CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA 1900 – 1966
Nigeria the most populous country on the African continent only came into existence in its present form in 1914 when the two protectorates of Northern and Southern Nigeria were amalgamated by Sir Fredrick Lugard. The name Nigeria was first suggested in an
article for the Times that the several British protectorates on the Niger be known as Nigeria1. The history of Nigeria as it is today goes back
more than two thousand years. The earlier history of its peoples is contained in myths and legend, for north only, where the Kanuri and Hausa came into contact with the Arabs there any records noticed before the nineteenth country. One can say. However, reconstruct
something of the history of Africa or Nigeria political division from archaeological research, which has greatly advanced in the last decades.2
Although Nigeria was the creation of Western ambitions and rivalry in West Africa; it is erroneous to believe that its peoples had little history contacts before its own boundaries were negotiated by Britain, France and Germany at the turn of the twentieth century. The
Nigeria state contained not just a multiplicity of ethnic groups, but also a number of great Kingdoms that had evolved complex system of government devoid of European influence.3 The great Kingdom of Kanem-Borno, had a known history of more than a thousand years. The Sokoto Caliphate which for nearly a hundred years before its defeat by British had ruled most of the Savannah of Northern Nigeria; the
Benin and Ife Kingdoms had become famous in art as amongst the most accomplished in the world. It is evident that the Empire of Oyo was once the most powerful of the States of the Guinea Coast. The Niger Delta (City States) had tremendously grown in response to
European demands for slaves and later palm oil. On the other hand the Igbo-speaking peoples were known for the famous Igbo- Ukwu bronzes and terracotta’s. Before 1900, the diverse groups had in one way or the other through trade and war been in contact with each other4.
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