The city of Calabar is a land known to house the major tourists centers in Nigeria. It is located in the South-eastern region of Nigeria. Also known as Old Calabar, is the capital of Cross River State. Being blessed with a beautiful landscape and natural wonders, the land is tagged "the people's paradise". The land is composed majorly of the Efik language speaking people. In Efik language, Calabar is called Akwa Akpa which meant Duke Town. In ancient periods, the 17th century, precisely, Duke Town was the centre of slave trade, a platform where slaves were exchanged for European goods.
In addition to being the city with the major tourists centers in Nigeria, this city is known to be the cleanest and most environmentally friendly city in Nigeria. This was made possible by the initiatives that were implemented under the administration of Donald Duke who was the governor of Cross River State from 29th of May, 1997 to 29th of May, 2007. The present Calabar is a large city with multiple towns such as Duke Town, Cobham town, Ikot Ansa, Kasuk, among others.
The Rich Culture and Tradition and Historical landmarks of Calabar
The Efik people are the original inhabitants of the city of calabar. According to history, the Efik people came from Hinterland and settled in the Ibibio, Ibo territories. On the other hand, rumor had it that the Efik originated from Bantu and due to lots of assumptions and civil conflicts, it brought separation between them and the Efik moved to Cross River to make their new abode.
Calabar is located in the Coast of Southeastern, Nigeria. The language they speak is called "Efik". Calabar settled early seventeenth century, the British made it a center of slave trade and it became a popular trade centre as a result of this. In the 19th century, Calabar was ranked high in importation and exportation of palm oil, after the eradication of slave trade. Up until now, Calabar remains the main source of importation of oil and other commodities. The Calabar people are people of culture - they are one not to you with traditional value. They also have their traditional delicacies such as:
Abak abama, Ukang Ukom, Afia Efere soup, Fisherman soup, and Otong soup.
As a city known for cultural avocation, their Ekpe masquerade, the folklore's as in "Ekong-Nke, Nke Ekong Abasi and the Ikombi had won international recognition, and many times, the Ikombi dance is featured at the airport for special event and even at trade centres.
As a city known for history and trading, the first church in Calabar was by Reverend Hope Wadell of Free Church of Scotland in 1846. From the church is a street called Eyamba street. In this street, is a cemetery and you also can have a view of the town and even the river from there. In the cemetery, is where the tomb of Mary Slessor, the Dundee missionary who stopped the killing of twins.
As a city of tourism, there are different "talked about places" in Calabar such as the 2 most popular market for trading:
The Watt market:
The Watt market is the biggest and most patronized market. People trade and buy different commodities and goods, such as live chicken, clothing materials, etc.
The Marian Market: This market is not as big as the Watt market and it has some certain days where there are exhibitions of goods and commodities.
Also, there are other beautiful places to see… places like, Obudu Cattle Ranch, Agbokim waterfalls, Kwa waterfalls, Cross River National park, Summit hills, to mention but few.
Calabar, being a city known for history and slave trade adventures, there were some prominent landmark established for the sake of history, such is a place like the Slave History Museum; the museum is on the hill overlooking the waterfront, in the old government house, which is also the former residence of the colonial Governor. The museum was designed in Glasgow and shipped in pieces to Calabar.
The museum was established in 2007, and was commissioned on 17th March, 2011. The idea for the creation of the museum was born by the Cross River Initiative. The museum hugely represented all that happened during the era of slave trade and this was well represented with pictures, objects, portrait, carving, etc.
In the museum, there are extraordinaire exhibition to take note of, they are:
Chains and shackles: In those days, they used shackles to comport and coordinate the act of the slaves, and, it was also used to Port as many as possible slaves. They used it to walk even for long distances.
Procurements of slaves: The objects exchanged for destinies in those days were objects like flutes, gong, brass bells, copper bars, Dane guns, etc. Also, there is a picture of a ship used in transporting the slaves to their destination. Some slaves were kept on their toes, while some sat, to reduce conflict amongst the slaves.
Esuk MBA Slave Market in Akpabuyo: The slavery took place majorly in Hinterland, where the captized people were either slaves sold off by their parents in hope for a better future for them, or the ones abducted after war broke out. Till date, this market is still in operation.
Abolition: The abolitionist; William Wilberforce, Granville, and, Thomas Clarkson, who saw the slave act as condescending and violation of rights advocated the abolishment of slave trade to have positive effect on the existing slave. The act for abolishment was passed on 25th March, 1807, and it became legal after 1st May, 1807.
All the listed above are exhibitions seen in the museum, for relevancy of history. One thing, which is peculiar to many states in Nigeria, not leaving out Calabar, is the power outage. Over time, the city has suffered power outages, but reports had it that the Federal Government is working effortlessly on restoring the power supply.
The present Governor of Calabar is
Calabar has won her place as one of the oldest centers for trading in Nigeria.
Among the abundance of tourist centers that this city houses, a few of them are;
* National museum Calabar which has stood the test of time is made of old Scandinavian pine. It has preserved ancient vestiges that range from documents, to furnishings, and artifacts that were used during the Colonial Administration.
* Agbokim waterfalls is a waterfall with seven different streams which all fall over a cliff, hence giving it its characteristic feature, a seven-faced waterfall.
* Duke Town church which upon the arrival of Christian missionaries in Calabar was used as the site of Christian teachings, the first of its kind.
* Tinapa resort is a leisure resort built for the purpose of giving tourists a pleasant experience during their stay. In addition to the leisure that it offers, it features a free trade zone available for wholesale and retail activities.
The predominant sound is heard in Calabar during the Africa's biggest street party. The Calabar carnival is also called the pride of Nigeria, brought into light under the leadership of the then governor Donald Duke. Over the years, the carnival has made waves across Nigeria being the number one biggest carnival in the country.
HISTORY: Donald Duke, a man that contributed so much light to Calabar city ranging from its eco-friendly attribute to the widely known Calabar carnival, which started in the year 2004 under his leadership. According to him, the carnival was a platform to promote the local economy of Calabar, promote tourism and make Calabar a home for tourism and hospitality.
The event is a month-stretched event which began from the 1st of December, annually. The carnival, in its beauty has always given room for different competitions with huge cash prices.
Since the carnival has began, Obong, the traditional ruler of Cross River State, his cabinet members and other traditional title holders dress in their traditional regalia to reflect the cultural richness of the cultural carnival.
The state is firstly called Akwa Akpa in the Efik language. It is also known as Calabari, Kalabar, Callabar, and Calabari before being called Calabar, the capital of the Cross River state. Calabar is beside the Greak Kwa and the Calabar rivers and creeks of the Cross River state, which is from its inland Delta.
In its mode of being called Akwa Akpa, and that was before the colonial period, it was a kingdom with the city of the state as the site of government. Then, monarchy was the government that was being practiced, and Calabar has three monarchs. They are: 'The Muri Munene of the Efik, who is the ruler of the Efuts and an important ruler of the state, 'The Ndidem of the state who is the ruler of the Quas and important ruler of the Municipality which is the seat of the government, and 'The Obong of Calabar who is the ruler of the Efiks and the Ekpe secret society as the seat on which the Obong of the state reigned. Moreso, this is where the three principal landlord of the Kingdoms of Calabar were formed. They are: 'The Efuts, which has the Muri Munene as the Grand Patriach; the Quas Kingdom of Ejagam, which has the Ndidem of the Quas Kingdom which has the Ekor or Bantu origin, as their Grand Patriach; and the Efik whose kingdom Patriach is known as the Obong, respectively.
In the 15th century, the Portuguese discoverers of that period named the tribes in the part of the Guinea coast as at the time of their arrival, when as yet the present inhabitants were unknown in the district "Calabar". And as at this period, in the late 15th century, and early 16th century, which was the period of the Atlantic Slave trade, transportation of African slaves became a major port, and was named Calabar by the Spanish. The majority of the enslaved Africans which were sold as slaves from the state were the Igbo, despite forming a minority among the ethnic groups in the region.
Slave trade of Africans continued and the numbers increased from 17,000 to over 62,000 as at the 17th century. North East were important towns in the slave trade in that century, among other towns like Creek Town and Old Calabar, which was also called Duke Town, and in the early part of the 18th century, movements and actions to put a stop to the Slave trade began. One of the British restrictions from trading of slaves was the HMS Comus, which resulted into capturing seven Spanish and Portuguese slave ships, and because of the civil war with their kins - and the Ibibio people, one of the the three principal kingdoms, in the ancient Calabar, the Efiks moved from the neighborhood of the Niger River to the shores of the city.
Still on the move to stope the Slave trade, in the late 18th century, on the 10th of September, 1884, Queen Victoria signed a treaty with the King and cheifs of Akwa Akpa which is called the Old Calabar by the Europeans, and then the official title "Calabar" was given to differentiate it from what the recent Calabar has become to the the East. Although as a result of this, this allowed the United Kingdom to impose over the entire territory of Calabar, including Bakassi. The state was the headquarters of the European administration in the Niger Delta until 1906, when the seat of government was moved to Lagos.
Administratively, Calabar Municipal and Calabar South Local Government Area are the area which the city is being divided into, and the state's people are majorly people from Calabar South, Calabar Municipality, Odukpami, Biase, Bakassi, Akpabuyo, and Akampka. The term Calabar people could as well be referred to as the indigenes of Greater Calabar and also the people of the original South Eastern state of the country who are the recent people of the Cross River and Akwa Ibom state, as commonly used in Nigeria.
Presently, the state is a large city with different towns like Ikot Omin, Obutong, Duke Town, Akim, Ikot Ishie, Henshaw Town, Kasuk, and Cobham Town. The state is now frequently referred to as the tourism capital of Nigeria, because of its many initiatives executed during the reign of Donal Duke from 1997 till 2007, and that is what made Calabar the most geographically friendly, and the cleanest in the country. The city hosted the 1st social club in Nigeria in the Africa club, and it hosted the 1st competitive field hockey games, football and cricket, in Nigeria. Calabar has different museums in which the Slave History Museum is one of them. Other several tourist worthy attractions are the state's botanical garden, cultural centre, free trade zonal port, one of the most important university in the country, a slave history park, an international airport and seaport, an integrated sports stadium complex, and other several historical and cultural landmarks.
PROGRAM MAKE-UP: Each year, the programme is drafted by the committee in charge of tourism and cultural activities, the Cross River State Carnival Commission. The carnival features different performances such as music performances from both national and international artists, football competition (2009), fashion shows which was introduced in 2016, essay writing competition driven to promote the reading culture of teenagers and youths in secondary and tertiary schools, beauty pageant which was introduced in the year 2016, traditional dances, crowning of the carnival kings and queens, children carnival, annual Ekpe masquerade festival, Christmas party cultural carnival, boat regatta (boat race) and the Mary Slessor golf charity dinner, among others.
As earlier stated, the event is a month-stretched and separated into four parts;
* The first ten days of December, month of the Calabar carnival (1st-10th) marks the millennium week.
* The next seven days (12th-17th) marks the sports week.
* The third week, 19th-24th marks the TINAPA family festival.
* The last week, 25th-31st is the carnival week.
The festival begins officially with a tree lightening ceremony with the first three weeks (1st-24th) of the event featuring musical entertainment, street parties, art shows, food competitions, an esteemed essay writing competition, masquerade events and traditional dances.
Indeed, the carnival is a source of entertainment for millions of people, including Nigerians and internationals that make themselves available for the annual event. In addition, because it attracts foreigners to the country and state, it has boosted the tourism industry for its stakeholders over the years. Because of its uniqueness, the "pride of Africa" has promoted the unity and pride of Africa through its display and interpretation of the African culture.
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