Port Harcourt
Port Harcourt
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| Metropolis | |
Top: A street scene in Port Harcourt
Middle: Port Harcourt International Airport, The City Center Bottom: Government House, Port Harcourt |
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| Nickname(s): Pitakwa, P.H, Garden City | |
 Port Harcourt
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| Coordinates: 4°49′27″N 7°2′1″E / 4.82417°N 7.03361°ECoordinates: 4°49′27″N 7°2′1″E / 4.82417°N 7.03361°E | |
| Country |
 Nigeria
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| State | Rivers |
| LGA(s) |
Port Harcourt Obio-Akpor |
| Founded | 1912 |
| Incorporation | 1913 |
| Named for | Lewis Vernon Harcourt |
| Government | |
| • Type | Mayor–Council |
| • Body | Port Harcourt City Council |
| • Mayor | Soni Sam Ejekwu |
| Area | |
| • Metropolis | 369 km2 (142 sq mi) |
| • Land | 360 km2 (140 sq mi) |
| • Water | 9 km2 (3 sq mi) |
| • Urban | 158 km2 (61 sq mi) |
| • Metro | 1,900 km2 (700 sq mi) |
| Population (2006 census) | |
| • Metropolis | 1,005,904 |
| • Density | 2,700/km2 (7,100/sq mi) |
| • Urban | 1,865,000 |
| • Urban density | 12,000/km2 (31,000/sq mi) |
| • Metro | 2,000,000 |
| • Metro density | 1,100/km2 (2,700/sq mi) |
| Demonym(s) | Harcourtian |
| Time zone | WAT (UTC+1) |
| Postcode | 500 |
| Area code(s) | 084 |
| Climate | Am |
Port Harcourt (Ikwerre: Ígúọ́cha;Pidgin: Po-ta-kot) is the capital and largest city of Rivers State, Nigeria. It lies along the Bonny River and is located in the Niger Delta. As of 2016, the Port Harcourt urban area has an estimated population of 1,865,000 inhabitants, up from 1,382,592 as of 2006.
The area that became Port Harcourt in 1912 was before that part of the farmlands of the Diobu village group of the Ikwerre, an Igbo sub-group. The colonial administration of Nigeria created the port to export coal from the collieries of Enugu located 243 kilometres (151 mi) north of Port Harcourt, to which it was linked by a railway called the Eastern Line, also built by the British.
In 1956 crude oil was discovered in commercial quantities at Oloibiri, and Port Harcourt's economy turned to petroleum when the first shipment of Nigerian crude oil was exported through the city in 1958. Through the benefits of the Nigerian petroleum industry, Port Harcourt was further developed, with aspects of modernisation such as overpasses and city blocks. Oil firms that currently have offices in the city include Royal Dutch Shell and Chevron.
There are a number of institutions of tertiary education in Port Harcourt, mostly government-owned. These institutions include, Rivers State University of Science and Technology, University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State College of Arts and Science, Ignatius Ajuru University and Rivers State College of Health Science and Technology. The current Mayor is Soni Sam Ejekwu. Port Harcourt's primary airport is Port Harcourt International Airport, located on the outskirts of the city; the NAF base is the location of the only other airport and is used by commercial airlines Aero Contractors and Air Nigeria) for domestic flights.
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