Mountain Ranges, Deserts and Landforms of Nigeria

The Sahel region (; from Arabic ساحل sāḥil [ˈsaːħil], "coast, shore"), or Sahelian acacia savanna, is a biogeographical region in Africa. It is the transition zone between the more humid Sudanian savannas to its south and the drier Sahara to the north. The Sahel has a hot semi-arid climate and stretches across the southernmost latitudes of North Africa between the Atlantic Ocean and the Red Sea. Although geographically located in the tropics, the Sahel does not have a tropical climate.

The Sahel has one of the world's fastest-growing populations due to its high human birthrate, with approximately 80 million people in 2018. The western Sahel in particular has experienced frequent food and water shortages due to droughts caused by its semi-arid climate, as well as high levels of government corruption. Since the 2010s, various coups, insurgencies, terrorist incidents, and foreign interventions have taken place across the Sahel and Françafrique, leading to the region being called the Coup Belt. As a result, the Sahel is viewed as both an ecoregion and a geopolitical space shaped by internal instability and external strategic competition.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Sahel (CC BY-SA 4.0).

The Adamawa Plateau (French: Massif de l'Adamaoua) is a plateau region in west-central Africa stretching from south-eastern Nigeria through north-central Cameroon (Adamawa and North Provinces) to the Central African Republic. The part of the plateau that lies in Nigeria is more popularly known as Gotel Mountains.

The Adamawa Plateau is the source of many waterways, including the Benue River. The average elevation is about 1,000 metres (3,300 feet), but elevations can reach as high as 2,700 metres (8,700 feet). It is important for its deposits of bauxite. The vegetation is mostly savanna. The endangered toad Amietophrynus djohongensis is known to exist in the wild only in the Cameroonian part of the Adamawa Plateau.

The plateau is sparsely populated, and cattle raising is the main occupation in the area. The province and plateau were named after Fulani Muslim leader Modibo Adama, whose jihad significantly affected the population of the area.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Adamawa Plateau (CC BY-SA 4.0).

The Jos Plateau (formerly known as the Bauchi Plateau) is a plateau located near the centre of Nigeria. The plateau has given its name to the Plateau State in which it is found and is named for the state's capital, Jos. The plateau is home to people of diverse cultures and languages. The plateau's montane grasslands, savannas, and forests are home to communities of plants and animals distinct from those of the surrounding lowlands and constitute the Jos Plateau forest-savanna mosaic ecoregion.

At the start of the 20th century, the British established Jos as a tin-mining metropolis. Many individuals from Southern and Northern Nigeria came to Jos for work and business because of the tin industry on the plateau. Situated in North-Central Nigeria, the area consists of rolling hills on a plateau. Because of its diverse range of landforms and stunning scenery, the Jos Plateau is a popular tourist destination.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Jos Plateau (CC BY-SA 4.0).

The Slave Coast is a historical region along the Atlantic coast of West Africa, encompassing parts of modern-day Togo, Benin, and Nigeria. It is located along the Bight of Biafra and the Bight of Benin that is located between the Volta River and the Lagos Lagoon.

The name arose in the seventeenth century to differentiate it from the predominant trades in adjoining regions. For instance, the neighbouring Gold Coast (southern Ghana) was an important source of gold for European merchants, with any outward trade in slaves discouraged so as not to affect the main product of that area. The Slave Coast was a major source of African people sold into slavery during the Atlantic slave trade from the early 16th century to the late 19th century. During this time, this coastal area became a major hub for the export of enslaved Africans to the Americas. European powers, including the Portuguese, British, Dutch, Danish, and French, established forts and trading posts in the region to facilitate the slave trade. The area was so named due to the high volume of enslaved people transported from its shores, profoundly affecting both the local societies and the broader Atlantic world.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Slave Coast of West Africa (CC BY-SA 4.0).

The Niger Delta is a distinct geographic, ecological, and cultural region situated in southern Nigeria, defined by the extensive floodplain and riverine network where the Niger River drains into the Gulf of Guinea on the Atlantic Ocean [1]. Characterized by a unique aquatic ecosystem of mangrove swamps, barrier islands, and saltwater creeks, the true Niger Delta is home to indigenous populations fundamentally shaped by water and bound by shared cultural traditions. These include a lifestyle centered around riverine occupations, a distinct culinary identity featuring local staples like plantain and periwinkle, and the universal use of Nigerian Pidgin as a lingua franca.

Historically referred to by European traders as the Oil Rivers due to its pre-colonial prominence in the palm oil trade, the maritime area formed the British Oil Rivers Protectorate from 1885 until 1893, when it was reorganized as the Niger Coast Protectorate. In the modern era, the delta has become a globally recognized petroleum-rich hub, serving as the core of international concern over extensive oil pollution and ecological degradation frequently characterized as ecocide.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Niger Delta (CC BY-SA 4.0).