Editing History of Nigeria (section)

==== Push into the hinterland ====
After its experiences in the American War of Independence, Great Britain had limited itself to maintaining strategically placed bases around the world - such as Lagos - and avoided colonising regions far from the coast. This changed in the 1860s, when European powers embarked on the "[[Scramble for Africa]]". Up until this point, European trade with the natives was conducted by ships that anchored off the coast and travelled on once the business was concluded. As tropical lagoons - unlike the open sea - offer favourable conditions for [[mosquito]]es, which pass on [[tropical disease]]s, Europeans avoided going ashore. Because of the "[[African trypanosomiasis|sleeping sickness]]", West Africa was nicknamed "The white man's grave" until around 1850. The industrial production of [[quinine]] from the 1820s and its use as a prophylactic against [[malaria]] on a large scale changed the situation. The European naval powers were now able to establish permanent settlements in the tropics.

British missionaries penetrated the interior of the country. In south-eastern Nigeria, Hope Wadell and Mary Slessor fought against the customary killing of newborn twins, against the trial by ordeal in legal disputes and against the killing of the servants of deceased village elders (in order to be able to serve them in the afterlife) from 1845 onwards. Missionaries founded schools and enabled the careers of Eyo Ita, the first dark-skinned professor, and Nnamdi Azikiwe, the first Nigerian president, for example. In 1864, [[Samuel Ajayi Crowther]] became the first African bishop of the Anglican Church.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Peterson |first=Derek R. |title=Abolitionism and imperialism in Britain, Africa, and the Atlantic |publisher=Ohio University Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-8214-1902-1}}</ref>