Calabar Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! === 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> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page