Representing many years of field work, oral history data collection, and the consolidation and amalgamation of the works of many different researchers, this study illuminates the varied and diverse connections between social and political groupings in the Middle Belt region of Nigeria, the Benue Basin. It reveals a fascinating, sophisticated and highly productive set of regional relationships. The broad regional overview has been provided by focusing on three representative political formations centred at Benin, Idah and Kwararafa. The analysis examines the forces and factors that influence economic activity, political decision-making and social transformations across a multicultural and multinational region stretching from the Atlantic coast to the fringes of the Sahara.