State: Anambra

Anambra State sits in Nigeria’s southeast, with Awka as its capital. The state took its current shape on 27 August 1991, when the old Anambra State was reorganized and split.

The state borders Delta to the west, Imo and Rivers to the south, Abia to the southeast, Enugu to the east, and Kogi to the north.

Almost everyone in Anambra is Igbo, and the Igbo language works as a common tongue across the state’s towns and villages, even where local dialects differ.

Onitsha and Nnewi are the state’s commercial engines. Onitsha holds one of West Africa’s largest markets, while Nnewi has built a name in vehicle parts and, more recently, full vehicle assembly through Innoson, Nigeria’s first major indigenous car manufacturer. Farmers elsewhere in the state grow oil palm, maize, rice, yams, and cassava.

The Ogbunike Caves, a network of tunnels and chambers considered sacred by locals, draw visitors and pilgrims every year. The Igbo Ukwu Museum holds bronze artifacts dating back roughly a thousand years, among the oldest known bronze work in West Africa. Ikenga, meanwhile, protects one of the state’s last patches of untouched forest.

Anambra’s list of notable people is long. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Nigeria’s first president, was from the state, as was novelist Chinua Achebe. Singer Flavour and footballer Mikel John Obi both grew up there, and economist Charles Soludo, a former central bank governor, now runs the state as its governor.