🇳🇬 Nigeria · Ancient city
Ile-Ife
Yoruba Early/Middle Period (1st mill.–16th c; classical 12th–15th c) · Yoruba (Ifè)
Yoruba city producing hyper-naturalistic brass heads and potsherd pavements with unique locally-made High-Lime glass beads.
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46 places in the atlas.
🇳🇬 Nigeria · Ancient city
Yoruba Early/Middle Period (1st mill.–16th c; classical 12th–15th c) · Yoruba (Ifè)
Yoruba city producing hyper-naturalistic brass heads and potsherd pavements with unique locally-made High-Lime glass beads.
🇳🇬 Nigeria · Earthwork
Early to Late Edo Kingdom (800–1897 CE; peak 13th–16th c) · Edo (Bini) / Igodomigodo → Kingdom of Benin
16,000 km of ramparts and 20 m high ditch-bank earthworks enclosing 6,500 km² – world's longest pre-mechanical earthwork.
🇳🇬 Nigeria · Ancient city
Iron Age Sahel / Nok contemporary (550–350 BCE) · Gajiganna culture
12-ha 550 BCE Gajiganna proto-city with 5-m ditch and early Sahelian iron furnace.
🇳🇬 Nigeria · Earthwork
Hausa Kingdom of Kano to Sokoto (1095–1807 CE; peak 14th–18th c.) · Hausa (Kano)
Ancient Kano City Walls (Badala) are West Africa's most impressive earthwork: 14 km main wall, 10 m high with 40 m base and moat, plus outer and inner walls totalling 40 km, founded 1095 CE by…
🇳🇬 Nigeria · Ancient city
Late Medieval Hausa Banza Bakwai (15th–early 18th c. CE) · Hausa (Kabawa–Kebbi)
Surame (15th–16th c.) is the 9 km² walled capital of Muhammadu Kanta's Kebbi Empire (c. 1516), the sole Hausa Banza Bakwai state to defeat Songhai (Battle of Jebbe).
🇳🇬 Nigeria · Ancient city
Yoruba Oyo Empire (14th–1835 CE; capital 16th–1835) · Yoruba (Oyo)
Old Oyo (Oyo-Ile, Katunga) is the 16th–19th c. capital of Oyo Empire, 10 km triple earthen walls enclosing 6,000 ha savanna plain with 17 palace compounds (Kobi), council houses and reservoirs.
🇳🇬 Nigeria · Ancient city
Early Kano to Sokoto (14th–19th c. CE; peak 16th–18th c.) · Hausa (Zazzau) / Fulani
Zaria City Walls (Birnin Zaria) are Hausa Kingdom of Zazzau's 14th-c. mud walls 14 km circuit encircling Zau Zau hill and Emir's palace, founded by Queen Amina legend but archaeologically Sarkin…
🇳🇬 Nigeria · Ancient village
Neolithic to Late Iron (1800 BCE–1500 CE) · Hadjer Lamis / Kotoko ancestral
3-m 115×85 m stratified mound establishing Chad Basin Neolithic-to-Iron sequence 1800 BCE–1500 CE.
🇳🇬 Nigeria · Ancient city
Late Medieval Kanem–Bornu (1460–1808 CE) · Kanuri (Kanem–Bornu)
Birnin Gazargamu (1460–1808) was Kanem–Bornu Empire capital, 6.5 km earthen walls 5 m high enclosing palace mound, great mosque 100×50 m and 200 compound mounds on Yo/ Kamadugu Yobe. 15th-c.
🇳🇬 Nigeria · Fortress
Medieval Hausa to Sokoto period (13th–19th c. CE) · Hausa (Katsina)
Granite inselberg hillfort south of Katsina with rock gongs.
🇳🇬 Nigeria · Tell
Late Kanem-Bornu (15th–18th c. CE) · Kanuri (Bornu)
Lake-fishery satellite tell west of Bornu capital on Nguru fen fen.
🇳🇬 Nigeria · Fortress
Sokoto period (19th c. CE; Gobir resistance) · Hausa (Gobir)
Late Gobir fortified birni (4.2 km) after 1808 fall of Al Kalawa.
🇳🇬 Nigeria · Ancient city
Hausa Late Iron Age to Sultanate (c.1100 CE–present) · Hausa (Katsinawa)
Hausa walled city (14 km walls, 7 gates) with Gobarau Minaret and Kusugu well legend.
🇳🇬 Nigeria · Ancient city
Songhai-Kebbi to Sokoto (1515–1831) · Kebbi / Songhai / Fulani
Kebbi Empire capital (1515) with 9 km walls and Kanta palace mound.
🇳🇬 Nigeria · Ancient city
Hausa foundation (9th c CE – 1805 Fulani conquest; Bayajidda c. 900 CE) · Hausa (Bayajidda legend; Daurama matriarchal tradition)
Holiest Hausa city where Bayajidda legend says Daurama queen's serpent Sarki in Kusugu well was slain c. 900 CE founding Hausa Bakwai; 14th c mud walls 6.5 km with palace of Emir a...
🇳🇬 Nigeria · Fortified city
Hausa classical (c. 1100–1807 CE; Ganuwa built 13th–14th c) · Hausa (Katsina scholarly centre)
Seven-gate 14 km mud rampart enclosing 405 ha Hausa scholarly city of Gobarau minaret (14th c mudbrick tower 15 m, oldest multi-storey mud in West Africa), manuscript libraries and...
🇳🇬 Nigeria · Ancient city
Hausa–Gobir kingdom (c. 1450–1808 reform jihad; abandonment 1808) · Hausa-Gobir (king Bawa Jangwarzo, Yunfa vs Usman dan Fodio)
Final capital of animist Gobir kingdom at Al Kalawa, with 4.5 km desert mud walls and palace tell where Sultan Yunfa hosted then fought Usman dan Fodio before 1808 Sokoto jihad cap...
🇳🇬 Nigeria · Ancient city
Kebbi Kingdom (1515 Kebbi revolt from Songhai – 1808 Fulani) · Zarma–Hausa–Songhai (Kanta Kotal founder)
Rival capital to Songhai after Kebbi's 1515 revolt, Birnin Kebbi on Sokoto River with 5.8 km walls and citadel where Kanta's cavalry defeated Songhai at Surame aftermath; annual Ar...
🇳🇬 Nigeria · Ancient city
Jukun Kwararafa (c. 1300–1900 CE; peak 16th–18th c) · Jukun (Kwararafa confederacy)
Capital of the Jukun–Kwararafa Benue empire, Wukari's palace enclosure (400×350 m) houses the Aku Uka sacred kingship shrine and town walls that controlled Benue–Cameroon corridor...