Saturday, October 20, 2007

THE AREA NOW NIGERIA.

THE AREA NOW NIGERIA.
the area that is now Nigeria was home to ethnically based kingdoms and
tribal communities before it became a European colony. In spite of
European contact that began in the 16th century, these kingdoms and
communities maintained their autonomy until the 19th century. The colonial era
began in earnest in the late 19th century, when Britain consolidated
its rule over Nigeria. In 1914 the British merged their northern and
southern protectorates into a single state called the Colony and
Protectorate of Nigeria. Nigeria became independent of British rule in 1960.
After independence Nigeria experienced frequent coups and long periods of
autocratic military rule between 1966 and 1999, when a democratic
civilian government was established.


Nigeria is by far the most populated of Africa’s countries, with more
than one-seventh of the continent’s people. The people belong to many
different ethnic groups. These groups give the country a rich culture,
but they also pose major challenges to nation building. Ethnic strife has
plagued Nigeria since it gained independence in 1960.

Nigeria has a federal form of government and is divided into 36 states
and a federal capital territory. The country’s official name is the
Federal Republic of Nigeria. Lagos, along the coast, is the largest city
and the country’s economic and cultural center, but Abuja, a city in the
interior planned and built during the 1970s and 1980s, is the capital.
The government moved from Lagos to Abuja in 1991 in the hope of
creating a national capital where none of the country’s ethnic groups would
be dominant.

Nigeria long had an agricultural economy but now depends almost
entirely on the production of petroleum, which lies in large reserves below
the Niger Delta. While oil wealth has financed major investments in the
country’s infrastructure, Nigeria remains among the world’s poorest
countries in terms of per capita income. Oil revenues led the government to
ignore agriculture, and Nigeria must now import farm products to feed
its people.

No comments: