History · Lesson 1

Sources of history, Nigerian peoples and early centres of civilisation

JAMBWAECNECO

What the syllabus asks

JAMB: Section A 1 Land and Peoples of the Nigeria Area (geographical zones and the people; relationship with the environment; relations and integration among peoples); 2 Early Centres of Civilization (Nok, Daima, Ife, Benin, Igbo Ukwu and Iwo Eleru; monuments and shelter systems: Kuyambana, Durbi-ta-Kusheyi, city walls and palaces); 4b Industries

WAEC: Historiography and historical skills (what history is, why we study it, sources, historical skills, ICT); Land and peoples of Nigeria; Centres of ancient civilization (Nok, Ife, Igbo Ukwu, Benin); Inter-group relations; Indigenous crafts and industries

NECO: Historiography and historical skills (what history is, why we study it, sources, historical skills, ICT); Land and peoples of Nigeria; Centres of ancient civilization (Nok, Ife, Igbo Ukwu, Benin); Inter-group relations; Indigenous crafts and industries

What you will learn

Define history and historiography and explain why history is studied.
Describe oral, written and archaeological sources and state their strengths and weaknesses.
Explain how archaeologists date finds.
Identify the geographical zones of Nigeria and the peoples in them.
Explain how the environment shaped human activities.
Explain the channels and effects of inter-group relations before 1800.
Describe and assess the significance of Iwo Eleru, Nok, Daima, Igbo-Ukwu, Ife and Benin.
Identify early monuments and shelter systems and explain what they reveal.
Describe the indigenous crafts and industries and their importance.
Plan and write well-structured History essays.

Key points

History is the evidence-based study of the past; historiography is the study of how it is written.
We study history for identity, unity, lessons, critical skills, understanding institutions and careers.
Oral tradition is vital but weak on dates and open to distortion and bias.
Written sources give detail and dates but may be biased, limited or lost.
Archaeology gives datable material evidence (radiocarbon, TL, U-series) but is costly and silent on names.
Historians cross-check sources; auxiliary sources include linguistics, ethnography and art.
Zones: savanna north, Middle Belt, forest, coast or Delta; environment shaped livelihoods and trade.
Inter-group relations: trade, intermarriage, bilingualism, migration, religion, diplomacy and war.
Iwo Eleru: about 13,000-year-old burial, Shaw 1965.
Nok: terracottas and iron; 1928 find; Fagg 1943; about 1500 BC to the start of the Common Era.
Daima: Connah 1965–66; long occupation; transition to iron.
Igbo-Ukwu: Anozie 1938; Shaw 1959–60 and 1964; lost-wax bronzes of about the 9th century AD.
Ife: naturalistic heads, glass beads, ritual centre. Benin: bronzes, ivory, walls; 1897 expedition.
Monuments: Kwiambana, Durbi Takusheyi, ganuwa walls, Eredo, palaces.
Crafts supplied tools, employment, trade and state revenue.

Start here: What history is and why we study it

History is the study of the human past based on evidence. It is not just a list of dates: it asks what happened, why it happened, how it changed people’s lives and what it means for us now. The word comes from the Greek historia, meaning enquiry. Herodotus, a Greek writer of the fifth century BC, is often called the "father of history" because he collected evidence and tried to explain the causes of events.

It helps to separate three ideas:

The past: everything that has ever happened, most of which left no record.
History: the account historians build from the surviving evidence.
Historiography: the study of how history is written, including the methods, the sources and the different interpretations of historians.

WAEC and NECO put historiography first in both papers. Expect questions such as "What is history?", "Why should a Nigerian student study history?" and "Explain three sources of history".

Why we study history

Identity. History tells a people who they are and where they came from. Knowing the histories of the Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo, Tiv, Ijo and others helps Nigerians respect one another.
National unity. It shows the long record of trade, intermarriage and cooperation between Nigerian peoples, long before 1914.
Lessons for the present. Studying the causes of the civil war or of military coups helps leaders and citizens avoid repeating mistakes.
Critical thinking. History trains you to weigh evidence, spot bias and argue from facts. These skills matter in law, journalism, administration and diplomacy.
Understanding institutions. Today’s emirates, obaships, constitutions and boundaries are products of the past.
Pride and correction. African historians such as Kenneth Onwuka Dike showed, from the 1950s onwards, that Africa had a rich history. They answered the old colonial claim that Africa had no history before Europeans arrived.
Careers and leisure: teaching, museums, tourism, archives, research, and the enjoyment of a good story.

Worked example 1.1 (WAEC-style essay, 15 marks)

Give five reasons why the study of history is important to Nigerians.

Model plan: Introduction: define history as the study of the past from evidence (1–2 marks). Then five paragraphs, each with a point plus a Nigerian example: (1) identity and heritage, e.g. Benin bronzes; (2) unity, e.g. pre-colonial trade between the forest and the savanna; (3) lessons, e.g. the causes of the 1967–70 civil war; (4) critical thinking and careers; (5) understanding present institutions, e.g. emirates traced to the Sokoto Caliphate. Short conclusion. Examiners reward a developed point (explained with an example) far above a one-line list.

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Practice questions

1. Information passed down by word of mouth from generation to generation is

oral tradition
archaeology
archival record
numismatics

Show answer

A: oral tradition
A major source for pre-colonial Nigeria.

2. A major weakness of oral tradition is that it

is always written down
cannot be collected
has no dates at all in any form
can be distorted or exaggerated over time

Show answer

D: can be distorted or exaggerated over time
Chronology is often uncertain.

3. Radiocarbon dating measures the decay of

iron in tools
salt in seawater
carbon-14 in once-living material
uranium in rocks only

Show answer

C: carbon-14 in once-living material
Useful for remains up to about 50,000 years.

4. Iwo Eleru, a Late Stone Age site, is in present-day

Anambra State
Ondo State
Kaduna State
Borno State

Show answer

B: Ondo State
Near Akure; a skeleton dated about 11,000 BC.

5. Nok culture is famous for

terracotta sculptures and early iron working
bronze heads cast by lost-wax
stone castles
rock-hewn churches

Show answer

A: terracotta sculptures and early iron working
Central Nigeria, c. 1st millennium BC.

Key words

History: The study of the human past based on evidence.
Historiography: The study of how history is written: methods, sources and interpretations.
Primary source: Evidence produced at the time of the events studied.
Secondary source: A later account that interprets primary evidence.
Oral tradition: Knowledge of the past passed on by word of mouth.
Oriki: Yoruba praise poetry, a type of oral source.
Ajami: African languages, such as Hausa, written in Arabic script.
Archaeology: Study of the past through material remains.
Radiocarbon dating: Dating organic remains by measuring decay of carbon-14.
Thermoluminescence: A method for dating fired clay such as pottery and terracotta.
Superposition: The principle that lower undisturbed layers are older.
Terracotta: Fired clay used for sculpture, as at Nok and Ife.

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