The earliest Nigerians were the Nok people, skilled artisans from around the Jos area. By the beginning of the second millennium the Nok had virtually disappeared and the state of Kanem, to the north east of Lake Chad, was flourishing. Much of Kanem was Islamic, as were the kingdoms around Kano and Katsina, and its wealth came from control of the trans-Saharan trade route from West Africa to the Mediterranean. These northern Islamic states remained untouched by Europeans until well into the 19th century. By contrast the southern states were dominated in the 14th and 15th centuries by a number of Yoruba empires with traditional Obas (kings) who cultivated European contact through the Portugese spice trade.

At the end of the 18th century Fulani religious zealots in the north, sick of being dominated by the Islamic Hausa states, took over and created the single Islamic state of the Sokoto Caliphate. This original division between the Islamic government in the north and the Yoruba tribes in the south has never healed, and over the years intertribal fighting and civil wars have rubbed salt into the wounds. Even today Nigerian politics is riddled with tribal rivalries and ancient axes to grind.

After the bottom fell out of the spice trade, the Portugese, and then the British, began trading in the human misery of slaves, but by 1807 slavery had been banned and the British began to look for other ways to turn a buck. British companies began to take control of the Jos mines thus destroying the livelihood of thousands of independent tin producers. Worse still, the heavy reliance on mining exports was achieved at the expense of Nigeria's export food crops and the country had its first-ever food shortage. The British had also appointed chiefs in the southern Ibo communities to run the area but this was like hammering square pegs into round holes. These 'invented chiefs' had little in common with the people and simmering hostility and resentment was the usual result.

In 1960 Nigeria declared independence but the British system of colonialism had done nothing to unify Nigeria or prepare it for independence. The historical conflicts between north and south, and other inter-regional fighting, made the idea of a unified republic unworkable. By 1966 the dream of a flourishing democracy was floundering amidst a series of massacres, inter-regional hostilities and, finally, a military coup that installed the first of a series of military governments. The Ibo responded by seceding from the federation and declaring the independent republic of Biafra, kick-starting an all-out civil war that lasted for nearly three years before federal Nigeria won and reintegrated Biafra. The war left behind nearly 1,000,000 dead and 'Biafra' as a byword in mass destruction and famine.

Given Nigeria's seesawing fortunes it was almost predictable that they would follow one of the world's worst famines with a champagne period of excessive prosperity. Rocketing oil prices provided the Nigerian government with a chance to go on a spending spree of reckless proportions and the country quickly became a hotbed of foreigners rushing to Nigeria with their

Far from delivering on the promise of a US-style democracy, Abacha earned the wrath of human rights group and the censure of the Commonwealth nations for executing well-known playwright Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight others for seditious political activity. This and other despotic actions sparked rioting and civil unrest across Nigeria. In June 1998 Abacha died and was immediately replaced by Major General Abubakar. Abubakar promised a return to civilian rule. He kept his promise and in 1999 Olusegun Obasanjo, a former military leader and - until 1998 - a political prisoner, was elected president.

Nigerians were euphoric, as it seemed they were finally free from military rule. It was not long before things deteriorated as several rival groups (religious and tribal), no longer threatened by army intervention, settled down to protracted conflict. The worst manifestations of the violence were the sharia riots (over full implementation of Islamic law) which broke out in many centres in February 2000. In one night, described in

The country was in turmoil, and the situation was exacerbated by fuel shortages and extended power blackouts. Obasanjo sacked the entire NEPA board after weeks of darkness throughout the country. There's a very real danger of the country again lapsing into civil war.

Nigeria has over 250 ethnic groups but three stand out; the Hausa in the north, the Ibo (or Igbo) in the east and the Yoruba in the west. Religions tend to follow these ethnic lines with Muslims dominating the north, Catholics the east and animists the west. There are also countless numbers of smaller sects that are a mélange of two or more religions combining, for example, Christianity with local spirits and guardians. Animism has strong connections to ancestral spirits that protect the land and ensure tribal well-being, and many of the sacrificial rituals and juju ceremonies that use animal skulls, bones and dried insects are a way of contacting these spirits to ensure good fortune. Charms such as the ibej (twin dolls that are adorned with beads) are also an important part of Nigerian life and are worn to bring good luck and prosperity.

Nigerian art forms reflect their occult and animist origins. Yoruba masks are carved out of wood, representing the forces of nature and gods, and their use in ceremonies like the annual Gelede masquerades helps maintain a connection with the spirit of ancestors. The masks also appear at funerals in order to appease the spirits of the deceased. Of all the Yoruba masks, the large helmet masks of the Epa cult are the most spectacular. Occult influences can also be seen in the sculptures of bronze, terracotta and wood made by the Yoruba, Nupe, Igbira and Igala, and in the large Ife and Benin bronze casts.

Until his death in 1997, the world-renowned musician Fela Kuti was Nigeria's hottest ticket on the nightclub scene. His eclectic fusion of traditional Yoruba call-and-response chanting with freestyle jazz (Afrobeat) was always in demand. His music and memory live on at The Shrine, his old nightclub and home, in Ikeja. Other popular Nigerian musicians include the king of juju music Sonny Ade, the grandaddy of afro-reggae, Sonny Okosun, and the soul singer, Sade. Nigeria has as many writers as the rest of West Africa combined. Among their most famous is the Nobel Prize Winning author Wole Soyinka, the internationally acclaimed writer, Chinua Achebe and Ben Okri, a crowd-pulling favourite on the Western literary circuit. Ken Saro-Wiwa, Nigeria's other distinguished novelist and playwright, was hanged for political activism in 1995; an event that rightly incurred the anger and condemnation of the Commonwealth and other Western nations.

Generally speaking, the food in Nigeria is nothing to rave about. However, the best chance of a good feed is the roadside stalls, called Buka, where the best cooked local cuisine is found. Peppery stews are common in the southern states, while menus of grains and beef are common in the north. Much of Nigerian food is grain-based. Tuwo, made from maize, corn rice or millet, is popular as is Efo (vegetable soup), Egusi (a hot stew made with meat and red peppers) and Isi-ewu (goat head pepper soup). There's also lots of snack food including fried yam chips, meat pastries and fried plantain. Palm wine, a natural juice from palm trees, is a favoured drink all over Nigeria, especially in the south where these trees grow wild.