Dams, inselbergs, and the long river
Niger State was created on 3 February 1976 from the old North-Western State, with Minna as capital. It is Nigeria's largest state by area: a long savannah of Nupe, Gbagyi, Hausa, Kambari, and others, crossed by the River Niger. Kainji Dam (with its lake and national park) and Shiroro Dam earned the slogan The Power State — hydroelectricity as civic identity.
The Nupe kingdom under the Etsu Nupe at Bida is a major traditional state of the middle Niger, with a history of nineteenth-century expansion and craft (Bida is famous for glass beads and brass-related work in public culture). Zuma Rock, the great inselberg on the Abuja–Minna road (in Niger State, near Suleja), is one of Nigeria's most photographed natural monuments. Gurara Falls thunders on the Kaduna border. Suleja keeps the old Abuja emirate name after the capital project took Abuja.
Heritage is river, rock, and palace — plus the industrial sublime of dams. Power here means megawatts and also the Etsu's court. The map is so large that Kontagora's north feels a different country from Bida's floodplain.
The Nupe kingdom under the Etsu Nupe at Bida is a major traditional state of the middle Niger, with a history of nineteenth-century expansion and craft (Bida is famous for glass beads and brass-related work in public culture). Zuma Rock, the great inselberg on the Abuja–Minna road (in Niger State, near Suleja), is one of Nigeria's most photographed natural monuments. Gurara Falls thunders on the Kaduna border. Suleja keeps the old Abuja emirate name after the capital project took Abuja.
Heritage is river, rock, and palace — plus the industrial sublime of dams. Power here means megawatts and also the Etsu's court. The map is so large that Kontagora's north feels a different country from Bida's floodplain.