Garden city, delta creeks, and oil light
Rivers State was created on 27 May 1967, with Port Harcourt as capital — a port founded in 1912 and named for Lewis Vernon Harcourt, a British colonial secretary, a standard historical note. The city is the Garden City of bougainvillea and, later, of oil-company skyline. Bayelsa was excised in 1996, leaving a still-plural state of Ikwerre, Ijaw, Ogoni, Kalabari, Ekpeye, Ogba, and others.
Bonny and Opobo are famous Atlantic city-states. King Jaja of Opobo is a widely published nineteenth-century merchant-king who resisted monopoly trading companies. Ogoni country, in the south-east of the state, became globally known through environmental and political struggle in the 1990s, including Ken Saro-Wiwa's execution in 1995 — a documented national tragedy, not folklore. Kalabari masquerades and water festivals remain living arts of the eastern delta.
Treasure Base of the Nation names petroleum honestly. The deeper treasure is the creek civilisations that predated the wells. Port Harcourt's universities, markets, and waterfronts are how most visitors first meet the delta without a canoe.
Bonny and Opobo are famous Atlantic city-states. King Jaja of Opobo is a widely published nineteenth-century merchant-king who resisted monopoly trading companies. Ogoni country, in the south-east of the state, became globally known through environmental and political struggle in the 1990s, including Ken Saro-Wiwa's execution in 1995 — a documented national tragedy, not folklore. Kalabari masquerades and water festivals remain living arts of the eastern delta.
Treasure Base of the Nation names petroleum honestly. The deeper treasure is the creek civilisations that predated the wells. Port Harcourt's universities, markets, and waterfronts are how most visitors first meet the delta without a canoe.