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Old Maps Show Biafra Was Actually In Cameroon And Never Part Of Nigeria - Education - Nairaland

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Old Maps Show Biafra Was Actually In Cameroon And Never Part Of Nigeria by ceaser: 7:43am On Dec 05, 2015
Old Maps Show Biafra Was Actually In Cameroon And Never Part Of Nigeria

While it is common to hear an argument postulated by adherents of a recent pro-Biafra agitation resurgence among young listeners of a pirate radio station operating out of the United Kingdom, Radio Biafra, that “Biafra” was the initial name of the territory to which the South of Nigeria belonged, our checks have failed to substantiate this claim.

The idea has been pushed by the Radio station run by a rather radical individual, Nwannekaenyi Kenny Okwu-Kanu, who goes by the alias, Nnamdi Kanu. The maps can be seen on the Princeton University website and enlarged to examine.

We have brought out the relative parts below.Apparently the name “Biafra” or “Biafara” was picked again because the former Premiere of Nigeria’s then Eastern region, Odumegwu Ojukwu had chosen the “Biafra” name for the territory he wished to preside over; however there is no evidence that Ojukwu selected that name because he believed it was the name of his ancestral home.

Rather it was the name of much of Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and São Tomé and Príncipe and perhaps a nice name that tickled Ojukwu’s fancy. Or perhaps Ojukwu was suggesting an ancestral origin outside Nigeria in the Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon region.

http://i1.wp.com/nigeriana.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/biafra1.png?resize=676%2C434

OLD MAPS SHOW BIAFRA

In the image above, River Camarones can be noticed at the left border of “Biafra.” This river, now called Wouri river is in the middle of today’s Cameroon.

The Region Is Benin And Not Biafra

Calabar, Nigeria’s Eastern border is seen well within territory called Benin; Benin, a large demarcated kingdom that extends deep into today’s Cameroon, before the region known as Biafra starts.

Based on these findings, “Benin” would serve as a more accurate historical fact based sobriquet for the southern parts of Nigeria in discussion.

Another map from 1644 also puts “Biafara” solidly in Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and São Tomé and Príncipe and far from Nigeria’s furthest Eastern border. Apparently the prior name of the territory now called Biafra by this group was recognized and mapped as “Benin,” and never Biafra in all historic maps.

Origins Of The Name “Biafra”

According to Encyclopaedia britannica: a dictionary of arts, sciences …, Volume 11-12, year 1910 , the name “Biafra” from “Bight of Biafra, comes from the word, “Mafra,” a town in Portugal.

Mafra, Portugal

The Portuguese named a country extending from Cameroon southward to Equatorial Guinea, “Biafra,” but the name was later dropped in the later part of the 19th century.

THE BIGHT OF BIAFRA, OR MAFRA (NAMED AFTER THE TOWN MAFRA IN SOUTHERN PORTUGAL), BETWEEN CAPES FORMOSA AND LOPEZ, IS THE MOST EASTERN PART OF THE GULF OF GUINEA; IT CONTAINS THE ISLANDS FERNANDO PO [EQUITORIAL GUINEA], PRINCE’S AND ST THOMAS’S [SÃO TOMÉ AND PRÍNCIPE]. THE NAME BIAFRA-AS INDICATING THE COUNTRY-FELL INTO DISUSE IN THE LATER PART OF THE 19TH CENTURY.

Map 1: Old Maps Show Biafra Was Actually In Cameroon And Never Part Of Nigeria
Map 2 & 3: River Camarones can be noticed at the left border of “Biafra.” This river, now called Wouri river is in the middle of today’s Cameroon
Map 4: Another map from 1644 also puts “Biafara” solidly in Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and São Tomé and Príncipe and far from Nigeria’s furthest Eastern border. Apparently the prior name of the territory now called Biafra by this group was recognized and mapped as “Benin,” and never Biafra in all historic maps.
Map 5: Origins of the name "Biafra"
Map 6: The Portuguese named a country extending from Cameroon southward to Equatorial Guinea, “Biafra,” but the name was later dropped in the later part of the 19th century
Image 7: THE BIGHT OF BIAFRA, OR MAFRA (NAMED AFTER THE TOWN MAFRA IN SOUTHERN PORTUGAL), BETWEEN CAPES FORMOSA AND LOPEZ, IS THE MOST EASTERN PART OF THE GULF OF GUINEA; IT CONTAINS THE ISLANDS FERNANDO PO [EQUITORIAL GUINEA], PRINCE’S AND ST THOMAS’S [SÃO TOMÉ AND PRÍNCIPE]. THE NAME BIAFRA-AS INDICATING THE COUNTRY-FELL INTO DISUSE IN THE LATER PART OF THE 19TH CENTURY.
Image 8: Equatorial Guinea people, of actual “Biafra” territory
Image 9: Equatorial Guinea Warrior; of actual “Biafra” territory
Map 10: The Portuguese named a country "Biafra"

Re: Old Maps Show Biafra Was Actually In Cameroon And Never Part Of Nigeria by ceaser: 8:18am On Dec 05, 2015
Map 5: Origins of the name "Biafra"
Map 6: The Portuguese named a country extending from Cameroon southward to Equatorial Guinea, “Biafra,” but the name was later dropped in the later part of the 19th century
Image 7: THE BIGHT OF BIAFRA, OR MAFRA (NAMED AFTER THE TOWN MAFRA IN SOUTHERN PORTUGAL), BETWEEN CAPES FORMOSA AND LOPEZ, IS THE MOST EASTERN PART OF THE GULF OF GUINEA; IT CONTAINS THE ISLANDS FERNANDO PO [EQUITORIAL GUINEA], PRINCE’S AND ST THOMAS’S [SÃO TOMÉ AND PRÍNCIPE]. THE NAME BIAFRA-AS INDICATING THE COUNTRY-FELL INTO DISUSE IN THE LATER PART OF THE 19TH CENTURY.
Image 8: Equatorial Guinea people, of actual “Biafra” territory

Re: Old Maps Show Biafra Was Actually In Cameroon And Never Part Of Nigeria by ceaser: 8:21am On Dec 05, 2015
Image 9: Equatorial Guinea Warrior; of actual “Biafra” territory
Map 10: The Portuguese named a country "Biafra"

Re: Old Maps Show Biafra Was Actually In Cameroon And Never Part Of Nigeria by kaycexx(m): 8:36am On Dec 05, 2015
I was here.
Re: Old Maps Show Biafra Was Actually In Cameroon And Never Part Of Nigeria by frank1998(m): 10:16am On Dec 05, 2015
Story for the gods.... cry
Re: Old Maps Show Biafra Was Actually In Cameroon And Never Part Of Nigeria by ILoveToFuCcK: 11:01am On Dec 05, 2015
cc seun lalasticlala fynestboi he just broke rule 17.. this thread already exists
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