Calabar, also referred to as Callabar, Calabari, Calbari, Cali, and Kalabar, is the capital city of Cross River State, Nigeria. Administratively, the city is divided into Calabar Municipal and Calabar South Local Government Areas. Calabar was once described as the tourism capital of Nigeria, especially due to several initiatives implemented during the administration of Donald Duke as the Governor of Cross River State (1999-2007).
This article delves into the history of Calabar, its role as a former capital, and the subsequent shifts in Nigeria's administrative centers. Additionally, we'll explore other cities that have played significant roles in Nigeria's history.
When Portuguese explorers reached this part of the Guinea coast in the 15th century, they called the tribes of the area "Calabar". These historic inhabitants were Efiks, Efuts, and Quas. The Efik people migrated from the area of the Niger River to the shores of Calabar. Since the 16th century, Calabar has served as an international seaport, exporting such goods as palm oil. During the centuries of the Atlantic slave trade, it became a major port for shipment of African slaves to the Americas. The Spanish named it Calabar.
In 1846, Scottish Presbyterians established a mission station in Calabar. Among the missionaries, Hope Waddell, who worked in Calabar from 1845 to 1858, and Mary Slessor, who evangelized Christianity in Calabar from 1876 to 1915, worked to improve treatment by and among the native peoples. They founded a school to provide secondary education to Africans.
Calabar developed earlier, albeit less vigorously than Lagos, with which it is sometimes compared because of some parallels. In 1922, British governor Clifford established the Legislative Council. The four elected members were from Lagos (3) and Calabar (1). The Legislative Council enacted laws for the colony and the protectorate of Southern Nigeria. It also approved the annual budget for the entire country. The four elected members were the first Africans to be elected to a parliamentary body in British West Africa. The Clifford Constitution led to the formation of political parties in Nigeria.
Read also: African States No Longer in Existence
In 1926, Governor Graeme Thomson attempted to introduce a poll tax in southeast Nigeria, including Calabar. The people reacted with strong protests, which Nigerians call the "Women's War", for many of its leaders, and the British termed the "Aba Riots". These riots spread from the neighboring town of Aba to Calabar.
After independence in 1960, tensions increased between the North and South areas of the country. In October 1967, an armada of the Nigerian Navy left the harbor of Bonny on a naval campaign en route to Calabar. On 17 October, the Biafran defenses on the beaches of Calabar came under heavy air and naval fire. Later that day, the Nigerian 33rd Battalion landed on the beach at Calabar. The Biafran resistance was overwhelmed.
The First Capital: Calabar's Historical Significance
Calabar is considered as the first capital of Nigeria because it served as the first capital of the Southern Protectorate, the Oil River Protectorate, and Niger Coast Protectorate. This was until the late nineteenth century, when the administrative center of the Southern protectorate was moved to Lagos in 1906.
The area had some of the first interactions with Europeans as it was a major international seaport in the transportation of palm oil and African slaves.
On September 10, 1884, England signed a Treaty of Protection with the King and Chiefs of Akwa Akpa, known to Europeans as Old Calabar, taking control over the entire territory of Calabar.
Read also: Population Growth in African Capitals
According to Pulse Nigeria, after coming under English rule on 10 September 1884, Old Calabar was designated as the first principal city for the Southern Protectorate, the Oil River Protectorate, and the Niger Coast Protectorate. Currently, it serves as the regional administrative center for the Cross Rivers.
The territory of Old Calabar served as the first colonial government center for the Southern Protectorate and the Oil Rivers Protectorate. However, this changed in the fourteenth year of the 20th century when the administrative center was changed to Lagos.
Before the unification of the British Protectorate, Calabar in Cross River served as the central administrative center for the Southern Protectorate. Before 1914, Kaduna City in Kaduna was the political capital of the Northern Protectorate.
From its foundation, southern Nigeria had always been administered by a high commissioner with most administrative duties in Calabar. The first high commissioner was Ralph Moor. Egerton became Governor of Lagos Colony, covering most of the Yoruba lands in the southwest of Nigeria in 1903. Although Calabar was the capital of this new Protectorate of Southern Nigeria, most of the colonial, diplomatic activities and high-level official businesses were carried out in Lagos.
The British colony administration moved the country's administrative headquarters from Calabar after the Chiefs of Old Calabar signed the 1884 Treaty of Protection with the British.
Read also: South Africa's Death Penalty History
Lagos: The Rise of a New Capital (1914-1991)
After Lagos served as the capital of Nigeria for many years, even after amalgamation and independence, religious and ethnic divisions caused the Nigerian government to begin searching for a capital that seemed neutral to all major ethnic parties and in close proximity to the regions of Nigeria. Lagos was also becoming very overcrowded.
On 1 January 1914, the newly appointed Governor General of Nigeria, Sir Frederick Lugard, announced Lagos as the first capital city. In his speech during the Amalgamation Proclamation of 1914, Lugard declared that:
"For the present, the Central Headquarters will remain at Lagos, and the Governor-General will divide his time between the Headquarters Stations of the Northern and Southern Provinces."
The evolution of the nation's capital cities begins with Nigeria's colonization by the British Empire. According to The History Ville, this journey started with the unification of the Southern and Nothern Protectorates in 1914 under Governor-General Sir Frederick Lugard.
Lagos was declared as Nigieria’s first capital city. On May 27, 1967, Lagos was created as a state by virtue of States [Creation and Transitional Provisions] Decree Number 14 of 1967 which restructured Nigeria’s Federation into 12 states. Lagos functioned as the federal capital city, and also as the state capital city.
The British sought to expand their authority and control over the territory, today known as Nigeria. At the time, there were three different territories - the Lagos Colony, the Southern Protectorate, and the Northern Protectorate. Sir Walter Egerton, Governor of Lagos Colony at the time, fused the Lagos Colony into the Southern Protectorate in the year 1906.
Lagos was the first capital of Nigeria and became the country's first administrative center in 1914.
However, some Nigerians who did not witness this event, have always claimed that Calabar, in present-day Cross River State, was the first capital of Nigeria.
Abuja: A New Federal Capital Territory (1991-Present)
Life in Nigeria - City of Abuja, History, People, Lifestyle, Traditions and Music.
Abuja, then Suleja, was chosen as Nigeria's capital in the early 1970s as it signified national unity. In 1991, after basic structures had been put up, Abuja was declared as the capital of Nigeria.
Where was the second capital of Nigeria? On 12 December 1991, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, replaced Lagos as the first principal city of the nation, leveraging its status as a planned metropolis. The country's Federal Capital Development Authority commissioned the city's planning in 1979.
Lagos was the first capital of Nigeria and became the country's first administrative center in 1914. Later, it was moved to Abuja, and it has remained so until now.
Other Unofficial Capitals
Calabar as the first capital of Nigeria is however very controversial. Asaba and Lokoja are also claimed to be unofficial capitals of Nigeria.
Asaba, the current capital of Delta state, is believed to have been where the British colonial masters started their administration. It was also where the British Royal Niger Company preferred to hold its treaties before incorporation.
In 1900, Sir Frederick Lugard settled in Lokoja, making it the regional seat of government before moving the administration center further up the Niger River to Jebba in 1902. In the same year, he moved the regional capital to Zungeru in Niger.
In 1912, Lord Lugard's quest for a more accessible and centrally located administrative center led him to Kaduna. Although he declared Lagos as the seat of the government in 1914, he did not hide his preference for Kaduna.
National Museum of Calabar
One of the five main themes of the museum is the Esuk Mba slave market in Akpabuyo. One exhibition shows the various means of payment used in the slave trade, from copper bars, manillas and Danish guns to brass bells, gongs, flutes and more. The arrangement of the slaves on a ship is artistically illustrated.
The Calabar National Museum, designed and built by the colonisers in Glasgow, houses souvenirs from the slave trade. On a tour of the museum, you can see the furnishings used by Europeans during the slave trade and colonial period. Calabar's most impressive monument is located in the park of the National Museum.
Attractions in Calabar
The state government of Cross River is trying to stimulate tourism in Calabar. Calabar sees itself as the "tourism capital of Nigeria".
Not far from Calabar, you can visit the Kwa Waterfalls (approx. 15 km away), Ibeno Beach (30 km away) and the Cross River National Park.
The Calabar Carnival, for which the old harbour town is famous, takes place every December.
Popular articles:
tags: #Nigeria
