Nupe

The Nupe are the river people of the middle Niger, occupying the basin between the Niger and the Kaduna in central Nigeria. Their kingdom was forged in the fifteenth century by Tsoede, a leader of Igala origin who fled Idah, united neighboring villages by conquest and took the title Etsu.

The Nupe Kingdom is counted from 1531 and grew rich on river trade and craftwork; its woodcarving and brasswork were well known. Nupe cavalry pressed the Oyo Empire's northern marches.

Etsu Jibiri became the first Muslim ruler around 1770, and Etsu Ma'azu, who died in 1818, brought the kingdom to its greatest power. His death opened succession wars, and in the 1820s the Fulani of the Sokoto jihad, operating from Gwandu, made Nupe their dependency; in 1835 the old kingship was recast as the Nupe Emirate, later seated at Bida.