Hausa-Fulani People

The Hausa and Fulani people are located mostly in northern part of Nigeria. With a population of over 30 million, they have the largest population in West Africa because of their intermarriages and constant interaction with different peoples. With the decline of the Nok and Sokoto, who had previously controlled Central and Northern Nigeria between 800 BCE and 200 CE, the Hausa were able to emerge as the new power in the region. Closely linked with the Kanuri people of Kanem-Bornu (Lake Chad), the Hausa aristocracy adopted Islam in the 11th century CE. In 1810 the Fulani, another Islamic African ethnic group that spanned across West Africa, invaded the Hausa states. The cultural similarities of these two group, however, opened doors for a significant integration between the groups, who in modern times are often demarcated as “Hausa-Fulani”, rather than as individuated groups. The Hausa remain pre-eminent in Northern Nigeria. Their impact in Nigeria is paramount, as the Hausa-Fulani amalgamation has controlled Nigerian politics for much of its independent history. They remain one of the largest and most historically grounded civilizations in West Africa. The Hausas are Sahelian people mainly located in northern Nigeria, southeastern Niger, Sudan, Cameroon, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, and Chad and many Fulani in these regions do not distinguish themselves from the Hausa. The Hausa have been Muslim since the 14th century, and have converted many other Nigerian tribes to the Muslim faith by contact, trade etc. The architecture of the Hausa is perhaps one of the least known but most beautiful of the medieval age. Many of their early mosques and palaces are bright and colourful and often include intricate engraving or elaborate symbols designed into the facade. Music and art play important role in everyday life of this group of people. From a young age, Hausa children participate in dances, which are held in meeting places such as the market. Work songs often accompany activities in the rural areas and in the markets. Story-telling, local dramas, and musical performances are also common forms of traditional entertainment.

Igbo People

The Igbo's are the second largest group of people living in southern Nigeria. They are socially and culturally diverse, consisting of many subgroups. Although they live in scattered groups of villages, they all speak one language.

The Igbo have no common traditional story of their origins. The Igbo people are descended from waves of immigrants from the north and the west who arrived in the fourteenth or fifteenth century. Three of these are the Nri, Nzam, and Anam.
Igbo is one of the languages that the field of linguistics designates as Kwa, a sub-group of Niger Congo group of languages. The Igbo language perhaps emerged among the native speakers over 6,000 years ago. (Armstrong, 1964) To date, there is not comprehensive or reliable historical information on whether the language was first spoken elsewhere before the people entered the region where they have lived during the modern period. The Igbo people can be found in the area between Igala, the Cross River and Niger delta cities of Nigeria. The people are divided into five major cultural groups, the western or Riverine, Northern or Awka, Owerri, Cross River, and Ogoja Igbo. These cultural groups were considered by the colonial powers to be the ‘tribes’ of the Igbo society (Equiano, 1960).
The cultural groups include Awka, Nri, Ihiala, Owerri, Agbor, Ebu, Enugu, Eziko, Afikpo, Azumimi, and Asaba. These Igbo peoples share similar linguistic, socio-political, economic, and religious activities. However, each cultural group in Igbo society has its own distinctive customs, traditions, and institutions that distinguish them from one another.

 The Igbo practice a number of crafts, some performed by men only and some by women. Carving is a skilled occupation practiced only by men. They produce doors and panels for houses, as well as stools, dancing masks, and boxes. Another valued craft is that of the blacksmith. Women's crafts include pottery making, spinning, weaving, basketry, and grass plaiting.

Yoruba People of Nigeria

Among the many tribes found in Africa, the Yoruba People of Nigeria are among the most popular and well known which i am from personally. The Yoruba are the tribe that many Africans confess that their family roots started from and therefore follow the religion and culture of the Yoruba. We are indigenous to the Southwestern parts of Nigeria. We are not be the only tribe in Africa, but they certainty have an interesting culture along with one of the oldest ancestry lines. The Yoruba have a culture and history that is unique in its own way and meaning. According to the oral history of the Yoruba, it is described as a myth. As the tale goes, the first kings of the land were the offspring of the creator, Oduduwa. The crown wore by the kings identifies those individuals as powerful and able to communicate with the spiritual world in a way to benefit the people of the land. As the story continues, GOD which in Yoruba is “Olorun” lowered a rope from the heavens in which climbed down Oduduwa. Upon reaching Earth, he brought along with him a five-toed chicken, a palm seed and a handful of dirt. These items he used to create the Ife kingdom, and in that kingdom grew a magnificent tree with sixteen branches. These sixteen branches symbolized his sixteen sons and grandsons. Even though Oduduwa was the first ruler of these kingdoms, he would later on send of his sixteen sons and grandsons to create their own great kingdoms. As history shows, the majority of Yoruba people were farmers, growing such crops as yams and cocoa beans that brought them most of their profit. However, they grew in a three-year rotational period to be able to grow other crops for their people such as corn, peanuts and beans. The people made sure to grow enough to live off of for several seasons, as after the rotation is done the land is left alone from any sort of planting for almost seven years.