Official state website. Historical background: Lower Benue Province (1900), renamed Nasarawa Province in 1902 after the Emir of Nasarawa submitted; capital moved from Akpanaja to Nasarawa town; Plateau Province formed in 1926 from Muri, Nasarawa and Bauchi provinces; Benue-Plateau State (May 1967); Plateau State (1976); Nasarawa State from the western half of Plateau State (October 1996), capital Lafia. Extent 7°45′–9°25′ N, 7°–9°37′ E; area 26,875.59 km²; population about 1,826,883 (2006); 13 LGAs and 18 development areas; peoples; physiography; climate; agriculture (over 70% in subsistence farming); minerals incl. Lafia-Obi coal; Farin Ruwa Falls; Keana and Awe salt villages.