Nigeria Yesterday and Today

Nigeria Yesterday and Today

Olivia Knowles
Period 8
Nigeria

In the 19th Century, Africa’s most populous country fell under British control. A British Journalist named Flora Shaw suggested the land be named Nigeria, after the principle river of Western Africa, the Niger River. (Giorgio , "History in Nigeria". World 66. January 9, 2006)

There are many influences on Nigeria that were left from the past, for example the political and social views and systems. Before the colonial period, the Nok culture were present in modern day Nigeria and produced ironwork and terra cotta sculpture. (Radhika, Ranjan. "Nigeria, Pre-Colonial Era". MARXIST. June 2, 2009)
Years before, in the nineteenth century, the northern cities of Kano and Katsina recorded dates leading back as far as 1,000 A.D., so it is believed that the area has been populated for thousands of years. (Ranjan, Radhika. "Nigeria, Pre-Colonial Era". MARXIST. June 2, 2009)
Some time afterwards, the Hausa Kingdoms and the Bornu empire near lake chad established a trade system with Berbersan forest people. Cowrie shells were used as currency, and the Berbersans exchanged ivy, kola nuts and slaves for salt, glass beads, weapons, bass rods, and coral. (Ranjan, Radhika. "Nigeria, Pre-Colonial Era". MARXIST. June 2, 2009)

In the south central part of present day Nigeria during the 15th and 16th centuries, the Kingdom of Benin had developed an efficient army, a ceremonial court, and artisans whose wood and ivory work is awed at all across the world, even today. (Ranjan, Radhika. "Nigeria, Pre-Colonial Era". MARXIST. June 2, 2009) In the southeastern part of Nigeria, the Yoruba kingdom was founded about 1400 A.D. Between the 17th and 19th centuries it reached its high, extending as far as modern day Togo and having developed an organized political system. Early in the 19th century, the Fulani leader (Usman dan Fodio) Put most of the areas of northern Nigeria under control of an empire placed in Sokoto. (Ranjan, Radhika....

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