Anthony Mbina

Traditional House Form in Old Calabar (Efik Land) Anthony Mbina

Calabar, the capital city of Cross River State is in the Southeastern part of Nigeria. It is a charming, quiet and peaceful place, and despite the great poverty, the people of Calabar are friendly and smile often. Calabar is one of the oldest trading cities in Nigeria, set on a hill overlooking the river. It is quite picturesque. Calabar was established as a center of slave trade by the British in 17th century, it grew to become one of the biggest. At the end of slave Trade, the city was a major port for Palm Oil trade from the South East of Nigeria. Calabar holds great socio-economic significance in Nigeria. It is a city of great opportunities and enormous possibilities for wealth creation and other human endevours. This book tells the architectural story of this one time capital of Nigeria from the traditional point of view. It reveals much about the type of architecture that held and made the slave trade flourish in this part of Africa. It is part of a two volume series highlighting the findings of a Ph. D. programme conducted by the author in Old Calabar.