ABSTRACT
To illustrate the link between the region's historical experience and women's status, the chapter provides a case study of Nigeria. The British established their domain over Sierra-Leone, the Gambia, Ghana, and Nigeria; the French controlled the rest of West Africa except for Togo, which until 1914 was under German jurisdiction; the Portuguese took on Guinea. The colonial government in Lagos attempted to provide grants for the missions to start schools and, toward the end of the nineteenth century, became involved in the establishment of primary and secondary schools in southern Nigeria. Under the colonial government, education in northern Nigeria initially aimed to educate the sons of Emirs, so that the acquired knowledge of Western education would enable them to perform their traditional responsibilities. Nigeria is marked by ecological variations: the mangrove swamps in the Niger Delta area, the ram forests in parts of the south, and the savannahs of the center and north.
