HISTORY BEHIND NAMES BEEN CALLED RIVER NIGER BEFORE COL0NIZÄTION.

HISTORY BEHIND NAMES BEEN CALLED RIVER NIGER BEFORE COL0NIZÄTION.

HISTORY BEHIND NAMES BEEN CALLED RIVER NIGER BEFORE COL0NIZÄTION.

Before colonization, the River Niger did not have a single, unified name across Nigeria.

Because it flows through multiple regions and diverse ethnic groups, the people living along its banks had their own distinct, localized names for it.

​The most prominent indigenous names used within Nigeria include:

​Kwara (or Kworra / Quorra): This was the dominant name for the river in northern and central Nigeria, used widely by the Hausa and neighboring groups. Early European explorers like Mungo Park and Richard Lander actually referred to the lower stretch of the river as the Quorra before realizing it was connected to the upper reaches in Mali.

​Oya: The name given to the river by the Yoruba people. In Yoruba mythology, the River Niger is personified as Oya, the powerful goddess of winds, lightning, and fertility, who was also the wife of Shango.

IGBOS: ​Orimiri Oshimili or Orimili: Meaning “great water” or “huge river” in the Igbo language, this was the name used by communities along its lower reaches in southeastern Nigeria (such as around Onitsha) as it flows toward the delta. Onitsha region is Orimiri Onicha.

​Outside of Nigeria:
Further upstream in West Africa, other major empires and ethnic groups had their own names for it, such as Joliba (or Jeliba) meaning “great river” in Manding/Mandingo, and Isa Ber meaning “big river” in Songhay.

The name “Niger” itself is believed to be a European adaptation influenced by the Tuareg phrase egerew n-igerewen (“river of rivers”), which was later popularized globally and eventually used to name both Nigeria and Niger.