Nigeria

The most populous country in Africa, assembled in 1914 for accounting reasons and arguing about the consequences ever since. Britain joined its northern and southern protectorates because the south's revenues could cover the north's deficit, then governed the halves so differently that they reached independence in 1960 with different literacy, schooling and ideas of what the country was for - indirect rule through the Sokoto emirates in the north, mission education and direct administration in the south. The territory holds several hundred peoples, with the Hausa-Fulani, Yoruba and Igbo dominant in three regions and none a majority. Federal structure has been redrawn repeatedly to prevent any region controlling the centre, from three regions to thirty-six states. Biafra's secession in 1967 produced a war and a famine that killed perhaps a million people before it ended in 1970. Oil found in the Niger delta in 1956 now supplies most government revenue and has left the delta itself polluted and poor, with Ken Saro-Wiwa executed in 1995 for organising against it. Military rule occupied most years between 1966 and 1999. Boko Haram's insurgency began in the northeast in 2009. Nollywood is among the world's largest film industries by output. Lagos is one of the fastest growing cities on earth. Abuja was built as a new capital and took over from Lagos in 1991. English is the official language, with Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo the largest of over five hundred spoken. The country holds around a fifth of Africa's people. The Nok culture produced terracotta sculpture over two thousand years ago. Its football team is called the Super Eagles.

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