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Concept
Maiduguri
Summary
Maiduguri maɪˈduːgʊri is the capital and the largest city of Borno State in north-eastern Nigeria, on the continent of Africa. The city sits along the seasonal Ngadda River which disappears into the Firki swamps in the areas around Lake Chad. Maiduguri was founded in 1907 as a military outpost by the British Empire during the colonial period. As of 2022, Maiduguri is estimated to have a population of approximately two million.
The region was home to the Kanem-Bornu Empire for centuries. Maiduguri actually consists of two cities: Yerwa to the West and Old Maiduguri to the east.
Yerwa was founded in 1907 by Abubakar Garbai of Borno as the capital of the Bornu Kingdom. The location had before that been a small village known as Kalwa. This involved the transfer of the capital of the Kanuri people from Kukawa.
Old Maiduguri was selected by the British as their military headquarters in 1908 replacing Mafoni. The same year it became the location for the British Resident Commissioner over British Bornu.
In 1957 Yerwa became the designated name for the urban centre while Maiduguri was officially applied as the name of the surrounding rural area.
In 1964 the railway was extended here which led to its rise as a major commercial center in the region.
The city was once known as a "hub of Islamic scholarship in West Africa that ... [taught] tolerance and hospitality like its welcoming neem trees."
Maiduguri is one of the fifteen Local Government Areas (LGAs) that constitute the Borno Emirate, a traditional state located in Borno State, Nigeria.
Since the mid-1960s, Maiduguri has witnessed outbreaks of large inter-religious riots with members of religious sects leading intercommunal violence in 1982 and 2001.
On 18 February 2006, riots related to the Muhammad cartoons published by the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten left at least 15 people dead, and resulted in the destruction of approximately 12 churches. Soldiers and police quelled the riots, and the government temporarily imposed a curfew.
Official source
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