History

Maiduguri, also called Yerwa or Yerwa-Maiduguri, capital and largest city of Borno state, northeastern Nigeria. It is located along the seasonal Ngadda (Alo) River, the waters of which disappear in the firki (“black cotton”) swamps of Lake Chad, northeast of the city.

Modern Maiduguri actually comprises the twin towns of Yerwa and Maiduguri. In 1907 Yerwa was founded on the site of the hamlet of Kalwa and was named by Shehu (“Sheikh” or “Sultan”) Bukar Garbai as the new traditional capital of the Kanuri people (replacing Kukawa, 80 miles [130 km] north-northeast, the former capital of the Bornu kingdom [see Kanem-Bornu]). Meanwhile, the market village of Maiduguri, just to the south, was selected by the British to replace nearby Mofoni (Maifoni, Mafoni) as their military headquarters, and, in 1908, they built a residency in what then became the capital of British Bornu. The combined city—locally called Yerwa—was divided into the urban district of Yerwa and the rural district of Maiduguri in 1957, but outside Borno both political units are now known simply as Maiduguri. The arrival of the railway in 1964 reinforced Maiduguri’s importance as the chief commercial centre of northeastern Nigeria. Livestock (mainly cattle but also goats and sheep), cattle hides, goatskins and sheepskins, finished leather products, dried fish (brought from Lake Chad), and gum arabic are the city’s chief exports, and there is also local trade in sorghum, millet, corn (maize), peanuts (groundnuts), and rice. There is a large cattle ranch at nearby Gombole, and there is poultry farming in the surrounding countryside. The Monday market at Yerwa, a tradition brought from Kukawa, is the largest in the state.