Port-Harcourt is the capital city of an oil producing state, Rivers state, Nigeria. It is also the largest city in the state. 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.
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 modernization 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 quality institutions found in the city, they are: 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.
