Nigeria is a culturally rich country but what is its history, how was herbs used, its history
and in the present day. In this video we’re exploring herbs, history and holistic living from
a nigerian point of view. So if you want to learn more about how nigerian culture impacts herbalism.
Then watch this video
Let’s go
Every culture in history has explored the use of plants for medicinal purposes
and this goes all the way back through history. For example,
a Neanderthal tomb in Iraq suggests herbal use more than 60000 years ago.
Bringing it back to today's age, we will explore these different cultures in this series,
diving into different cultures, traditional herbs
and history, starting with my beautiful country Nigeria.
As i have a lot of footage from my travels to nigeria
i'll be adding some to this video and i hope you like it.
Nigeria is a beautiful country home to over 200 million people,
that’s just around 100 million less than the whole United states,
the US has a population of around 328 million. there's a lot of people, in a smaller land mass.
Fun fact, Nigeria is one of the most linguistically diverse countries in the
world, with over 500 languages spoken. So if anyone ever asks if you speak African,
tell them, just 1 country in the continent of Africa has over 500 languages along,
and around 2000 languages in Africa, so which language exactly do they mean?
Nigeria has a rich history, really rich, including being home to one the earliest known societies
of western africa dating back to around 500bce, or 2500 years, this society is known as the nok
culture. this culture is said to have iron smelting technology and have produced art.
Back then, humans were more so set up into societies, kingdoms, cultures and tribes.
Nigeria today is a conglomerate of many many different tribes with a border drawn up when
Nigeria itself was formed in 1901. Before then you had the benin kingdom which i'm a descendant of,
igbo kingdom which i'm also a descendant of and you had yoruba kingdoms, the kingdoms of Sagel,
kanem bornu empire and many more such as warri, fulani and hausa kingdom.
Nigeria is a product of british colonisation and with the merging of two main parts in 1914
and it was formalled named then nigeria got its independence in 1st october 1960
One thing that has remained the same from the earliest cultures in nigeria till today is
the use of medicinal herbs. Even with the slave trade, these practices from western
africa even down to religions ended up in many different parts of the world.
That's why you can have voodoo being which was practiced in
brazil, haiti, america and jamaica. The people brought their practices with them
During these times, even up to recent times,
culturally, there has been links between medicinal herbs, medicines
and religion including the use of herbs in shrines. So contextually the use of plants where
partly due to interconnections of spiritual level as well its biomedical qualities and compounds
For example, an interesting story of a woman who was a slave in Jamaica was published in a english
paper in 1787, she was written to have nursed her owners back to health using traditional practices
of hygiene and the application of herbs. She was referred to in english newspapers as obiu-women
or wise women, this obeah practice is said to have originated in west africa
Interestingly enough, herbal medicine along with its spiritual element were known to
have been banned in certain colonies as it was seen as inferior to western medicine,
this has really shaped how this form of medicine has grown over the years,
who knows, stagnated id sy maybe it would be more prominent today if not
for that who knows. But the knowledge isn't dying it’s getting revived,
especially with videos like this so be sure to drop a like to help more people see this video.
And without further adieu let’s get into 4 herbs,
bare in mind, there are many many herbs, comment some that you know.
The first herb is bitter leaf
In general anything bitter is beneficial for you. Some of the most bitter herbs I've tried were
tongkat ali and cat’s claw, both these herbs are known for their benefits. So with that being said,
how dope is this name, Bitter leaf (vernonia amygdalina). In general herbal bitters are said
to be good for digestion, gut health inflammation, appetite and some of these have been associated
with this herb with modern science but this is herb that has been traditionally used in nigeria.
It’s used to cook, juice or as tea. Some it’s called Ewuro in Yoruba and Onugbu in Igbo.
Bitter leaf was traditionally used to aid liver and kidney health, relieve stomach aches,
promote sleep and help with fertility
The second herb is Mango tree
Known as mangoro in yorubaland, mango swamps’ in igboland, or mangolo in hausaland. See this
is just an example of the 500 plus languages in nigeria. This is actually from a mango tree.
Many consume the mangos of these trees unaware of the traditional benefits derived from the leaves.
Some of these traditional benefits include relief from malaria, diarrhea,
asthma, coughs and more. It's either used in powdered format or as tea.
The third herb is kola nut
Kola nut is nutritious, it’s also bitter and it has deeper traditional meanings. For example,
it is used in traditional nigerian weddings. It represents the couples willingness to
help heal each other. Ceremonies are not complete until it's shared between the couple and their
parents. It’s traditionally been sued for coughs, colds, energy, digestion and metabolism
The last herb is ugu
Ugu sometimes spelt ugwu. Is actually pumpkin leaves, i'm not sure of many
cultures who use the leaves but it’s said to have therapeutic benefits for convulsions,
anaemia and malaria which is the one of the main reasons it’s used.
I hope you enjoyed that video, there are many other herbs, so if you want a part 2
let me know, and let me know what country you want me to cover next.
If you want to learn more about it, click on my face and get my
herb guide and before you go check out this video right here and here.