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Nigeria contains more historic cultures and empires than any
other other nation in Africa. They date back as far as the 5th century
BC, when communities living around the southern slopes of the Jos
plateau make wonderfully expressive terracotta figures - in a tradition
known now as the Nok culture,
from the Nigerian village where these sculptures are first unearthed.
The Nok people are neolithic tribes who have recently acquired the iron technology spreading southwards through Africa.
The
Jos plateau is in the centre of Nigeria, but the first extensive
kingdoms of the region - more than a millennium after the Nok people -
are in the north and northeast, deriving their wealth from trade north through the Sahara and east into the Sudan.
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During the 9th centurya trading empire grows up around Lake Chad.
Its original centre is east of the lake, in the Kanem region, but it
soon extends to Bornu on the western side. In the 11th century the ruler
of Kanem-Bornu converts to Islam.
West of Bornu, along the
northern frontier of Nigeria, is the land of the Hausa people. Well
placed to control trade with the forest regions to the south, the Hausa
develop a number of small but stable kingdoms, each ruled from a strong
walled city. They are often threatened by larger neighbours (Mali and Gao
to the west, Bornu to the east). But the Hausa traders benefit also
from being on the route between these empires. By the 14th century they
too are Muslim.
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In the savanna grasslands and the forest regions west of the
Niger, between the Hausa kingdoms and the coast, the Yoruba people are
the dominant tribes. Here they establish two powerful states.
The
first is Ife, on the border between forest and savanna. Famous now for
its sculpture, Ife flourishes from the 11th to 15th century. In the 16th
century a larger Yoruba empire develops, based slightly further from
the forest at Oyo. Using the profits of trade to develop a forceful
cavalry, Oyo grows in strength during the 16th century. By the end of
the 18th century the rulers of Oyo are controlling a region from the
Niger to the west of Dahomey.
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Meanwhile, firmly within the forest, the best known of all the
Nigerian kingdoms establishes itself in the 15th century (from small
beginnings in the 13th). Benin becomes a name internationally known for
its cast-metal sculpture, in a tradition inherited from the Ife (see Sculpture of Ife and Benin).
In
terms of extent Benin is no match for Oyo, its contemporary to the
north. In the 15th century the region brought under central control is a
mere seventy-miles across (people and places being harder to subdue in
the tropical forest than on the savanna), though a century later Benin
stretches from the Niger delta in the east to Lagos in the west.
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But Benin's fame is based on factors other than power. This is the coastal kingdom which the Portuguese
discover when they reach the mouth of the Niger in the 1470s, bringing
back to Europe the first news of superb African artefacts and of the
ceremonial splendour of Benin's oba or king.
The kings of Benin are a story in themselves. In the 19th century they scandalize the west
by their use of human sacrifice in court rituals. And they have
stamina. At the end of the 20th century the original dynasty is still in
place, though without political power. All in all, among Nigeria's many
historic kingdoms, Benin has earned its widespread renown.
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The Fulani and Sokoto: 1804-1903
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Living among the Hausa in the northern regions of Nigeria are a
tribe, the Fulani, whose leaders in the early 19th century become
passionate advocates of strict Islam. From 1804 sheikh Usman dan Fodio
and his two sons lead the Fulani in an immensely successful holy war
against the lax Muslim rulers of the Hausa kingdoms.
The result
is the establishment in 1809 of a Fulani capital at Sokoto, from which
the centre and north of Nigeria is effectively ruled for the rest of the
19th century. But during this same period there has been steady
encroachment on the region by British interests.
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British explorers: 1806-1830
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From the death of Mungo Park
near Bussa in 1806 to the end of the century, there is continuing
interest in Nigeria on the part of British explorers, anti-slavery
activists, missionaries and traders.
In 1821 the British government sponsors an expedition south through the Sahara to reach the kingdom of Bornu.
Its members become the first Europeans to reach Lake Chad, in 1823. One
of the group, Hugh Clapperton, explores further west through Kano and
the Hausa territory to reach Sokoto. Clapperton is only back in England for a few months, in 1825, before he sets off again for the Nigerian coast at Lagos.
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On this expedition, with his servant Richard Lander, he travels on
trade routes north from the coast to Kano and then west again to Sokoto.
Here Clapperton dies. But Lander makes his way back to London, where he
is commissioned by the government to explore the lower reaches of the
Niger.
Accompanied in 1830 by his brother John, Lander makes his
way north from the coast near Lagos to reach the great river at Bussa -
the furthest point of Mungo Park's journey downstream. With considerable
difficulty the brothers make a canoe trip downstream, among hostile Ibo
tribesmen, to reach the sea at the Niger delta. This region has long
been familiar to European traders, but its link to the interior is now
charted. All seems set for serious trade.
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SS Alburkah: 1832-1834
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After Lander's second return to England a company is formed by a
group of Liverpool merchants, including Macgregor Laird, to trade on the
lower Niger. Laird is also a pioneer in the shipping industry. For the
present purpose, an expedition to the Niger, he designs an iron
paddle-steamer, the 55-ton Alburkah.
Laird himself leads the expedition, with Richard Lander as his expert guide.
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The Alburkah steams south from Milford Haven in July 1832
with forty-eight on board. She reaches the mouth of the Niger three
months later, entering history as the first ocean-going iron ship.
After making her way up one of the many streams of the Niger delta, the Alburkah
progresses upstream on the main river as far as Lokoja, the junction
with the Benue. The expedition demonstrates that the Niger offers a
highway into the continent for ocean vessels. And the performance of the
iron steamer is a triumph. But medicine is not yet as far advanced as
technology. When the Alburkah returns to Liverpool, in 1834, only
nine of the original crew of forty-eight are alive. They include a much
weakened Macgregor Laird.
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Trade and anti-slavery: 1841-1900
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The next British expedition to the Niger is almost equally
disastrous in terms of loss of life. Four ships under naval command are
sent out in 1841, with instructions to steam up the Niger and make
treaties with local kings to prevent the slave trade. The enterprise is
abandoned when 48 of the 145 Europeans in the crews die of fever.
Malaria
is the cause of the trouble, but major progress is made when a doctor,
William Baikie, leads an expedition up the Niger in 1854. He administers
quinine to his men and suffers no loss of life. Extracted from the bark
of the cinchona tree, quinine has long been used in medicine. But its
proven efficacy against malaria is a turning point in the European
penetration of Africa.
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The British anti-slavery policy in the region involves boosting the
trade in palm oil (a valuable product which gives the name Oil Rivers to
the Niger delta) to replace the dependence on income from the slave
trade. It transpires later that this is somewhat counter-productive,
causing the upriver chieftains to acquire more slaves to meet the
increased demand for palm oil. But it is nevertheless the philanthropic
principle behind much of the effort to set up trading stations.
At
the same time the British navy patrols the coast to liberate captives
from slave ships of other nations and to settle them at Freetown in Sierra Leone.
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From 1849 the British government accepts a more direct involvement. A
consul, based in Fernando Po, is appointed to take responsibility for
the Bights of Biafra and Benin. He undertakes direct negotiations with
the king of Lagos, the principal port from which slaves are shipped.
When these break down, in 1851, Lagos is attacked and captured by a
British force.
Another member of the Lagos royal family is placed
on the throne, after guaranteeing to put an end to the slave trade and
to human sacrifice (a feature of this region). When he and his successor
fail to fulfil these terms, Lagos is annexed in 1861 as a British
colony.
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During the remainder of the century the consolidation of British
trade and British political control goes hand in hand. In 1879 George
Goldie persuades the British trading enterprises on the Niger to merge
their interests in a single United African Company, later granted a
charter as the Royal Niger Company.
In 1893 the delta region is
organized as the Niger Coast Protectorate. In 1897 the campaign against
unacceptable local practices reaches a climax in Benin - notorious by
this time both for slave trading and for human sacrifice. The members of
a British delegation to the oba of Benin are massacred in this year. In the reprisals Benin City is partly burnt by British troops.
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The difficulty of administering the vast and complex region of
Nigeria persuades the government that the upriver territories, thus far
entrusted to the Royal Niger Company, also need to be brought under
central control.
In 1900 the company's charter is revoked.
Britain assumes direct responsibility for the region from the coast to
Sokoto and Bornu in the north. Given the existing degree of British
involvement, this entire area has been readily accepted at the Berlin conference
in 1884 as falling to Britain in the scramble for Africa - though in
the late 1890s there remains dangerous tension between Britain and
France, the colonial power in neighbouring Dahomey, over drawing Nigeria's western boundary.
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British colonial rule: 1900-1960
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The sixty years of Britain's colonial rule in Nigeria are
characterized by frequent reclassifying of different regions for
administrative purposes. They are symptomatic of the problem of uniting
the country as a single state.
In the early years the Niger Coast
Protectorate is expanded to become Southern Nigeria, with its seat of
government at Lagos. At this time the rulers in the north (the emir of
Kano and the sultan of Sokoto) are very far from accepting British rule.
To deal with the situation Frederick Lugard is appointed high
commissioner and commander-in-chief of the protectorate of northern
Nigeria.
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Lugard has already been much involved in the colony, commanding
troops from 1894 on behalf of the Royal Niger Company to oppose French
claims on Borgu (a border region, divided in 1898 between Nigeria and
Dahomey). Between 1903 and 1906 he subdues Kano and Sokoto and finally
puts an end to their rulers' slave-raiding expeditions.
Lugard
pacifies northern Nigeria by ensuring that in each territory, however
small, the throne is won and retained by a chief willing to cooperate.
Lugard then allows these client rulers considerable power - in the
technique, soon to be known as 'indirect rule', which in Africa is
particularly associated with his name (though it has been a familiar
aspect of British colonial policy in India).
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In 1912 Lugard is appointed governor of both northern and southern
Nigeria and is given the task of merging them. He does so by 1914, when
the entire region becomes the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria.
The First World War brings a combined British and French invasion of German Cameroon
(a campaign not completed until early in 1916). In 1922 the League of
Nations grants mandates to the two nations to administer the former
German colony. The British mandate consists of two thin strips on the
eastern border of Nigeria.
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The rival claims of Nigeria's various regions become most evident
after World War II when Britain is attempting to find a structure to
meet African demands for political power. By 1951 the country has been
divided into Northern, Eastern and Western regions, each with its own
house of assembly. In addition there is a separate house of chiefs for
the Northern province, to reflect the strong tradition there of tribal
authority. And there is an overall legislative council for the whole of
Nigeria.
But even this is not enough to reflect the complexity of
the situation. In 1954 a new constitution (the third in eight years)
establishes the Federation of Nigeria and adds the Federal Territory of
Lagos.
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During the later 1950s an African political structure is gradually
achieved. From 1957 there is a federal prime minister. In the same year
the Western and Eastern regions are granted internal self-government, to
be followed by the Northern region in 1959.
Full independence
follows rapidly, in October 1960. The tensions between the country's
communities now become Nigeria's own concern.
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Independence and secession: 1960-1970
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Regional hostilities are a feature of independent Nigeria from the
start, partly due to an imbalance of population. More than half the
nation's people are in the Fulani and Hausa
territories of the Northern region. Northerners therefore control not
only their own regional assembly but also the federal government in
Lagos.
From 1962 to 1964 there is almost continuous
anti-northern unrest elsewhere in the nation, coming to a climax in a
rebellion in 1966 by officers from the Eastern region, the homeland of
the Ibo. They assassinate both the federal prime minister and the
premiers of the Northern and Western regions.
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In the ensuing chaos many Ibos living in the north are massacred. In
July a northern officer, Yakubu Gowon, emerges as the country's leader.
His response to Nigeria's warring tribal factions is to subdivide the
four regions (the Mid-West has been added in 1963), rearranging them
into twelve states.
This device further inflames Ibo hostility,
for one of the new states cuts their territory off from the sea. The
senior Ibo officer, Odumegwu Ojukwu, takes the drastic step in May 1967
of declaring the Eastern region an independent nation, calling it the
republic of Biafra.
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The result is bitter and intense civil war, with the federal army
(increasing during the conflict from 10,000 to 200,000 men) meeting
powerful resistance from the secessionist region. The issue splits the
west, where it is the first post-independence African war to receive
widespread coverage. The US and Britain supply arms to the federal
government. France extends the same facilities to Biafra.
In any
civil war ordinary people suffer most, and in small land-locked Biafra
this is even more true than usual. By January 1970 they are starving.
Biafra surrenders and ceases to exist. Ojukwu escapes across the border
and is granted asylum in the Ivory Coast.
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From oil wealth to disaster: 1970-1999
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General Gowon achieves an impressive degree of reconciliation in the
country after the traumas of 1967-70. Nigeria now becomes one of the
wealthiest countries in Africa thanks to its large reserves of oil
(petroleum now, rather than the palm oil
of the previous century). In the mid-1970s the output is more than two
million barrels a day, the value of which is boosted by the high prices
achieved during the oil crisis of 1973-4.
But with this wealth
goes corruption, which Gowon fails to control. When he is abroad, in
1975, his government is toppled in a military coup. Gowon retires to
Britain.
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In the second half of the 1970s oil prices plummet. Nigeria rapidly
suffers economic crisis and political disorder. Within a period of five
years the average income per head slumps by 75%, from over $1000 a year
to a mere $250.
Neither brief cilivian governments nor frequent
military intervention prove able to rescue the situation. A regular
response is to subdivide regional Nigeria into ever smaller parcels. The
number of states is increased to nineteen in 1979 and to twenty-nine in
1991. By the end of the century it stands at thirty-six. Meanwhile the
nation's foreign debt has been increasing in parallel, to reach $36
billion by 1994.
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In 1993 the military ruler (Ibrahim Babangida, in power from 1985)
yields to international pressure and holds a presidential election. When
it appears to have been conclusively won by Moshood Abiola, a chief of
the western Yoruba tribe, Babangida cancels the election by decree.
This
blatant act prompts Nigeria's first energetic movement for democracy,
which comes to international attention when one of its leaders - the
playwright Ken Saro-Wiwa - is among a group hanged in 1995 for the
alleged murder of four rivals at a political rally in 1994. Saro-Wiwa
has also been a campaigner for the rights of his Ogoni people, whose
territory is ravaged - to no benefit to themselves - by the
international companies extracting Nigeria's oil.
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The world-wide outcry at Saro-Wiwa's death, without any pretence of a
fair trial, prompts Nigeria's generals to offer new elections in 1999.
The presidential election is won by Olusegun Obasanjo, by now a civilian
but for three years from 1976 the military ruler of the country - and
therefore widely assumed to be the army's preferred candidate. His
People's Democratic Party wins a majority of seats in both the house of
representatives and the senate.
Early reports suggest that under
Obasanjo's government a ruthless disregard of civil liberties continues
in Nigeria, with outbreaks of minority ethnic protest being brutally
suppressed.
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The election of Obasanjo, a Christian from the south, brings new
tensions. As if in response, in November 1999, the predominantly Muslim
northern state of Zamfara introduces strict Islamic law, the sharia.
Other northern states discuss similar action. Local Christians take
alarm. Violent street battles between the two communities are a feature
of the early months of 2000.
The future of Nigeria is
problematic but of considerable importance to Africa. The nation's
potential remains vast. With at least 115 million people (comprising
some 200 tribes) it is the continent's most populous country. And as the
world's fifth largest oil producer, it has the wherewithal to be one of
the richest.
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