However, when the Western Region parliament met to approve this change, Akintola supporters in the parliament started a riot in the chambers of the parliament. On 29 May 2015, Buhari was sworn in as President of Nigeria, becoming the first opposition figure to win a presidential election since independence in 1960. [110], The Ibadan School dominated the academic study of Nigerian history until the 1970s. Concurrently the Saifawa Dynasty of Borno conquered Kanem and extended control west to Hausa cities not under Songhai authority. The earliest iron technology in West Africa has also been found to be contemporary with or predate that of the Nile valley and North Africa, and some archaeologists believe that iron metallurgy was likely developed independently in sub-Saharan West Africa.[30][29]. However, the Cross River Igbo state like the Aro had the greatest influence in Igboland and adjacent areas after the decline of Nri. The civil war that disrupted Kanem in the second half of the 14th century resulted in the independence of Borno. Another factor was the military threat of the Tuareg centred at Agades who penetrated the northern districts of Borno. However, the spike in oil prices from $3 per barrel to $12 per barrel, following the Yom Kippur War in 1973 brought a sudden rush of money to Nigeria. This led to an increase in trans-Saharan Trade. The characteristic landforms of the plateaus are high plains with broad, shallow valleys dotted with numerous hills or isolated mountains, called inselbergs; the underlying rocks are crystalline, although sandstones appear in river areas. On 17 August 1994, the government dismissed the leadership of the NLC and the petroleum unions, placed the unions under appointed administrators, and arrested Frank Kokori and other labor leaders. The constitution includes provisions for a bicameral legislature, the National Assembly consisting of a 360-member House of Representatives and a 109-member Senate. Many of the domestic journals, including the Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria, faltered and were only published rarely, if at all.[112]. The area was formerly the Igala Division of Kabba province, and is now part of Kogi State. Each king traces his origin back to the founding ancestor, Eri. Modern Nigeria dates from 1914, when the British Protectorates of Northern and Southern Nigeria were joined. At Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, Nigeria, the Islamic Legitimist school arose that rejected Western models in favour of the scholarly tradition of the Sokoto Caliphate and the Islamic world. This was to commemorate the June 12th election of 1993, and the events that surrounded it. The use of slave labour was extensive, especially in agriculture."[33]. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. Author of, Professor of History, University of Ibadan, Nigeria. The primary exports were slaves, leather, gold, cloth, salt, kola nuts, and henna. Eventually, the police with tear gas were required to quell the riot. History of Nigeria Early Nigerian cultures The Nok culture Evidence of human occupation in Nigeria dates back thousands of years. [81] In the Northern Region, however, the Hausa and Fulani people demanded that the detainees be placed on trial for murder.[81]. Updates? The major cause of Borno's decline was a severe drought that struck the Sahel and savanna from in the middle of the 18th century. This continued until the BBC aired an interview that was allegedly done via telephone from the president's sick bed in Saudi Arabia. The collapse undermined Songhai's hegemony over the Hausa states and abruptly altered the course of regional history. Lord Lugard Created Nigeria 104 Years Ago. Chairs were thrown and one member grabbed the parliamentary Mace and wielded it like a weapon to attack the Speaker and other members. [62][63], The Arochukwu kingdom emerged after the Aro-Ibibio Wars from 1630 to 1720, and went on to form the Aro Confederacy which economically dominated Eastern Nigerian hinterland. On 29 May 1967, Lt. Col. Emeka Ojukwu, the military governor of the eastern region who emerged as the leader of increasing Igbo secessionist sentiment, declared the independence of the eastern region as the Republic of Biafra on 30 May 1967. By these same routes, Islam made its way south into West Africa after the 9th century. The Onitsha Kingdom, which was originally inhabited by Igbos from east of the Niger, was founded in the 16th century by migrants from Anioma (Western Igboland). According to the Bayajidda legend, the Hausa states were founded by the sons of Bayajidda, a prince whose origin differs by tradition, but official canon records him as the person who married the last Kabara of Daura and heralded the end of the matriarchal monarchs that had erstwhile ruled the Hausa people. [43] The Fulani began to enter the Hausa country in the 13th century and by the 15th century, they were tending cattle, sheep, and goats in Borno as well. The Umunoha state in the Owerri area used the Igwe ka Ala oracle at their advantage. Trade is the key to the emergence of organized communities in the sahelian portions of Nigeria. Pending the promulgation of the constitution written in 1995, the government observed some provisions of the 1979 and 1989 constitutions. However, the Igbo rejected attempts at constitutional revisions and insisted on full autonomy for the east. In 1914, the area was formally united as the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria. [46] Urbanisation was accompanied by high levels of artistic achievement, particularly in terracotta and ivory sculpture and in the sophisticated metal casting produced at Ife. He later attempted to renege on this decision, but without popular and military support, he was forced to hand over to Ernest Shonekan, a prominent nonpartisan businessman. Obasanjo had recently stated on national radio that he would "deal firmly" with election fraud and violence advocated by "highly placed individuals." 2014. According to Igbo oral tradition, his reign started in 1043. Among the Igbo people of the Eastern Region, these detainees were heroes. Nigeria is bordered to the north by Niger, to the east by Chad and Cameroon, to the south by the Gulf of Guinea of the Atlantic Ocean, and to the west by Benin. Archaeological research, pioneered by Charles Thurstan Shaw, has shown a long history of human settlement in Nigeria. The weakness of a popular theory that Igbos were stateless rests on the paucity of historical evidence of pre-colonial Igbo society. Hydromorphic and organic soils, confined largely to areas underlain by sedimentary rocks along the coast and river floodplains, are the youngest soil types. [35], The mai employed his mounted bodyguard and an inchoate army of nobles to extend Kanem's authority into Borno. By then a string of dynastic states, including the earliest Hausa states, stretched into western and central Sudan. "Nigeria is likely to take a more active role in funding liberation movements in southern Africa." The country became independent on October 1, 1960, and in 1963 adopted a republican constitution but elected to stay a member of the Commonwealth. [29] The transition from Neolithic times to the Iron Age apparently was achieved indigenously without intermediate bronze production. The most powerful of these states were Ghana, Gao, and Kanem, which were not within the boundaries of modern Nigeria but which influenced the history of the Nigerian savanna. His sudden removal would dim the prospects for Nigerian stability. As a colony, it was initially divided into the Southern Nigeria Protectorate and Northern Nigeria Protectorate. Though those efforts have been hard to come by, as many violent ethnic and religious clashes occurred in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Nigeria has continued to face governmental, ethnic, religious, health related, educational, economic, and other issues ("Nigeria"). Gradually Borno's position weakened; its inability to check political rivalries between competing Hausa cities was one example of this decline. The Young Majors went into hiding. However, the bloody nature of the Young Majors coup caused another coup to be carried out by General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi. [35], Borno's prosperity depended on the trans-Sudanic slave trade and the desert trade in salt and livestock. In September 2018, a . - Offers a view of one of the main sources of income for the country. During the 16th century, the Songhai Empire reached its peak, stretching from the Senegal and Gambia rivers and incorporating part of Hausaland in the east. [34], Borno's history is closely associated with Kanem, which had achieved imperial status in the Lake Chad basin by the 13th century. Nigeria is the seventh-most populous country in the world, home to more than 200 million people. [78] Federal Government Prime Minister Balewa declared martial law in the Western Region and arrested Awolowo and other members of his faction charged them with treason. [109], Nigeria's Democracy day was originally celebrated on May 29, every year since General Olusegun Obasanjo emerged President in 1999. In its prime, they also dominated the Kingdom of Dahomey (now located in the modern day Republic of Benin). In November 1999, the army destroyed the town of Odi, Bayelsa State and killed scores of civilians in retaliation for the murder of 12 policemen by a local gang. [21][22] Radiocarbon dating of a sample of charcoal found near the site dates the canoe at 8,500 to 8,000 years old, linking the site to Lake Mega Chad. Problems exist with inflation, internal debt, and a huge military budget, competing with popular demands for government services. The leading scholars of the Ibadan School include Saburi Biobaku, Kenneth Dike, J. F. A. Ajayi, Adiele Afigbo, E. A. Ayandele, O. Ikime and Tekena Tamuno. According to one of the various myths about him, he founded Ife and dispatched his sons and daughters to establish similar kingdoms in other parts of what is today known as Yorubaland. In May 1999 violence erupted in Kaduna State over the succession of an Emir resulting in more than 100 deaths. With the increase of resource spending and oil exportation, Nigerian GDP and HDI (Human Development Index) have risen phenomenally since the economically stagnant rule of Sani Abacha, but the primary population still survives on less than US$2 per day. By the end of the 18th century, some Muslim ulema began articulating the grievances of the common people. The FMG is neither very efficient nor dynamic, but the recent announcement that it intends to retain power for six more years has generated little opposition so far. Much of Nigeria is covered with plains and savannas. The troops are poorly trained and disciplined and some of the officers are turning to conspiracies and plotting. [84] The name Federal Republic of Nigeria was restored on 31 August 1966. 34 sought to do away with the whole federal structure under which the Nigerian government had been organised since independence. Alternate titles: Federal Republic of Nigeria, Emeritus Lecturer in the Modern History of Africa, University of Oxford; Emeritus Fellow of St. Antony's College, Oxford. The government alleged in early 1995 that military officers and civilians were engaged in a coup plot. Evidence of iron smelting has also been excavated at sites in the Nsukka region of southeast Nigeria in what is now Igboland: dating to 2,000 BC at the site of Lejja[28][29] and to 750 BC at the site of Opi. Trans-Saharan trade routes linked the western Sudan with the Mediterranean since the time of Carthage and with the Upper Nile from a much earlier date, establishing avenues of communication and cultural influence that remained open until the end of the 19th century. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). This made inviting foreign scholars, subscribing to journals, and attending conferences vastly more expensive. After calling off a threatened strike in July the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) reconsidered a general strike in August after the government imposed conditions on Abiola's release. In 1979, five political parties competed in a series of elections in which Alhaji Shehu Shagari of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) was elected president. All announced candidates were disqualified from standing for president once a new election format was selected. However, the opposition had accusations of electoral fraud in polls. A sign of federalism has been the growing visibility of state governors and the inherent friction between Abuja and the state capitals over resource allocation.[97]. 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