Port Harcourt also known as the garden city is the capital and largest city in Rivers state, Southsouth geopolitical zone, Nigeria. The city of Port Harcourt is home to indigenous tribes within Rivers State like the Ikwerre, Ibani, Opobo, Kalabari and Ogoni. Christianity and traditional religion are the most widely practiced religions in Port harcourt city while English and pidgin English are the commonly spoken languages. Tertiary institutions in Port harcourt include the Port harcourt Polytechnic, University of Port harcourt and the Rivers state University of Science and Technology.
Port harcourt city has a total estimated population of about 1,965,000 inhabitants while popular areas in the city include trans-amadi, rumuomasi , Diobu mile 1-4, Old GRA, Rumueme, Oroakwo, Amadi flat, Borikiri, New Layout, Rumukrueshi, Magbuoba, Rumuokwuta, New GRA, Ikwerre, and Rumuokoro. Prominent festivals in Port harcourt include the annual Port harcourt book festival and the Port harcourt carnival. Port Harcourt is home to several delicacies which include the very popular Boli and fish which is a meal of roasted plantain served with fish sauce.
Important landmarks within Port harcourt city include the University of Port harcourt, Isaac Boro Garden Park, Port harcourt Pleasure park, Port harcourt zoo, Rivers state cultural center, Rivers state Museum, Port harcourt City Mall, Port harcourt Golf club, Port harcourt Tourist Beach, Adokiye Amiesiemaka stadium, Bonny River and Island, the Liberation sports stadium and the Air force base. Hospitals found in Port harcourt include the Sterling specialist hospital, Pamo Clinic and hospital, First Rivers hospital, Braitwait memorial specialist hospital, Kelsey Hamson hospital, Gynescope specialist hospital, Anchor Hospital, April hospital, and Valentine hospital.
The city of Port harcourt covers a total area measuring 369 km squared with the city falling under the Tropical Monsoon climate. The city has an average temperature of 26.5 degrees centigrade and has two distinct seasons which are the rainy and dry seasons.
The total estimated annual precipitation of Port harcourt city is 2,708 mm with September as the wettest month averaging 367 mm of rainfall while December is usually the driest month with an average of 20 mm of rainfall.
The city of Port Harcourt is located in the oil-rich Southsouth region of Nigeria and has large deposits of crude oil and natural gas. Several multinational oil firms are found within the City and their activities contribute immensely to the city’s economy.
Popular markets in Port Harcourt such as the Rumuokoro market, Slaughter market, Akpajo market, BEWAC spare parts markets, Ozuboko, market, New market, Airforce market, Ikoku market, Mile one market and the Garri markets are destinations for the trading and buying of a variety of commodities. Also, fishing and Agriculture contribute largely to the economy of Port Harcourt city.
The city of Port Harcourt was founded in the year 1912 and was named by Lord Frederick Lugard in honor of Lewis Venin Harcourt who was the Secretary of State to the colonies.
The original dwellers of the city were the Ikwerre people and people from parts of Okrika-Ijaw. Following the creation of Rivers state from the defunct Eastern region in 1967, Port Harcourt became the capital city of Rivers state.
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