The Malê Revolt (also known as The Great Revolt) is perhaps the most significant slave rebellion in Brazil.
On a Sunday during Ramadan in January 1835, in the city of Salvador da Bahia, a small group of black slaves and freedmen, inspired by Muslim teachers, rose up against the government. Muslims were called malê in Bahia at this time, from Yoruba imale that designated a Yoruba Muslim.
Bussa’s Rebellion (14–16 April 1816) was the largest slave revolt in Barbadian history. Several hundred slaves rose in rebellion under the leadership of the African-born slave Bussa.
Bussa’s Rebellion was the first of three large-scale slave rebellions in the British West Indies that shook public faith in slavery in the years leading up to emancipation. It was followed by the large-scale rebellion in Demerara in 1823 and by an even larger rebellion in Jamaica in 1831–32. Collectively these are often referred to as the “late slave rebellions”.
In 1807 the Houses of Parliament in London enacted legislation prohibiting British subjects from participating in the slave trade. Britain withdrew from the slave trade while it was the major transporter of slaves to the Americas.
A desire for glory and profit from trade, missionary zeal, and considerations of global strategy brought Portuguese navigators to the West African coast in the late fifteenth century.
Oyo, the great exporter of slaves in the eighteenth century, collapsed in a civil war after 1817, and by the middle of the 1830s the whole of Yorubaland was swept up in these civil wars.
New centers of power–Ibadan, Abeokuta, Owo, and Warri–contested control of the trade routes and sought access to fresh supplies of slaves, which were important to repopulate the turbulent countryside. At this time, the British withdrew from the slave trade and began to blockade the coast. The blockade required some adjustments in the slave trade along the lagoons that stretched outward from Lagos, while the domestic market for slaves to be used as farm laborers and as porters to carry commodities to market easily absorbed the many captives that were a product of these wars.
Long before 1500 much of modern-Nigeria was divided into states identified with contemporary ethnic groups. These early states included the Yoruba kingdoms, the Igbo Kingdom of Nri, the Benin Kingdom, the Hausa cities, and Nupe.
In addition, numerous small states to the west and south of Lake Chad were absorbed or displaced in the course of the expansion of Kanem, which was centered to the northeast of Lake Chad. Borno, initially the western province of Kanem, became independent in the late 14th century. Other states probably existed as well, but the absence of archaeological data prevents accurate dating.
In the south, the earliest Edo state was Igodomigodo which emerged in 900 AD. Despite its relatively small size geographically it is considered the cradle of Edo culture.
A chronology of key events:
circa 11th century onwards – Formation of city states, kingdoms and empires, including Hausa kingdoms and Borno dynasty in north, Oyo and Benin kingdoms in south. (ream more BENIN EMPIRE , OYO EMPIRE , BORNU EMPIRE ,IGBO KINGDOM OF NRI , HAUSA KINGDOMS , YORUBA KINGDOM OF IFE , NUPE KINGDOM)
1472 – Portuguese navigators reach Nigerian coast.
16-18th centuries – Slave trade: Millions of Nigerians are forcibly sent to the Americas.
Nigeria is a Federal Republic composed of 36 States, and a Capital Territory, with an elected President and a Bi-cameral Legislature. It operates the Presidential system of Government with three distinct but complementary arms namely the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary, each acting as a check on the other two.
The Executive arm of Government, at the Federal level, consists of the President, the Vice-president and other members of the Federal Executive Council, while at the State level, it is made up of the Governor, the Deputy Governor and other members of the State Executive Council.
The Legislature is equally found at the Federal and State levels. The Federal Legislature comprises a 109- member Senate and a 360-member House of Representatives. The two, combined, is known as the National Assembly (the equivalent of the American Congress). At the State level, the Legislature is known as the House of Assembly.
The Nigerian Civil War, also known as the Biafran War, 6 July 1967 – 15 January 1970, was a war fought to counter the secession of Biafra from Nigeria. Biafra represented nationalist aspirations of the Igbo people, whose leadership felt they could no longer coexist with the Northern-dominated federal government.
The conflict resulted from political, economic, ethnic, cultural and religious tensions which preceded Britain’s formal decolonization of Nigeria from 1960–1963. Immediate causes of the war in 1966 included a military coup, a counter-coup, and persecution of Igbo living in Northern Nigeria.
The Nigerian Civil War (Biafran War) 6 July 1967 – 15 January 1970, was a war fought to counter the secession of Biafra from Nigeria. Biafra represented nationalist aspirations of the Igbo people, whose leadership felt they could no longer coexist with the Northern-dominated federal government.
The conflict resulted from political, economic, ethnic, cultural and religious tensions which preceded Britain’s formal decolonization of Nigeria from 1960–1963. Immediate causes of the war in 1966 included a military coup, a counter-coup, and persecution of Igbo living in Northern Nigeria.
Nigeria Gists 