‘The world’s memory’: why Nigeria is burying its history under a mountain in Svalbard

2026-03-17 - 10:32

It is the first African country to deposit data in the Arctic World Archive, a storage facility designed to preserve records of everything from cultural practices to historical events A decommissioned coalmine near the north pole is the last place you’d expect to find Indigenous stories from rural Nigeria, but deep below the Arctic permafrost of Svalbard a storage unit contains a cache of cultural and literary records from the West African country. The Arctic World Archive (AWA) is a data storage unit where organisations and individuals can deposit records kept on specialist digitised film called Piql that lasts up to 2,000 years. On 27 February, Nigeria became the first African country to place archives at the facility 300 metres beneath a mountain where the cold, dark, dry conditions are perfect for preservation. Continue reading...