Nigeria

== Etymology ==

The name ''[[Wikt:Nigeria|Nigeria]]'' derives from the [[Niger River]] running through the country. This name was coined on 8 January 1897, by the British journalist [[Flora Shaw, Lady Lugard|Flora Shaw]]. The neighbouring [[Republic of Niger]] takes its name from the same river. The origin of the name ''Niger'', which originally applied to only the middle reaches of the Niger River, is uncertain. The word is likely an alteration of the [[Tuareg people|Tuareg]] name ''egerew <u>n-iger</u>ewen'' used by inhabitants along the middle reaches of the river around [[Timbuktu]] before 19th-century [[scramble for Africa|European colonialism]].<ref>The Arabic name ''nahr al-anhur'' is a direct translation of the Tuareg.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Niger |title=''Online Etymological Dictionary'' |publisher=Etymonline.com |access-date=28 July 2014}}</ref> Before Flora Shaw suggested the name ''Nigeria'', other proposed names included ''Royal Niger Company Territories'', ''Central Sudan'', ''Niger Empire'', ''Niger Sudan'', and ''Hausa Territories''.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Kperogi |first1=Farooq A. |title=Natasha H. Akpoti's Wildly Inaccurate History of Nigeria |url=https://www.farooqkperogi.com/2019/04/natasha-h-akpotis-wildly-inaccurate.html?m=1 |website=Notes From Atlanta}}</ref>