Editing Jos (section)

==History==
The earliest known settlers of the land that would come to be known as Nigeria were the [[Nok culture|Nok people]] ({{circa|1000}} BC), skilled artisans from around the Jos area who mysteriously vanished in the late first millennium.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Nok culture {{!}} Iron Age culture|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Nok-culture|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en|access-date=2020-05-23}}</ref>

[[File:The National Archives UK - CO 1069-62-74.jpg|thumb|left|Early British settlement in Jos, 1905]]
According to the historian Sen Luka Gwom Zangabadt,<ref>History of Jos and political development of Nigeria; Sen Luka Gwom Zangabadt</ref> the area known as Jos today was inhabited by [[indigenous peoples|indigenous]] [[ethnic groups of Nigeria|ethnic groups]] who were mostly farmers. During the [[British colonial period]], direct rule was introduced for the indigenous ethnic groups on the Jos Plateau since they were not under the [[Fulani]] [[emirate]]s where indirect rule was used.<ref>Billy J. Dudley. Parties and politics in Northern Nigeria</ref> According to the historian Samuel N Nwabara, the [[Fula people|Fulani]] empire controlled most of [[northern Nigeria]], except the Plateau province and the [[Berom people|Berom]], [[Ngas language|Ngas]], [[Tiv people|Tiv]], [[Jukun people (West Africa)|Jukun]] and [[Idoma people|Idoma]] ethnic groups.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Samuel N |last1=Nwabara |title=The Fulani conquest and the rule of the Hausa kingdom of Northern Nigeria (1804–1900)|url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/jafr_0037-9166_1963_num_33_2_1370|page=235}}</ref> It was the discovery of [[tin]] by the British that led to the influx of other ethnic groups such as the [[Hausa people|Hausa]] from the north, southeastern [[Igbo people|Igbo]], and [[Yoruba people|Yoruba]] from the country's southwest. As such, Jos is often recognised as a cosmopolitan Nigerian city.

According to the white paper of the commission of inquiry into the 1894 crisis, Ames, a British colonial administrator, said that the original name for Jos was ''Gwosh'' in the [[Izere language]] (spoken by the [[Afusari]], the first settlers in the area), which was a village situated at the current site of the city; according to Ames, the [[Hausa people|Hausa]], who arrived there after, wrongly pronounced Gwosh as "Jos" and it stuck.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Presswire |first=The New Gong |date=2017-05-20 |title=Jos, a city inspired by tin |url=https://thingsnigeria.com/2017/05/20/jos-a-city-inspired-by-tin/ |access-date=2024-07-05 |website=Things Nigeria |language=en}}</ref> Another version was that "Jos" came from the word "Jasad" meaning body in [[Arabic]]. To distinguish it from the hilltops, it was called "Jas", which was mispronounced by the British as "Jos". It grew rapidly after the British discovered vast [[tin]] deposits in the vicinity. Both tin and [[columbite]] were extensively mined in the area up until the 1960s. They were transported by railway to both [[Port Harcourt]] and [[Lagos]] on the coast, and then exported from those ports. Jos is still often referred to as "Tin City". It was made capital of [[Benue-Plateau State]] in 1967 and became the capital of the new Plateau State in 1975. Jos has become an important national administrative, commercial, and tourist centre. Tin mining led to the influx of [[Human migration|migrant]]s (mostly Igbos, Yorubas and [[European ethnic groups|Europeans]]) who constitute more than half of the population of Jos. This "melting pot" of race, ethnicity and religion makes Jos one of the most cosmopolitan cities in Nigeria. For this reason, [[Plateau State]] is known in Nigeria as the "home of peace and tourism".

Excellent footage of Jos in 1936 including the tin mines, local people and the colonial population is held by the [[Cinema Museum (London)|Cinema Museum]] in [[London]] [ref HM0172].