Nigerian History
Nigerian History explores the people, events, and ideas that have shaped Africa’s most populous nation. From the rise of powerful precolonial kingdoms and the impact of British colonial rule to the struggle for independence, civil war, and modern nation-building, this category brings Nigeria’s past to life through detailed narratives and verified historical accounts. Here, readers discover stories of leadership, resilience, culture, and transformation — tracing how Nigeria’s diverse heritage continues to influence its present and future.
Osifekunde of Ijebu, the Paris Interviews, and the Life Mask That Outlasted Him
Some lives reach us through diaries and letters. Others arrive only through someone else’s questions. Osifekunde of Ijebu belongs to the second kind. His...
Felix Idubor, The Sculptor Who Put Modern Nigeria on a Monumental Wall
Felix Idubor was born on March 17, 1928, in Benin City, Edo State, and died on April 23, 1991. He emerged from a cultural...
Maybnee of Itsekiri, What the Archive Reveals About Nana Olomu’s Daughter
Maybnee is known today because her name survived on a photograph. Preserved in the British Museum, a single image records her identity, her appearance,...
Remembering Chief Coco Otu Bassey of Old Calabar
A black and white photograph, widely circulated online and commonly titled “Burial Ceremony of the late Chief Coco Ota Bassey, Calabar, 1910s”, has become...
Nana Olomu of Itsekiri, Merchant Prince of the Niger Delta, and the 1894 Ebrohimi Expedition
Long before the Niger Coast Protectorate became a firm instrument of British rule, the Niger Delta was already a complex commercial world. River routes...
How Families Were Split From the Hinterland to Bonny and Old Calabar
Across the lands that make up modern Nigeria, the transatlantic slave trade rarely began at the shoreline. It began inland, in farms, compounds, market...
Origins of the Itsekiri People
The early history of the Itsekiri people is closely tied to the waterways of the western Niger Delta and to the emergence of Warri...
Onwa Asaa in Ugwuoba, The Masquerades That Open the New Yam Season
They arrive as a declaration rather than an invitation. Raffia fibres sway, skirts brush the ground, carved faces remain still while bodies move beneath...
Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ́ Masks and Yoruba Social Life
Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ́ is often described as a mask tradition, but it functions first as a public performance where carving, costume, music, and spoken expression operate...
Remigio Herrera “Adeshina Obara Meyi”, The Ifá Elder Who Helped Root Yoruba Divination in Cuba
Among the foundational figures of Afro Cuban religious history, few names carry the weight and continuity of Remigio Herrera. Known widely as Ño Remigio...