Jos

Jos is a city in the Middle Belt of Nigeria. The city has a population of about 900,000 residents based on the 2006 census. Popularly called "J-town", it is the administrative capital of Plateau State.

The city is located on the Jos Plateau at an elevation of about 1,238 metres or 4,062 feet high above sea level. During British colonial rule, Jos was an important centre for tin mining. In recent years it has suffered violent religious clashes between its Muslim and Christian populations in 2001, 2008, 2010, and 2011.

History

The earliest known settlers of the land that would come to be known as Nigeria were the Nok people (circa 3000 BC), skilled artisans from around the Jos area who mysteriously vanished in the late first millennium.

According to the historian Sen Luka Gwom Zangabadt, the area known as Jos today was inhabited by indigenous tribes who were mostly farmers. According to Billy J. Dudley, the British colonialists used direct rule for the indigenous tribes on the Jos plateau since they were not under the Fulani emirates where indirect rule was used. According to the historian Samuel N Nwabara, the Fulani empire controlled most of northern Nigeria, except the Plateau province and the Berom Mwagavhul, Ng as, Tiv, Jukun and Idoma tribes. It was the discovery of tin by the British that led to the influx of other tribes such as the Hausa, Igbo, Urhobo and Yoruba, thus making Jos a cosmopolitan city.