In pre colonial Nigeria, identity was not confined to lineage or village alone. People belonged to layered communities shaped by political authority, economic exchange, religious life, and shared institutions. Kinship remained important, but courts, markets, armies, and religious schools shaped everyday experience. Where states governed, they influenced how people understood protection, obligation, justice, and loyalty.
Belonging grew through participation. Paying tribute, trading under state protection, serving in military campaigns, and appealing to recognised courts all reinforced political membership. These practices created a sense of being inside an order that extended beyond immediate family or town, even while local identities remained strong.
The Oyo Empire, power, administration, and shared obligation
In the savannah and forest zones of what is now southwestern Nigeria, the Oyo Empire stands as a clear example of state shaped belonging. Oyo developed a highly organised political system combining a central monarchy, provincial administration, and powerful councils. Authority extended through appointed officials and tribute relationships that linked towns and regions to the capital.
Military organisation played a central role. Cavalry forces protected trade routes and enforced authority, while provincial leaders were expected to supply tribute and loyalty. These obligations created shared expectations. People understood their place through recognised political structures, offices, and duties, not only through ancestry.
Political belonging in Oyo was reinforced through ritual and ceremony. Public festivals, royal authority, and court protocol made the state visible. Even communities with strong local traditions navigated daily life through the framework of imperial authority.
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The Benin Kingdom, court culture and political identity
Further south, the Benin Kingdom developed a distinctive form of political belonging rooted in court culture and centralised authority. The Oba stood at the centre of governance, supported by titled chiefs and guilds that structured economic and political life. Craft production, especially bronze casting, was closely tied to royal authority, reinforcing the connection between identity and the state.
Belonging in Benin was expressed through service to the court, participation in guilds, and recognition within hierarchical systems of title and duty. Rituals, palace ceremonies, and controlled access to power shaped how people understood status and inclusion. The state was not distant. It was present in labour obligations, trade regulation, and public life.
Hausaland, cities, trade, and Islamic institutions
In northern Nigeria, identity was shaped by city based political systems and long distance trade. Hausa city states such as Kano, Katsina, and Zaria were deeply connected to trans Saharan networks linking the region to North Africa. Trade brought wealth, learning, and new institutions that reshaped public life.
Islam became influential in major urban centres through merchants and scholars. Mosques, schools, and courts introduced shared legal and educational practices that crossed lineage boundaries. Religious affiliation created bonds recognised across cities and regions, reinforcing political and scholarly networks.
These changes were uneven and gradual. Some communities adopted Islamic institutions earlier than others, and local customs remained important. What mattered was the growth of shared frameworks of law, learning, and authority that connected cities and shaped how people imagined belonging beyond their immediate surroundings.
Kanem Bornu, continuity and imperial authority
In the northeast, the Kanem Bornu state represented long lasting political continuity. Its rulers combined Islamic legitimacy with established systems of governance, maintaining authority across centuries. Administrative structures, tribute systems, and military organisation reinforced a shared political identity that endured despite environmental and political challenges.
Belonging within Kanem Bornu was shaped by loyalty to the ruling dynasty, participation in imperial systems, and integration into wider Islamic networks. The state’s longevity strengthened institutional memory, allowing identity to be reinforced across generations.
The Sokoto Caliphate, reform and transformation
The reform movement led by Usman dan Fodio in the early nineteenth century reshaped northern Nigeria. Beginning in 1804, the movement challenged existing rulers and introduced a new political order grounded in Islamic reform. Military campaigns dismantled many Hausa ruling structures, while new emirates were established under a central authority.
By the second decade of the nineteenth century, most major Hausa city states had been incorporated into the Sokoto Caliphate. Governance was reorganised through Islamic law, scholarly authority, and administrative hierarchy. Courts, taxation, education, and leadership were reshaped within a shared framework that linked local communities to a wider political and religious order.
Belonging under the caliphate was experienced through allegiance to emirates, participation in Islamic institutions, and recognition of scholarly leadership. Political and religious identity became closely intertwined, influencing how communities understood authority and legitimacy.
Language, writing, and Ajami traditions
Language shaped belonging not only through speech but through writing. In many Hausa speaking areas, Ajami traditions developed, using Arabic derived scripts to write local languages. These traditions supported religious teaching, correspondence, poetry, and scholarship.
Ajami literacy grew unevenly, often centred on scholars and students. Even so, writing strengthened institutions by preserving knowledge and enabling communication across distance. Texts could be copied, taught, and shared, helping ideas and norms circulate beyond single towns.
Writing supported continuity. Religious instruction, legal principles, and political correspondence endured beyond individual rulers, reinforcing a sense of shared identity rooted in institutions rather than personalities.
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How power shaped belonging in pre colonial Nigeria
Across pre colonial Nigeria, political belonging emerged from lived experience within institutions. Oyo shaped identity through administration and military power. Benin reinforced belonging through court culture and ritual authority. Hausaland connected cities through trade and scholarship. Kanem Bornu demonstrated continuity through imperial governance. Sokoto transformed identity through reform and administration.
These states did not erase local identities. Instead, they added layers of belonging shaped by courts, markets, armies, and schools. Identity in pre colonial Nigeria was dynamic, shaped by power, participation, and shared institutions.
Author’s Note
Belonging grows where authority is lived. In pre colonial Nigeria, kingdoms and caliphates shaped identity through law, trade, learning, and ritual, making political membership part of everyday life while local ties continued to endure.
References
Oxford Research Encyclopaedia of African History, History of Nigeria.
Osaghae, Eghosa E., Trends of Migrant Political Organization in Nigeria, IFRA Nigeria, 1994.
Smith, Robert S., Kingdoms of the Yoruba, University of Wisconsin Press.
Ryder, Alan F. C., Benin and the Europeans, 1485 to 1897, Longman.
Paden, John N., Religion and Political Culture in Kano, University of California Press, 1973.
Last, Murray, The Sokoto Caliphate, Longman.
Hunwick, John O., scholarship on Kanem Bornu and Islamic scholarship in the central Sudan.
Dobronravine, Nikolai, research on Hausa Ajami literature and script traditions.
