Calabar

=== Museums ===

==== Slave History Museum ====
One of the five main themes of the museum is the Esuk Mba slave market in Akpabuyo. The slave trade in Calabar was based on slave raiding and trading, which mainly took place in the hinterland, where the enslaved were mostly prisoners of war. The prisoners of war were collected at this market and sold as slaves to slave traders.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |title=Slave History Museum, Calabar {{!}} Slavery and Remembrance |url=https://slaveryandremembrance.org/partners/partner/?id=P0027 |access-date=2024-01-19 |website=slaveryandremembrance.org}}</ref>

Another exhibition shows objects from the slave trade, including chains and shackles. The traders used these to prevent resistance while transporting as many people as possible over long distances.<ref name=":4" />

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 slaves are arranged in different positions depending on where they were accommodated on the ship, either sitting, standing or side by side. These positions were maintained until the ships reached their destination in the New World - a crossing that could take several months.<ref name=":4" />

Finally, another exhibition traces the efforts of abolitionists such as William Wilberforce, Thomas Clarkson and Granville Sharp, who saw the slave trade as morally reprehensible and a matter of natural rights. They therefore put forward twelve proposals for abolition. A British Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade of 25 March 1807 finally stipulated that the slave trade should be abolished by law from 1 May 1807.<ref name=":4" />

The [[Media Trust|Daily Trust Nigeria]] reported the museum's decline. However, the negative report could be due to the COVID wave that was rampant at the time.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-04-24 |title=Why Calabar History Museum no longer attracts traffic |url=https://dailytrust.com/why-calabar-history-museum-no-longer-attracts-traffic/ |access-date=2024-01-19 |website=Daily Trust |language=en-GB}}</ref>

==== National Museum resp. Old Residency Museum ====
[[File:Old Residency, National Museum, Calabar 02.jpg|thumb|National Museum Calabar]]
The ''National Museum of Calabar'' was built in 1884 (it is sometimes incorrectly stated to have been built in 1959). It was formerly the government building or the governor's residence during colonial rule, which was built in Britain and then shipped in parts to Calabar. The Calabar National Museum is made of old Scandinavian pine and has preserved centuries-old relics, especially documents, furnishings and artefacts from the colonial era.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-09-07 |title=Eleven Top Tourist Attractions in Calabar |url=https://blog.vectatravels.com/top-tourist-attractions-in-calabar/ |access-date=2024-01-19 |website=Vecta Travels Blog |language=en-US}}</ref> The museum houses the relics of the slave trade, including the names of the people who supported the slave trade and the currency of the slave trade. The Calabar National Museum, designed and built by the colonisers in Glasgow, houses souvenirs from the slave trade. In 1959, the building became a national monument.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Godlewski |first=Joseph |date=2020-05-30 |title=Drawing from the archives: notes on the Old Residency in Calabar, Nigeria |url=https://medcraveonline.com/AHOAJ/AHOAJ-04-00160.pdf |access-date=2024-01-19 |website=MedCrave}}</ref>
[[File:Hand sculpture roundabout, Calabar, Cross River state2.jpg|left|thumb|The Calabar hand sculpture]]
The National Museum was once the home of a British governor. It is located in Calabar, Cross River State, and displays unique artefacts and historical heritage.

On a tour of the museum, you can see the furnishings used by Europeans during the slave trade and colonial period. You can also see the constitutions in their original documents, which are kept in a large library.<ref>{{Cite web |title=National Museum in Calabar What's On In Calabar |url=https://www.whatsonincalabar.com/national-museum-calabar/ |access-date=2024-01-19 |website=What's On In Calabar |language=en-GB}}</ref>

Calabar's most impressive monument is located in the park of the National Museum. It depicts two chained hands.

==== Mary Slessor's House ====
[[File:Mary Slessor.jpg|thumb|Mary Slessor]]
Mary Mitchell Slessor was a Scottish missionary sent to Nigeria by the United Presbyterian Church in the 19th century.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mary Slessor Building Cross River State :: Nigeria Information & Guide |url=https://www.nigeriagalleria.com/Nigeria/States_Nigeria/Cross-River/Mary-Slessor-Building.html |access-date=2024-01-19 |website=www.nigeriagalleria.com}}</ref> ''Mary Slessor's House'', built around 1880 in Akpap Village, Calabar, Cross River State, is one of the monuments dedicated to her memory.

Originally, the house was a mud house with two bedrooms, a verandah, a shop and a parlour. She referred to it as a "trailer", but the locals called it a "good pass all". In 1889, Mr Owens, a carpenter at the mission, was hired to build a more permanent structure for her. The walls were made of iron plates with wooden doors and windows.<ref name=":5">{{Citation |title=Project Nigeria: Mary Slessor House Calabar |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PD7pk-foDRo |access-date=2024-01-19 |language=en}}</ref>

When Southern Nigeria became a British protectorate, Miss Slessor acted as a female magistrate and skilful diplomatic ambassador. For her efforts in Okoyong, she was given the Efik name Obongawan Okoyong (Queen of Okoyong).<ref name=":5" />

She was also instrumental in the establishment of the Hope Waddell Training Institute in Calabar, which provided vocational training for Efiks. Miss Slessor is widely regarded as a heroine in Nigerian history, and the Mary Slessor House stands as a historical site in honour of the missionary in Ekenge, Calabar, Cross River State.<ref name=":5" />