The Federal Republic of Nigeria is 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, grouped into six geopolitical zones. Its land climbs from the Atlantic coast through rainforest and plateau to the dry savanna of the far north.
The dry north. Sudan and Sahel savanna running up to the Lake Chad basin, broken by granite inselbergs and the Sokoto plains.
The middle belt. The Jos Plateau and the wide Niger–Benue trough, where the two great rivers meet at Lokoja.
The wet south. Rainforest, the eastern highlands along Cameroon, and the Niger Delta's creeks and mangroves meeting the Atlantic.
Physical geography
Pick a feature to see where it sits and which states it touches.
The Jos Plateau is a granite and volcanic upland rising sharply above the surrounding plains. Tin and columbite mining shaped 20th-century Jos. The height brings lower temperatures, Irish potatoes and vegetables, and tourism. Gully erosion is a modern hazard.
Source: Landform, lake, waterway and coast catalogues · NBS · Updated Repository catalogues
Nigeria highlights
History, culture and geography notes from the atlas overview.
A dugout canoe found at Dufuna in Yobe State in 1987 is more than 8,000 years old, making it one of the oldest known boats in Africa.
The Nok culture of central Nigeria produced life-size terracotta figures more than two thousand years ago, among the earliest large sculptures known south of the Sahara.
Bronzes found at Igbo-Ukwu in Anambra State, first uncovered in 1938 and later excavated by Thurstan Shaw, date to about the 9th century and show highly skilled lost-wax casting, thought to be linked to ritual kingship.
Centred on Lake Chad and later Borno, Kanem-Bornu lasted roughly a thousand years, making it one of the longest-lived states in African history.
The Nri Kingdom of the Igbo heartland was a ritual state whose ruler, the Eze Nri, held religious authority over neighbouring communities; Nri tradition places its origin around the 10th century.
Ile-Ife is regarded in Yoruba tradition as the origin of the Yoruba people. Its naturalistic heads in brass, copper and terracotta date to roughly the 12th to 15th centuries and rank among the finest works of medieval African art.
Administrative zones
Nigeria's standard six-zone grouping, with every member state.
Map workspaces
Relief, rivers, lakes, coastline and ecosystem bands.
Pick two or three states on the Places map and compare them side by side.
Relief here is categorical: the catalogues describe landforms and waters, not a digital elevation model, so the terrain map shows the same features listed above.
Source: Landform, lake, waterway and coast catalogues · NBS · Updated Repository catalogues
