Prehistory of Northern Nigeria

Part of a series on the
History of Northern Nigeria
Timeline Prehistory The Hausa States Sokoto Period Kanem Bornu Pre-Colonial Colonial Period Protectorate Period 1953-1960 1960-1963 1963-1966 1999–present
By ethnicity Hausa People Fulani People Igbirra People
By topic Pacification of Northern Nigeria Culture Demographics Diplomacy Economics Historiography Medicine Military Women
By Province Bauchi Benue Borno Ilorin Kano Katsina Plateau Zaria Niger Adamawa Kabba Sokoto Sardauna

The pre-history of Northern Nigeria spans the period covering from the early history of the planet to the time of written historical records. There has been very little investigation into the History of Northern Nigeria before the rise of human civilisation.

Iron Age

Kainji Dam excavations revealed ironworking by the 2nd century BC. The transition from Neolithic times to the Iron Age apparently was achieved without intermediate bronze production. Others 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.

Nok Culture

The earliest identified Nigerian culture is the Nok or Kwatarkwashi culture that thrived between 900 BC and 200 AD . Information is lacking from the first millennium BC following the Nok ascendancy, but by the 2nd millennium BC there was active trade from Ancient Egypt via Nubia through the Sahara to the forest with the savanna people acting as intermediaries in exchanges of various goods.^[1]

References