About this map

HistoNaija is a free, interactive atlas of Nigeria. It shows where each of Nigeria’s peoples lives today, and the kingdoms, empires and city-states that came before the colonial borders.

Open the map Peoples Kingdoms

How it was made

Every people, kingdom, event and place on the map is compiled from published sources: histories, ethnographies, language surveys, government and GRID3 datasets, and reference works. Each claim names its sources, so any reader can check it.

Homelands are drawn by local government area, and historical territory by today’s LGAs and states, so borders are approximate. Nigeria has not counted its peoples by ethnicity since 1963, so the map shows where peoples live, not how many.

Confidence levels

High confidence High: well attested by more than one good source.
Medium confidence Medium: one source, an approximate extent, or not yet checked directly.
Disputed Disputed: sources disagree. The map gives the readings side by side.

Some claims come from first-hand testimony, such as a community’s own account of its history. These are recorded as testimony, not as published fact.

Not a map of land ownership

Areas are approximate and show where people live. They are not claims of land ownership.

Licence

The compiled data (peoples, areas, kingdoms and snapshots) is free to reuse under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0. Boundaries come from GRID3 (CC BY 4.0) and Natural Earth. Sources keep their own licences.

Corrections

If your town or people is missing or drawn wrongly, the correction will be weighed against the sources and the map updated.