Calabar

==History==
[[File:Duke Town Church, Calabar, late 19th century (imp-cswc-GB-237-CSWC47-LS2-010).jpg|thumb|alt=Image of the Duketown Church, Calabar (located within later day Nigeria). Three people stand in front of the white-sided church with a thatched roof. Duketown lies on the Calabar river 50 miles from the coast.|Duke Town Church, Calabar, late 19th century]]
{{See also|Akwa Akpa}}

=== Seaport, slave trade ===

When [[Portuguese Empire|Portuguese]] explorers in the 15th century reached this part of the [[Guinea (region)|Guinea]] coast, they called the tribes of the area "Calabar". These historic inhabitants were [[Ekoi people|Quas]]. It was not until the early part of the 18th century that the [[Efik people]] migrated from the area of the [[Niger River]] to the shores of the Calabar. They were fleeing civil war with their kindred and the [[Ibibio people]].<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Calabar|volume=4|page=962}}</ref>[[File:Nigeria Calabar Port 11.81.jpg|thumb|right|200px|A merchantman docked in Calabar, 1981]]

Since the 16th century, Calabar has served as an international [[seaport]], exporting such goods as [[palm oil]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Africans: The History of a Continent |first=John |last=Iliffe |edition=illustrated, reprint |publisher= Cambridge University Press |year=1995 |isbn=0-521-48422-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dlHE51ScKTUC&pg=PA149 |page=149}}</ref> 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. 

Taken in slave raids, [[Igbo people|Igbo]] people formed the majority of Africans who were sold as slaves from Calabar. They were a minority and subject to slave raids by more powerful tribes or ethnic groups in the region.<ref>{{cite book |title=Murder at Montpelier: Igbo Africans in Virginia |first=Douglas B. |last=Chambers |edition=illustrated |publisher=Univ. Press of Mississippi |year=2005 |isbn=1-57806-706-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PrPxWLSrp78C&pg=RA1-PA22 |page=22}}</ref>

From 1725 until 1750, roughly 17,000 enslaved Africans were sold from Calabar to European slave traders; from 1772 to 1775, the number soared to more than 62,000.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Two Princes of Calabar: An Eighteenth-century Atlantic Odyssey |first=Randy J. |last=Sparks |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2004 |isbn=0-674-01312-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Tt6BCT-9yEgC&pg=PA39 |page=39}}</ref> Old Calabar (Duke Town) and Creek Town, {{convert|10|mi|km|order=flip}} northeast, were crucial towns in the trade of slaves in that era.<ref name=overview/> 

In the early 19th century, Great Britain and the United States agreed to prohibit the slave trade. In 1815 {{HMS|Comus|1806|6}}, as part of the British [[blockade of Africa]], sailed into [[Duke Town]], where she captured seven Spanish and Portuguese [[slave ship]]s.<ref>{{cite RNB1823 |wstitle=Pierce, George |volume=4 |part=2 |page=129}}.</ref>

[[John Jea]], an enslaved African American, came from the area. He later became a writer. A small [[mulatto]] community of merchants was located here that had links to missionary and other merchant colonies in Igboland, [[Lagos]], and across the [[Atlantic Ocean|Atlantic.]]<ref>{{Cite web|title=Calabar Town in Cross-River Nigeria Guide|url=https://www.nigeriagalleria.com/Nigeria/States_Nigeria/Cross-River/History-of-Calabar-in-Cross-River.html|access-date=2022-02-03|website=www.nigeriagalleria.com}}</ref>

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 influenced many Efik people to convert to Christianity.

They tried to change or abolish the following traditional practices:

* Killing newborn twins,
* Human sacrifice at the death of village elders (to provide servants for them in the afterlife),<ref>{{Cite web |title=Calabar {{!}} Nigeria, Map, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Calabar |access-date=2024-01-19 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>
* "Convicting" suspects in crime by seeing if they survived  drinking poison (see judgement of God)

They founded a school to provide secondary education to Africans. They also worked to protect water supplies and limit mosquitoes in order to contain [[yellow fever]] epidemics.

Waddell and Slessor are still honoured in Calabar today; streets and squares in the city were named for them. 

=== Colonial times ===
On the 10th of September 1884, [[Queen Victoria]] signed a treaty of protection with the king and chiefs of Akwa Akpa, known to [[Ethnic groups in Europe|Europeans]] as Old Calabar—then the official title to distinguish it from [[New Calabar]] to the east.<ref name="EB1911" /> This enabled the United Kingdom to exercise control over the entire territory around Calabar, including [[Bakassi]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Brief History of Cross-River State:: Nigeria Information & Guide |url=https://www.nigeriagalleria.com/Nigeria/States_Nigeria/Cross-River/Brief-History-of-Cross-River-State.html |access-date=2018-07-05 |website=nigeriagalleria.com |language=en-NG}}</ref> Calabar was the headquarter of the European administration in the [[Niger Delta]] until 1906, when the seat of government was moved to [[Lagos]].<ref name="EB1911" />

Calabar developed earlier, albeit less vigorously than [[Lagos]], with which it is sometimes compared because of some parallels. Calabar has the following achievements:<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Calabar City: The Nations Paradise. |url=https://www.holidaynigeria.com.ng/index.php/holiday-nigeria-blog/67-calabar-the-trail-blazers-paradise |access-date=2024-01-19 |website=www.holidaynigeria.com.ng}}</ref>

* First Nigerian city to have a secondary school (the Hope Waddell Training Institution),<ref>{{Cite web |title=Calabar {{!}} Nigeria, Map, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Calabar |access-date=2024-01-19 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>
* first Nigerian city with a hospital (St Margaret's),<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=About Calabar |url=https://esopefik.tripod.com/histcalabar.html |access-date=2024-01-19 |website=esopefik.tripod.com}}</ref>
* first Nigerian female pharmacist,<ref name=":0" />
* first Nigerian female politician (Margaret Ekpo),<ref name=":0" />
* first Nigerian librarian,<ref name=":0" />
* first dark-skinned professor (Eyo Ita),<ref name=":1" />
* first Nigerian city with a post office,<ref name=":0" />
* first Nigerian town with a barracks,<ref name=":1" />
* first Nigerian city with a network of paved roads,<ref name=":1" />
* first Nigerian city with a botanical garden (now derelict),<ref name=":1" />
* first Nigerian city with a monorail (now also derelict),<ref name=":1" />
* "Nigeria's cleanest city"<ref name=":0" />

From 1914 until the 1960s, a mail steamer of the Liverpool Elder-Dempster Line called at Calabar every month. In addition to letters and parcels, it also delivered newspapers, cargo and carried up to 100 passengers to [[Lagos]], [[Port Harcourt]] and Calabar.

In 1922, British governor [[Hugh Clifford (colonial administrator)|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. [[Herbert Macaulay]], a newspaper owner and grandson of [[Samuel Ajayi Crowther]], in 1923 founded the first Nigerian political party, the [[Nigerian National Democratic Party|Nigeria National Democratic Party]]. It remained the strongest party in the elections until 1939.

In 1926, Governor Graeme Thomson attempted to introduce a [[poll tax]] in south-east Nigeria, including Calabar. It would reduce the number of Africans eligible to vote in elections. 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 neighbouring town of Aba to Calabar. Several administrative buildings were destroyed and more than 50 women died at the hands of colonial forces.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Falola |first=Toyin |title=A History of Nigeria |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-521-68157-5 |pages=120–130 |language=en}}</ref>

=== Biafra War ===
After independence in 1960, tensions increased between the North and South areas of the country, which were strongly affiliated with Muslims and Christians, respectively. In addition the South had a concentration of educated people who were politically powerful and had a history of trade and interaction with other communities. 

The Southeastern area decided to become independent and declared itself as the Republic of Biafra in 1967. It included Calabar. In October 1967, an armada of the Nigerian Navy left the harbour of Bonny on a naval campaign en route to Calabar. The ships carried troops of the Nigerian 3rd Naval Division under the command of Colonel Benjamin Adekunle. At this time, Calabar was being defended by the 9th Battalion of Biafrans under the command of Major Ogbo Oji. On 17 October, the Biafran defences on the beaches of Calabar came under heavy air and naval fire. Less than 24 hours later, the Nigerian 8th Battalion under the command of Major Ochefu went ashore at Lokoja and captured the Calabar cement factory.<ref name=":8">{{Cite book |last=Vetner |first=Al J. |title=Biafra's War 1967-1970: A Tribal Conflict That Left a Million Dead |publisher=Helion & Company |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-910294-69-7 |location=Warwick, UK |pages=197–210 |language=en}}</ref>

Later that day, the Nigerian 33rd Battalion landed on the beach at Calabar. The Biafran resistance was overwhelmed. After Nigerian troops advanced into Calabar from three different positions, bloody hand-to-hand fighting ensued. After suffering heavy losses, the remaining mercenaries retreated northward and fled Biafra.<ref name=":8" /> After three years, the country reunited under Nigerian central government.