1,206-CITY ATLASSOURCE-BACKED CITY REFERENCE
Nigeria
Compare this sourced profile of Zaria, Nigeria before planning. Stable fields identify the place; confirm current transport, access and opening details with official sources.
01What the data says — and does not say
This page separates the checked GeoNames row for Zaria—980,000, Africa/Lagos, and source coordinates—from live travel claims. Those fields identify and compare the record; they do not prove current transport, accessibility, census totals, or a City Atlas Club visit.
Wikidata's localized description: city and local government area in Kaduna, Nigeria.
02This city's dataset fingerprint
The source row behind Zaria is GeoNames ID 2317765. Its recorded administrative path is Sabon Gari → Kaduna State → Nigeria, and GeoNames classifies the place as a populated place. Zaria occurs once as a primary city label in this atlas sample; the numeric ID remains the durable source key if names change. The city row itself was updated 2024-01-18; that date belongs to the source record, not to every transport or visitor detail in the real destination.
Within the fixed 1,206-record atlas, Zaria ranks 564 by recorded population. Inside the 30 selected Nigeria entries it ranks 14; inside the 243 entries in its broad region it ranks 113. Its 980,000 population value is 1.05 times the 930,000 median for the country cohort and 1.09 times the 902,588 regional median. Zaria sits in the second quarter of this atlas's Nigeria population cohort. Zaria's recorded value stays within one quarter of the country-cohort median used here. These comparisons describe this selected dataset only; they are not current census rankings or official urban-area boundaries.
Zaria's three nearest other atlas coordinates are Kaduna at 72.049 km with 1,850,000 recorded people; Kano at 131.341 km with 4,910,000 recorded people; Jos at 183.418 km with 1,040,000 recorded people. The closest-to-farthest distance spread is 111.369 km. Compared with Kaduna, Zaria's recorded population is 0.53 times as large. Against Zaria, Kaduna follows Kaduna North → Kaduna State → Nigeria in the source. Its point has lower latitude and lower longitude; it belongs to the same selected Nigeria cohort, uses the shared Africa/Lagos identifier, and carries first-order administrative seat rather than populated place. Its recorded population is above Zaria's. Against Zaria, Kano follows Kano Municipal → Kano State → Nigeria in the source. Its point has higher latitude and higher longitude; it belongs to the same selected Nigeria cohort, uses the shared Africa/Lagos identifier, and carries first-order administrative seat rather than populated place. Its recorded population is above Zaria's. Against Zaria, Jos follows Jos North → Plateau State → Nigeria in the source. Its point has lower latitude and higher longitude; it belongs to the same selected Nigeria cohort, uses the shared Africa/Lagos identifier, and carries first-order administrative seat rather than populated place. Its recorded population is above Zaria's. Its nearest-neighbor distance ranks 566 of 1,206 from shortest to longest in the same snapshot. Zaria's nearest-coordinate gap sits in the second quarter of atlas distances. This pattern can reveal whether other catalog references are geographically close, but it cannot establish whether a border crossing is possible or practical, or whether rail, road, fare, or journey-time connections exist. Read as one record signature, GeoNames 2317765, the coordinate pair 11.1113 / 7.7227, country rank 14 of 30, and neighbor GeoNames 2335727 at 72.049 km bind Zaria to a reproducible comparison. That combined key distinguishes the row; it is not a recommendation or evidence of a physical connection.
Zaria's reference point is 11.1113° north and 7.7227° east. The IANA identifier Africa/Lagos is shared by 30 city rows in this catalog, while the GeoNames class PPL is shared by 243 rows. Zaria's row carries both second- and first-order administrative labels. Zaria's point falls in the near-equatorial coordinate band used by this atlas's row checks. Zaria's time-zone field defines the narrower catalog cohort; its place class is shared more broadly. GeoNames supplies no elevation for Zaria, so the profile preserves that missing value instead of guessing terrain. Together these fields form a reproducible identity check for this page, not a claim about walkability, climate or accessibility.
03Nearby atlas references
Zaria's closest other entries in this atlas are Kaduna (72.049 km), Kano (131.341 km), Jos (183.418 km).
04Verify before you book
Before visiting Zaria, confirm changing decisions with current first-party sources:
Read how City Atlas Club verifies changing travel facts →05Sources and freshness
GeoNames updated the row 2024-01-18; the atlas checked the dataset 2026-08-04. Available Wikidata fields were verified in the same run.
GeoNames data: CC BY 4.0. Wikidata labels and descriptions: CC0 1.0.