Zungeru is a town in Niger State

Niger State

Niger State is a state in the western part of Nigeria and the largest state in the country. The state capital is Minna, and other major cities are Bida, Kontagora, and Suleja. It was formed in 1976 when the then North-Western State was bifurcated into Niger State and Sokoto State.The state is named...

, Nigeria

Nigeria

Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...

. It was the capital of the British protectorate of Northern Nigeria

Northern Nigeria

Northern Nigeria is a geographical region of Nigeria. It is more arid and less densely populated than the south. The people are largely Muslim, and many are Hausa...

 from 1902 until 1916. It is the site of the Niger State Polytechnic and is located on the Kaduna River

Kaduna River

The Kaduna River is a tributary of the Niger River which flows for 550 kilometres through Nigeria. It got its name from the crocodiles that lived in the river and surrounding area. Kaduna in the native dialect, Hausa, was the word for "crocodiles"....

.

According to local oral history, "Zungeru" is a corrupted form of the word "Dunguru". Tradition holds that British colonialists came upon a Gwari

Gwari

Gbagyi are an ethnic group in central Nigeria. They are predominantly found in the Niger and Kaduna States and the Federal Capital Territory...

 man playing a Dunguru (a musical instrument used by the Nupe

Nupe

The Nupe, traditionally called the Tapa by the neighbouring Yoruba, are an ethnic group located primarily in the Middle Belt and northern Nigeria, and are the dominant group in Niger and an important minority in Kwara State.-History:...

 and Gwari) in the area of what is now Zungeru.