Nigeria is one of the most culturally-diverse political entities on the face of the earth. An amalgam of ancient kingdoms, tribes, empires and city-states brought together by trade, wars, colonialism and perhaps destiny, Nigeria is today a 36-state federation under a thriving democracy. Before the arrival of the British in the 19th century, Nigeria had a distinctly different shape. Variously sophisticated kingdoms and city-states flourished in the different regions. Around 1000 BC, early civilizations like the Noks-made popular by their magnificent terracotta art-inhabited parts of the north. Hausa city-states, Yoruba and Igbo kingdoms in the south, along with numerous sovereign communities formed by smaller ethnic groups, all sprung up in the early centuries AD and flourished considerably in their respective spheres of influence. Agriculture, and trade in a wide assortment of goods ranging from craft to slaves, sustained these early communities which had well-defined leadership structures; most often revolving around royalty or religious authority. Of the many factors that contributed to the dissimilarity between ancient Nigeria and the country as it exists today, international trade is perhaps the most culpable. While the northern states traded with North Africans and Arabs through the Sahara Desert, the Atlantic Ocean brought European merchants to the southern kingdoms. But trade, which brought wealth and exposure to these kingdoms for centuries, eventually paved the way for colonialism, and before the end of the 19th century, many of the formerly independent states had willingly-or having failed to defend their territories-signed 'protection' treaties with Great Britain. Some four decades after Lagos was declared a British colony in 1861, the Oil Rivers (parts of present-day Niger Delta region), the entire south, and finally the entire north, all fell under British control. The 1914 amalgamation of British-controlled northern and southern Nigerian territories opened a new chapter in Nigerian history; as Nigeria was administered as a single political entity for the first time in her history. Under British rule, ethnic, religious and regional differences, though evident, were largely ignored as the nation's founding fathers united in calling for Nigeria's liberation from British control. Independence came in 1960, but, shortly after, regional and ethnic rivalries resurfaced and took the young nation to the brink of disintegration. A civil war and a series of military dictatorship regimes followed; keeping the nation at development levels considered way below her potentials for years and decades. Reprieve came in 1999 with the return to democratic governance, but tackling the many troubles brought on the nation by years of instability and mismanagement of the economy has been a slow and painstaking process. Occasional clashes between rival ethnic or religious groups serve as reminders to both government and the governed, of the fragile nature of the Nigerian union. But having survived 100 years as a single political entity since the 1914 amalgamation, Nigerians have sufficient reasons to look forward to a united and prosperous future.+234Express(R) is proud and honoured to take you on this cursory tour through the history of Africa's most populous nation, and we are certain that at the end of it you will realise just how little you knew about Africa's emerging giant - Nigeria.