Biafra Biafran troops. In the latter stages, a Southern FMG offensive managed to break through the fierce resistance. It is believed that one of the major factors that sparked the war was the unilateral declaration of independence for Biafra made by Col. Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu in 1967. He eventually died 41 years after the end of the civil war on 26th November 2011 (aged 78) after a brief illness, many years after the internal conflict, secession and war. The former Republic of Biafra comprised over of land, with terrestrial borders shared with Nigeria to the north and west, and with Cameroon
Bight of Biafra trade emanating from the Bight of Biafra. Between 1525 and 1859, Britain dominated the slave trade from the Bight of Biafra accounting for over two-thirds of slaves exported to the New World. However, in 1807, Great Britain made illegal the international trade in slaves, and the Royal Navy was deployed to forcibly prevent slavers from the United States, France, Spain, Portugal, Holland, West Africa and Arabia from plying their trade. Earlier, in 1777, Portugal transferred control of Fernando Poo and Annobon to Spanish suzerainty thus introducing Spain into the early colonial history of the Bight of Biafra. On 30 June