This is a timeline of

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

n history, comprising important legal and territorial changes and political events in Nigeria and tis predecessor states. To read about the background to these events, see

History of Nigeria The history of Nigeria can be traced to the earliest inhabitants whose remains date from at least 13,000 BC through early civilizations such as the Nok culture which began around 1500 BC. Numerous ancient African civilizations settled in the regi ...

. See also the

list of heads of state of Nigeria This is a list of the heads of state of Nigeria, from independence in 1960 to the present day. The current constitution of Nigeria has the president of Nigeria as the head of state and government. From 1960 to 1963, the head of state under the C ...

Centuries: 17th

18th 18 (eighteen) is the natural number following 17 and preceding 19. In mathematics * Eighteen is a composite number, its divisors being 1, 2, 3, 6 and 9. Three of these divisors (3, 6 and 9) add up to 18, hence 18 is a semiperfect numb ...

19th 19 (nineteen) is the natural number following 18 and preceding 20. It is a prime number. Mathematics 19 is the eighth prime number, and forms a sexy prime with 13, a twin prime with 17, and a cousin prime with 23. It is the third full re ...

20th 20 (twenty; Roman numeral XX) is the natural number following 19 and preceding 21. A group of twenty units may also be referred to as a score. In mathematics *20 is a pronic number. *20 is a tetrahedral number as 1, 4, 10, 20. *20 is the ba ...

21st 21 (twenty-one) is the natural number following 20 and preceding 22. The current century is the 21st century AD, under the Gregorian calendar. In mathematics 21 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being 1, 3 and 7, and a defici ...

Early history

* 8000 B.C. – Creation of oldest currently known artifacts and stone shelters.

Igboland Igboland ( Standard ), also known as Southeastern Nigeria (but extends into South-Southern Nigeria), is the indigenous homeland of the Igbo people. It is a cultural and common linguistic region in southern Nigeria. Geographically, it is divide ...

mostly occupied by foragers, including

Bantu Bantu may refer to: *Bantu languages, constitute the largest sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages *Bantu peoples, over 400 peoples of Africa speaking a Bantu language * Bantu knots, a type of African hairstyle * Black Association for Nationa ...

ancestors. * 3000–500 B.C. – Development of agriculture (probably including yam cultivation) and animal husbandry. * 500 B.C. – A.D. 200 –

Nok culture The Nok culture (or Nok civilization) is a population whose material remains are named after the Ham village of Nok in Kaduna State of Nigeria, where their terracotta sculptures were first discovered in 1928. The Nok culture appeared in Nige ...

flourishes in Northern Nigeria. * 400–100 B.C. – Ironworking develops around Opi,

Nsukka Nsukka is a town and a Local Government Area in Enugu State, Nigeria. Nsukka shares a common border as a town with Edem, Opi (archaeological site), Ede-Oballa, and Obimo. The postal code of the area is 410001 and 410002 respectively re ...

* 500 A.D. - End of the

Rise of Igbo, Yoruba, Edo, and Muslim civilizations

* 700 A.D – Early

Ijaw Ijaw may refer to: * Ijaw people *Ijaw languages The Izon languages (), otherwise known as the Ịjọ languages, are the languages spoken by the Izon people in southern Nigeria. Classification The Ijo languages were traditionally considered a ...

settlement. * 800 A.D – Mega-state at IgboUkwu has complex social structure, produces copious artifacts including bronzes. Yoruba civilization already well established, based on thirteen farming villages centered at Ilé-Ifẹ̀. * 900 – The reign of the

Kingdom of Nri The Kingdom of Nri () was a medieval polity located in what is now Nigeria. The kingdom existed as a sphere of religious and political influence over a third of Igboland, and was administered by a priest-king called an ''Eze Nri''. The ''Eze Nri' ...

began. * 1100 – The

Islamic state An Islamic state is a state that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a translation of the Arabic ter ...

of Borno was established. * 1200 – Ilé-Ifẹ̀ becomes Yoruba metropolis. * 1255 – Oba Ewedo comes to power in

Benin Empire The Kingdom of Benin, also known as the Edo Kingdom, or the Benin Empire ( Bini: ') was a kingdom within what is now southern Nigeria. It has no historical relation to the modern republic of Benin, which was known as Dahomey from the 17th c ...

. * 1450 – Beginning of European contact on the Atlantic coast.Falola & Heaton, ''A History of Nigeria'' (2008), "Chronology" (pp. xiii–xviii). * 1500 – The nominally

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

Hausa Kingdoms were established in Northern Nigeria.

17th century

18th century

19th century

20th century

21st century

2011 upward

References

Bibliography

REUTERS - Nigeria Chronology
* Ejiogu, EC. "Chinua Achebe on Biafra: An Elaborate Deconstruction". ''Journal of Asian and African Studies'' 48.6, 2013. * Falola, Toyin, & Matthew M. Heaton. ''A History of Nigeria''. Cambridge University Press, 2008.

* Oriji, John N. ''Political Organization in Nigeria Since the Late Stone Age: A History of the Igbo People''. New York: Palgrave Macmillan (St. Martin's Press), 2011.