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| image_coat = Coat of arms of Biafra.svg
| image_coat = Coat of arms of Biafra.svg
| national_motto = Peace, Unity, and Freedom.
| national_motto = Peace, Unity, and Freedom.
| image_map = Biafra in its region.svg
| map_caption = The location of Biafra in West Africa
| capital = [[Enugu]] (1967) <br/> [[Umuahia]] (1967-1969) <br/> [[Owerri]] (1969-1970) <br/> [[Awka]] (1970)
| capital = [[Enugu]] (1967) <br/> [[Umuahia]] (1967-1969) <br/> [[Owerri]] (1969-1970) <br/> [[Awka]] (1970)
| largest_city = [[Onitsha]]
| largest_city = [[Onitsha]]
}}
}}
'''Biafra,''' officially called the '''Republic of Biafra''',<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Republic of Biafra {{!}} AHA|url=https://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/teaching-resources-for-historians/teaching-and-learning-in-the-digital-age/through-the-lens-of-history-biafra-nigeria-the-west-and-the-world/the-republic-of-biafra|access-date=2023-07-10|website=www.historians.org}}</ref> was a break-away state in [[West Africa]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Hurst|first=Ryan|date=2009-06-21|title=Republic of Biafra (1967-1970) •|url=https://www.blackpast.org/global-african-history/republic-biafra-1967-1970/|access-date=2023-07-10|language=en-US}}</ref> It was created on 30 May 1967 by the Eastern Region governor [[C. Odumegwu Ojukwu]]. It claimed the land of the [[Eastern Region (Nigeria)|Eastern Region]] of [[Nigeria]]. The country was mainly populated by the [[Igbo people|Igbo]] people.
'''Biafra,''' officially called the '''Republic of Biafra''',<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Republic of Biafra {{!}} AHA|url=https://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/teaching-resources-for-historians/teaching-and-learning-in-the-digital-age/through-the-lens-of-history-biafra-nigeria-the-west-and-the-world/the-republic-of-biafra|access-date=2023-07-10|website=www.historians.org}}</ref> was a break-away state in [[West Africa]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Hurst|first=Ryan|date=2009-06-21|title=Republic of Biafra (1967-1970) •|url=https://www.blackpast.org/global-african-history/republic-biafra-1967-1970/|access-date=2023-07-10|language=en-US}}</ref> It was created on 30 May 1967 by the Eastern Region governor [[Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu]]. It claimed the land of the [[Eastern Region (Nigeria)|Eastern Region]] of [[Nigeria]]. The country was mainly populated by the [[Igbo people|Igbo]] people.
Biafra was officially [[Diplomatic recognition|recognised]] by [[Gabon]], [[Haiti]], [[Ivory Coast]], [[Tanzania]] and [[Zambia]].<ref>[https://www.jstor.org/stable/2198977 "Was "Biafra" at Any Time A State in International Law?"]</ref>Biafra was also ''[[de facto]]'' recognised by [[France]], [[Spain]], [[Portugal]], [[Norway]], [[Israel]], [[Rhodesia]], [[South Africa]] and the [[Vatican City]].
Biafra was officially [[Diplomatic recognition|recognised]] by [[Gabon]], [[Haiti]], [[Ivory Coast]], [[Tanzania]] and [[Zambia]].<ref>[https://www.jstor.org/stable/2198977 "Was "Biafra" at Any Time A State in International Law?"]</ref>Biafra was also ''[[de facto]]'' recognised by [[France]], [[Spain]], [[Portugal]], [[Norway]], [[Israel]], [[Rhodesia]], [[South Africa]] and the [[Vatican City]].
Biafra also had aid from [[non-state actors]], including Joint Church Aid, foreign [[Mercenary|mercenaries]] and the Holy Ghost Fathers of Ireland.
The [[United States]] government under [[President of the United States|president]] [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] was officially neutral during the war. There was strong public support for Biafra in the US.<ref>[https://www.cfr.org/blog/fifty-years-later-us-intelligence-shortcomings-nigerian-civil-war "Fifty Years Later: U.S. Intelligence Shortcomings in the Nigerian Civil War"]</ref> American activists founded the American Committee to Keep Biafra Alive to spread [[propaganda]].<ref>[https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14623528.2014.936723?cookieSet=1 "'And starvation is the grim reaper': the American Committee to Keep Biafra Alive and the genocide question during the Nigerian civil war, 1968–70"]</ref> United States president [[Richard Nixon]] was supportive of the Biafran cause. Before he won the [[1968 United States presidential election|1968 presidential election]] he accused Nigeria of committing [[genocide]] against the Biafrans. He also called for the United States to intervene in the war on the side of Biafra. His efforts failed because of the demands of the ongoing [[Vietnam War]]. After two-and-a-half years of war with Nigeria, during which almost two million Biafran [[Civilian|civilians]] (three-quarters of them being smaller children) died from [[starvation]] caused by the Nigerian [[blockade]] of the region.
[[File:Starved girl.jpg|thumb|upright|A child suffering the effects of severe hunger and [[Kwashiorkor|malnutrition]] during the Nigerian blockade]]
== Economy ==
An early body created by the Biafran government was the Bank of Biafra, made under "Decree No. 3 of 1967".<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|date=2008-08-27|title=The Banknotes of Biafra|url=http://www.pjsymes.com.au/articles/biafra.htm|access-date=2023-07-12|archive-date=2008-08-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080827224301/http://www.pjsymes.com.au/articles/biafra.htm|url-status=bot: unknown}}</ref> The [[bank]] carried out all central banking functions including the management of foreign exchange and the management of Biafra's public [[debt]].<ref name=":0" /> The bank was managed by a [[governor]] and four directors. The first governor was Sylvester Ugoh.<ref>[http://allafrica.com/stories/201102280439.html "Nigeria: The men who may be President (1)"]</ref> A second degree, "Decree No. 4 of 1967", changed the Banking Act of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for the Republic of Biafra.<ref name=":0" />
The bank was originally in Enugu but because of the [[Nigerian Civil War]] it had to be moved multiple times.<ref name=":0" /> Biafra tried to finance the war through [[Foreign exchange market|foreign exchange]]. This effort increased when Nigeria said that its [[currency]] wouldn't be [[legal tender]] (to make way for a new currency).
== Biafra Media ==
<gallery widths='160px' heights='100%' mode='traditional' caption=''>
File:Biafra anthem audio.mp3|Audio of Land of the Rising Sun (anthem)
File:Atlas Ortelius KB PPN369376781-006av-006br.jpg|Map of Africa ([[Abraham Ortelius]], 1584)
File:1770 Bonne Map of West Africa (Guinea, the Bight of Benin, Congo) - Geographicus - WestAfrica-bonne-1770.jpg|Map of West Africa ([[Rigobert Bonne]] (Royal Cartographer of France) 1770)
File:West Africa 1839 Mitchell map - Kong.jpg|Map of West Africa (1839); Biafra is shown in the region of "[[Lower Guinea]]"
File:The Kingd. of Biafara. Africae, Described. The manners of their Habits and buildings newly done into English by I.S (cropped).jpg|The Kingdom of Biafara, map by [[John Speed]] (1676)
File:Gulf of Guinea Guillaume Lavasseur de Dieppe.jpg|French map of the Gulf of Guinea from 1849
File:Biafra sat.png|A satellite image of the former Republic of Biafra
File:Roundel of Biafra (1967–1970).svg|[[Roundel]] of the Biafran Air Force.
File:ASC Leiden - Rietveld Collection - Nigeria 1970 - 1973 - 01 - 093 New Nigerian newspaper page 7 January 1970. End of the Nigerian civil war with Biafra.jpg|New Nigerian newspaper page, 7 January 1970. End of the Nigerian civil war with Biafra. "Owerri is now captured. Ojukwu flees his enclave." Photographs of the military Obasanjo, Jallo, Bissala, Gowon.
</gallery>
== References ==
== References ==
{{reflist}}
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Former countries in Africa]]
[[Category:Nigeria]]