Category: History – Civilization
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Frederick Lugard was the first Governor General of Nigeria, who in January 1, 1914 amalgamated the Northern and the Southern protectorates to form one country under the British empire. Lugard was born in 1858 of missionary parents in India, and trained at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, in England. In 1894 Lugard visited Nigeria for…
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Atlantis is the fictional ancient civilization that became submerged under the ocean in the Greek philosopher, Plato’s dialogue, the “Timaeus” and the “Critias,” written about 330 B.C. Although the movement of the earth’s lithosphere, as described in the plate tectonic theory precludes the possibility of a lost continent in the recent geological past, Leo Frobenius,…
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Jean Marie Coquard was the Missionary of the Holy Catholic Church to Abeokuta who established the first hospital in Nigeria in 1859. Marie Coquard was trained as a sailor and destined for the French naval service but accident brought his ship to the Slave Coast about which he read at school and in ships’ cabins. Unfolded before…
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Christianity is the faith of a third of the world’s population, a system, said by Drummond as succeeding not only because it is divine but also because it is very human. The duty to a neighbor in this system, is considered part of the duty to God. “Christianity,’ aptly put by the Editor of the…
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Obalokun Agana Erin was the Alaafin of Oyo in the times when salt was first introduced to the empire. Obalokun was the first Alaafin after Oduduwa, reported to have made friends from beyond the continent of Africa. There is a story of how his messengers numbering hundreds were missing, never to be found again, after embarking…
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By a Native of Aneho Eko Akete 22 February, 1924. Marcus Garvey stands out prominently as one of the greatest Africans of the age. The scriptures saith, a little child shall lead them. Garvey is comparatively a child, a youngman of thirty-four, aspiring to unite 400 million Africans and to found an African Empire. That…
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Samuel Ajayi Crowther was a man from a simple West African village who as a lad, was rescued by the British Man-O-War to become in due course, the first African Bishop of modern times, and scholar, honoured by the Oxford University for his translation work. Ten times in seventy years he went to England. He…
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Thomas Babington Macaulay was the founder and the first principal of CMS Grammar School, Lagos which is the oldest secondary school in Nigeria. He is also credited, alongside his father-in-law, Samuel Ajayi Crowther, and Thomas King, with translation of the Bible into the Yoruba language. Babinton was born 26 January 1826 to Yoruba Parents who…
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Saro, a descriptive term apparently coined from “Sierra Leonean,” is a class of urbanized Yoruba former slaves that emerged in the nineteenth century following the 1807 British outlaw of slave trade. They were the ones, or children of those liberated by the British navy from slaving ships on the high seas. Many of these returnees…