7119722, 10.08 AM Nigeria - Wikipedia Energy GDP (nominal) 2022 estimate Transportation + Total $498.060 Telecommunications bition (2atn) + Per capita $2,356 (137th) Government satellites " Gini (2020) yas.108 Demographics ao Ethnic groups = HDI (2019) 40.539) Languages low: 161st Religion Health Currency Naira (NM) (NGN) Education Time zone uTC+01-00 Crime (wat) Poverty Driving side right®) Human rights Calling code 4234 Culture 180.3166 code NG Cuisine Fashion Internet TLD ng Festival Literature Music Cinema Comedy Dance Sports See also References Further reading External links Etymology The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was coined on 8 January 1897, by British journalist Flora Shaw, who later married Lord Lugard, a British colonial administrator. The neighbouring Republic of 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 before i9th-century European colonialism.|231l24] History Prehistory hitpsson. wikipedia orghwikiNigeria sistrit9722, 1008 AM Nota Wikpedia Kainji Dam excavations showed ironworking by the 2nd century BC. The transition from Neolithic times to the Iron Age was accomplished without intermediate bronze production. Others believe or suggest the technology moved west from the Nile Valley, although the Iron Age in the Niger River valley and the forest region appears to predate the introduction of metallurgy in the upper savanna by more than 800 years. The Nok civilization of Nigeria thrived between 1,500 BC and AD 200. It produced life-sized terracotta figures that are some of the earliest known sculptures in Sub-Saharan Africal25Il26Il271281l29] and smelted iron by about 550 BC and possibly a few centuries earlier.[30ll3iI(32] 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!33] and to 750 BC and at the site of Opi. Nok sculpture, terracotta Early history ‘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, Zauzau, Rano, and Gobir all having recorded histories dating back to the 1oth 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: olwdi 24), Since the populations were partially affiliated with the Arab Muslim culture of North Africa, they began Trans-Saharan trade and were 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. The Kingdom of Nri of the Igbo people consolidated in the 10th century and continued until it lost its sovereignty to the British in ©*"™/al Igbo pot from 9th- 1911.(241I95] Nri was ruled by the Eze Nri, and the city of Nri is entry !gbo-Ukwu considered to be the foundation of Igbo culture. Nri and Aguleri, where the Igbo creation myth originates, are in the territory of the ‘Umeuri clan. Members of the clan trace their lineages back to the patriarchal king-figure Eri,[35] In West Africa, the oldest bronzes made using the lost wax process were from Igbo-Ukwu, a city under Nri influence.[24] ‘The Yoruba kingdoms of Ife and Oyo in southwestern Nigeria became prominent in the 12th!37/[38] and 14th!39] centuries, respectively. The oldest signs of human settlement at Ife's current site date back to the 9th century,27! and its material culture includes terracotta and bronze figures. Pre-colonial era hitpsson. wikipedia orghwikiNigeria ast