The City of Jos

The city of Jos is situated at the northern edge of a pear-shaped upland known as the Jos Plateau. This upland stretches for approximately 104km. from north to south, and 80km from east to west covering an area of about 8,600km2 or 860,000 hectares. Characterised by impressive ridges and isolated rocky hills separated by extensive plains, the Plateau exhibits a variety of land forms which provide excellent picnic resorts. Several rivers and hillocks are interspersed among the highlands giving the landscape a striking scenery. It maintains an average height of 1,200m (4,000ft) above sea level, and reaches its highest peak in the Shere Hills where it stands at 1,766m (5,829ft).

Another remarkable feature of the Jos Plateau is the clusters of hamlets and villages, which lend colour and beauty to the landscape. These settlements together with the farm plots are, in many cases, demarcated by cactus hedges.

Jos was established in 1915, as a tin transportation camp and its early history was closely linked to the prosperity of the mining industry. In 1967, it became the capital of the defunct Benue-Plateau State and was transformed into the capital city of Plateau State in 1975, thus becoming an important administrative and commercial centre, therefore you find people of different backgrounds (race, tribe and religion) leaving together. With a population of about 1,000,000, Jos remains one of the most cosmopolitan cities in Nigeria. It is adjudged the "home of peace" or as the safest city to live in Nigeria.

Situated almost at the geographical centre of the country and less than 300km from Abuja, the Federal Capital of Nigeria, Jos is linked by road, rail and air to the rest of the country. It has an equable climate with its average monthly temperatures ranging between 21° and 25° C (69° and 77° F), average humidity of 60% and average annual rainfall of 1,400mm (56").

Points of interest include an open-air museum of traditional architecture and the Jos Museum, which displays artifacts of the Nok culture. In the early 1900s Jos was built by the British at the site of the preexisting village of Geash. Tin mining began in the area in about 1907, and developed rapidly following the completion of a railroad to Jos in 1914. Jos also grew as a resort town, attracting tourists to its cool climate. The city has attracted migrants from Nigeria's many ethnic groups. Population (1995 estimate) 201,200.