Warri has a long history as a major city for crude oil industry in Nigeria. The City is situated in southern western part of the Niger Delta.

During colonial times, it was the administrative capital of Delta Province.

Warri City is residence to four monarchs namely the Olu of Warri (Itsekiri) Ovie of the Okere-Warri Kingdom (Urhobo) the Ovie of Agbara-Ame Kingdom (Urhobo) and the Pere of Ogbeijaw (Ijaw)

Warri City is a melting pot as it is a multi-ethnic city comprising primarily of Urhobo, Itsekiri & Ijaw ethnic groups. There is large population of several other ethnic nationalities from across Nigeria such as Isoko, Anioma, Igbo, Hausa, Yoruba etc.

The unofficial lingua franca of the city is Broken (Pidgin) English which is understood throughout most of Nigeria. Warri is arguably considered the crucible of the language as new vocabularies are fabricated for the rest of the country from the city.

Other major surrounding towns such as Effurun, Ovwian, Aladja, Ekpan etc has since swollen the size via development to become "Greater Warri".