Long Division
The tension between colonial government and the work of missionaries characterised British colonialism in Nigeria.
Nigeria
Biafra 50 Years On
The civil war that resulted from the division of Nigeria was a major human disaster that should not be forgotten.
Portrait of the Author as a Historian: Chinua Achebe
The son of a country whose history had been written by outsiders, Chinua Achebe recognised the need for African literature with a Nigerian voice.
Nigeria: Two Imperialist and Their Creation
The largest of African republics possesses an ancient and composite civilization, but the form that the country takes today owes much to two British colonial administrators.
The Discovery of Nigeria’s Nok Culture
The Nok people of Nigeria were smelters of iron but also agriculturalists. The culture they founded may have a deep effect on the ancient history of Africa.
The Fall of Kano
The taking of Kano by the West African Frontier Force, on February 3rd 1903, signalled the end of the Muslim fundamentalist Fulani empire in northern Nigeria.
Lugard and Colonial Nigeria - Towards an Identity?
'More like sovereign heads of state than servants of the same British Crown' - the rivalry and 'diplomacy' of imperial proconsuls hampered the creation of Nigeria between 1900 and 1914.
Monuments: The Walls of Kano City
The preservation of the past must inevitably pose particular problems in a city which is literally a living monument to the Middle Age of African history, especially when its mud walls are crumbling and its gates are barely wide enough for animals, far less motorised vehicles. An article by John Lavers.