by
DAVID V.

NATIONAL FLAG OF NIGERIA

LOCATION:

A BRIEF HISTORY OF NIGERIA

The European nation that colonized my country was Great Britain. The  Europeans did not treat the natives well at all. When they got there they took over like it was their own land.  Then they captured the indigenous people and sold them into slavery. Although in 1807 the British banned slavery they continued to treat the people very badly, so in 1960 the people declared independence.

            The colonization hurt the indigenous people because when they found them the British immediately sold them into slavery.  After it was banned they still hurt them by not giving the Nigerians an education of any kind. This was really bad for them because after Nigeria won its independence, they found a ton of resources but, due to lack of education they did not have near as much success as they could have had.

             In 1960, the Nigerians won their independence by war. When the Nigerians declared independence the British system of colonization was not ready for independence, so the Nigerians went to war with the British. The war was a bloody war with tons massacres and many terrible fights. The war left 1,000,000 people dead.

            After Nigeria won their independence some problems they faced were stuff like economy and government. Due to lack of education the Nigerians did not have near as good government and economy as they could have, but they still had good economy because of the resources on their land. Another problem they faced was their civil war; this was caused by religious conflicts and fighting over oil and other resources. One of the worst problems Nigeria faces today is lack of education because Great Britain decided not to educate them while they ruled.

            After finding this information about Nigeria I think that if Great Briton never colonized it that it would just be home to a bunch of Africans. Nobody there would know how to speak English. I also think that it would not have found a lot of the resources so soon, but the British expanded Nigeria and took some Nigerians along as slaves. The slaves saw some of the oil and stuff and told the other Nigerians back at home, so they would not be near as rich as they are now. I think that there would also be a whole lot less war because the civil war was partly caused by the resources that Great Britain helped them find or the revolutionary war that killed 1,000,000 people. So I think that the colonization helped and hurt Nigeria.

Works Cited

Flag and map courtesy of Microsoft Clipart Gallery.

 Levy, Patricia. Nigeria-Cultures of the World.

Infoplease. http://www.infoplease.com

Lonely Planet. http://www.lonelyplanet.com