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Nigeria

sovereign state in West Africa

42 dated entries naming Nigeria, drawn from 35 separate years between 1000 BCE and 2025 CE. Nothing here is written by us: each line is the sentence a Wikipedia year article used, and the link beside it opens the exact revision.

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10th century BC

8th century

  • 800Ife, in present-day Nigeria, becomes an important urban center (approximate date).source

10th century

  • 948The Kingdom of Nri (modern Nigeria) is founded by the priest-king Eri (until 1041).source

14th century

  • 1385February – Bugaya becomes the new Sultan of Kano in what is now northern Nigeria, upon the death of his brother Yaji I.source
  • 1388Omar I is succeeded by Sa'id, as King of the Kanem-Bornu Empire (modern-day east Chad and Nigeria). Sa'id is succeeded in the same year by Kade Alunu. Omar and Sa'id are both killed by Bilala invaders from the west.source
  • 1389Biri II succeeds Kade Alunu as King of the Kanem-Bornu Empire (now eastern Chad and Nigeria), and the Empire loses its land in present-day Chad to the Bilala.source

19th century

  • 1892May 19 – Battle of Yemoja River: British troops defeat Ijebu infantry in modern-day Nigeria, using a maxim gun.source
  • 1892May 22 – The British conquest of Ijebu Ode marks a major extension of colonial power into the Nigerian interior.source
  • 1899June 28 – In Nigeria, British authorities publicly hang King Ologbosere Irabor outside of the courthouse at Benin City, after he was convicted of ordering the massacre of a party dispatched by the British consul.source

20th century

  • 1901January 1 – Nigeria becomes a British protectorate.source
  • 1960October 1 – Nigeria becomes independent from the United Kingdom, and Nnamdi Azikiwe becomes its first native-born Governor General.source
  • 1963October 2 – Nigeria becomes a republic; The 1st Republican Constitution is established.source
  • 19642 February - Goodluck Nanah Opiah, politician and former speaker of the Imo State House of Assembly, Nigeria.source
  • 1966January 15 – 1966 Nigerian coup d'état: A bloody military coup is staged in Nigeria, deposing the civilian government and resulting in the death of Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa.source
  • 1966January 22 – The military government of Nigeria announces that ex-prime minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa was killed during the coup a week previously.source
  • 1966May 24 – The Nigerian government forbids all political activity in the country until January 17, 1969.source
  • 1966July 29 – 1966 Nigerian counter-coup: Army officers from the north of Nigeria execute head of state General Aguiyi-Ironsi and install Yakubu Gowon.source
  • 1967May 30 – Biafra, in eastern Nigeria, announces its independence, which is not recognized.source
  • 1967July 6 – Nigerian Civil War: Nigerian forces invade the secessionist Biafra May 30.source
  • 1970January 15 – After a 32-month fight for independence from Nigeria, Biafran forces under Philip Effiong formally surrender to General Yakubu Gowon, ending the Nigerian Civil War.source
  • 1973January 22 – A Royal Jordanian Boeing 707 flight from Jeddah crashes in Kano, Nigeria; 176 people are killed.source
  • 1976February 13 – General Murtala Mohammed of Nigeria is assassinated in a military coup.source
  • 1979October 1 – Nigeria terminates military rule, and the Second Nigerian Republic is established.source
  • 198818 November – Cyprus, Czechoslovakia, Egypt, Gambia, India, Nigeria, Seychelles, and Sri Lanka recognizes the State of Palestine. The Czech Republic and Slovakia continue this recognition following the 1992 dissolution of Czechoslovakia.source
  • 1990August 21 – The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone send peacekeepers to intervene in the First Liberian Civil War.source
  • 1991December 12 – The government of Nigeria moves the capital from Lagos to Abuja.source
  • 1996November 8 – All 144 people on board a Nigerian-owned Boeing 727 die after the aircraft crashed into the Atlantic Ocean while approaching Lagos airport.source
  • 1998February 12 - Fighting between Nigerian troops and the military government of Sierra Leone now reach Freetown.source
  • 1998October 17 – 1998 Jesse pipeline explosion: An oil pipeline explosion in Jesse, Nigeria results in 1,082 deaths.source
  • 1999May 29 – Nigeria terminates military rule, and the Fourth Nigerian Republic is established with Olusegun Obasanjo as president.source
  • 2000July 10 – In southern Nigeria, a leaking petroleum pipeline explodes, killing about 250 villagers who were scavenging gasoline.source

21st century

  • 2002October 10 — The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled against Nigeria in favor of Cameroon over the disputed oil-rich Bakassi peninsula territory.source
  • 2003The country competed in the 2003 All-Africa Games held at the National Stadium in the city of Abuja, Nigeria.source
  • 20069 April – Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and the Republic of the Congo president Denis Sassou-Nguesso host talks in Abuja between the rival groups in Darfur hoping to accelerate the peace process. Sudanese attendees include Vice President Ali Osman Mohamed Taha, Minni Arcua Minnawi head of the most powerful faction of the divided Sudan Liberation Army, and Khalil Ibrahim, leader of the smaller Justice and Equality Movement.source
  • 2009February 25: Nigeria and Algeria began talks in Abuja about completing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). The agreement would implement the Trans Sahara Gas Pipeline, which will transport gas from Nigeria to be delivered to Mediterranean and European gas markets. The gas line will also pass through Niger and Algeria.source
  • 2009October 15 – The United Nations General Assembly elects Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Gabon, Lebanon and Nigeria to serve two-year terms on the United Nations Security Council as non-veto-holding members.source
  • 2014April 14 – Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping: an estimated 276 girls and women are abducted from a school in Nigeria and held hostage.source
  • 2017March 10 – The UN warns that the world is facing the largest humanitarian crisis since World War II, with up to 20 million people at risk of starvation and famine in Yemen, Somalia, South Sudan and Nigeria.source
  • 2019June 17 – A triple suicide blast kills 30 and injures over 40 in Borno, Nigeria, at a hall where people were watching a football match.source
  • 2022June 5 – At least 50 people are killed in a dual mass shooting-bomb attack in Owo, Nigeria.source
  • 2023June 13 – At least 106 people are killed when a wedding boat capsizes on the Niger River in Kwara State, Nigeria.source
  • 2025December 25 – The United States, in cooperation with the Nigerian government, initiates a series of airstrikes targeting Islamic State-affiliated militants operating in the country's Sokoto State. US President Donald Trump states that rising extremist violence against Christians is a primary reason for the strikes.source

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