Rainforest, carnival, and old Calabar
Cross River began as South-Eastern State on 27 May 1967 and took its present name in 1976. Calabar, the capital, is one of Nigeria's oldest international ports: Efik city-state, mission centre, and palm-oil harbour. Akwa Ibom was excised in 1987, leaving a state that still runs from Atlantic mangrove to the Obudu plateau and the Cameroon border forests.
The Efik of Calabar, Ejagham, Bekwarra, Boki, and many upland peoples share a map of Ekpe (Mgbe) societies, forest shrines, and hill farming. Mary Slessor's missionary work around the Calabar hinterland is a widely published episode of the nineteenth century. In the twenty-first, Calabar Carnival — a December street carnival created as a state tourism project — made the capital a national December destination, layered onto older Christmas and masquerade calendars.
Obudu Mountain Resort, Afi Mountain primate habitat, Kwa Falls, and Cross River National Park are the rainforest half of the People's Paradise. The other half is urban: Duke Town memory, the old residency, and a food culture of edikang ikong that Calabar shares with Ibibio neighbours. Paradise, here, is humid, forested, and loudly festive.
The Efik of Calabar, Ejagham, Bekwarra, Boki, and many upland peoples share a map of Ekpe (Mgbe) societies, forest shrines, and hill farming. Mary Slessor's missionary work around the Calabar hinterland is a widely published episode of the nineteenth century. In the twenty-first, Calabar Carnival — a December street carnival created as a state tourism project — made the capital a national December destination, layered onto older Christmas and masquerade calendars.
Obudu Mountain Resort, Afi Mountain primate habitat, Kwa Falls, and Cross River National Park are the rainforest half of the People's Paradise. The other half is urban: Duke Town memory, the old residency, and a food culture of edikang ikong that Calabar shares with Ibibio neighbours. Paradise, here, is humid, forested, and loudly festive.