History of Plateau State

Plateau State sits on one of the most archaeologically significant landscapes in sub-Saharan Africa. The Jos Plateau, a high tableland rising between 1,200 and 1,800 metres above sea level, was home to the Nok civilisation — one of the earliest known iron-smelting cultures in Africa — which flourished between approximately 1500 BC and 500 AD. Named after the village of Nok near Kafanchan where the first terracotta figurines were accidentally discovered in 1928 during tin mining, the Nok people produced sophisticated fired clay sculptures depicting human and animal forms with remarkable artistic refinement. These figurines, which survive in museums across the world, represent the oldest known sub-Saharan sculptural tradition and established that advanced cultural life existed on the Jos Plateau millennia before European contact.

The plateau's diverse ethnic composition in the pre-colonial period reflected centuries of migration, settlement and interaction. The Berom (Birom) people, considered by many historians to be among the earliest inhabitants of the plateau proper, developed settled agricultural communities across the central plateau, cultivating crops suited to the cooler highland climate — sorghum, acha (hungry rice), millet and guinea corn. The Berom maintained decentralised governance through clan heads and religious leaders, with no single paramount ruler, a structure that distinguished them from the more centralised emirate systems to the north.

The Ngas (Angas) people occupied the eastern plateau escarpment and the plains below, developing a society known for its ironworking traditions, long-distance trading networks and the distinctive Ngas initiation societies. The Tarok, Mupun, Montol, Yergam (Taroh), Rukuba, Irigwe, Afizere and dozens of other nationalities each carved out distinct territories across the plateau and its edges, many of them linguistically and culturally related to the broader Chadic and Benue-Congo language families.

The Jukun kingdom of Kwararafa, centred further east but exerting significant influence across the middle Benue valley and the southern plateau, represented the most politically powerful pre-colonial entity in the region. At its height between the 14th and 17th centuries, the Kwararafa confederacy was strong enough to threaten even the Hausa states and the Borno empire to the north. Fulani jihad pressures from the early 19th century onward displaced many lowland communities onto the plateau, where the rugged terrain offered natural protection — a pattern that shaped the ethnic geography that persists today.

The British arrival on the Jos Plateau came primarily through two routes: military pacification campaigns pushing southward from the Hausa states already under indirect rule, and the overwhelming economic incentive of tin. Tin ore had been worked by local communities on the plateau for centuries, used for making household utensils and ornaments, but it was the discovery of the plateau's vast cassiterite deposits by European prospectors in the late 19th century that transformed the region's fate.

Captain (later Lord) Frederick Lugard's forces established British authority over the plateau region between 1900 and 1906, defeating Ngas, Berom and other resistance in a series of brutal military campaigns. In 1902, the British established a garrison at what would become Jos — the name likely derived from "Gwosh," the Berom name for the area, anglicised over time. The Bauchi Light Railway reached Jos in 1914, dramatically accelerating tin extraction and transforming a remote military outpost into a colonial boomtown.

The tin mining industry that developed on the Jos Plateau from 1904 onward was one of the most significant colonial enterprises in Nigeria. By the 1920s, the plateau was producing the majority of Nigeria's tin exports, with the British colonial government granting mining concessions to European companies including the Niger Company and the Amalgamated Tin Mines of Nigeria. The mining operations required massive labour, drawing migrants from across northern Nigeria and displacing Berom, Angas and other communities from their ancestral lands to make way for open-cast mining that permanently scarred the landscape.

The colonial administration classified the plateau's non-Muslim communities as "pagan" and governed them through the Native Authority system adapted uneasily from the emirate model of the north. Christian missionaries — the Sudan United Mission (SUM) from 1904, followed by other denominations — found receptive audiences among plateau communities who saw education and Christianity partly as alternatives to Islamic Hausa-Fulani political dominance. Mission schools produced the first generation of educated plateau people who would go on to lead independence-era politics. The colonial period also saw Jos develop as a regional administrative, commercial and transport centre, its pleasant highland climate making it a favoured station for European administrators and a hub for Lebanese and other trading communities.

The administrative history of the plateau area passed through several configurations before the emergence of Plateau State. Under British colonial rule, the region formed part of Bauchi Province and later the Benue-Plateau Province. At independence in 1960, the area was incorporated into the Northern Region, a fact that many plateau communities resented given their predominantly Christian identity and cultural distinctiveness from the Muslim Hausa-Fulani majority that dominated Northern Region politics.

The creation of twelve states in May 1967 by General Yakubu Gowon addressed some of these grievances by establishing Benue-Plateau State, combining the present-day Plateau and Benue states under a single administration. General Joseph Gomwalk, a Birom man from the plateau, became the military governor of Benue-Plateau State and remains one of the most controversial figures in plateau political history. Gomwalk sided with Biafra during the civil war — an unusual position for a Northern officer — and was executed by firing squad after the fall of Port Harcourt in 1976 following his arrest in the wake of the February 1976 coup that killed General Murtala Muhammed.

Plateau State was formally created on 3 February 1976 when General Olusegun Obasanjo divided Benue-Plateau State into two separate states — Benue State and Plateau State. General David Bamigboye was appointed the first military governor of the newly independent Plateau State, with Jos confirmed as the state capital. The creation of the state gave the plateau communities their own political voice for the first time and began the process of building state institutions — a university, a teaching hospital, ministries and parastatals — that would serve the predominantly non-Muslim, multi-ethnic population.

The post-creation history of Plateau State has been defined by two dominant themes: the remarkable academic and cultural flowering centred on Jos, and the devastating cycles of ethno-religious violence that have claimed thousands of lives since the 1990s.

Jos rapidly developed as an intellectual and artistic centre after state creation. The University of Jos, established in 1975, became one of Nigeria's finest federal universities, known for its strong faculties of arts, social sciences and medicine. The National Museum Jos, which houses the world's largest collection of Nok terracotta figurines alongside other antiquities, made the city a destination for archaeologists and art historians. The cooler highland climate, scenic beauty and relatively peaceful atmosphere earned Jos the sobriquet "Home of Peace and Tourism," and the city's relaxed character attracted academics, artists and middle-class Nigerians from across the country.

The first major outbreak of religiously tinged violence came in April 1994, but it was the riots of September 2001 — triggered by a dispute over the appointment of a coordinator for the newly established National Poverty Eradication Programme — that announced to the world that Jos had become a flashpoint. What began as a localised dispute escalated into three days of killing along Christian-Muslim lines, with estimates of between 1,000 and 5,000 deaths. Subsequent outbreaks in 2002, 2004, 2008 and 2010 deepened the divisions, transforming Jos into a physically segregated city where Christian and Muslim neighbourhoods operate as distinct communities separated by checkpoints and suspicion.

The farmer-herder conflict dimension of plateau violence — Fulani herders clashing with Berom and other farming communities over land, cattle and ancestral rights — has proved equally destructive. The 2010 Dogo Nahawa massacre in which over 500 Berom villagers were killed overnight, and the 2018 Barkin Ladi attacks, focused international attention on what many plateau communities characterise as a systematic campaign against their lands and livelihoods. The Nigerian government's response to these crises has been widely criticised as inadequate.

The economic history of Plateau State is inseparable from the history of tin and columbite mining, which defined the region for the better part of a century. Tin mining on the Jos Plateau began commercially around 1904 and by the 1930s Nigeria had become one of the world's leading tin producers. The plateau's cassiterite deposits — among the richest in the world — generated enormous colonial revenue, though little of this wealth found its way to the Berom, Angas and other communities whose lands were excavated.

At independence, the plateau tin industry continued under the Niger Mining Corporation and later the Nigerian Mining Corporation, but global tin prices collapsed dramatically in the 1980s following the International Tin Council's failure in 1985. The crash effectively ended large-scale commercial tin production on the plateau, leaving behind a scarred landscape of flooded mined-out pits (locally called "mined-out areas" or MOAs), contaminated waterways and abandoned mining equipment. Artisanal and small-scale tin and columbite mining continues today, largely informal and poorly regulated.

Agriculture has always been the backbone of the majority of plateau residents' livelihoods, and the plateau's highland climate gives it a comparative advantage in temperate crops unavailable elsewhere in Nigeria. Irish potatoes are Plateau State's most iconic agricultural product — the cool nights and well-drained volcanic soils of Bokkos, Shendam and Riyom LGAs produce potato harvests that supply markets across Nigeria. Vegetables including tomatoes, cabbage, carrots, green peppers and onions grown on the plateau command premium prices in Lagos and Kano markets, and the state is a leading supplier of these commodities nationally.

Tourism was identified as a major economic opportunity from the 1970s onward, with the Yankari Game Reserve (shared with Bauchi State), the Assop Falls, the Shere Hills, the Kurra Falls and the scenic Jos Wildlife Park among the attractions. The violence of the 2000s severely damaged the tourism sector, but efforts are ongoing to rehabilitate Jos's image as a tourist destination. The National Veterinary Research Institute at Vom remains one of Nigeria's most important scientific institutions, producing vaccines for livestock diseases that affect agriculture across the country.

Plateau State's greatest cultural distinction is its extraordinary ethnic diversity. With over forty distinct nationalities — including the Berom, Ngas (Angas), Tarok, Mupun, Montol, Yergam (Taroh), Rukuba, Irigwe, Afizere, Amo, Chip, Goemai, Jukun, Kaleri, Mango, Miship and many others — the state is one of the most ethnically complex administrative units in Nigeria. This diversity, which colonial administrators called a "pagan" mosaic, is today celebrated as a source of cultural richness even as it has sometimes been weaponised in violent competition over land and political office.

The Nok cultural heritage remains the plateau's most internationally recognised contribution to human civilisation. The terracotta figurines produced by the Nok people — now displayed in the National Museum Jos, the British Museum, the Louvre and other major institutions — place the Jos Plateau among the world's significant archaeological zones. Ongoing excavations and research continue to expand understanding of Nok society, iron smelting techniques and artistic traditions.

The diverse festivals of the plateau's many nationalities represent a living cultural heritage. The Ngas celebrate the Njei festival, a harvest thanksgiving ceremony involving music, dance and communal feasting. The Berom mark the agricultural cycle with elaborate ceremonies connecting the community to the land their ancestors have farmed for generations. The Tarok people of Langtang are known for their distinctive music and dance traditions, and the annual Tarok cultural festival draws participants from across the diaspora.

Traditional ironworking, pottery and weaving practices persist across the plateau, and Jos city developed a vibrant arts scene in the independence era. The work of playwright and academic Olu Obafemi, sculptor Ben Osaghae, and the many artists who passed through the University of Jos arts faculty contributed to a creative tradition that the city's current difficulties have not entirely extinguished. The Jos Museum complex, which includes the Museum of Traditional Nigerian Architecture — featuring scaled replicas of historic building styles from across Nigeria — remains one of the most thoughtfully curated heritage institutions in the country.

Plateau State has produced a significant number of Nigerians who have made their mark in politics, academia, the military and the arts. General Joseph Gomwalk (1935–1976), the Birom military officer who served as governor of Benue-Plateau State, remains a controversial but pivotal figure — admired by many on the plateau for his assertive promotion of minority interests, condemned for his alignment with Biafra during the civil war.

Solomon Lar (1933–2012), the first elected civilian governor of Plateau State (1979–1983) under the Second Republic, was one of the founding fathers of the Peoples Democratic Party and served as its first national chairman. Lar's administration is remembered for expanding education and rural development programmes across the state.

Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa (1948–2012), who served as Governor of Kaduna State (2010–2012), was born in Gora, Kachia LGA — an area now in Kaduna but historically connected to the plateau minority communities. He was the first Christian governor of Kaduna State in the democratic era.

In academia, Professor Ango Abdullahi from the Plateau region served as Vice-Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University and has been a prominent figure in Northern Nigeria's political discourse. Professor Noma Owens-Ibie, an environmental scientist from Plateau State, has contributed significantly to research on the environmental consequences of tin mining on the Jos Plateau.

In sport, the plateau's most celebrated son is arguably Yakubu Aiyegbeni — born in Kaduna of Itsekhiri origin but closely associated with Plateau United — though plateau football has produced multiple Super Eagles players over the decades. Plateau United Football Club, based in Jos, has become one of the most consistently competitive clubs in the Nigeria Professional Football League.