Nigeria

Nigeria has a long history, with its roots in early civilisations of distinguished artistry. The plateau area around Jos was a meeting point for cultural influences from the Upper Niger Valley (where agriculture developed independently as early as 5000 BCE) and from Egypt.

By 3000 BCE, the plateau people – probably the Bantu people who later dominated Sub-Saharan Africa – were developing more complex societies and beginning to advance to the south. By 500 BCE, the Nok culture was flourishing. Nok society produced elegant and technically accomplished terracotta heads and figures; they were agriculturalists making tools and weapons of iron.

In the early 19th century, there was upheaval in the north, as Fulani emirs declared a jihad (holy war) against the Hausa state of Gobir and created a new empire with city states, a common religious and judicial system and Qur’anic schools. The Muslim empire spread rapidly.