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
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“Yet poetry, though the last and finest result, is a natural fruit. As naturally as the oak bears an acorn, and the vine a gourd, man bears a poem, either spoken or done. It is the chief and most memorable success, for history is but a prose narrative of poetic deeds.”
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“A man acquainted with history may, in some respect, be said to have lived from the beginning of the world, and to have been making continual additions to his stock of knowledge in every century.”
—David Hume (1711–1776)