History
Nigerians have formed long-established communities in London, Liverpool and other industrial cities. The earliest known Nigerian presence in London occurred over 200 years ago as a direct result of the transatlantic slave trade. Olaudah Equiano, born in what is now Nigeria, was involved in the debate that occurred in Britain over the abolition of the slave trade.
Prior to Nigeria's independence from Britain, gained in 1960, many Nigerians studied in the UK along with other countries such as France and the United States, with the majority returning to Nigeria upon completion of their studies. In the 1960s, civil and political unrest in Nigeria contributed to many refugees migrating to Britain, along with skilled workers. Nigerians migrated in larger numbers in the 1980s, following the collapse of the petroleum boom. This wave of migration has been more permanent than the pre-independence wave of temporary migration. Asylum applications from Nigerians peaked in 1995, when the repression associated with the military dictatorship of Sani Abacha was at its height.
Read more about this topic: British Nigerian
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Gossip is charming! History is merely gossip. But scandal is gossip made tedious by morality.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)
“What would we not give for some great poem to read now, which would be in harmony with the scenery,—for if men read aright, methinks they would never read anything but poems. No history nor philosophy can supply their place.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The disadvantage of men not knowing the past is that they do not know the present. History is a hill or high point of vantage, from which alone men see the town in which they live or the age in which they are living.”
—Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936)