Expand each section to read more. 1600s Western Igbo kingdoms
dominate trade in the lower Niger region. 1815 Following the end
of the Napoleonic wars between France and Great Britain, Britain
begins to trade with the interior, calling the region "Nigeria"
based on the path the Niger River takes through the area. 1914
Igbo, Yoruba, and Hausa areas are officially united under
Britain as the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria. 1930 Chinua
Achebe is born in the Igbo village of Ogidi. 1958 Things Fall
Apart is published in England. 1960 Nigeria gains independence,
as a parliamentary democracy. This story of the Igbos around
1900 was written by one of their grandchildren; Chinua Achebe
was born in 1930 in southeastern Nigeria, in the Igbo village of
Ogidi. He grew up speaking English and reading English
literature, but Achebe kept a deep attachment to his Igbo roots;
eventually he came to question the English literary portrayal of
Africa and Africans as violent, ignorant, and primitive. Achebe
wanted to give Africa