Famous landmarks in Nigeria

Nigeria is a country in West Africa on the Gulf of Guinea, bordered by Benin, Niger, Chad and Cameroon. It has more people than any other country in Africa. Its capital is Abuja, in the centre of the country, while Lagos on the coast is its largest city and one of the biggest cities in Africa. Nigeria is known for its hundreds of languages, lively music, its huge film industry called Nollywood, ancient art and the great Niger River.

On My Earth Toy you can see Zuma Rock, a giant granite monolith near Abuja, the National Arts Theatre in Lagos, and Lagos towers such as NECOM House and the Civic Tower. Look for the honey badger, the long-legged secretarybird and the aardvark, and discover the Bonga oil field off the coast.

Geography and nature

The Niger and Benue rivers meet in the middle of Nigeria and flow south to the Niger Delta, one of the largest river deltas in the world, full of mangrove swamps. The south has rainforest, the centre has savanna and the Jos Plateau, and the far north reaches the dry Sahel. The highest point, Chappal Waddi, rises to 2,419 metres on the border with Cameroon. Nigeria's forests near the Cameroon border are home to the rare Cross River gorilla.

People, languages and culture

English is the official language, and Nigerians speak more than 500 languages; the largest groups are the Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo. Islam is the main religion in the north and Christianity in the south. Nigerian music, from Fela Kuti's Afrobeat to modern Afrobeats, is popular around the world, and Nollywood makes a huge number of films every year. Writers Chinua Achebe and Wole Soyinka are famous worldwide. Jollof rice, pounded yam and suya, spicy grilled meat skewers, are favourite foods.

History in a nutshell

The Nok culture made striking terracotta sculptures more than 2,000 years ago. Later, powerful states grew up, including the Kingdom of Benin, known for its bronze and brass art, the Oyo Empire, the Hausa city-states and, from 1804, the Sokoto Caliphate. Britain gradually took control and in 1914 joined the north and south into one colony. Nigeria became independent on 1 October 1960. It went through a civil war from 1967 to 1970 and long periods of military rule before returning to civilian government in 1999.