DAY 1 APRIL 14, 2010

April 14, 2010

So today, I started to read more about Nigeria's History. It was quite confusing because Nigeria has A LOT of history behind it. I started to look information about Nigeria on the internet and also started to read the packet Mrs. Jackson gave us, since I didn't have the time to go to the public library.



Early History of Nigeria
Nigeria before colonization...
Before all of that, Nigeria was basically the site of civilization way before the arrival of the Europeans in the 15th century. So the Islams arrived from the Sudan region in the Sahel of northern Nigeria in the 19th century A.D. and found converts, meaning new believers, among the Hausa-Fulani.

Then comes the Europeans...
The first Europeans to reach Nigeria was the Portuguese in 1417. They created a business which was slave trade. Soon other European nations followed their lead of slave trading. Basically, West Africa soon became the ultimate source for slaves destined for the Americans.

Early 1800's was when the spread of Islam in the region; especially the north. An Islamic Jihad (1804-1808) in the northern region culminated in the founding of Sokoto Caliphate. Which is a powerful political system motivated by Islamic Fundamentalism.

• So I searched up the word "Islamic Jihad" and according to the website Islamic Jihad means, is a terrorist organization whose objectives include the destruction of Israel; the elimination of all Western influences in the Middle East by means of an armed and uncompromising jihad, or holy war; and the convergence of all Arab and Muslim countries into a single great Islamic state.

• In other words, a terrorist organization

Sokoto Caliphate is an Islamic spiritual community in Nigeria; which is led by Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’adu Abubakar according to Google's definition.

The British suppression of the slave trade led to the founding of Nigeria. The British urged that the slave trade be replaced with a trade in palm oil.

WHY? - So that it replace the dependence on income from the slave trade.
So to put an end to the internal slave trade, Britain shelled Lagos in 1851 and annexed it in 1861.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Day 1: Early History of Nigeria
Day 2: Nigeria Timeline
Day 3: Nigeria's Government
Day 4: Nigeria's Economy
Day 5: The people, religion, language, education