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The Atyap people are an ethnic group found majorly in Zangon-Kataf, Kaura and Jema'aLocal Government Areas of southern Kaduna State and Riyom of Plateau State, Nigeria. They speak the Tyap language, one of the Central Plateau languages.[2] Atyap
Total population
281,000[1]
Regions with significant populations
Nigeria
Languages
Tyap (A̱lyem Tyap)
Religion
Christianity, A̱bwoi, Islam.
The Atyap occupy part of the Nok cultural complex in the upper Kaduna River valley, famous for its terra-cotta figurines
Subgroups and clans
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According to Wikipedia,
The Atyap sub-groups consists of a group of seven or eight ethnic groups namely: Agworog, Asholyio, Atyap proper, Atyecharak, Atyuku, Fantswam and Takad.
In terms of clans
The Atyap have four main clans: Agbaat, Aminyam, Aku and Ashokwa.
Prehistoric era
It has already been established earlier that the Atyap occupy a part of the Nok culturearea, whose civilization spanned c. 1500 BC to c. 500 AD, with many archeological discoveries found scattered within and around Atyap land.[4][7]
Early jihad days
Following the attacks of those who varied from the ideals of the jihadist groups in Kano, Zaria and Bauchi, some migrated to Zangon Katab and were accompanied by even those who bore the jihadist flags in Hausaland who sought to acquire wealth through their new cause, same waged wars of expansion on settlements all over. The Amala, Arumarumaand others around Kauru, Lere and Ajure (Kajuru) by 1820 were subdued as vassals of Zaria and those settlements served as attack launching centres for Emirate campaigns against the Atyap and their neighbours.
Richard Lander's visit
In 1827, Richard Lander in his first expedition with his master, Captain Hugh Clapperton, who died in Sokoto earlier, on his return chose to pass through another route which led him to becoming the first European to visit and describe the important town of Zangon Katab (which he spelt "Cuttub") and its people, the Atyap.
From Sokoto, he travelled down along with William Pascoe, a Hausa man who served as his interpreter, to Kano but again chose to travel south to Panda (spelt "Funda") on the Benue River instead, so as to get to the Bight of Benin to return to England because he had little money left
Later jihad days and slave trade
The itinerant traders of Zangon Kataf in the 1830s began regarding themselves as subjects of the Emir of Zaria, again refusing to pay tribute to the Atyap instead, began showing signs of independence from the Atyap which by the 1840s reached its climax. It was then that the Atyap were conferred the dhimmi status as a non-Muslim group in which they were expected to pay the protection fee (jizya) to the Emir of Zaria to avoid jihadist attack, which also included an annual donation of 15 slaves, 20 raffia mats, some kegs of honey and bundles of raffia fronds to be collected from each clan by their princes (or Hausa: magajis). The jekadaappointed by Zaria, then collect these items and transport them to the Emir on Zaria. The Atyap however, did not feel obliged to pay for these tributes because they felt it was only applicable to non-Muslims living in a Muslim state and being that they were in their own state, refused paying. Some of the jekadasfrom Zaria were usually attacked and killed by the Atyap and the Hausa traders and their cattle sometimes faced similar threats. The captives realised were sold into slavery to the Irigwe middlemen in particular and others with political status held ransom from Zaria.
20th century
The British military entered Atyapland 3 April 1903, and took it without a fight from the Atyap, probably due to the fatigue incurred on the Kwassau wars which the people were still recovering from.
Christian missionaries found fertile ground with the Atyap, who had rejected the Moslem religion. This served to increase tensions between the Atyap and the Hausa. However, one has to be very careful when referring to religious conflicts in Nigeria, as it is not all Atyap people that are Christians, similarly, not all Hausa people are Muslims. Oftentimes, historians make more emphasis on religious factor other than other basic factors like land for example. The Atyap also resented loss of land, considering that they had originally owned all of the Zangon-Kataf territory and had been illegally dispossessed by Hausa intruders.
Post colonial Nigeria
After independence in 1960, General Yakubu Gowon (1966–1975) introduced reforms, letting the Atyap appoint their own village district heads, but the appointees were subject to approval by the emir, and were therefore often seen as puppets.
Much earlier in 1922 the then emir of Zaria acquired a stretch of land in Zango town, the Atyap capital, with no compensation. In 1966 the emir gave the land, now used as a market, to the Hausa community. The Atyap complained that the Hausa traders treated them as slaves in this market.
To reduce the tensions, after the death of the Hausa District Head of Zangon Kataf in 1967, an Atyap Bala Ade Dauke was made the first indigenous District Head of Zangon Kataf and Kuyambanan Zazzau and remained so for the next 28 years.[19]
Tensions steadily increased, flaring up in February 1992 over a proposal to move the market to a new site, away from land that had been transferred to the Hausas. The proposal by the first Atyap head of the Zangon Kataf Local Government Area was favoured by the Atyap who could trade beer and pork on the neutral site and opposed by the Hausa, who feared loss of trading privileges. Over 60 people were killed in the February clashes. Further violence broke out in Zango on 15/16 May, with 400 people killed and most buildings destroyed. When the news reached Kaduna, rampaging Hausa youths killed many Christians of all ethnic groups in retaliation.[20]
In the aftermath, many Hausa fled the area, although some returned later, having no other home.[15] A tribunal set up by the Babangida military government sentenced 17 people to death for alleged complicity in the killings, including a former military governor of Rivers State, Major-General Zamani Lekwot, an Atyap. The sentences were eventually reduced to gaol terms.[21] It was said that Lekwot's arrest was due to his feud with Ibrahim Babangida, then Head of State. No Hausa were charged.[22]
An Atyap Chiefdom was created in 1995 following the recommendation of a committee headed by Air Vice Marshall Usman Mu'azu that investigated the cause of the uprising.
For some time, the Atyap had been increasingly speaking Hausa, the primary (i.e. major) language of the region. However, after the violent clashes in 1992 there has been a strong trend back to use of Tyap.
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