Gade People: Origins, Civilisation and Industrialisation-An Anthropological and Historical Study

This study offers a comprehensive anthropological and historical analysis of the origins, civilisation, and industrialisation of the Gade people, situating their cultural evolution within a deep chronological framework stretching from over 3.4 million years ago to the contemporary era. Drawing upon oral traditions, archaeological landscapes, linguistic evidence, ethnographic narratives, and local historiography, the research examines how various Gade communities emerged as centres of engineering, spirituality, socio-political organisation, and technological innovation in precolonial and proto-modern Africa. The analysis identifies key civilisational hubs-such as Gaduge [Gudige], Tunga, Zebede, Dansa, Kurudu, Nasarawa, Keffi, Wuse, Garki [Geyeki], Ikị Kare, Ugbada, Karshi, Kuje, Unape, Ara, Gafaki, Uke, Geyeda, Gbogu, Tsegesu [Chegesu] Binda, Gadabuke, and Gariyimo (just to mention but a few) -as nodes of complex societal development. These centres exhibit traces of early civil engineering, fortified settlements, blacksmithing guilds, ritual architecture, agricultural innovation, commercial networks, weaving and textile production, iron-smelting technologies ‘Gụpyá’, and elaborate military and policing institutions such as Gọpádá, Pada security outfits [Gomo Security Barreau and Investigation]. The ancient city of Gaduge, for example, reveals massive defensive architecture exceeding 100 feet in height and extending over two kilometres, while Ikị Kare and its sub-settlements demonstrate migration histories dating back to between 12,000 BC and 6,500 BC. Communities such as Ugbada and Gafaki represent hubs of metallurgy, warfare, irrigation, long-distance trade, and indigenous science, while Karmo (Gariyimo) and Uke reflect cultural centres of magic, drum innovation, and Gaboist ritual performance. The study also foregrounds Àsàm-regarded in Gade cosmology as a primordial spiritual homeland-as an essential interpretive key for understanding Gade religious philosophy, metaphysics, and conceptions of ancestry, reincarnation, and cosmic governance. Within this worldview, material civilisation is inseparable from spiritual knowledge systems, such as Gaboism, which historically structured governance, creativity, resource management, and communal identity. By synthesizing archaeological clues, community histories, and indigenous knowledge systems, this work positions the Gade as a technologically inventive and culturally sophisticated African civilisation. Their contributions-ranging from stone-age engineering to blacksmithing, trade, ritual performance, and early urbanisation-demonstrate a long-standing intellectual tradition that shaped the socio-economic and political landscape of Central Nigeria and the broader sub-Saharan region.