Nigeria: A Traditionally Evolved Country

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Things change as times change, and so that is how a society evolves. One could categorise these drastic differences as a country’s modernisation. Albert Chinualumogu Achebe was born into a country that is now seen as modernised, since its customs and cultural roots have been modified, and that place was Ogidi, in Nigeria. Achebe’s background includes his father’s work, which was once an evangelical Christian churchman. Although his parents were both Christian, which was a religion brought upon by the missionaries; they still valued very strongly the traditional Ibo culture. The Christian and traditional Ibo environment in which Achebe was raised was what influenced him in his writing further on in his life. (“Chinua Achebe's Biography”) His first novel was Things Fall Apart, in which he writes of the story of the colonisation, or modernisation of Nigeria. In the novel, Achebe was able to explain the cultural conflicts between the native African culture and the traditional white culture in the late 1800s, as the European missionaries colonized the land of Nigeria. In Things Fall Apart, Achebe touched many themes such as the colonisation of Nigeria, the Igbo religion and spiritual beliefs, the Igbo government and political dealings; he also explained the role of Igbo women and family values, and also a generalized idea of the Igbo culture.

A. COLONISATION OF NIGERIA

Before the modernisation of the country which is now called Nigeria, this piece of land used once consisted of four different empires or kingdoms. These of which included the Northern empire, the Calabar kingdom, the Oduduwa empire and finally the Benin empire. The Calabar kingdom was the oldest piece of land, having been told to be founded around 1000 A.D. This k...

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... Things Fall Apart. N.d. Web. 22 November 2013. .

Country Studies. 1992. Web. 25 November 2013. .

FALOLA, Toyin. “The role of Nigerian women”. Encyclopedia of Britannica. N.d. Web. 27 November 2013. .

“Igbo Information”. Art & Life in Africa. 3 November 1998. Web. 26 November 2013. .

Motherland Nigeria. 1998 - 2007. Web. 27 November 2013. .

“Nigeria”. Countries and Their Cultures. N.d. Web. 27 November 2013. .

WIDJAJA, Michael. Insight into Igbo Culture, Igbo Language and Enugu. 2000 - 2013. Web. 26 November 2013. .

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