 sq mi) (32nd)
• Water (%) - 1.4
• 2006 census - 140,431,691
• Density - 218/km2 (564.6/sq mi) (42nd)
• Per capita - $5,066 (129th)
GDP(nominal) - 2020 estimate
• Per capita - $2,149 (137th)
Driving side - right
Nigeria (/naɪˈdʒɪəriə/(listen)), officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a sovereign country in West Africa bordering Niger in the north, Chad in
the northeast, Cameroon in the east, and Benin in the west. Its southern coast is on the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean. It is a federal republiccomprising 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, where the capital, Abuja, is located. Lagos is the most populous city in the country and the African continent, as well as one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world.
Nigeria has been home to several indigenous pre-colonial states and kingdoms since the second millennium BC, with the Nok Civilization having been the first time the country had been unified internally in the 15th Century B.C. The modern state originated with British colonialization in the 19th century, taking its present territorial shape with the merging of the Southern Nigeria Protectorate and Northern Nigeria Protectorate in 1914 by Lord Frederick Lugard. The British set up administrative and legal structures while practicing indirect rule through traditional chiefdoms.[6] Nigeria became a formally independent federation on October 1, 1960. It experienced a civil war from 1967 to 1970, followed by a succession of democratically-elected civilian governments and military dictatorships, until achieving a stable democracy in 1999; the 2015 presidential election was the first time an incumbent president had lost re-election.
Nigeria is a multinational state inhabited by more than 250 ethnic groups speaking 500 distinct languages, all identifying with a wide variety of cultures. The three largest ethnic groups are the Hausa–Fulani in the north, Yoruba in the west, and Igbo in the east, together comprising over 60% of the total population.[11] The official language is English, chosen to facilitate linguistic unity at the national level. Nigeria is divided roughly in half between Muslims, who live mostly in the north, and Christians, who live mostly in the south.[Note 1] The country has the world's fifth-largest Muslim population and sixth-largest Christian population, with a minority practicing indigenous religions, such as those native to the Igbo and Yorubaethnicities. Nigeria's constitution ensures freedom of religion.
Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa and the seventh most populous country in the world, with an estimated 206 million inhabitants as of late 2019. It has the third-largest youth population in the world, after India and China, with nearly half its population under the age of eighteen. Nigeria's economy is the largest in Africa and the 24th largest in the world, worth almost $450 billion and $1 trillion in terms of nominal GDP and purchasing power parity, respectively. [Note 2] Nigeria is often referred to as the "Giant of Africa", owing to its large population and economy, and is also considered to be an emerging market by the World Bank; it has been identified as a regional power on the African continent, a middle power in international affairs, and has also been identified as an emerging global power. However, its Human Development Index ranks 158th in the world, and the country is classified as a lower middle-income economy, with a gross national incomeper capita between $1,026 and $3,986.
Nigeria is a founding member of the African Union and a member of many other international organizations, including the United Nations, the Commonwealth of Nations, the ECOWAS, and OPEC. Nigeria is also a member of the informal MINT group of countries, which are widely seen as the globe's next emerging economies, as well as the "Next Eleven" economies, which are set to become among the biggest in the world.
Etymology
The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was coined on January 8, 1897, by British journalist Flora Shaw, who later married Lord Lugard, a British colonial administrator. The neighbouring Niger takes its name from the same river. The origin of the name Niger, which originally applied to only the middle reaches of the Niger River, is uncertain. The word is likely an alteration of the Tuareg name egerew n-igerewen used by inhabitants along the middle reaches of the river around Timbuktu prior to 19th-century European colonialism.
History
Main articles: History of Nigeria and Timeline of Nigerian history
Ceremonial Igbo pot from 9th-century Igbo-Ukwu
Early history (1500 BC – 1500 AD)
Further information: History of Nigeria before 1500
Nok sculpture, terracotta
The Nok civilization of Nigeria flourished between 1,500 BC and AD 200. It produced life-sized terracotta figures that are some of the earliest known sculptures
in Sub-Saharan Africa and smelted iron by about 550 BC and possibly a few centuries earlier.Evidence of iron smelting has also been excavated at sites in the Nsukka region of southeast Nigeria: dating to 2000 BC at the site of Lejja (Uzomaka 2009) and to 750 BC and at the site of Opi. The Kingdom of Nri of the Igbo people consolidated in the 10th century and continued until it lost its sovereignty to the British in 1911.Nri was ruled by the Eze Nri, and the city of Nri is considered to be the foundation of Igbo culture. Nri and Aguleri, where the Igbo creation myth originates, are in the territory of Ceremonial Igbo pot from 9th-century Igbo-Ukwu the Umeuri clan. Members of the clan trace their lineages back to the patriarchal king-figure Eri. In West Africa, the oldest bronzes made using the lost-wax process were from Igbo-Ukwu, a city under Nri influence. The Yoruba kingdoms of Ife and Oyo in southwestern Nigeria became prominent in the 12th and 14th centuries, respectively. The oldest signs of human settlement at Ife's current site date back to the 9th century, and its material culture includes terracotta and bronze figures.
The Kano Chronicle highlights an ancient history dating to around 999 AD of the Hausa Sahelian city-state of Kano, with other major Hausa cities (or Hausa Bakwai) of: Daura, Hadeija, Kano, Katsina, Zazzau, Rano, and Gobir all having recorded histories dating back to the 10th century. With the spread of Islam from the 7th century AD, the area became known as Sudan or as Bilad Al Sudan (English: Land of the Blacks; Arabic: بلاد السودان). Since the populations were partially affiliated with the Arab Muslim culture of North Africa, they started to trade and be referred to by the Arabic speakers as Al-Sudan (meaning "The Blacks") as they were considered an extended part of the Muslim world. There are early historical references by medieval Arab and Muslim historians and geographers which refer to the Kanem-Bornu Empire as the region's major centre for Islamic civilization.
Pre-colonial era (1500–1800)
Further information: History of Nigeria (1500–1800)
Royal Benin ivory mask, one of Nigeria's most recognized artifacts. Benin Empire, 16th century.
In the 16th century, Portuguese explorers were the first Europeans to begin significant, direct trade with peoples of Southern Nigeria, at the port they named Lagos and in Calabar along the region Slave Coast. Europeans traded goods with peoples at the coast; coastal trade with Europeans also marked the beginnings of the Atlantic slave trade.[53] The port of Calabar on the historical Bight of Biafra (now commonly referred to as the Bight of Bonny) became one of the largest slave trading posts in West Africa in the era of the transatlantic slave trade. Other major slaving ports in Nigeria were located in Badagry, Lagos on the Bight of Benin and on Bonny Island on the Bight of Biafra. The majority of those enslaved and taken to these ports were captured in raids and wars. Usually the captives were taken back to the conquerors' territory as forced labour; after time, they were sometimes acculturated and absorbed into the conquerors' society. A number of slave routes were established
throughout Nigeria linking the hinterland areas with the major coastal ports. Some of the more prolific slave trading kingdoms who participated in the transatlantic slave trade were linked with the Edo's Benin Empire in the south, Oyo Empirein the southwest, and the Aro Confederacy in the southeast. Benin's power lasted between the 15th and 19th centuries. Their dominance reached as far as the city of Eko (an Edo name later changed to Lagos by the Portuguese) and further.[56] Oyo, at its territorial zenith in the late 17th to early 18th centuries, extended its influence from western Nigeria to modern-day Togo. The Edo's Benin Empire is located in southwestern Nigeria.
In the north, the incessant fighting amongst the Hausa city-states and the decline of the Bornu Empire gave rise to the Fulani people gaining headway into the region. Until this point, the Fulani a nomadic ethnic group primarily traversed the semi-desert Sahelian region, north of the Sudan, with cattle and avoided trade and intermingling with the Sudanic peoples. At the beginning of the 19th century, Usman dan Fodio led a successful jihad against the Hausa Kingdoms founding the centralised Sokoto Caliphate (also known as the Fulani Empire). The empire with Arabic as its official language grew rapidly under his rule and that of his descendants, who sent out invading armies in every direction. The vast landlocked empire connected the East with the West Sudan region and made inroads down south conquering parts of the Oyo Empire (modern-day Kwara), and advanced towards the Yoruba heartland of Ibadan, with the goal of reaching the Atlantic Ocean. The territory controlled by the Empire included much of modern-day northern and central Nigeria. The Sultan sent out emirs to establish a suzerainty over the conquered territories and promote Islamic civilization, the Emirs in turn became increasingly rich and powerful through trade and slavery. By the 1890s, the largest slave population in the world, about two million, was concentrated in the territories of the Sokoto Caliphate. The use of slave labor was extensive, especially in agriculture. By the time of its break-up in 1903 into various European colonies, the Sokoto Caliphate was one of the largest pre-colonial African states.
Curtesy The Caffè Fashion Blog Global "&" Universal.
![Prada | Fall/Winter 21 Womens Collection Fashion Show [4K] | tooStylish](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/74bXPPRN8KE/maxresdefault.jpg)
ความคิดเห็น