奈及利亚(Nigeria)

正式名称为奈及利亚联邦共和国（Federal Republic of Nigeria）

非洲西部国家。面积923,768平方公里。人口约126,636,000（2001）。首都︰阿布贾。奈及利亚的民族估计超过250个，包括豪萨人、富拉尼人、约鲁巴人和伊格博人。语言︰英语（官方语）、豪萨语。宗教︰伊斯兰教、基督教和传统宗教。货币︰奈拉（Nigerian naira，）。奈及利亚领土包含了高原和低地，其间有河谷散布，尼日河是主要河流。发展中的混合经济大部分是以石油生产和农业为主。制造业仍未发展。服务业、贸易和运输业雇用了全国逾2/5的劳动力。政府形式是联邦共和国，两院制。国家元首暨政府首脑是总统。

数千年来该地区都有人居住，从西元前500～西元200年，该地区是诺克文化的中心，也是几个前殖民时期帝国的中心，这些帝国包括卡内姆-博尔努以及桑海帝国、豪萨和富拉尼等王国。欧洲人於15世纪到过这里，此地成为奴隶贸易的中心。1861年该地区开始受英国控制，到1906年就完全被英国控制了。1960年奈及利亚获得独立，1963年成为共和国，由阿齐克韦任总统。民族冲突很快导致军事政变，1966～1979年以及1983年至今，由军人集团统治着这个国家。1967～1970年间中央政府与前东部地区比夫拉之间的内战，在上百万比夫拉人死於饥饿後，终於以比夫拉人的投降而告结束。1991年首都从拉哥斯迁到阿布贾。1995年政府处死萨罗-维瓦（Ken Saro-Wiwa），导致国际制裁，最终於1999年重新建立文职统治。到目前为止，奈及利亚是非洲人口最多的国家，它面临着人口快速增加、政治不稳定、高额外债、经济发展缓慢、高犯罪率以及严重的政府腐败等问题。

English version：

Nigeria

Nation, western Africa. Area: 356,669 sq mi (923,773 sq km). Population (1997 est.): 103,460,000. Capital: Abuja. There are more than 250 ethnic groups, including Hausa, Fulani, Yoruba, and Igbo (Ibo). Languages: English (official), Hausa. Religions: Islam, Christianity, animism. Currency: naira. Nigeria consists of plateaus and the lowlands between them, which are major river basins fed especially by the Niger River. It has a developing, mixed economy based largely on petroleum production and agriculture. Manufacturing remains undeveloped. Services, trade, and transportation employ more than two-fifths of the workforce. Nigeria is governed by a military regime. Inhabited for thousands of years, the region was the center of the Nok culture from 500 BC to AD 200 and several precolonial empires, including the state of Kanem-Bornu and the Songhai, Hausa, and Fulani kingdoms. Visited in the 15th century by Europeans, it became a center for the slave trade. The area began to come under British control in 1861, and was entirely British-controlled by 1906. Nigeria gained independence in 1960 and became a republic in 1963, with Nnamdi Azikiwe as president. Ethnic strife soon led to military coups, and military groups ruled the country 1966-79 and from 1983 to the present. Civil war between the central government and the former eastern region, Biafra, in 1967-70 ended in Biafra's surrender after the death by starvation of a million Biafrans. In 1991 the capital was moved from Lagos to Abuja. The government's execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa in 1995 led to international sanctions, and civilian rule was finally reestablished in 1999. By far the most populous nation in Africa, Nigeria suffers from rapid population increase, political instability, foreign debt, slow economic growth, a high rate of violent crime, and rampant government corruption.