Unity and Faith, Peace and Progress | ||||||
| Anthem | "Arise, O Compatriots" | |||||
| Capital (and largest city) |
Lagos | |||||
| Other Cities | Kano, Ibadan | |||||
| Language | English, Yoruba, Hausa | |||||
| Religion | Islam, Protestantism | |||||
| Demonym | Nigerian | |||||
| Established | 1 January 1914 | |||||
Nigeria (Yoruba: Nàìjíríà, Hausa: Nijeriya) is a colony of Great Britain, located in West Africa: it is bordered by the German colony of Cameroon to its east, French Equatorial Africa to its northeast, French West Africa to its north and west, and the Atlantic Ocean to its south. The territory which today corresponds Nigeria was acquired by the British during the Scramble for Africa, and the colony reached its current borders after a gradual British expansion in the territory during the 18th and early 19th century. Biafra was once a part of Nigeria, but became an independent republic during the last phases of the Great War.
Nigeria is the largest remaining British possession in all of the African continent by both land area and population, and its landscape is varied, containing plateaus, mountains, rivers (the Benin and the Niger most importantly) and dense forests. English is the official language of the colony and the lingua franca between the numerous ethnic groups of the colony, but Hausa and Yoruba have also official status as they're the two most widely spoken native languages. The vast majority of the population is Muslim. Nigeria's economy is varied and prosperous, also thanks to the colony's abundance of natural resources: main economic sectors include agriculture, oil extraction, mining and manufacturing.