Nigeria. Federal Surveys. Nigeria, languages & dialects. [Lagos: Federal Surveys, 1967] Map. https://www.loc.gov/item/92681921/.
This source helps students see the linguistic diversity of Nigeria in the late 1960s during the Nigerian Civil War. The map expertly shows how the country is divided by language and dialect. This cultural division can help students appreciate the diversity of this African country as they seek to understand the region and its rich history. This map would be particularly helpful when studying authors like Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie or Chinua Achebe.
This source shows the languages and dialects of Nigeria in 1967. It was sourced from Federal Surveys out of Lagos. It shows a map of the country’s linguistic differences at the start of the Nigerian Civil War.
This map was created in 1967, the same year that the Nigerian Civil War began. The map documents the languages and dialects of Nigeria, and the sharp regional contrast of the languages and dialects spoken in the country show the linguistic diversity present.
- How was Nigeria linguistically diverse in the late 1960s?
- What inferences can be made about the Nigerian culture based on this map?
Alabama State Standards
ELA21.9.R1: Read a variety of print and nonprint documents to acquire new information and respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace. COS Examples Examples: emails, directions, diagrams, charts, other common workplace documents
- Questions guide students to look at the map, understand the map key, and interpret the visual images and written words displayed.
ELA21.9.2: Analyze information from graphic texts to draw conclusions, defend claims, and make decisions. COS Examples: tables, graphs, charts, digital dashboards, flow charts, timelines, forms, maps, blueprints
- Questions guide students to make inferences based on their understanding and analysis of information presented on the map.
ELA21.9.7: Read, analyze, and evaluate texts from science, social studies, and other academic disciplines to determine how those disciplines treat domain-specific vocabulary and content organization.
- Students look at a map, a text usually associated with the social studies discipline, and must evaluate its organization. They also encounter domain-specific vocabulary associated with the “map key” or “reference” table, along with the “scale” and other map-specific terminology.
This map pairs well with Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart. The novel is set in a fictional Ibo tribe in Nigeria in the 1890s at the beginning of British colonial rule. The book was published in 1958, just before Nigerian independence. This map will help students better understand the linguistic diversity present in Nigeria and allow them to better appreciate the vast cultures that were present in Nigeria, and across Africa, prior to and during colonization.
Questions to pose to the class:
NOTE: Students must look closely at the map and the key to answer the following questions.
- Then, they must make inferences based on their analysis.
- How many different language zones were present across Nigeria in 1967?
- How many different dialects were present across Nigeria in 1967?
- In what linguistic zone do you find Lagos?
- Name one city in the Ibo linguistic zone.
- What dialects are spoken in the Ibo linguistic zone?
- Based on the linguistic diversity of Nigeria, what inference would you make about the cultural diversity of the country?
- How might this map have helped British characters, like Mr. Brown, in the novel Things Fall Apart?
- Were you surprised by the level of linguistic diversity present in Nigeria? Why or why not?
- Some may find this map or the questions asked by this lesson to be critical of colonization. It may make some people uncomfortable to see the struggle that these individual cultures had to endure when faced with British rule.
Links to resources for approaching those topics
- The Museum of British Colonialism believes that it is important for students to understand the injustices of colonization. They have compiled numerous resources that support the teaching of global colonization. https://museumofbritishcolonialism.org/education/
- Administrative Map of Nigeria https://www.loc.gov/item/2010592721/
- This map exposes students to the same domain-specific language without showing the linguistic boundaries of the area.
- Nigeria. https://www.loc.gov/item/93681862/
- This map exposes students to the same domain-specific language and focuses on purely geographical aspects of the country.
- Information on the Nigerian Civil War:
- Information about Achebe:
- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Nigerian author whose works will pair well with this primary source: https://www.chimamanda.com/