Nigeria's Diverse Peoples: A Reference Sourcebook

(Hardback)

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Exploring the history of ethnic, regional, and religious diversity in Nigeria, this volume traces most of the country's current problems to its colonial exploitation. In many ways Nigeria is a nation in name only, struggling to unite its diverse population. But age-old tribal hostilities are not solely to blame. The conflicts among Nigeria's major ethnic groups are also the legacy of European colonial influence and living within artificially constructed boundaries. Plagued by ethnic divisions, economic inequality, and corruption, oil-rich Nigeria seems to conform to the conventional simplistic view of African nations. But as Nigeria's Diverse Peoples demonstrates, most of Nigeria's problems today were set in motion by Europeans in the slave trade and colonial eras. Focusing on three main ethnic groups (Hausa-Falani, Yoruba, and Igbo) and ranging from precolonial times to independence in 1960 to the present, this breakthrough study portrays a Nigeria now striving to make a nation of itself. Offering a fresh understanding not just of Nigeria but of Africa as well, readers will enter the richly complex world of Nigeria's ethnic history.

Reviews

"[A] brief introduction to the modern history of Nigeria...the accuracy of this work, and its index, are better than for many works ... This makes it a welcome addition in the general stacks of many libraries." - American Reference Books Annual

Author Bio

April A. Gordon is professor of sociology at Winthrop University, Rock Hill, SC.