Nigeria Ethnicity Areas

Nigeria has hundreds of ethnic groups that are usually divided and defined primarily by language. The country hosts more ethnic groups than any other African nation, ranking among the most ethnically-complex states in the world. Most of these ethnic groups are small and localized, with only a few playing a central role in Nigerian society. The major people groups of Nigeria are: Hausa, Fulani, Yoruba, and Igbo (Ibo).The advent of colonial rule in Nigeria brought the various ethnic groups increasingly into contact with one another. This integrative process was facilitated by the construction of connective infrastructure. This increasing development set in motion a process that led to greater contact and competition among the various ethnic groups for dominance and economic advantage. The Nigerian government has worked out tentative power-sharing arrangements to help ensure that its many ethnic groups have some say in society. However, cities remain largely segregated along ethno-religious lines and confrontation between ethnic groups is common. Often, ethnic clashes in one part of the country can set off a chain of reprisal riots and attacks in other parts of the country.Most major ethnic groups have seen the formation of ethnic-exclusive militias to protect alleged group interests and perpetrate violence against other ethnic groups. These vigilante groups continue to act with impunity for lack of stringent law enforcement in much of the state. These continued attacks and tensions among ethnic groups threaten to destabilize an already unsteady country.Hausa - Northern Nigeria is dominated by this ethnic group and is often considered unified with the Fulani through intermarriage of acculturation, generating the Hausa-Fulani as a single ethnic entity. The Hausa were predominately traders throughout the Sahara and Sahel regions but have become more concentrated in rural areas as farmers and herders. They are predominately Muslim with some of the smaller sub-groups such as the Maguzawa practicing indigenous faiths. Their religion is a key component to ethnic identity and continues to shape their role in modern Nigerian society and politics. The Hausa and Fulani were instrumental in establishing and maintaining Sharia in 11 of the country’s northern states.Fulani –The Fulani are an ethnic group of Muslims located in northern Nigeria that have often assimilated into the Hausa culture. At one point nomadic herders, they arrived in the Hausa states sometime in the early 13th century. Many have intermarried with the Hausa and have mostly adopted those customs and language, although some Fulani choose to stay "pure" by retaining a nomadic lifestyle, their own language, and cultural autonomy. The Fulani are most distinctively known for a dispute that developed between them and the local King of Gobir, which developed into a jihad ending with a Fulani conquest of the Hausa states in the early 1800s.Yoruba – The Yoruba are Christian/Muslims living in southwestern Nigeria united by their common belief that Ife is their place of origin and the Oni of Ife is their spiritual leader. Their mythology holds that "Oduduwa" created the earth and that royal houses of the Yoruba kingdoms can trace their ancestry back to "Oduduwa.” Yoruba society is organized into kingdoms, the greatest of which was called Oyo. The Oyo Empire collapsed in 1830, when Afonja, broke away from the rest of the Yoruba culture and lost his empire to the Fulani. This event occurred in close temporal proximity to the Fulani Jihad, but was not associated with it. As Islam and Christianity spread to Yorubaland over the past few centuries, the group embraced both faiths alongside its many traditional and animist beliefs. This blend and acceptance of religion survives in modern society and has mitigated some religious conflict in places where Yoruba form the majority.Igbo (Ibo) – The Igbo are the main ethnic group living in southeastern Nigeria. They have represented some of the staunchest opponents to the establishment of Sharia in the North where some minority Igbo populations exist. As opposed to Hausa-Fulani and Yoruba cultures, the Igbo were traditionally decentralized and non-hierarchical, making them more receptive to European conversion efforts.Under British colonial rule, many Igbo served in government and military roles and were later key players in the 1960 Nigerian independence movement. In January 1966, Igbo leader General Ironsi established a military coup in Nigeria to try and unify a fragmented, newly-independent Nigeria. The northern section of the country believed there was an Igbo conspiracy with the establishment of the new government. In July 1966, a counter-attack was staged by northern military officers in response to the constitution of another new government. Chaos ensued and about 50,000 Igbo were killed in northern Nigeria. To put an end to chaos and upheaval, groups in eastern Nigeria declared themselves as an independent sovereign state known as “Biafra" on 30 May 1967. The Igbo secessionist movement in Biafra led to a 30-month war (Biafran War) with the Nigerian government, in which hundreds of thousands of Igbo starved to death. After the war, Igbo were reintegrated into Nigerian society, but in a more marginalized role. Despite lingering ethnic tension, they now play an important part in southeastern Nigeria's oil trade. ISO3 - International Organization for Standardization 3-digit country code PEOPLEGP_1 - People group level one PEOPLEGP_2 - People group level two PEOPLEGP_3 - People group level three ALT_NAME - Alternate names or spellings for people groups SOURCE_DT - Primary source creation date SOURCE - Primary source Collection This shapefile created by using Anthromapper consists of ethnic layers that have been primarily based on the 1959 Murdock map of Africa with an addition of the Anaang people group based on a general location provided by Ethnologue. Geographical terrain features, combined with a watershed model, were also used to predict the likely extent of ethnic and linguistic influence. The HGIS data and metadata were supplemented with anthropological information from peer-reviewed journals and published books. The interpretation of ethnic names often produces multiple spellings of the same people groups; therefore similarly spelled or phonetic titles may be referencing the same group. The data included herein have not been derived from a registered survey and should be considered approximate unless otherwise defined. While rigorous steps have been taken to ensure the quality of each dataset, DigitalGlobe Analytics is not responsible for the accuracy and completeness of data compiled from outside sources. Sources (HGIS) Anthromapper. DigitalGlobe Analytics, March 2013. Murdock, George Peter. Tribal Map of Africa from Africa: Its Peoples and Their Culture History. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., January 1959. Interactive Murdock Map available at - http://worldmap.harvard.edu/africamap. Ethnologue, “Anaang.” Last modified April 2013. Accessed April 2013. http://www.ethnologue.com People Groups, “Nigeria.” Last modified April 2013. Accessed April 2013. http://peoplegroups.org. Joshua Project, “Nigeria”. Last modified March 2013. Accessed April 2013. http://www.joshuaproject.net. Sources (Metadata) Walker, Andrew. United States Institute of Peace, "What is Boko Haram?." Last modified 2012. Accessed April 9, 2013. http://www.usip.org. Buhayar, Noah. PBS, "Oil and Politics in Nigeria." Last modified 2007. Accessed April 8, 2013. www.pbs.org. Bascom, William. Urbanization Among the Yoruba. Culture and Societies of Africa. Edited by Simon and Phoebe Ottenberg. New York: Random House, 1960. Greenberg, Joseph H. Some Aspects of Negro-Mohammedan Culture Contact Among the Hausa. Culture and Societies of Africa. Edited by Simon and Phoebe Ottenberg. New York: Random House, 1960. Levinson, David. Ethnic Groups Worldwide: A Ready Reference Handbook. Santa Barbara: Greenwood, 1998. Ehwarieme, William. "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea: The Displacement of Ethnicity by Corruption in Nigeria's Electoral Politics." Journal of Third World Studies. 26. no. 2 (2011): 181-206. Paden, John. Religion and Political Culture in Kano. University of California Press: Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1973. Suberu, Rotimi. Federalism and Ethnic Conflict in Nigeria. Washington D.C.: United States Institute of Peace, 2001. Joshua Project, “Nigeria”. Last modified April 2013. Accessed April 2013. http://www.joshuaproject.net.