Most of the language's Nigerian speakers are found in Benue, Taraba, Nasarawa, Plateau, Cross River, Adamawa, Kaduna, and the Federal Capital Territory Abuja.

It is claimed[6] that the Tiv left their Bantu kin and wandered through southern, south-central and west-central Africa before returning to the savannah lands of West African Sudan via the River Congo and Cameroon Mountains and settled at Swem, the region adjoining Cameroon and Nigeria at the beginning of 1500C.E.,[6] which was originally the Bantu cradle and home.

Over time, as social interactions began and new migrants came into Nigeria, they mingled with Fulani at their northern axis to which they foster a relationship calling each other "Jo".

Due to their peaceful disposition and dispersed nature of living, with no Central government nor king, they posed no threat to new migrants to the region who cohabited with them until the coming of the Europeans.

[12] The British forces entered the Tivlands from the east in 1906, when there was tension between the Tiv and other minorities within the Benue valley.

The Tiv approach to battle, fighting techniques, weapons, physique and facial structure weren't any different from those of other bantu groups they had encountered in Southern and Central Africa.

During November 1907 to spring 1908, an expedition of the Southern Nigeria Regiment led by Lieutenant-Colonel Hugh Trenchard came into contact with the Tiv.

[15] The Tiv people and their lands were hence the last area in Nigeria of consequence to be brought under the British control.

[18] This form of social organisation, called a segmentary lineage, is seen in various parts of the world, but it is particularly well known from African societies (Middleton and Tait 1958).

The leaders' functions were to furnish safe conduct, arbitrate disputes within their lineages, sit on moots and lead their people in all external and internal affairs.

[20] These socio-political arrangements caused great frustration to British attempts to incorporate the population into Colonial Nigeria and establish an administration on the lower Benue.

The first reference to the language was by Sigismund Koelle in 1854 from freed slaves in Sierra Leone according to his study Polyglotta Africana.

Abraham stated that the language vocabulary of the Tiv people and the East African Nyanza group have a lot of similarities.

[3] When the Tiv people arrived at their current location several centuries earlier, they discovered that the zebra they used to hunt for meat and skin, used for ceremonial attire, was not native to the area.

When they acquired the skill of the loom, they decided to honor their heritage by weaving a cloth with black-and-white stripes, reminiscent of the zebra skin; this would then be made the preferred attire.

Nowadays, it is made into elaborate robes, such as those worn by the traditional rulers and elders – from the Tor Tiv downwards.

Other Tiv cultural clothes are Ivavtyo, Lishi, Gbev-whaa, Godo, Tugudu, Chado, Deremen, Gbagir, Anger etc.

The kakaki is a royal trumpet used in many West African groups in Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Burkina Faso.

Up until today, it is the main instrument for the celebration of newly wedded couples (marriage reception ceremony or Kwase-kuhan).

The indyer, believed to be connected with high magico-spiritual potency, is not played for secular purposes except for special occasions as sanctioned by the elders.

[34] It is used together with the agbande (drums) combined with the ageda at festivals to pass a message across to the people for a call for the display of culture.

The Tiv people of Benue state still practise some of this traditional system of communication, using the Kakais, Agbande, Indyer, Adiguve, Ilyu, etc.

Many of the communities in Benue state still use these instruments to convey messages to the people of their community, and it is helping a great deal, since there is a language barrier between people with the introduction of the western world's means of communication, using a western language (English) to convey information.

They are mostly carbohydrates or by-products of yams (iyou), cocoyam (mondu), cassava (alogo), beans (alev), maize (kyuleke), etc.

They established separate independent towns in their names and then 3 out of 4 of the group migrated to settle in Katsina Ala. Only the Njaw were left in Cameroon which are the natives of the Njawbaw(Njobo) village in Messaga Ekol court area.

The Cameroonian Tiv groups are; Bitare, Mesaka, Iyive, Ceve or Becheve, Evant, Eman, Ipulo, Caka, Undir, Oliti etc.

They occupy a total of 99 villages in the Akwaya sub-division covering an area of 3,682 square kilometers, which is their major homogenous population.

The 1991 census however did not show demographics by tribes but this alone makes Tiv the dominant ethnic group in the Nasarawa south senatorial district.

[54] Notable people Prof Emmanuel Kucha--- former VC University of Agriculture, Makurdi Hon Athanasius Tyo --- 1979 – 1983 House of representatives Awe, Keana, Doma federal constituency.

[55] Their largest populations are in Bali, Donga, Ibi, Gassol, Takum, Gashaka, Kurmi and Wukari Local Government Areas.