Brief History of Nigeria to independence

[Curious T]

Since today is our Independence Day, I would like to have a brief history lesson on our country, from pre-colonial rule to our independence.
Western civilisation would like us to believe we were savages when they came and we were completely without a way of life, but that is far from the truth. In fact, different cities had sophisticated working systems. There were so many sophisticated cities that if we want to talk about all of them in detail, we will need a 50-page article, so we are going to look at a few to paint a picture.

Pre-colonial Era.

Kano:
Kano Emirate
Pre-colonial Kano was a city founded around 1000 AD on the Dala Hills. It was first a blacksmith settlement, but it later grew into a major trading city and an industrial centre. The Kurmi Market was the most significant market at the time, which was a depot for international and domestic goods during the trans Saharan trade era.

It was conquered by the Sokoto caliphates led by Uthman Dan-Fodio and was subordinate to Sokoto, but it still remained a commercial hub. By 1903, the British Empire had conquered Kano and added the region to the Northern Nigerian Protectorate.


Kanem Bornu
Kanem-Bornu
It was located close to Lake Chad and started in Kanem in the 8th century. It was ruled by the Duguwa dynasty. In the 11th century, it was ruled by the Sayfawa dynasty. The capital was in Borno, and it controlled the trans Saharan routes. They traded mainly salt, Ivory, animal products and slaves through the Sahara to North African traders.

Ile-Ife
Ile-Ife
This is probably the most popular precolonial empire in Nigeria. It is known for its bronze and terracotta sculptures. It is also regarded as the birthplace of the Yoruba race. It was a trade and commercial hub and traders from all over North Africa, Mali and Mauritania went to trade.

Igbo-Ukwu
Igbo-Ukwu
The earlier belief established by the Europeans was that they were a stateless people before colonisation, but the discoveries of their antiquity and the sophistication of the Igbo-Ukwu people proved that to be very false.

Benin Empire
Benin Empire
It had its capital in Benin City and the empire is recognised as one of Africa’s oldest and most powerful empires. It peaked in the 13th to the 17th century. Some believe it was an annexe of the Ife kingdom, and it's evident in the fact that they have a lot of similarities. It started declining in the 18th century and was conquered by the British in 1897.


There were other developed and sophisticated cities in pre-colonial Nigeria, like Calabar, Ijaw, Onitsha, Wukari, Tiv, etc.

Colonial Rule:

After the British successfully took over all the regions of the present-day Nigeria, they controlled it separately because it was not yet a country. There was the Northern Nigeria protectorate, which had Fedrick Lugard as the first high commissioner. The region consisted of all the northern part of present-day Nigeria.
They also had control of the Lagos colony with a lot of fighting and bombardment. That region was crucial for its trade because of its direct route to the Atlantic.

The present-day Niger Delta was controlled by the Royal Niger Company. It was a British Chartered Company. They basically owned the whole area and were given the right to do any kind of business they wanted in the region. By 1900, the charter was revoked and all region was transferred to the British government, meaning the British took control of the Niger area and paid a sum of £865,000 to the company.
By 1906, the Lagos Colony and the Niger were made one and renamed the “Colony and Protectorate of Southern Nigeria”

By 1914, the Northern Nigerian Protectorate and the Protectorate of Southern Nigeria were made one. This is known as the "amalgamation of Nigeria”. The region was now “The colony and protectorate of Nigeria” and had Fedrick Lugard as its governor.
Southern Nigeria Protectorate
Northern_Nigeria_Protectorate
Lagos Colony
Amalgamtion of Nigeria

The fight for Independence.

Different people fought for the independence of the country, but the first to bring it up in parliament was Anthony Enahoro in 1953. The motion faced a lot of setbacks, but was eventually granted.
Other individuals who fought for independence are Herbert Marcually, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Obafemi Awolowo, Ahmadu Bello, Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti (I still don't understand how she was degraded to just the “first Nigerian woman to drive a car), Margaret Ekpo, and Hajia Gambo Sawaba. The Aba women riot and the Enugu coal miners protest, which led to the killing of 21 coal miners by British police.

In 1946, the Richards Constitution included “regional assemblies”, making it possible for Nigerians to have a little bit of representation in government. By 1951, the Macpherson Constitution increased the amount of Nigerian influence in government.
In 1954, the Lyttleton Constitution made Nigeria a federation. It was a federation with three regions, the North, South and East, and they had internal self-government. By 1957, the Western and Eastern regions had already gained full governance, while the North gained its in 1959. The country finally gained independence in 1960, and that is why today, the 1st of October is remembered as our independence day. 

[Lida93]

See the beauty of our history and the resilience of our founding fathers and their faith in finding and building a great nation.

Unfortunately today, the current political class which I find it horrendous to call leaders have made the nation a shadow of itself where citizens  gingoism, patriotism and love for the nation done fade. Gradually everyone done the lose hope for a better Nigeria because it doesn't look like things are ever going to get better... Oh there was a country!

[Donk1]

Op great post on writing about Our history At least even if it doesn't cover everytthing   this is well written and enough to summarise everything about our Nigeria history Well, as today being our Independence Day it is a very important day to everyone. Even if the economy wasn't the one our past heroes fought for at least we still have the freedom we deserved and it is a celebration for everyone, either Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa, or Benin and all other tribes Right now our differences in culture doesn't matter What actually matters is the unity of every tribe in our country Nigeria.

 I wish my all my fellow Nigerian bitcointalkers a happy celebration of this our 1st of October. Have a great day.

[Liliana1304]

A very commendable effort by the op and this nah brief summary and also reminder of the hardwork wey our fathers in the past put in for this country to bring am to where e dey now and as we dey celebrate 65 years of "Independence" e go good to take time reflect on the things wey this country don do for us and wetin e never do.

I no tune in so I no know if we presido don drop message but e no go still change say the country dey lack many things wey them never fulfill but all the same we go still dey hope for beta things.. HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY, NAIJA

[Odohu]

Every people must have their history and this is ours. If a people forget their history, they will forget their identity which is why it is important we keep remembering where we are coming from to know where we ought to be and how to navigate. Happy independence to Nigeria our only country. We may not have gotten everything right, but surely we are passing through the process every great country today passed through. Nigeria is blessed with both natural and human resources, we are blessed with vast lands and access to the sea and we also have fresh water for irrigation, there are so many beautiful things about the country that we should be thankful for despite the pessimism of some of out people due to failure of leadership. It will take time but sure we will get it right.

[Orpichukwu]

Nigeria, our country, is now 65 years of independence, yet there is really nothing which we can truly boast of in the country. There is not much for us to really celebrate in this country filled with so many natural resources which could have put the country on top among equals, but yet what we have are big brothers, not leaders, who are so much more concerned about how they can steal and embezzle more funds than their previous government. The country is just a mess; there is nothing to celebrate about it. Insecurity is another big problem here.

[Gozie51]

The situation of the country is really bad and nothing much to celebrate as a country. We can only celebrate as individuals who are still alive in the midst of vices whose end point is insecurity. We can celebrate as individuals who are alive in the face of bad governance and corrupt leaders. When some people come back from abroad, they wonder how they were able to survive in Nigeria. That means it is a miracle to survive in Nigeria where there is no good road, epileptic electricity, bad internet communication and connection, no social amenities to help people have good health and long life. Inflation is constantly increasing Nigeria because of lack of production and increased borrowing.

Nigeria is existing in the mind of individuals and not as a country because there is no social justice, laws are not obeyed or followed by the "rich" and political class. There is selective justice in the system with the Easterners being the hen that layed the golden egg but chased out of the henhouse. Bandits, Boko Haram are killing people at will but they are not labelled terrorist, rather they are being incorporated into the army as repented Boko Haram while a freedom fighter is languishing in DSS custody whilst his right for freedom is enshrined in the country. There was really a country of unfairness, injustice and selective electoral system.

[Doan9269]

Op you made it all a nice job to have created this post, even though i expected that it should be under the Naija politics and society board.

Talking about the Nigerian Independence right from the first day to this time, things have always been changing and i count it a great privilege from the British Colonial Masters that granted us this, because at then, we are not able to understand how to lead and also know what civilization and development is, but they brough in so many opportunities to us and open our eyes to live a modern freedom lives.

They did well, took their time and lead us before the independence, but it pains me that after their departure, things could only get more worse than ever before to this day, because the men that took over from the leadership could not follow the true nature of what a leader should portray and they all ran after their own selfish interest, hatred and war that many were killed and things keep getting more worse than ever before, which has brought us to where we are now.

In the bid of celebrating for independence, bitcoin is the only reason why i can celebrate this, because with this decentralized technology, i was able to understand what a true independence means to live a life of freedom from centralized authorities, bitcoin gives everyone of us here today the reason to celebrate this, because we don't know where we could have been by now without bitcoin in this country Nigeria.

[Curious T]

We may not have gotten everything right, but surely we are passing through the process every great country today passed through. 

In my opinion, we're not passing through any phase. We are just a failed state that needs the contribution of every single person in the country to get better. The citizens need to know that they have a role to play, and the governments need to know that they have a role to play. Unfortunately, that won't happen, because the people in the country are not ready.

Talking about the Nigerian Independence right from the first day to this time, things have always been changing and i count it a great privilege from the British Colonial Masters that granted us this, because at then, we are not able to understand how to lead and also know what civilization and development is, but they brough in so many opportunities to us and open our eyes to live a modern freedom lives.

It was not given, it was taken. Left to them, they would have still been our colonial masters till today. They did not come to help us; they came to exploit us and take everything we have.
And what do you mean they opened our eyes to lead? That was exactly the reason I mentioned the sophisticated cities of the pre-colonial era to show that we had forms of government and leadership. We were leading ourselves before they came.

They did well, took their time and lead us before the independence, but it pains me that after their departure, things could only get more worse than ever before to this day, because the men that took over from the leadership could not follow the true nature of what a leader should portray and they all ran after their own selfish interest, hatred and war that many were killed and things keep getting more worse than ever before, which has brought us to where we are now.

We can't talk about this and not talk about the role the colonial masters played in this. they crested the division. they forced separate people to become one and gave one more power over the other. What did you think would happen in that kind of situation? It sucks that these things are not taught to people in the country.

[Su-asa]

Yesterday I didn't get the opportunity to wish our beloved country a proper independence days because even till now I still see no reason to. Although so long as we are all alive, I strongly believe that one day things will change for good in this country as the suffering is too much because of bad economy caused by our own leaders.
Before now, Nigeria was one of the best country with stable economy as other countries were in Nigeria to do business (country like Ghana) but all of a sudden the country just spoil and Ghana cin better pass Nigeria.
With this kind of economy both the common man and the poor Pipo dey get am hot. Make I no call those wt get money  (the rich people) because them get the resources to navigate through this hard economy every point in time.

[DiMarxist]

The historical background of Nigeria is narrated ethnic perspective. Nigeria in the pre colonial era operated kingdom base government (monarchical system), in the South West there were more than 10 kingdoms as well as other regions. And from 1900 when Lugard came to govern the Territory, he started to merged kingdoms for easy rules. And he finally merged the North and South in 1914. This formations triggered the self determinations because after the last formation there were many irregularities in the government. Adapapreye was the representative from the South South in the 1954 London Conference.
The core mandate of the independent has been destroyed by the corrupt leaders. We don't have anything to celebrate  because what have is nothing but corrupt leaders.

[VinsoN0]

An amazing heritage reduced to what we have to buy the influence of the elite, our leaders are really killing us but to tell the truth, we gave them the power to do so.
Weldone on this write up, it's a really good work
Happy Independence to our great Nation

[Mate2237]

A Nice one taking us back memory lane the journey of Nigeria to nationhood has come a long way. Right from the pre independent era were all the different tribes that make up the country called Nigeria today were living on their own, with different cultures and traditions. Nigeria is one country that is blessed with natural and mineral resources not to talk about the human resources that God has blessed the nation called Nigeria with.



The problem of Nigeria right from the beginning has been that of corruption, because Nigeria it's was set up as a business venture by colonial Britain. This was the reason why the brought the south and northern Nigeria to together so that it can serve their intentions. 65 years of existence by a country is not an easy one because Nigeria has survived a civil war, but truth be told we have not  done well so far because Nigeria is still living below it's potentials.

[Agbam]

A good summary or should I say highlight of Nigeria. Some of our artifacts are still circled all around Europe and we have a vast resources but we lack good leadership.
We have a lot of history, good and bad but unfortunately we don’t have them teaching history in our schools anymore so bad. A lot of things is wrong with this country but unfortunately they’re focusing on the wrong things

[Juicyhome]

People blaming Lord lugurd for implementing the amalgamation of Southern regional and the Northern regional in 1914 to form a common entity called Nigeria should rethink, because he did it to extend the country and to share the common wealth, before independent the North was the major contributor for national economy, almost all the product for exchange was gotten from the north and everyone was living peacefully.

Until oil was discovered in the Southern part and greed and ambition geared in, the South have the mindset of division because the north were in charge of the country leadership and were not ready to share power with the South, after the independent the white men left,till date we're still suffering from common sense of unity, that's why the country are worst everyday, I think we need another colonialism, because we're not behaving like people that our fore fathers fought for hard for, thinking we can rule ourselves better but they were wrong, we were better under the colonial master them ruling ourselves.

[Rubuchi]

See the beauty of our history and the resilience of our founding fathers and their faith in finding and building a great nation.

Unfortunately today, the current political class which I find it horrendous to call leaders have made the nation a shadow of itself where citizens  gingoism, patriotism and love for the nation done fade. Gradually everyone done the lose hope for a better Nigeria because it doesn't look like things are ever going to get better... Oh there was a country!

it is still us Nigerians that ridiculed our system, if not the country was already growing on a good pace even though the problems of the country was never resolved completely but was addressed by our erstwhile leaders with much commitment and conviction that the country will grow stronger to stand on it own.
Before you know these our leaders were killed by their brothers and friends in the army who were arranged to do so so that they can stop that developmental strides.
The developmental strides was disrupted successfully by the infiltrators who wanted to keep our growth in check so we don’t have the ability and opportunity to lead the continent’s economy and match with the other nations in our continents competitively and they were able to achieve all of these objectives using their tricks to win the heart of those who are power hungry to destroy the development agenda and it is those hungry crop of people that are still leading us till date.

[Berry2d]

People blaming Lord lugurd for implementing the amalgamation of Southern regional and the Northern regional in 1914 to form a common entity called Nigeria should rethink, because he did it to extend the country and to share the common wealth, before independent the North was the major contributor for national economy, almost all the product for exchange was gotten from the north and everyone was living peacefully.

Until oil was discovered in the Southern part and greed and ambition geared in, the South have the mindset of division because the north were in charge of the country leadership and were not ready to share power with the South, after the independent the white men left,till date we're still suffering from common sense of unity, that's why the country are worst everyday, I think we need another colonialism, because we're not behaving like people that our fore fathers fought for hard for, thinking we can rule ourselves better but they were wrong, we were better under the colonial master them ruling ourselves.

You are very wrong on saying the northern part of Nigeria where the major contribors to the national economy because as at then, it was made known to that the Nigga delta regions where richly blessed with the production of palm oils while the Southern where considered weather because of the presence of water ways  but  the northern had nothing significant they contributed but the amalgamation was only done to see how to distribute the countries revenue to all part Which is still happening till now.
Right from the origin of Nigeria all part believes in sharing there resources while the northerns never accepts that so I am supporting that motion that amalgamation was the worst mistake they have made because if not for that amalgamation the southern and Eastern regions would have been miles from where they are now.