Jos
Overview
Middle Belt
The Middle Belt is a human geographical term designating the region of central Nigeria populated largely by minority ethnic groups and stretching across the country longitudinally. The Middle Belt is indeterminate in that it lacks designated "borders" and is charactized by a heterogeneity and...
of Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
.The city has a population of about 1.5 million residents.
Popularly called "J-town" or "Jesus Our Saviour" by the residents, it is the administrative capital of Plateau State
Plateau State
Plateau State is the twelfth largest state of Nigeria, and is roughly located in the center of the country. It is geographically unique in Nigeria because its boundaries totally surround the Jos Plateau, having the Jos Plateau totally in its central and northern part...
.
The city is located on the Jos Plateau
Jos Plateau
The Jos Plateau is a plateau located near the center of Nigeria. It covers 8600 km² and is bounded by 300-600 meter escarpments around much of its circumference. With an average altitude of 1280 metres and its highest point is Shere Hills 1829 meters...
at an elevation of about 1238 metres (4,062 ft) high above sea level. During British
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
colonial rule
Colonialism
Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...
, Jos was an important centre for tin mining
Tin
Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn and atomic number 50. It is a main group metal in group 14 of the periodic table. Tin shows chemical similarity to both neighboring group 14 elements, germanium and lead and has two possible oxidation states, +2 and the slightly more stable +4...
. In recent years it has suffered violent religious clashes between its Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
and Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
populations in 2001
2001 Jos riots
The 2001 Jos riots were riots involving Christians and Muslims in Jos, Nigeria over the appointment of a Muslim politician, Alhaji Muktar Mohammed, as local coordinator of the federal poverty alleviation program. The clashes started on September 7 and lasted nearly two weeks, ending on September 17...
, 2008
2008 Jos riots
The 2008 Jos riots were riots involving Christians and Muslims over the result of a local election on November 28 and 29, 2008 in Jos, a community in the Middle Belt region of Nigeria. Two days of rioting left over 400 injured and 381 killed...
, 2010
2010 Jos riots
The 2010 Jos riots were clashes between Muslim and Christian ethnic groups in central Nigeria near the city of Jos. The area has been plagued by violence for the past twenty years motivated by multiple factors. The clashes have been characterized as "religious violence" by many news sources,...
, and 2011.
The earliest known Nigerians were the Nok people (around 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 and according to Billy J.
Unanswered Questions
