The Real Story of How Nigeria Came To Be A Nation- Must See

In the early 1800 Britain took control over Nigeria, various parts of the country had British Blue Ensigns and British White Ensigns. In 1870 the flag of British West Africa adopted, it was a typical British Blue Ensign with a badge showing a elephant, palm tree, sand and green mountains.

In 1884 Britain claimed sovereignty over the Niger Delta and the area was renamed Oil Rivers. The flag was a British blue Ensign with the badge of the protectorate at the centre right.

The first flag of Nigeria was a British Blue Ensign with a green six-pointed star, a Tudor Crown, and the word "Nigeria" on a red disc:

When it was used: 1914–1960

Who chose it: F.D. Lugard, the first governor-general of the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria

What it symbolized: The star was called the Seal of Solomon

Nigeria gained independence in 1960, a new flag was adopted:

Who designed it: Michael Taiwo Akinkunmi, a 23-year-old student in London

Three vertical bands of green, white, and green

What it symbolized: The green represented Nigeria's wealth, and the white represented peace

It was first used in October 1, 1960

The Coat of Arms of Nigeria was adopted in 1960 and features a black shield with a white Y shape. At either side are white horses; on top is a white and green band and red eagle. Below the shield is the nations flower Costus Spectabilis and a banner that reads “UNITY AND FAITH AND PEACE AND PROGRESS.” Prior to 1979 to banner read “UNITY AND FAITH.”

From 1400 onwards, Nigeria's first written documents with letters were produced in the north of the country. They were part of the Islamic missionary work and were written in Ajami - a script based on Arabic, but supplemented by special letters for local languages (Hausa, Fula, Yoruba). The Hausa also began to write history. In the Kano Chronicle, the history of the Hausa state is traced back to 999 AD.

The history of Nigeria can be traced to the earliest inhabitants whose date remains at least 13,000 BC through the early civilizations such as the Nok culture which began around 1500 BC. Numerous ancient African civilizations settled in the region that is known today as Nigeria, such as the Kingdom of Nri,the Benin Kingdom,and the Oyo Empire. Islam reached Nigeria through the Bornu Empire between (1068 AD) and Hausa Kingdom during the 11th century, while Christianity came to Nigeria in the 15th century through Augustinian and Capuchin monks from Portugal to the Kingdom of Warri.

Through contact with Europeans, early harbour towns such as Calabar, Badagry and Bonny emerged along the coast after 1480, which did business in the transatlantic slave trade, among other things. Conflicts in the hinterland, such as the civil war in the Oyo Empire, meant that new enslaved people were constantly being "supplied"

After the collapse of Mali, a local leader named Sonni Ali (1464-1492) founded the Songhai Empire in the Middle Niger region and took control of the trans-Saharan trade. Sonni Ali conquered Timbuktu in 1468 and Djenné in 1473 and built his regime on trade revenues and cooperation with Muslim merchants. His successor Askia Muhammad Ture (1493-1528) made Islam the official religion, built mosques and brought Muslim scholars to Gao, including al-Maghili (d. 1504).

Throughout the 16th century, much of northern Nigeria paid homage to the Songhai Empire in the west or the rival Borno Empire in the east.
The civil war that shattered Kanem in the second half of the 14th century led to the independence of Bornu. Meanwhile, Kanem became an empire in the Lake Chad Basin in the 13th century. The Mai (king) of Kanem and his court adopted Islam in the 11th century. The first ruler of Kanem was Saif and his dynasty, the Sayfawa, ruled the empire for a millennium (800 AD to 1846 AD).The first Muslim ruler of Kanem was Mai Umme Jilmi (r. 1085-1097), who died on his way to Mecca in Egypt.

The Sayfawa moved to Bornu. Mai Ali Ghaji (r. 1470-1508) established a large capital there called Birnin N'gazargamu. He carried out government reforms and ended the civil unrest. With a reinvigorated army, he extended Bornu's influence to the neighboring regions and demanded tribute from some Hausa states. He also re-established diplomatic and trade relations with North Africa. Ali's successors continued to rule Kanem and kept it as a province of Bornu until the 19th century.

In its initial endeavour to stop the slave trade in West Africa, the United Kingdom gradually expanded its sphere of influence after 1851, starting from the tiny island of Lagos (3 km2) and the port city of Calabar. The British followed expansive trading companies such as the RNC and missionaries such as Mary Slessor, who advanced into the hinterland, preached and founded
missionary schools, but also took action against local customs such as the religiously induced killing of twins or servants of deceased village elders and against the Trial by ordeal as a means of establishing the legal truth. At the Berlin Congo Conference in 1885, the European powers demarcated their spheres of interest in Africa without regard to ethnic or linguistic boundaries and without giving those affected a say. Thereafter, the British made increasing advances in the Niger region, which they had negotiated in Berlin, and ultimately defeated the Sokoto Caliphate. From 1903, Great Britain controlled almost the entire present-day territory of Nigeria, which was united under a single administration in 1914 (in 1919, a border strip of the former German colony of Cameroon was added to the territory of Nigeria).

Under the British colonial administration, purchasing cartels (of companies such as Unilever, Nestlé and Cadbury) kept the prices of cocoa, palm oil and peanuts artificially low, thereby damaging Nigerian agriculture, but on the other hand ports and an extensive railway network were also built. Newspapers, political parties, trade unions and higher education institutions were established - rather against the wishes of the colonial rulers in order to control the oversized colony. In the East African campaign of 1941, Nigerian regiments achieved the first major success against the Axis powers with the fastest military advance in history at the time. In 1956, oil fields were discovered in Nigeria. Since then
, vandalism, oil theft and illegal, unprofessional refining by local residents have caused the contamination of the Niger Delta with crude and heavy oil, particularly around disused exploratory boreholes

Nigeria became independent in 1960. From 1967 to 1970, the "Biafra War" raged in the south-east - one of the worst humanitarian disasters of modern times. After three decades mostly of increasingly restrictive military dictatorships, Nigeria became a democratic federal republic based on the US model in 1999. Quadrennial

elections are criticised as "non-transparent". Nevertheless, changes of power in the presidential villa at Aso Rock took place peacefully in 2007, 2010, 2015 and 2023, making Nigeria one of the few stable democracies in the region - despite its shortcomings.

Recent years have seen the rise of the Nigerian music and film industry and success in software programming with five out of seven African tech unicorns.