Africa

Nigeria

Nigeria is situated at the extreme inner corner of the Gulf of Guinea on the west coast of Africa. It borders with Chad to the northeast, Cameroon to the east, Benin to the west, Niger to the northwest and by the Atlantic Ocean (Gulf of Guinea) to the south.

Along the entire coastline of Nigeria lies a belt of mangrove swamp forest from 10 to 60 miles in width, which is intersected by branches of the Niger Delta and innumerable other smaller rivers and creeks. Beyond the swamp forest is a zone, from 50 to 100 miles wide, of undulating tropical rain forest. The country then rises to a plateau at a general elevation of 2,000 ft but reaching 6,000 ft to the east, and the vegetation changes from woodland to savannah. In the extreme north, the country approaches the southern part of the Sahara...More Information on Nigeria.

Full country name: Federal Republic of Nigeria
Area: 356,667 sq mi (923,768 sq km)
Population: 128,771,988 (growth rate: 2.4%); birth rate: 40.6/1000; infant mortality rate: 98.8/1000; life expectancy: 46.7; density per sq mi: 361
Capital City: Abuja
Literacy rate: 68% (2003 est.)
Language: English (official), Hausa , Yoruba, Igbo (Ibo), Fulani
Religion: Muslim 50%, Christian 40%, indigenous beliefs 10%
Government: republic transitioning from military to civilian rule
Head of State: Olusegun Obasanjo (1999)
Head of Government: Olusegun Obasanjo

Also Read: A Short Background of Nigeria

History of Nigeria

Before the colonial period, the area which comprises modern Nigeria had an eventful history. More than 2,000 years ago, the Nok culture in the present Plateau state worked iron and produced sophisticated terra cotta sculpture. In the northern cities of Kano and Katsina, recorded history dates back to about 1000 AD. In the centuries that followed, these Hausa kingdoms and the Bornu empire near Lake Chad prospered as important terminals of north-south trade between North African Berbers and forest people who exchanged slaves, ivory, and kola nuts for salt, glass beads, coral, cloth, weapons, brass rods, and cowrie shells used as currency...More on Nigeria's History.

Overview of Nigeria's Economy

GDP: $125.7 billion
GDP per capita: $1,000
Annual Growth: 6.2%
Inflation: 16.5%
.Natural resources: natural gas, petroleum, tin, columbite, iron ore, coal, limestone, lead, zinc, arable land.
Major Industries: crude oil, coal, tin, columbite, palm oil, peanuts, cotton, rubber, wood, hides and skins, textiles, cement and other construction materials, food products, footwear, chemicals, fertilizer, printing, ceramics, steel, small commercial ship construction and repair.
Major Trading Partners: U.S., India, Brazil, Spain, France, Japan, UK, Germany, China (2003).
Member of EU: No

Also Read: A short note on Economy of Nigeria

Political System of Nigeria

- Government of Nigeria
- Foreign relations of Nigeria
- Defence Of Nigeria

Climate, Vegetation and Fauna

Although Nigeria lies wholly within the tropical zone, there are wide climatic variations in different areas of the country. Near the coast, the seasons are not sharply defined. Temperatures rarely exceed 32°C (90°F), but humidity is very high and nights are hot.. Inland, there are two distinct seasons: a wet season from April to October, with generally lower temperature, and a dry season from November to March, with midday temperatures that surpass 38°C (100°F) but relatively cool nights. On the Jos Plateau, temperature are more moderate

Average rainfall along the coast varies from 70 inches in the west to about 170 inches in certain parts of the east. Inland it decreases to around 50 inches over most of central Nigeria and only 20 inches in the extreme north...more


Envoirnment: Over three times the size of the UK, Nigeria occupies 15% of...more.

Culture: Nigerian culture reflects African, Islamic, and European influences...more.

Religion Of Nigeria:Several religions coexisted in Nigeria, helping to accentuate regional and ethnic distinctions...more

People of Nigeria: The most populous country in Africa, Nigeria accounts for approximately...more.


Facts for the Traveler

Also Read: Money & Costs | Transport And Getting Around |Events Of Nigeria

When to Go

The best time to visit Nigeria is from December to March when the humidity drops, although the catch is that you may then suffer from the dusty Harmattan winds. If a bit of sand in the face doesn’t bother you, go in January when you can attend the Sallah celebrations in northern Nigeria followed by the Argungu Fishing Festival on the banks of the Sokoto River in mid-to-late February.

Also Read: Getting Around in Nigeria | Getting There & Away

What to See in Nigeria

Other Tourist Attractions in Nigeria

more...

What to do in Nigeria

Nigeria is not known for its teeming wildlife but Yankari National Park is the place to see what there is. It’s an bird watching’s dream with over 600 species roosting around its interior. The Gashaka Game Reserve, near Yola, is the largest national park in Nigeria and is home to chimp, hippos and a staggering number of birds. Gembu, near the Cameroon border, is good for hiking as is Bukura, especially around the Kurra Falls. Another popular hiking destination is the Assop Waterfalls but if you visit the falls be prepared for a day hike or longer (camping may be possible). There are a number of popular swimming beaches around Lagos, although the water is never clear and some beaches have a strong undertow.

The earliest inhabitants of the area were Khoisan hunter-gatherers. They were largely replaced by Bantu tribes during a series of migrations. The southern part of the country was named Matabeleland after the Ndebele tribe who occupied the area in the early 1800’s under a loose confederation of Ndebele-speaking tribes headed by the Khumalo tribe under [...]
Countries in Africa Algeria Angola Benin Botswana Burkina Faso Burundi Cameroon Cape Verde Central African Republic Chad Cote d’Ivoire Democratic Republic of the Congo Djibouti Egypt Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Ethiopia Gabon The Gambia Ghana Guinea Guinea-Bissau Kenya Lesotho Liberia Libya Madagascar Malawi Mali Mauritania Mauritius Morocco Mozambique Namibia Niger Nigeria Republic of the Congo Rwanda Senegal Seychelles Sierra Leone Somalia South Africa Sudan Swaziland Tanzania Togo Tunisia Uganda Zambia Zimbabwe
Religion in Africa Africans profess a wide variety of religious beliefs, with Christianity and Islam being the most widespread. Approximately 40% of all Africans are Christians and another 40% Muslims. Roughly 20% of Africans primarily follow indigenous African religions. A small number of Africans also have beliefs from the Judaic tradition, such as the Beta Israel [...]
Culture of Africa Africa has a number of overlapping cultures. The most conventional distinction is that between sub-Saharan Africa and the northern countries from Egypt to Morocco, who largely associate themselves with Arabic culture. In this comparison, the nations to the south of the Sahara are considered to consist of many cultural areas, in particular [...]
Demographics of Africa Africans may be grouped according to whether they live north or south of the Sahara Desert; these groups are called North Africans and Sub-Saharan Africans, respectively. Afro-Asiatic speaking peoples predominate in North Africa, while Sub-Saharan Africa is dominated by a number of disparate populations grouped according to their diverse languages–Niger-Congo predominantly in West [...]
Economy of Africa Africa is the world’s poorest inhabited continent: the United Nations’ Human Development Report 2003 (of 175 countries) found that positions 151 (Gambia) to 175 (Sierra Leone) were taken up entirely by African nations. It has had (and in some ways is still having) a shaky and uncertain transition from colonialism, with increases in corruption [...]
Politics in Africa Colonial Africa Colonialism had a destabilizing effect on what had been a number of ethnic groups that is still being felt in African politics. Prior to European influence, national borders were not much of a concern, with Africans generally following the practice of other areas of the world, such as the Arabian peninsula, where [...]
History of Africa Africa is home to the oldest inhabited territory on earth, with the human race originating from this continent. During the mid 20th century, anthropologists discovered many fossils and evidence of human occupation perhaps as early as 7 million years ago. The famous Leakey family, with ties to both Britain and Africa, discovered fossil [...]
Geography of Africa Africa is the largest of the three great southward projections from the main mass of the Earth’s surface. It includes within its remarkably regular outline an area, of c. 30,360,288 km² (11,722,173 mi²), including the islands. Separated from Europe by the Mediterranean Sea, it is joined to Asia at its northeast extremity by the [...]
Etymology of Africa The name Africa came into Western use through the Romans, who used the name Africa terra - “land of the Afri” (plural, or “Afer” singular) - for the northern part of the continent, as the province of Africa with its capital Carthage, corresponding to modern-day Tunisia. The Afri were a tribe - possibly Berber [...]

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Africa Travel Guide