Arewa

Arewa or Arewaland is a Hausa word which means "The North". The term is used to refer to Northern Nigeria general. The terms Arewa (literally "north") and Arewacin Nijeriya (literally "Northern Nigeria") are used in Hausa to refer to the historic region geopolitically located north of the River Niger.

The continued use of the term, Arewa ... has conjured up an image among educated Northerners that resonated far beyond the institutional structures Sir Ahmadu Bello created: the successor to the Bornu and Sokoto Caliphate; the vision of God's Empire in the region; the universality of its claim to suzerainty; and in a more prosaic but no less powerful sense, the concept of a polity with an emphasis on unity and sense of shared purpose in northern West Africa beyond the popular slogan--'one North, one People'.^[1]

In the history of Nigeria specifically, it is used to refer to the pre-1967 Northern Region, Nigeria. In Niger, it has a very specific meaning: a small pre-colonial animist dominated state of the Dallol Maouri valley, known for the indigenous "Maouri"/"Mawri" Hausa culture.^[2][3][4][5] In Nigeria, some towns have been called simply "Arewa" in the past, before British colonisation.

In recent years, the Northern Region has gained prominence in the digital space, with the rise of news websites and online platforms that focus on the region's affairs. One such platform is AREWA.ng, a news website that primarily covers news from Northern Nigeria.^[6]