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With
a culture dating back to at least 700 B.C., West Africa has
a long and rich history. British influence after the 16th
century, and especially in the 18th century, changed
the region's course. By 1967, Nigeria was at war with itself-with
the "Republic of Biafra: proclaimed in Nigeria's eastern region.
Over a million people perished. This is the story of Nigeria's
Struggle, which typifies the history and outlook of the West
Africa region.
ca
2000 BC - Sahara changes from a fertile savannah to a desert.
Caucasoids believed to emigrate north, Negroids
south.
ca 1000 AD - Ghana & Empire of Mali
dominated the northern "Sudan"; Yoruba, Benin, and Ibo dominate
the south (present-day Nigeria).
1472 - Portuguese explorers arrive in West Africa; slave
trade soon begins.
Mid-16th Century - British arrive in West
Africa, followed by Dutch. Expanded slave trade supplies million
slaves exported from Africa; an estimated 60% survive trans-Atlantic
passage.
1807 - Slave trade abolished for English merchants; abolished
throughout British Empire, 1833.
1809 - Islamic Fulani rebels conquer most of the
Hausa states (northwest Africa and attack southern territory.
1842 - Methodists bring first Christian mission to West
Africa.
1851 - British capture Lagos, making it a British
colony in 1861. Oyo and Owu empires collapse in
civil war. Void filled by Dahomey Empire and European
hegemony.
1867 - Vast diamond finds in South
Africa bring railways and European colonies to
Africa.
1870s - Sir George Goldie merges English traders
into a monopoly (National Africa Company).
1884-1885 - Berlin West African Conference carves
Africa into spheres of control, Britain charters the Royal Niger
Company (1886).
1893 - Britain establishes Niger Coast Protectorate.
1895 - Akassa natives massacred after they attack
a Niger Company "factory".
1900 - Royal Niger Company charter revoked. Territory
divided into Northern and Southern Protectorates of Nigeria.
1902 - Britain subdues the Islamic
states of Northern Nigeria. Southern Nigeria is increasingly
modernized and British-educated.
1914 - North and South Nigeria are united into the "Colony
and Protectorate of Nigeria".
1945 - British imposes on Nigeria the Richards Constitution
and four "Obnoxious Ordinances", strikes and unrest occur.
Macpherson Constitution passed in 1951, Lyttleton
Constitution in 1954.
1960 - The Federation of Nigeria gains independence;
unrest and internal rivalry follow.
1966 - A military coup overthrows Nigerian government;
public disorder erupt and the Ibos flee.
1967
- Eastern Nigeria declares independence as The Republic of
Biafra. Civil War erupts. Biafra is blockaded, one million
starve; Biafra surrenders, 1970.
1975
- Coups in 1975 and again in 1976 precede new constitution in
Oct. 1976; elections, return to civilian rule in 1979.
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