Pre-colonial History: Ecological Diversity and Local Autonomy
[Maddie and Ashley, I'm sorry, but so far, this section is boring. I'd like to hear your voice and more of a story. What was this world like before Europeans came around? How did the people live? how did they interact with nature? What did they eat? How did they interact with their neighbors? What sort of goods did they trade? What did they care about? What did they believe? Europeans brought the encylopedic approach to knowledge in the 18th century, so in telling the pre-colonial story, it seems that a more vivid and engaging style would be appropriate. Maybe some reading about Mami Wata could convey the pre-colonial mindset? -JS]
by Maddie and Ashley
The Niger Delta is made up of four ecological zones. These zones are coastal barrier islands, mangrove swamp forests, freshwater swamps, and lowland rain forests. With this high concentration of biodiversity in this ecosystem, the delta could have thrived when it comes to flora, fauna, crops, trees, and could have had more species of freshwater fish. This is all if it had been left untouched by oil companies (http://www.campbellsville.edu/the-paradox-of-abundant-oil-the-case-of-the-niger-delta-in-nigeria).(Watts). [citation or path to sources will be modified later]The population of the delta makes up more than 23% of Nigeria's total population. This 23% is estimated to be a population of 30 million. The Niger delta region was redefined in the year 2000 to include Abia, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Edo, Imo, Ijaw, Igbo, and Ondo. Focusing specifically on the Ogoni people, they believe that they have lived on their current land for hundreds of years. Ogoni culture has an emphasis on the training of warriors and the role of the spirit medium known as Mammy Wata.
500 BC.-200 A.D. : Nok civilization thrive in the Nigeria Terra cotta structures heed towards the group's existence and their use of steel (http://www.timeforkids.com/destination/nigeria/history-timeline) <--we'll fix later, fyi if you want to find more
PRE MEETS COLONIAL:
Portuguese becomes first of European powers to access Nigeria (http://www.timeforkids.com/destination/nigeria/history-timeline)
