Esanland

Esanland, also called the Esan Nation, is a cultural region in Edo State, Nigeria, made up of five Local Government Areas and lying west of the Niger River. It covers about 2,800 square kilometres and is home to more than half a million people, whose culture is broadly homogeneous. It borders Kogi State, Delta State and the southern and northern senatorial districts of Edo. The region has been settled since the late Iron Age. From the fifteenth century it was bound to the Benin Empire, whose Oba approved its local rulers, the enijie, and which drew tribute and soldiers from Esan kingdoms. Resistance to British conquest ran from the 1890s into the early twentieth century, and Esan leaders such as Anthony Enahoro later took part in the campaign for Nigerian independence.