1. Nadia Dixon 5 th hour Challenge 5 Africa 6-7-11

2. Northern Nigeria is a geographical region of Nigeria. It is more Arid and less densely populated than the south. The people are largely Muslim, and many are Hausa. Much of the north was once politically united in the Northern Region, a federal division disbanded in 1967. Northern Nigeria was a British colony formed in the 1900. The basis of the colony was the 1885 Treaty of Berlin which broadly granted Northern Nigeria to Britain, on the basis of their protectorates in Southern Nigeria. There was uncertainty about the borders which Britain could assert and the trade rights other Europeans might have, and as a result British involvement in Northern Nigeria was initially considered a political priority in Africa due to the threat of German and the French rivals. There was particular uncertainty over the border with French colonies in the North West.

3. Several religions in Nigeria exist, helping to accentuate regional and ethnic distinctions. All religions represented in Nigeria were practiced in every major city in 1990. However, Islam dominated the north and held strong numbers in the South Western, Yoruba part of the country. Protestantism and local syncretic Christianity are also in evidence in Yoruba areas, while Catholicism dominates the Igbo and closely related areas. Both Protestantism and Catholicism dominated in the Ibibio, Annang, and the Efik kiosa lands. The 1963 census indicated that 47 percent of Nigerians were Muslim, 35 percent Christian, and 18 percent members of local indigenous congregations. If accurate, this indicated a sharp increase since 1953 in the number of Christians (up 13 percent); a slight decline among those professing indigenous beliefs, compared with 20 percent; and only a modest (4 percent) rise of Muslims. There has been growth in the Christ Apostolic Church (the first Aladura Movement in Nigeria) and the Aladura Church, an indigenous Christian sect that was especially strong in the Yoruba areas, and of evangelical churches in general, spilling over into adjacent and southern areas of the middle belt.

4. The Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria was created as a merger of Protectorate of Northern Nigeria and Colony and Protectorate of Southern Nigeria on January 1 st 1914, partly because of uneven economy in the two of the territories, and also due to growing tension with the German colonies. As one of the wealthiest British colonies, it was a good candidate for being the first colony to declare itself independent. Nigeria was given increased autonomy as the Federation of Nigeria on October 1 st 1954, and made fully independence in 1960.

5. Igboland is the home of the Igbo people and it covers most of Southeast Nigeria. The area is divided by the Niger River into two unequal sections – the eastern region (which is the largest) and the Midwestern region. The river, has not acted as a barrier to cultural unity, rather it has provided an easy means of communication in an area where many settlements claim different origins. The Igbos are also surrounded on all sides by other tribes. The origins of the Igbo people has been the subject of much speculation, and it’s only in the last fifty years that any real work has been carried out in the subject...like any group of people, they are anxious to discover their origin and reconstruct how they came to be, how they are....their experiences under colonialism and since Nigeria’s Independence have emphasized for them the reality of their group identity which they want to anchor into authenticated history

6. The Western Region was a subdivision of the federation of Nigeria until1967. Its capital was at Ibadan. It was established in the 1930s under British rule as a subdivision of the Southern Nigeria colony. Upon independence of Nigeria in 1960, it became one of the members of the federation, along with the Eastern Region and the Northern Region. In 1963, two provinces Benin and Delta were split from the region to form the new Mid-Western Region. In 1967 the regions were abolished and the area was subdivided into Lagos and Western states, which would also later be subdivided.

7. Nigeria is in West Africa, along the eastern coast of the Gulf of Guinea, and just north of the equator. It is bordered on the west by Benin, on the north by Niger and Chad, and on the east by Cameroon. Nigeria covers an area of 356,669 square miles (923,768 square kilometers), or about twice the size of California. Nigeria has three main environmental regions: savanna, tropical forests, and coastal wetlands. These environmental regions greatly affect the cultures of the people who live there. The dry, open grasslands of the savanna make cereal farming and herding a way of life for the Hausa and the Fulani. The wet tropical forests to the south are good for farming fruits and vegetables—main income producers for the Yoruba, Igbo, and others in this area. The small ethnic groups living along the coast, such as the Ijaw and the Kalabari, are forced to keep their villages small due to lack of dry land. Living among creeks, lagoons, and salt marshes makes fishing and the salt trade part of everyday life in the area.