Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country and where one can find more Black people than in any other country on the planet, has a uniquely complicated colonial history. The Iron Age Nok civilization of northern Nigeria dates back to about 1,500 BC, with evidence of settled life in the environs of Kaduna. Then came the Europeans in the 16th century, the first being the Portuguese who reached southern Nigeria and named their settlement Lagos, Portuguese for “lakes”. In 1897, journalist Flora Show of the Times of London, writing about the incursion made by the UAC, described the territory as Nigeria, after the Niger river. The UAC, which became Unilever, was forced to sell much of Nigeria to the British government in 1899 for £865,000.

Source: The North Africa Journal September 06, 2020 13:07 UTC