Nigeria

Overview

A European visitor may find a country very different to the type they were expecting when they realise that although the country is officially one nation, Nigeria, there are in fact 250 ethnic groups with widely differing languages and religions. This diversity is one of the reason Nigeria struggles to maintain political and economic stability. The latter is not helped by the oil money that come into the country and has resulted in many of the cities turning into an unplanned urban sprawl with all the associated problems.

There are tensions between the evenly split Muslims and Christians due to enactment of Sharia, Muslim Law in some of the states. This has resulted in a number of amputated limbs for stealing in recent years. The National Museum is in Lagos, the former capital which is still the largest city even it is not the most politically important. Apropos safety, driving at night should be avoided as it is incredibly dangerous.

History

Like so many other modern African states, Nigeria is the creation of European imperialism. Its very name--after the great Niger River the country's dominating physical feature--was suggested in the 1890s by British journalist Flora Shaw who later became the wife of colonial governor Frederick Lugard. The modern history of Nigeria--as a political state encompassing 250 to 400 ethnic groups of widely varied cultures and modes of political organization--dates from the completion of the British conquest in 1903 and the amalgamation of northern and southern Nigeria into the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria in 1914. The history of the Nigerian people extends backward in time for some three millennia. Archaeological evidence oral traditions and written documentation establish the existence of dynamic societies and well-developed political systems whose history had an important influence on colonial rule and has continued to shape independent Nigeria. Nigerian history is fragmented in the sense that it evolved from a variety of traditions but many of the most outstanding features of modern society reflect the strong influence of the three regionally dominant ethnic groups--the Hausa in the north the Yoruba in the west and the Igbo in the east.

There are several dominant themes in Nigerian history that are essential in understanding contemporary Nigerian politics and society. First the spread of Islam predominantly in the north but later in southwestern Nigeria as well began a millennium ago. The creation of the Sokoto Caliphate in the jihad (holy war) of 1804-8 brought most of the northern region and adjacent...more