The high Jos plateau south of Hausaland was home to many small farming peoples (the later Berom, Afizere, Anaguta, Irigwe, Ngas and Mwaghavul among them) living in defensible hill villages under their own heads, smelting iron and growing hungry rice (acha) and millet.
They lay beyond the reach of any Hausa town in 1200 and were later raided for slaves from Zazzau and Bauchi. Nothing is written of them for 1200.
Who holds it
- Title
- village heads and ritual chiefs
- Confidence
- low
How things stand that morning
Self-governing peoples.
Customs
Village heads, priests of the earth and of ancestor cults (later ethnography).
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Later ethnography only.
On the map: Rough outline.
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.