ABSTRACT
The Tiv live in the Northern Provinces of Nigeria, on both banks of the Benue River, some 140 miles from its confluence with the Niger. Tiv country today stretches from about 6° 30' N. to 8° N. and from 8° E. to 10° E. Although Tiv settlements are found beyond these meridians to the north and east, Tiv Division of Benue Province, which is the centre of Tiv settlement and contains over threequarters of their total number, lies within these limits. Tiv country extends from the foothills of the mountains of the Cameroons and of the Sonkwala Hills in the south, down the undulating plains to the Benue. North of the river Tiv have begun to expand over the similar plain which ends under the escarpment of the Bauchi Plateau. Although the Benue River in Tiv country is only some 350 ft. above sea level, southern Tivland, on the watershed between the Benue and Cross Rivers, reaches an altitude of about 1,300 ft., with some hills as high as 4,000 ft.
