History

Professor Hsiang-Wang Liu

History Class

6/16/2014

History of Nigeria

Nigeria like many other African nations was created as a result of European colonialism and imperialism, as such has a complicated history and challenges facing it till today. With regards to prehistoric knowledge, humans have inhabited the Nigerian region since about 9000 BC and melting furnaces found at Taruga dating from the 4th century BC have provided evidence of the oldest metalworking in archaeology. In terms of diversity, Nigeria like other African countries is very ethnically, culturally, religiously and linguistically diverse. There is an estimated 250 ethnic groups and about 522 living languages. Nigeria is also the most populated African nation on the continent and serves as West Africa’s regional power. But besides Nigeria’s prehistoric and ethno linguistic heritage, Nigeria is a young nation going through challenges largely based on corruption and the effect of the British “divide and rule” system that has left the nation with ethnic and religious tensions that hinders it from reaching its true potential.

Concerning Nigeria’s prehistoric heritage, the Nok people of central Nigeria played a significant role in the history of metalworking in Sub Saharan Africa and the development of terracotta arts. The Nok people and their culture flourished from about the fourth century B.C. to the second century A.D. in a large area above the confluence of the Niger and Benue rivers on the Jos Plateau. The Nok people’s achievements, in regards to material culture, was not rivaled by any other group in the region for nearly 1000 years. Their terra-cotta sculpture, abstractly stylized and geometric in conception, is admired both for its artistic expression and for the high technical standards of its production. The Nok culture suddenly disappeared in the second century and a variety of theories have been proposed by both anthropologist and archaeologist to explain their decline, but none has...