Nigeria's+Rebirth

by Ella, grade 5

Nigeria struggled with slavery and colonization for centuries. They were colonized in the 1900’s, but they were slaves long before that. It all started in 1472, when the Portuguese came to Nigeria for the slave trade. People traded gold for the slaves. 40% of Portugal’s slaves came from Nigeria. Soon, the Dutch took over the trading stations. Unexpectedly, Britain ended slave trade during 1807 because of reasons such as the resistance of some slaves and because Britain didn’t need money off of slave based goods. Yet, the Nigerians were just lucky because Britain wasn’t trying to make friends. They had plans for the 20th century.

On January 1, 1904, Nigeria was declared a British colony. Britain colonized it so they own it before other European countries did, and for the Lagos which was a crown colony. All the major ethnic groups were separated including Catholic, Islamic, and some tribe religions. In Nigeria, they had many different tribes which were separated, too. The Hausa Fulani was in the north, Igbo in the southeast and the Nri kingdom, and the Ebola in the east. There were several large and small governments ruled by elders. They faced decades of colonialism. Surprisingly, the British announced that they would be free in 1960(during the 50’s) because it wasn’t in their economic interest to keep it. Everyone in Nigeria immediately started planning for independence!

The British played a big and bad role in Nigeria’s colonization. They didn't just mess with Nigeria, but many other countries in Africa and many other places. Of course, they have their mostly bad reasons of why they colonized Nigeria and so many other places. One reason is Economic Growth, which means they open markets and gather valuable items, like oil and gold, so they can make lots of money. Another reason is National Rivalry, which is when they take over as many countries as they can. Yet, of course, that never made it right.

On October 1, 1960, everyone in Nigeria came out to celebrate their independence. They did a rylot of dancing, had a parade with stick walkers, and there were fireworks. In the year before, the Nigerians were having elections for their “new” country. Abubakar Tafawa Balewa of the Northern People's Congress was elected Prime Minister. On November 16, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe of the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons became the Governor General. On October 1, 1963 to January 16, 1966, he became the first president of Nigeria, which was renamed the Republic of Nigeria. To the Nigerians, it was //their// country after 1960.