PATEGI

town, Kwara state, west-central Nigeria. It lies on the south bank of the Niger River opposite the town of Mureji and the mouth of the Kaduna River. Founded in the late 16th century by the king of the Nupe peoples, the town, the name of which means small hill, became the capital of the Pategi emirate in 1898. Idrisu Gana, the leader of the Kede (a subgroup of the Nupe), had given aid to the Royal Niger Company in its conquest of Bida, a Fulani-dominated Nupe town (28 miles north-northeast), in 1897; and, in return, the company recognized him as the king of the Nupe and the first emir of Pategi. Most of the inhabitants of the area are Muslim Nupe people. Pategi is a collecting point for the rice grown on the floodplains of the Niger and for dried fish. It is also a market centre for rice, yams, sorghum, millet, corn (maize), sugarcane, kola nuts, peanuts (groundnuts), palm produce, and cotton. Pop. (latest census) 5,399.