Calabar is a city in Cross River State, southern Nigeria. The original name for
Calabar was Akwa Akpa, from the Efik language. The city is watered by the
Calabar and Great Kwa Rivers and creeks of the Cross River.
Calabar is the capital of Cross River State. For the purpose of
administration, the city is divided into Calabar Municipal and Calabar South
LGAs. It has an area of 406 km² and a population of 371,022 at the 2006
census. History
The original town was known as Akwa Akpa from the Efik words Akwa and Akpa. The
spelling Calaba remained till the British came and pronounced Calabar as
Calabah. The neighboring town of Ataba took over the name and its Efik
EfutAkampkpa indigenes became known as Calabar pronounced Calabah till this
day. Calabar is a large metropolis today with several towns like Akim, Ikot Ansa,
Ikot Ishie, Kasuk, Duke Town, Henshaw Town, Ikot Omin, Obutong, Bakassi,
Biase, Akamkpa, etc. = Seaport city =
As far back as the 16th century, Calabar had been a recognized international sea
port, shipping out goods such as palm oil. During the era of the Atlantic
slave trade It subsequently became a major port in the transportation of
African slaves. Most slave ships that transported slaves from Calabar were
English, at around 85% of these ships being from Bristol and Liverpool
merchants. Old Calabar and Creek Town, 10 miles northeast, were crucial towns
in the trade of slaves in that era. The first British warship to sail as far as
Duke Town, where she captured seven Spanish and Portuguese slavers, may have
been HMS Comus in 1815. The main ethnic group taken out of
Calabar as slaves were the Igbo, from the neighboring Igbo land.
African-American writer and slave John Jea was from the area. There was also a
small Mulatto community of merchants with links to missionary and other
merchant colonies in Igboland and Lagos, and across the Atlantic.
= First Nigerian capital city = The city once served as the seat of
Government of the Niger Coast Protectorate, Southern Protectorate and
Oil River Protectorate. It is thus effectively the first Nigerian capital
city. Landmarks
As a social centre the city boasts of the first social club in Nigeria, The
Africa Club, and hosted the first competitive football, cricket and field
hockey games in Nigeria. Among the city's firsts includes the first Roman
Catholic Mass and the oldest secondary school in eastern Nigeria. The School
later produced the first President of Nigeria, Nnamdi Azikiwe.
The city boasts of an international museum, a botanical garden, a Free Trade
Zone/Port, an International Airport and Seaport, an integrated sports stadium
complex, a cultural centre, one of the most prominent universities in the
country the University of Calabar, a slave history park and several
historical and cultural landmarks. It also has several standard hotels,
resorts and amusement parks. The former Liberian warlord Charles Taylor lived in
the old colonial palace in the city, under an agreement that led to the end
of his country's civil war, before fleeing extradition to Liberia in March
2006. The Tinapa Resort, a development by the Cross River State government,
lies to the north of the city beside the Calabar Free Trade Zone.
The Cross River State Annual Christmas Festival held every year attracts
thousands within and beyond Nigeria. The Festival which includes music
performance from both local and international artists, the annual
Calabar Carnival, Boat regatta, Fashion shows, Christmas Village, traditional
dances and the annual Ekpe Festival is a yearly event that brings in thousands of
tourists at the time of the year. Climate
Under Köppen's climate classification Calabar features a tropical monsoon
climate with a lengthy wet season spanning ten months and a short dry
season covering the remaining two months. The harmattan, which generally
significantly influences weather in West Africa, is noticeably less pronounced in
the city. Temperatures are relatively constant throughout the course of the
year, with average high temperatures usually ranging from 25 to 28 degrees
Celsius. There is also little variance between daytime and nighttime
temperature, as temperatures at night are generally only a few degrees lower
than the high temperature that is typically attained during the daytime.
Calabar averages just under 3,000 mm of precipitation annually.
Political authority Calabar has three principal landlord
kingdoms, namely the Qua Kingdom of Ejagham/bantu origin, the Efut and the
Efik Kingdoms. The Qua Kingdom has the Ndidem of the Qua nation as the Grand
Patriarch, the Efut have the Muri munene as the Grand Patriarch while the Efik
Kingdom patriarch is known as the Obong. The Efik political authority as it
concerns the Obong is hinged on a political tripod, Creek Town, made up of
Ambo, Cobham and Eyo; Old Town made up of Obutong; and Duke Town or Atakpa made
up of Duke/Archibong, Eyamba, Ntiero, Henshaw and Cobham. Each leg of this
tripod at one time or the other was ruled by a separate Obong. Within the
last 100 years, a gentleman’s agreement to merge these three zones into one,
with a single titular head as the Obong, and the distribution or opening up of
the title to all Efik wards, was reached. It is the attempt to do away or
dishonour this "contract of understanding" that is at the root of
the Obong of Calabar crises. Each of the aspirants to the throne is eminently
qualified, none no more so than the other. The title of the Obong of Calabar
had been held by Nsa Effiom and Ekpo Nsa in the 17th century; these two gentlemen
were from the Henshaw ward. Attempts by the Henshaw to have an Obong resulted in
a war in 1870. The Henshaws did not attain this title again until within the
last 50 years, when David Henshaw became Obong. Cobham Town, where Bassey Ekpo
Bassey hails from, had their first and only Obong recently. All this was made
possible because of "the contract". Calabar Kingdom
Before the colonial period, Calabar, originally known as Akwa Akpa, was a
Kingdom with the City of Calabar as the site of government, the Obong of Calabar
as the ruler and the Ekpe secret society as the stool on which the Obong of
Calabar sat. The other kingdoms in Calabar are that of the Qua Nation with
the Ndidem of the Quas and paramount ruler of calabar municipality and the
Muri munene of efut and paramount ruler of calabar south
Calabar people Calabar people are mainly people from
the Greater Calabar district - Calabar South, Calabar Municipality, Akpabuyo,
Bakassi, Biase, Odukpani and Akamkpa, but as commonly used in Nigeria, the
term "Calabar people" could also refer to both the indigenes of Greater Calabar
as well as the people of the original South Eastern State of Nigeria which is
at present the people of Akwa Ibom State and Cross River State.
Nigerian Navy Calabar is also the headquarters of the
Eastern Naval Command. The city has a new model school, Nigerian Navy
Secondary School, situated in a serene part of Akpabuyo, about 10 minutes'
drive from the airport. This new school complements the existing Nigerian Navy
Primary School and Naval Officers Wives Association Primary School, both
situated at Ikot Ansa Calabar. See also
Kalabari tribe Efik people
References and sources = References =
= Sources = Marshall, John Royal naval biography,
or, Memoirs of the services of all the flag-officers, superannuated
rear-admirals, retired-captains, post-captains, and commanders, whose
names appeared on the Admiralty list of sea officers at the commencement of the
present year 1823, or who have since been promoted ....
External links University of Calabar