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Circa 800 BC
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The Jos Plateau is settled by the Nok – a Neolithic and iron age organised society.
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Circa 800 AD
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Kanem-Bornu and the Songhai Empires emerge. The age of city-states, kingdoms and empires in the region begins.
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Late 11thCent.
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The ruling elite of the Kanem-Bornu Empire converts to Islam.
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1200-1300
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The Kingdom of Benin and Oyo, a Yoruba state, emerge.
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1472
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First European contact.
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1591
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The Songhai Empire is conquered by Sultan of Morocco.
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1700s
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Britain and other European states become heavily involved in trans-Atlantic slave trade.
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1809
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The Sokoto Caliphate is formed in the north of what is today Nigeria.
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Colonial Period
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1861
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Lagos is annexed by Britain, marking a first step towards formal colonisation.
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1885-6
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The Royal Niger Company is given responsibility for the British sphere of influence.
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1893
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The Ibadan Empire is defeated by Britain; The Yoruba agree to a British Protectorate. The British Niger Coast Protectorate is established.
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1900-3
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The Igbo people are conquered and the Sokoto Caliphate falls. The Royal Niger Company has its charter revoked. The British establish a Protectorate of Southern Nigeria and a Protectorate of Northern Nigeria. Frederick Lugard is appointed High Commissioner in the Northern Protectorate, where he establishes a system of ‘indirect rule’ through traditional leaders.
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1914
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Abeokuta, the last independent polity, is conquered by Britain. The Protectorates of Northern and Southern Nigeria are unified.
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1922
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Part of the German colony of Kamerun is added to Nigeria under a League of Nations mandate.
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1947
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A Federal Constitution based on extensive autonomy for the three regions – north, south and east – comes into force. It represents an attempt to accommodate ethnic and religious tensions between the regions.
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1954
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The Federation becomes self-governing.
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1959-60
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Elections to a bicameral federal parliament are held. On 1 October 1960, Nigeria gains its independence under northern Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa.
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Post-independence
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1963
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Nigeria becomes a Republic.
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1966
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Major-General Johnson Aguiyi Ironsi, an Igbo, leads a military coup in January. Prime Minister Balewa is assassinated. The federal system is abolished. In August, a counter-coup is successfully carried out by Lieutenant-General Yakubu Gowon. Ironsi is assassinated. A federal system is reintroduced.
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1967
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Three states in the east of the country secede as the Republic of Biafra, provoking civil war.
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1970
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Biafra surrenders and is reintegrated into Nigeria.
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1975-6
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Gowon is overthrown and replaced by Brigadier Murtala Mohammed. Following his assassination in 1976, Mohammed is in turn replaced by Lieutenant-General Olusegun Obasanjo.
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1979
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Obasanjo returns Nigeria to civilian rule under a presidential system. Shehu Shagari is elected.
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1983
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Shagari is re-elected amidst claims of fraud. In December, Major-General Muhammed Buhari seizes power in another military coup.
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1985
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General Ibrahim Babangida seizes power from Buhari.
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1993
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A return to civilian rule is aborted when General Sani Abacha seizes power following the annulment of preliminary results indicating that Moshood Abiola had won the presidential election.
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1995
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Execution of Ogoni campaigner and writer Ken Saro-Wiwa. EU imposes sanctions against Nigeria and the Commonwealth suspends the country’s membership.
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1998
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Abacha dies and is succeeded by Major-General Abdulsalami Abubakar. Abiola dies in custody.
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1999
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Olusegun Obasanjo, a southerner and the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), is elected civilian president. Membership of the Commonwealth is restored and international sanctions lifted.
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2000
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Several northern states adopt Sharia law amidst rising ethnic and religious violence in different parts of the country.
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2003
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Obasanjo is re-elected. His second term is also marked by ethnic and religious violence as well as low-level insurgency in the Niger Delta, the heartland of Nigeria’s oil industry.
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2007
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PDP candidate and northerner Umaru Musa Yar’Adua is elected president in deeply flawed elections.
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2009
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Radical Islamist movement Boko Haram launches a campaign of violence in northeast Nigeria. The security forces respond with their own operations. Boko Haram’s leader Mohamed Yusuf dies in police custody. An amnesty programme helps to calm the situation in the Niger Delta.
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2009-10
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President Yar-Adua falls ill and is incapacitated, provoking a constitutional crisis. Southerner Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan takes over, first in an acting role, and then as his permanent replacement.
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2011
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Having initially said that he would not stand in the presidential election, Goodluck Jonathan does so and is elected.
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2011-14
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Boko Haram escalates its campaign of violence. President Jonathan declares a state of emergency in three northern states: Borno, Yobe and Adamawa. Ethnic and religious violence continues in the ‘middle belt’ of the country. Jim O’Neill declares that Nigeria could become an emerging economic giant.
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