By a British Act of Parliament, Nigeria became independent on 1 October 1960. [10], Following military conquest, the British imposed an economic system designed to profit from African labor. With one man in practical control of the Executive and Legislative organs of all the parts, the machine may work passably for sufficient time to enable the transition period to be left behind, by which time the answer to the problemUnitary v. Federal Statewill probably have become clear. Separate legislative bodies, the houses of assembly, were established in each of the three regions to consider local questions and to advise the Lieutenant Governors. Men such as Balewa believed that only by overcoming political and economic backwardness could the NPC protect the foundations of traditional northern authority against the influence of the more advanced south. What Britain Did to Nigeria: A Short History of Conquest and Rule by Max Siollun Hurst, 20, 408 pages Join our online book group on Facebook at FT Books Caf Letter in response to this article: If the emirs accepted British authority, abandoned the slave trade, and cooperated with British officials in modernizing their administrations, the colonial power was willing to confirm them in office. factors that led to the british conquest of nigeria During the war, union membership increased sixfold to 30,000. Several churches were built to serve the Edo community and a small number of African converts. The pulpits of the independent congregations became avenues for the free expression of critics of colonial rule. Their common denominators tended to be based on newly assertive ethnic consciousness, particularly that of the Yoruba and Igbo. The Sokoto jihad and the Yoruba wars stimulated the slave trade at a time when the British were actively trying to stop it. Summarizing Indirect Rule in Nigeria | West-African Colonial Administration Quiz. Afeadie, Philip Atsu. The legal justification for this campaign was a treaty signed in 1886, when the British had interceded as peacemakers to end the Ekiti Parapo war, which imposed free trade requirements and mandated that all parties continue to use British channels for diplomacy. Offers a bold rethink: a clear-eyed, unromanticized history of colonial Nigeria written by a Nigerian. The British were not yet willing to assume the expense of maintaining an administration in Nigeria. While they all shared a desire for wealth and power, their motivations for colonization differed somewhat, and thus the pattern and success of their colonies varied significantly. There were numerous differences of detail among the regional systems, but all adhered to parliamentary forms and were equally autonomous in relation to the Nigerian federal government at Lagos. Independence was achieved on 1 October 1960. Afeadie, "The Hidden Hand of Overrule" (1996), p. 1315. The movement brought to public notice a long list of future leaders, including H.O. Ouidah (now part of Benin) and Lagos were the major ports on the coast. Imperialism, or the extension of one nation-state's domination or control over territory outside its own boundaries, peaked in the 19th century as European powers extended their holdings around the world. [53] The first five heads of the Nigeria Department (18981914) were Reginald Antrobus, William Mercer, William Baillie Hamilton, Sydney Olivier, and Charles Strachey. The pace of constitutional change accelerated after the promulgation of the Richards Constitution. In 1958 exportation of Nigerian oil was initiated at facilities constructed at Port Harcourt. As its head, the master trader taxed other traders who were members of his "house"; he maintained a war vessel, a large dugout canoe that could hold several tons of cargo and dozens of crew, for the defense of the harbor. In 1916 Lugard formed the Nigerian Council, a consultative body that brought together six traditional rulersincluding the Sultan of Sokoto, the Emir of Kano and the Oba of Beninto represent all parts of the colony. Therefore, other factors exist to explain the institutional design. In 1850, the British created a "Court of Equity" at Bonny, overseen by Beecroft, which would deal with trade disputes. The essential basis of this system was a money economyspecifically the British pound sterlingwhich could be demanded through taxation, paid to cooperative natives, and levied as a fine. Afeadie, "The Hidden Hand of Overrule" (1996), p. 1921. In the 1850s, quinine had been found to combat malaria, and aided by the medicine, a Liverpool merchant, Macgregor Laird, opened the river. The Colonial and Pre-Colonial Eras in Nigeria | AHA - Historians [8] Azikiwe was installed as Governor-General of the federation and Balewa continued to serve as head of a democratically elected parliamentary, but now completely sovereign, government. The company received 865,000 compensation for the loss of its Charter. European Conquest and Colonization of Africa - 1504 Words | Critical [36], The company, as was common among European businesses in Africa, paid its native workers in barter. In the early stages of British rule, it is desirable to retain the native authority and to work through and by the native emirs. The Journal of Modern African Studies, 8(04), 563. doi:10.1017/s0022278x00023909. The trend was toward the establishment of a parliamentary system of government, with regional assemblies and a federal House of Representatives. The Igbo redirected slaves into the domestic economy, especially to grow the staple food crop, yams, in northern Igboland for marketing throughout the palm-tree belt. If adopted, his proposals can hardly be a permanent solution and I gather that Sir F. Lugard only regards them as temporaryat any rate in part. A permanent British occupation of Egypt required the inviolability of the Ni NEPU formed a parliamentary alliance with the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC). These recourses were considered a necessity to the industrialization of the world . African nationalism is a political movement for the unification of Africa (Pan-Africanism) and for national self-determination. [59], Following the order recommended by the Niger Committee, the Colonial Office merged Lagos Colony and the Southern Nigeria Protectorate on 1 May 1906, forming a larger protectorate (still called the Southern Nigeria Protectorate) which spanned the coastline between Dahomey and Cameroon. Local leaders, cognizant of the situation in the West Indies, India, and elsewhere, recognised the risks of British expansion. necessitated by several factors. Ken Swindell, "The Commercial Development of the North: Company and Government Relations, 19001906". . The essential basis of this system was a money economy specifically the British pound sterling which could be demanded through taxation, paid to cooperative natives, and levied as a fine. From Conquest to Independence: the Nigerian Colonial Experience But the war had more concrete consequences. The transfer of responsibility for budgetary management from the central to the regional governments in 1954 accelerated the pace of public spending on services and on development projects. The Colonial Office approved most of Lugard's plan, but balked at authorising him to pass laws without their approval. Total revenues of central and regional governments nearly doubled in relation to the gross domestic product during the decade. Critics, including representatives of the Middle Belt who resented Muslim domination, were relegated to small, peripheral parties or to inconsequential separatist movements.[85]. The history of external colonisation of Africa can be divided into two stages: Classical antiquity and European colonialism. Although he reported on the eastward flow of the Niger, he was forced to turn back when his equipment was lost to Muslim Arab slave traders. Siollun concludes with what he calls "the mistake of 1914": his view that the British resolution to join their northern and southern protectorates into one poorly integrated colony constitutes the single most consequential decision of colonial rule in Nigeria. The early history of Lagos Colony was one of repeated attempts to end the Yoruba wars. In May of this year, Herbert J. In some cases, British assignment of people to ethnic groups, and treatment based along ethnic lines, led to identification with ethnicity where none had existed before.[84]. Other firms applying for licenses were rejected. factors that led to the british conquest of nigeriaannalise mahanes height. A consul was maintained at Fernando Po to oversee the lucrative palm oil trade in the region called the Oil Rivers. Washington: GPO for the Library of Congress, 1991. Some of them began to migrate back from Sierra Leone in search of home and trade. Support for broad Nigerian concerns occupied a clear second place. In time, they built depots onshore and eventually moved up the Niger River to establish stations in the interior. Between them, the French and the British had purchased a majority of the slaves sold from the ports of Edo. [19][41], In 18961897 the forces of the Niger Coast Protectorate fought with the remnants of the Edo Empire. [40] By 1893, most of the other political entities in Yorubaland recognised the practical necessity of signing another treaty with the British, this one explicitly joining them with the protectorate of Lagos. British merchants led the trade in palm oil, while the Portuguese and others continued the slave trade. Thanks to this skewed writing of history, many Nigerians today still have Empire nostalgia and view the colonial period through rose-tinted . He argued that the division into two separate colonies was advisable unless a stronger central government could bind Nigeria into more than just an administrative convenience for the three regions. June 30, 2022 . The first missions were opened by the Church of England's Church Missionary Society (CMS). The only significant interruption in economic development arose from natural disasterthe Great Drought of 191314. The kingdom of Benin - BBC Bitesize Summary of course material Economic freedom in Muslim countries an [35] However, the company did accept that local kings could act as partners in governance and trade. In 1950 Aminu Kano, who had been instrumental in founding the NPC, broke away to form the Northern Elements Progressive Union (NEPU), in protest against the NPC's limited objectives and what he regarded as a vain hope that traditional rulers would accept modernization. The aim of this paper, therefore, is to see among other things the British interest in the area referred to as Sokoto Caliphate, the crises and conflicts that ensued, the resistance put up by the people and the eventual conquest of the caliphate. The war also made the British reappraise Nigeria's political future. Its effects are still widely felt up till today. Britain subsequently lobbied other European powers to stop the slave trade as well. [74] But with the advancement and efficiency of colonial transportation networks, it was only a matter of time before the disease began to spread into the interior. The mud-walled city of Kano was captured in February, and, after a vigorous skirmish at Kotorkwashi, the sultan's capital, Sokoto, fell the next month. The political parties jockeyed for positions of power in anticipation of the independence of Nigeria. The small contingent of northerners who had been educated abroada group that included Abubakar Tafawa Balewa and Aminu Kanowas allied with British-backed efforts to introduce gradual change to the emirates. That's human geography 101. It was also partly to protect the Egba that the British shelled Lagos in 1851, expelled Kosoko, the reigning oba, and restored his uncle, Akitoye, who appeared more willing to join in a campaign to abolish the slave trade. By the mid-1940s, the major ethnic groups had formed such associations as the Igbo Federal Union and the Egbe Omo Oduduwa (Society of the Descendants of Oduduwa), a Yoruba cultural movement, in which Awolowo played a leading role. The Conquest (La Conqute) is a term used to describe the acquisition of Canada by Great Britain during the Seven Years' War.It also refers to the resulting conditio Anietie A. Inyang & Manasseh Edidem Bassey, "Imperial Treaties and the Origins of British Colonial Rule in Southern Nigeria, 18601890". The supply of precious metals was finite, and monarchs hoped to find large deposits of gold and silver in the Americas. factors that led to the british conquest of nigeriaturkish airlines flight 981 victims. THE FULANI CONQUEST AND RULE OF THE HAUSA KINGDOM 235 from 1804, the date of the Hegira. By 18261850, the British Royal Navy was intervening significantly with Lagos slave exports. Slaves formerly had been traded for European goods, especially guns and gunpowder, but now the British encouraged trade in palm oil in the Niger delta states, ostensibly to replace the trade in slaves. In the name of liberating the Igbos from the Aro Confederacy, the British launched the Anglo-Aro War of 19011902. The conference is popularly called "The Berlin Conference". British staffs in each region continued to operate according to procedures developed before unification. Europeans come from Europe. Even before gaining its charter, the Company signed treaties with local leaders which granted it broad sovereign powers. Whereas Lugard had applied lessons learned in the north to the administration of the south, Clifford was prepared to extend to the north practices that had been successful in the south. Colonial Lagos was a busy, cosmopolitan port. In 1907, the corporation received a loan of 25,000, repayable upon discovery of oil. The conquest and colonization of the Nigerian territory stirring up nationalist sentiments among the few educated elements mostly foreign educated Africans and liberated slaves, and later African students in Britain. At the same time it is feasible by degrees to bring them gradually into approximation with our ideas of justice and humanity. Colonialism is both a practice and a word that means so much to Nigeria. factors that led to the british conquest of nigeria In 1805, he set out on a second expedition, sponsored by the British Government, to follow the Niger to the sea. [8] British influence in the region began with the prohibition of slave trade to British subjects in 1807. The country was divided politically, lacking European rivals, and no sense of national unity. Balewa was called on to head an NPC-NCNC coalition government, and Awolowo became the official leader of the opposition. Durres Port. He was contemptuous of the educated and Westernised African elite found more in the South, and he recommended transferring the capital from Lagos, the cosmopolitan city where the influence of these people was most pronounced, to Kaduna in the north. Exploration was intensified in 1946, but the first commercial discovery did not occur until 1956, at Olobiri in the Niger Delta. They were instrumental in the development of government diplomacy with the traditional rulers; they spread government propaganda among the indigenous people; and they assisted colonial officials in parleying with native forces at war with government troops. A Review of "What Britain Did to Nigeria" by Max Siollun - Foreign Affairs Its activist membership was drawn from local government and emirate officials who had access to means of communication and to repressive traditional authority that could keep the opposition in line. The economy suffered from the decline in the slave trade, although considerable smuggling of slaves to the Americas continued for years afterward. The colonial economic policies in Nigeria, for instance, discouraged indigenous industrialization, but promoted export crop and mineral production to feed the British factories. The Fulani conquest and rule of the Hausa Kingdom of Northern Nigeria
factors that led to the british conquest of nigeria