Editing Akwa Ibom State (section)

== History ==
[[File:Akwa Ibom state contingent 3.jpg|thumb|Dancers in Akwa Ibom traditional attire]]

In the pre-colonial period, what is now Akwa Ibom State was divided into various city-states like the [[Ibom Kingdom]] and [[Akwa Akpa]] before they later became a [[British protectorate]] in 1884 as a part of the [[Oil Rivers Protectorate]].<ref name="Britannica1911">{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Calabar|volume=4|page=962}}</ref> Prior to the [[British people|British]] colonization, no central government had existed among the people of what is now Akwa Ibom State. The various ethnic peoples were largely organized into [[clan]] communities, based on kinship and relations.

Several Scottish missionaries went to [[Calabar]] in 1848, and Ibono in 1887. The British government did not attempt to establish more control over the area until 1904. In that year, they organized the Enyong Division, encompassing the area of the current state of Akwa Ibom, with [[headquarters]] at [[Ikot Ekpene]], a predominately [[Annang]] city. Noted [[African studies|Africanist]] Kaanan Nair, noted this city as the cultural and political [[Capital city|capital]] of the Annang and [[Ibibio people]]s. The greater Southeast was largely dominated by the majority [[Igbo people]]. The creation of Enyong Division encouraged collaboration among the numerous minority ethnic groups in the area. They created the Ibibio Welfare Union, later renamed Ibibio State Union. This social organization was first established as a local development and improvement forum for educated African persons and groups who in 1929 were still excluded from the colonial administration. It was dominated by British colonists and their appointees.{{Citation needed|date=January 2024}}<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Kosmopoulos |first1=Christine |last2=Pumain |first2=Denise |date=2007-12-17 |title=Citation, Citation, Citation : la bibliométrie, Internet et les sciences humaines et sociales |journal=Cybergeo |doi=10.4000/cybergeo.15463 |issn=1278-3366 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

In the early 1900s, the British actually gained formal control of the area before incorporating the protectorate (now renamed the [[Niger Coast Protectorate]]) into the [[Southern Nigeria Protectorate]] which later merged into [[British Nigeria]]; after the merger, much of modern-day Akwa Ibom became a centre of anti-colonial resistance during the [[Women's War]] and political activism through the Ibibio State Union.<ref>{{cite web |date=4 May 2017 |title=About Akwa Ibom |url=https://akwaibomstate.gov.ng/about-akwa-ibom/ |access-date=15 December 2021 |website=[[Government of Akwa Ibom State]]}}</ref>

After independence in 1960, the area of now-Akwa Ibom was a part of the post-independence [[Eastern Region, Nigeria|Eastern Region]] until 1967 when the region was split and the area became part of the [[South-Eastern State, Nigeria|South-Eastern State]]. Less than two months afterwards, the [[Igbo people|Igbo]]-majority former Eastern Region attempted to secede as the state of [[Biafra]]; in the three-year long [[Nigerian Civil War]], now-Akwa Ibom was hard-fought over in the prelude to the [[Invasion of Port Harcourt]] while people from Akwa Ibom were persecuted by the [[Biafra]]n forces as they were mainly non-Igbos.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Omaka |first1=Arua Oko |date=17 February 2014 |title=The Forgotten Victims: Ethnic Minorities in the Nigeria-Biafra War, 1967-1970 |url=https://encompass.eku.edu/jora/vol1/iss1/2/ |journal=Journal of Retracing Africa |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=25–40 |access-date=15 December 2021}}</ref> At the war's end and the reunification of Nigeria, the South-Eastern State was reformed until 1976 when it was renamed [[Cross River State]].

Eleven years later, [[Cross River State]] was divided on 23 September 1987, by the [[Military administration|Military Administration]] of General [[Ibrahim Babangida|Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nigeriagalleria.com/Nigeria/States_Nigeria/Akwa-Ibom/Brief-History-of-Akwa-Ibom-State.html|title=Brief History of Akwa Ibom State:: Nigeria Information & Guide|website=nigeriagalleria.com|language=en-NG|access-date=2018-07-25}}</ref>

This division resulted in the creation of the state of Akwa Ibom, [[Uyo]] was chosen as the state capital in order to encourage development in all regions of the state.<ref>{{Cite web|title=About Akwa Ibom {{!}} Akwa Ibom State Government|date=4 May 2017 |url=https://akwaibomstate.gov.ng/about-akwa-ibom/|access-date=2021-07-12}}</ref>