Kingdoms and empires
The 30 states drawn on the atlas’s old map, from about 1000 AD to the colonial conquest: their rise, their reach at their height, their rulers and what became of them.
- Kingdom of BeninKingdom · 1000–1897 · The Edo kingdom of Benin grew from the Ogiso era into one of the great forest states of West Africa.
- BonnyCity-state · 1000–1886 · Grand Bonny (Ibani), on its island at the mouth of the Bonny river, was founded, by Ibani tradition, by Ijaw from Kolokuma in the central…
- DauraKingdom · 1000–1904 · Daura is the “mother” of the Hausa states.
- IfeKingdom · 1000–1893 · Ile-Ife is the sacred city of the Yoruba, where Oduduwa is said to have founded the world's first kingdom.
- Igala KingdomKingdom · 1000–1900 · The Igala were at Uhe (Ife), in today’s Omala, by about 600 BCE, on Igala tradition.
- Kanem-BornuEmpire · 1000–1902 · One of the longest lived states in Africa.
- KanoKingdom · 1000–1807 · One of the seven Hausa states, Kano grew from the iron-working community at Dala hill, where Daura immigrants under Bagauda founded a…
- NriRitual and trade network · 1000–1911 · Nri was founded by Nri, a son of Eri, who left his father’s war camp at Aguleri and set up his own kingdom at Agukwu.
- ZazzauKingdom · 1010–1902 · The southernmost of the seven Hausa states grew from rival city-states, Turunku and Kufena chief among them.
- KatsinaKingdom · 1015–1900 · Katsina began with the Durbawa priest-kings at Durbi ta Kusheyi.
- GobirKingdom · 1150–1900 · The northernmost Hausa state was Hausaland's shield against the Tuareg.
- KwararafaConfederacy · 1260–1900 · A many-peopled confederacy of the Benue valley, rich from the salt of Keana, Awe and Arufu, whose divine king, the Aku, was held to be the…
- EgbaConfederacy · 1300–1914 · The Egba lived in a confederacy of forest towns, Orile Egba, founded by tradition when the first Alake and Eso Ikoyi chiefs left early Oyo.
- Oyo EmpireEmpire · 1300–1893 · Founded, by tradition, by Oranmiyan, a prince of Ife, Oyo grew on the northern savanna into the largest of the Yoruba kingdoms.
- ZamfaraKingdom · 1300–1805 · Zamfara grew from the chiefdoms of Dutsi, Togai, Kiyawa and Jata; its people say they descend from the Maguzawa hunters of old Kano.
- Ijebu KingdomKingdom · 1400–1892 · Ijebu, the Yoruba kingdom of the Awujale at Ijebu-Ode, was ringed by Sungbo's Eredo, a ditch and bank some 160 km long and among the…
- BorguConfederacy · 1450–1898 · A loose confederacy of Bariba and Busa kingdoms led by Bussa, its sacred seat, Nikki, its centre of power, and Illo, its market, with…
- Kingdom of LagosKingdom · 1450–1861 · The Awori, a Yoruba people, came down the Ogun in the 15th century; Ogunfunminire of Ife became king at Isheri, and farmers spread to Iddo…
- Nupe KingdomKingdom · 1450–1901 · Between the Niger and the Kaduna rivers, a dozen Bini city-states and the river-going Kyadya were united in the early 16th century by…
- Kingdom of WarriKingdom · 1480–1894 · The Itsekiri kingdom of the western Delta creeks traces its kings to Ginuwa, a prince of Benin who left with a royal following around 1480…
- KalabariCity-state · 1500–1884 · Elem Kalabari, “new shipping port”, was the island state of the Kalabari Ijaw at the mouth of the New Calabar river.
- NembeCity-state · 1500–1895 · The Ijaw kingdom of Nembe, 30 miles up the Brass river, was poorer than Bonny and Calabar until the British blockade of those ports in the…
- KebbiKingdom · 1516–1902 · The last of the Hausa states to emerge, Kebbi was founded by Muhammadu Kanta, a Katsina-born champion wrestler who became a captain in…
- Aro ConfederacyRitual and trade network · 1650–1902 · From Arochukwu, three kindreds in nineteen villages under the Eze Aro and his council, the Okpankpo, the Aro built a trading network…
- Old CalabarCity-state · 1650–1884 · The Efik of the Calabar river lived in fortified towns with no paramount king: Ikot Itunko (Creek Town), Obutong (Old Town) and Atakpa…
- Sokoto CaliphateCaliphate · 1804–1903 · Born from Usman dan Fodio's jihad of 1804, the caliphate swept away the Hausa kingdoms and joined some thirty emirates under the Commander…
- IbadanCity-state · 1829–1893 · Ibadan was born in 1829 as a war camp of Oyo, Ife and Ijebu warriors on the edge of the forest, and became a military republic where any…
- LokojaCity-state · 1841–1900 · Lokoja, where the Niger meets the Benue, was never one people’s town and was never sacked or plundered.
- OpoboCity-state · 1869–1891 · Opobo was founded in 1869 by Jaja (Jubo Jubogha), an Igbo-born former slave who had risen to head Bonny's Anna Pepple house, after his…
- EkitiparapoConfederacy · 1878–1893 · The Ekitiparapo (“Ekiti united”) was the alliance of the Ekiti, Ijesa, Akoko, Igbomina and Yagba kingdoms, formed in 1878 to throw off…