The River Niger, one of Africa’s most famous rivers, is where the name “Nigeria” first appeared. You should be aware that Flora Shaw, the wife of Lord Lugard, is credited with giving the nation the name “Nigeria”.
The name “Nigeria” was allegedly created in 1897 by Flora Shaw, according to history. How did it take place?
Who was Flora Shaw?
Four children’s books and one adult book were written by Flora Shaw, a journalist and author. She was born to a Mauritius-born French mother, Marie Adrienne Josephine (née Desfontaines), and an English father, Captain (later Major General) George Shaw, in Woolwich, South London.
Writing for the Pall Mall Gazette and the Manchester Guardian, she started her journalism career in 1886. The Manchester Guardian dispatched her to Brussels to cover the Anti-Slavery Conference.
She later rose to the position of Colonial Editor at The Times, where she earned the highest salary of any woman journalist at the time. She was assigned to Southern Africa in 1892 as a special correspondent because of this connection.
What made Flora Shaw call Nigeria that?
Flora Shaw is a clear answer to the question “who named Nigeria?”. However, how did this come to be? Before the name “Nigeria” was coined, it was known by a number of other names, including the Royal Niger Company Territories, the Niger Sudan, the Niger Empire, and so forth.
The British Protectorate on the Niger River was suggested to be called “Nigeria” in an essay by “Miss Shaw” that first appeared in The Times on January 8, 1897. She argued in her essay that the official name “Royal Niger Company Territories” shouldn’t be used for the region and should be replaced by a more concise term.
She believed the name “Royal Niger Company Territories” was too lengthy to be used for a Real Estate Property owned by the Trading Company in that region of Africa.
She was looking for a new name for the country, so she came up with “Nigeria” instead of terms like “Central Sudan,” which some travelers and geographers had previously associated with the region.
On June 10th, 1902, she later wed Lord Fredrick Lugard. They didn’t have any kids. At the age of 76, she passed away from pneumonia in Surrey, England, on January 25, 1929.
