Ethnicity In Nigeria

Beaming sunrays, beautiful trees, and wild animals sound like the vacation of a lifetime. The country of Nigeria has all of these things plus plenty more to offer. Nigeria is located on the warm, dry, tropic continent of Africa. Unique foods, bright and colorful clothing, rythme filled dances come to mind when I think of Nigeria. Some people on the other hand would like to enjoy a warm fire place with a cup of hot creamy cocoa and soft fuzzy blankets in a winter lodge of Denmark. Sometimes A soft fur, games, food and being surrounded by family is all person need to call their vacation complete. Two different places with an abundance of beauty waiting to be seen.

Among the many tribes found in Africa, the Yoruba People of Nigeria are among the most popular and well known. The Yoruba are the tribe that many Africans confess that their family roots started from and therefore follow the religion and culture of the Yoruba. These people are indigenous to the Southwestern parts of Nigeria and Benin. They may not be the only tribe in Africa, but they certainty have an interesting culture along with one of the oldest ancestry lines.

Three out of the hundred ethnic groups make up seventy percent of Nigeria. These three ethnic groups includes the people of Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba. Of the three largest ethnic groups in Nigeria, the Hausa-Fulani group, makes up the greatest percentage

The following paragraphs in this section will seek to elaborate on the scores that make up Nigeria’s Cultural Dimension and to place these numbers in context. The definitions presented and the numbers given will be calculated based on the information presented in the Cultural Visualization table in Appendix C.

My cultural immersion focus is on the religious war in Nigeria. One of the interesting things I found in my research was that, in Nigeria the Christian faith and the Muslim faith represents the greatest percentage of religions. I also learned that the Christians and Muslims pray every day several times a day. With that being said, I wondered if they believed in a higher entity prayed every day, who they are praying to? And what is their belief system based on? (question 1) Since their Christian faith seems to be divided into Catholic, Protestant or some other, I decided to attend a typical Catholic Church service and a Friday mid-day Muslim prayer service. Maybe I should not have used the

Nigeria is also considered a patriarchal society where the being are dominant over their women in various areas of their lives and this translates to the men making the most decisions. Children are important and are considered a continuation of the family or community lineage. When young people are around elders they are required to respect them irrespective if they know them or not. Nigerians love to dress nicely and therefore when you go visit their country dress in a modest manner. On other occasions such as weddings, baptisms they will dress in their African

One example of the impact of Christianity on traditional religions is the state of Nigeria. In the state of Nigeria, its native religion is Yoruba. Islam is also the second largest religion that came to Nigeria from the middle east by trading between merchants. With the emergence of Christianity, Yoruba and Islam felt threatened by the number of people who were either forces or convinced in converting to Christianity. Leaders of these two religions did not stand still toward the issue.They put in a lot of efforts in order to stop Christianity from spreading across the country. However, These efforts seemed to be futile against the cooperation between colonial governments and missionaries, who used their superiority in military power to keep the rebellious African chiefs in their place. Christianity seemed to be used as a tool for the colonial government to show off their superiority of their own religious point of view compared to the traditional religion of native people. Christianity was not used for the sake of spreading religion like its earlier purpose before the colonial

The most populous country in Africa with a population of more than 160 million people is Nigeria. Nigeria is home to more than 300 tribes, one of the largest tribes being the Igbo tribe. In the novel Things Fall Apart the igbo culture partly consists of the practice of Polygyny and father-son inheritance. The Igbo tribe are still considered to be harmonious to land through festivals and are famous for their culture around Yams.

Thousands of years ago there was a tribe filled with people known as the Ibo, now known as the Igbo. The Igbo were one of the first tribes to really be able to thrive and have order in their villages. Igboland is now one of the most populated countries in Nigeria. Though Igboland is now one of the most populated countries, it has managed to keep its historical charm. Igboland is now a very well thriving country, but it is still facing many hardships regarding their political system.

Nigeria contains more historic cultures and empires than any other nation in Africa. They date as far back as the 5th Century BC when communities lived around the southern slopes of the Jos plateau, which are now called the Nok people. The first important centralized state to influence Nigeria was Kanem-Bornu, which was founded in the 8th century AD. By the 11th century Kanem-Bornu expanded into present-day Nigeria, and in the 15th century, its capital was moved there. In the late 15th century the Portuguese became the first Europeans to visit Nigeria. They began to purchase slaves and agricultural produce. After the Portuguese came to the British, French, and Dutch traders.

Yoruba religion is based on nature worshipping and is rooted deeply on respect for the environment. Their divinities is called Òrìsà, when it work is complete they become thunderstorm with lightning. Then the formation of the river adjoining into the ocean all of these actions are classified as divinities (Abimbola 2010). All living things are considered sacred and need to be reverenced. Religion cannot be free from the influence of the culture of the people where it is established, Gaiya substantiating this view wrote that culture and religion are two sides of the same coin and that a change in one affects the other (Awoniyi 2011).One will hear words such as Ori which is the soul or the unconscious mind, Èmí-the divine breathe enclosed in our heart and Òlódùmare, our High God.. (Awoniyi 2011).

After the missionaries arrived, many Igbo people converted to Christianity; because of this, a majority of modern Igbo people are Christian, and even some Igbo people practice “a syncretic version of Christianity intermingled with indigenous beliefs” (“Igbo”). However, there were some negative effects on the religion. Christian reforms and attempts to destroy the religion caused less integration and unity between the Igbo people (Okeke et al. 9). While the religion was not completely forgotten, a majority of the Igbo have abandoned traditional

When slave trade hit the Yoruba tribe the importance of the culture, heritage, language, and religion vanished. Because the Yoruba religions and beliefs were established after many of the others in Africa, much of its important elements were

According to the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Abu Dhabi (2013), Nigeria is a country in West Africa that it is primarily composed of three distinct ethnic groups: Hausa/Fulani, Yoruba, and Igbo. Of these groups, the Igbo are known for being the most professionally oriented and independent in the country. English is the primary language, although many Nigerians speak multiple languages, including one or more of the 400 native languages. There are also two major trade languages, pidgin and

The first was the weak sense of nationalism caused by all the ethnic groups where religion played a major part of the division. The main three ethnicities in Nigeria are Hausa-Fulani, Yoruba, and Igbo; the former is Muslim while the two latter are Christians. The second cause mentioned was the “divide and rule” which was a British tactic to employ ethnic groups against one another, and thus “helped ensure that ethnicity would be the main line of political cleavage after Nigeria became an independent country.” The third cause is the personal rule system based on “big men” and what this means is that Nigerian’s who worked for the British used their personal relationships to gain power and wealth, and in a certain way it is still used today in the Nigerian government. The fourth devastating cause was the “creation of an increasingly active and interventionist state during WWII and after until its independence in 1960, but that opened the doors to patronage, which would be used to gain political power and wealth. The past reveals the problems Nigeria has had for several decades, some of which have not disappeared but seem to get progressively worse. (CITATION)