Final Compilation of the "History of Nigeria" by @bafspotlight

JOURNEY TO AMALGAMATION

we were beaten but never broken, subdued but never conquered. Today we are many yet we are one people, one nation forever united by a shared struggle. A common heritage and a bright future.

Nigeria unique fascinated a country with multiple tribe, culture, religions and expressions. A country full of promise.

On January 1st, 2014 Nigeria will mark 100years since the amalgamation of the north and the south to form one country.

How did these multi-diverse people, language and culture become one nation?

How did these fast territory with artificial borders become one country?

Evidence of civilization traces back as far as 8000 b.c Dufuna Canoe with the most sophisticated design of its time discovered in present-day Borno state.

Similarly, the tera cuta art of the Nok people reveals an advanced culture thriving in the area now called Kaduna state.

The further European ever set foot on the West Africa soil, the territory that makes up present-day Nigeria was dominated by the independent empire and city-state from the great Borno empire which expanded through long distance trait and military technology to the Igbo civilization.

The first broadcasting in Africa who sold material from far away is Egypt from the thousand years old Benin empire with its infrastructure and far-reaching diplomatic lakes, the formidable military and administrative machine of the vast Oyo empire and the power of the great Sokoto calivet in the 19 century under the legendary of SSheikh Usman Dan Fodio.

The states were highly organized societies with evolved administrative systems, with diplomatic functions, educational centres and successful agriculture. Rulers expanded via economy through trade and sometimes through war.

Amina the warrior queen, through her militaru conquest meziza now zaria the centre of the north south sahara and east west sudan trade in the 16th century. Amina is also the originator of the wars that fortified zaria and other cities that she conquered such as kano.

Trade network travelled as far as Europe and other middle east and by the time the Portuguese landed on the coast of benin in the late 15 century. West Africans had been trading with foreign nations for 400 years.

The Portuguese explorers were soon followed by the british, French and deutch.

First, they came for our pepper, palm oil, groundnut, cocoa, beads, clothes and ivory. Then they came for our people. 25 million men, women and children were shipped to work as slaves in America, the desert of Arabia , the farms and factories of Europe and the plantations of the western American.

Three Africans also became part of the European society most famously Olaudah Equiano, the first African to write a novel. He was taken as a slave from igbo land. He fortunately bought his freedom, worked all over the world and narrated English.

There was also captain james labulo davies, a northern base yoruba billionaire, who arrived with 16 base carriages for his wedding.

After the legal abolition of the slave trade in 1807, the british used the combination of politics and commerce to secure to secure trading advantages for British companies. When the indigenous rulers prove uncomperative, british diplomacy also gave way to British gun boot. When the British military force entered Lagos in December 1861. They impose a king and a most powerful ruler in Lagos who was crowned the first colonial ruler from Britain.

However, the part of British rule did not always run smooth, Nigeria from north to south, east to west fought fervently to secure freedom.

We salute heroes like the former slaves from ami-ibo, the most prosperous city-state in the delta region. His name was Jaja King of Opobo. He received the sword of honour in 1875 from Queen Victoria after opobo soldiers helped the British in the gold coast. But when the operations of British started to threaten the lives of Nigerians, Jaja victorious opposition became a deep turn in the flesh of emperor ambitions afraid of the influential king the British led jaja and gave him an ultimatum to surrender himself or face the judgement of opobo by legal forces. He was deported to the west eddies, never to see his beloved opobo again.

We salute the indomitable chief, Nana Olomu who secured the economy and independence of the itsekiri kingdom for more than 10 years until 1894 when he too was forcefully deported for being a threat to the british rulers
We salute Oba Ovonramwen of benin. Who resisted the British attempt to take over his trait rules and even banned them from entering his territories.
In 1896 the great oba was forced into exile, Nigerians are still negotiating for their return today.

We salute the brave ekumeku resistance movement. A secret army of thousand Igbo warriors who used conventional and gorilla warfare to take down British north post is the south-east even as late as 1909.
The Ekumeku were instrument of defending the town of Okwashukwu from colonel invention.

We celebrate the sultan the first who after the striking of Sokoto caliphate continue to fight for his invention being on horseback until he died in battle at Borno in 1903.

we were beaten but never broken, subdued but never conquered. Today we are many yet we are one people, one nation forever united by a shared struggle. A common heritage and a bright future.

The Treaty of Berlin of 1884 had divided approximately 10,000 Africa states into 52 countries shared among British powers.

Britain expanded its interest through powerful trade conglomerate, The Royal Niger Company Flag formally united
Africa Company (UAC) headed by Sir George Taubman Goldie, a man so instrumental that at a time British consider naming the country after his name in his honor. The British were desperate to control trade root because in the 19 century the volume and economy value of agriculture export by independent of Nigeria states were much greater than that of Britain. Using military might and trade grievant on every term, the Royal Niger Company cease control of the delta region and took over key western states like Ijebu and Abeokuta and spread north.

Lord Frederick Luggard transformed the RNC commercial influence into British political control, continuing the British policy of indirect rule. Luggard disposed uncooperative rulers and installed new emirs and rulers in every place. Some went on to do great things.

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Sarkin Katsina Muhammad Dikko installed by the British in 1901 set up new administrative structures, promoting commerce and education founding Katsina later Bariwa College and the first school for girls. He was also the first northern emir to fly in a plane.

In 1900 Calabar became the new capital of the new protectorate of southern Nigeria while Zugeru became the capital of the new protectorate of northern Nigeria.

In 1906, the legal colonel and the protectorate of southern Nigeria were merged with Lagos as the capital. Between 1900 and 1914, the protectorate made impressive economy gains all of which now went to the British Empire.
The cocoa and groundnut trade were booming. Tin and Coal were discovered in Jos and Enugu respectively. The Lagos Kano railway lines were built and a construction of a port in Ikwerre Portharcourt expanded the export trade.

These new opportunities were exploited by astute Nigerians like wealthy groundnut trader Alhaji Alhassan Dantata, multi millionaire transport and shipping magnet Sir Louis Odumegwu Ojukwu who later became a founding member and first president of the Nigerian Stock Exchange and Candido Da Rocha who made a fortune selling water whose former mansion in Lagos still stands certainly named water house

A growing crop of Nigeria professionals also emerged from trailblazers like the first Nigerian doctor Nathaniel King who qualified in 1875 and the first lawyer Christopher Sapara Williams called to bar in 1879 to Judge Adebayo Agbebi who qualified as the first Nigerian in 1911 and miss Oreoluwa Green the first African female pharmacist.

Some became political leaders like England educated Prince Bassey Duke who led a delegation oCalabaralabar people to London in 1913 to make presentations on land tenure reform. This professional class became the forefront. A new nationalist movement led by Herbert Macaulay grandson of the first African bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther who raised political awareness through his newspaper the Lagos daily news

On January 1, 1914, Britain amalgamated the two protectorate standing 330thousnad square miles into one Nigeria, the creation of Nigeria was no random assistant of political win.

Governor General Luggard stated in his amalgamation speech - This majesty government after long and matured consideration arrived at the conclusion that
“it would be to the great advantage of the countries known as southern and northern Nigeria that they should be amalgamated into one government, conforming to one policy and mutually cooperating for the moral and material advancement of Nigeria as a whole.”

Amalgamation changed the way we has Nigerians saw ourselves. It inspired those who believe in the possibility of a different future and who in turn inspired the men and women who drove that train of self-determination to its final stop at independence, and along this journey, we became truly Nigerians. Not just a name but in our hearts. In the course of our history, we have seen the hearts of greatness and the death of cruelty. We have seen the birth of new civilization and the death of ancient empires.

Our testimony is this “we were beaten but never broken, subdued but never conquered. Today we are many yet we one people, one nation forever united by a shared struggle. A common heritage and a bright future.

WE ARE NIGERIANS