When these Nigerians are asked what their country is like, their answers come easily.

Beautiful.

We hear things about other countries that tend to form an image in our minds about what that place is like — and its people, too.

Lagos is not the capital of Nigeria. Abuja is! Map via Thinkstock.

When Nigeria makes headlines, negative stories often dominate. But how much do you really know about its people?

It has 174 million people who are pretty evenly split between Christians in the south and Muslims in the north. They've modeled their government on the United States', and it's Africa's largest economy, overtaking South Africa in 2014. Its largest export? Oil.

I just learned that it's also the second-largest producer of movies in the world, just ahead of the United States and behind India. (They call it Nollywood ... I'll let you figure out why.)

Lagos, Africa's largest city, is a port city, bustling with economic life, art, restaurants, and people.

No place can be defined by just one thing — and Nigeria is no exception. But don't just take my word for it; check out this video from National Geographic, and let's listen to what these Nigerians say about their home.

Even in our modern times of incredible interconnectedness, there are places like this that we sometimes miss.

This is just one of many places where people are doing pretty much what we're all doing: living, creating, making a living, and trying to be our best. They might be halfway across the globe, but they're people, just like us.

Video from National Geographic.