What Existed Before Nigeria? (The Answer Will Surprise You)

Before there was Nigeria, there were hundreds of kingdoms, city-states, empires, and communities spread across the Niger and Benue river basins. So where did the name Nigeria come from—and what did the people living there call themselves before the country existed? In 1897, British journalist Flora Shaw proposed the name “Nigeria” while writing for The Times of London. The name eventually became associated with a vast territory containing civilizations with histories stretching back centuries. This documentary explores the history of precolonial Nigeria, including the Kanem-Bornu Empire, Hausa city-states, Sokoto Caliphate, Oyo Empire, Kingdom of Benin, Nri, the Aro Confederacy, Bonny, and Calabar. We also examine the Royal Niger Company, British expansion, the 1897 destruction of Benin City, and the 1914 amalgamation of the Northern and Southern Protectorates under British rule. But the central question remains: What did the people who lived there call themselves before the name Nigeria existed? This is the story of the civilizations that existed before modern Nigeria—and how a name created during the colonial era eventually came to describe them all. #blackhistory #africa #colonialhistory #history