Pre-1500 — Ancient settlement#
The Nok culture (c. 1500 BCE – 500 CE) is centred on the Jos Plateau. Berom, Tarok, Ngas, Mwaghavul, Anaguta, Afizere and Mupun settle the plateau highlands; iron-smelting at Taruga.
1500 — 1804 — Pre-colonial polities#
The plateau remains a refuge zone of non-Muslim village-republics, resisting Hausa-Fulani cavalry through its difficult terrain.
1804 — 1903 — The long 19th century#
Sokoto jihadists raid the plateau fringes (Bauchi Emirate to the east, Zaria to the west) but do not conquer the highlands. British WAFF patrols subdue Berom and Tarok villages between 1902 and 1909. Tin is discovered by the Royal Niger Company at the Jos plateau in 1884 (Bauchi tin); large-scale mining begins in 1903 at Naraguta and Jos (founded 1915) as the railhead of the Bauchi Light Railway (1914).
1900 — 1960 — Colonial provinces#
Plateau Province (1926) within Northern Nigeria.
1960 — present — State creation chain#
- 1967 — Benue–Plateau State (capital Jos).
- 3 Feb 1976 — Murtala creates Plateau State (capital Jos).
- 1 Oct 1996 — Nasarawa hived off.
- Jos crises: 2001 (c. 1,000 dead), 2008, 2010, 2018, 2024 — long-running Berom/Anaguta/Afizere vs Hausa/Fulani communal violence.