", Helen Chapin Metz, ed. David Ellis, "African and European relations in the last century of the transatlantic slave trade"; in Ptr-Grenouilleau. [18], In 1807, the Parliament of the United Kingdom enacted the Slave Trade Act, prohibiting British subjects from participating in the Atlantic slave trade. The most powerful figure in the party was Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto. ", Tamuno, T. N. (1970). Economic competition among these "houses" was so fierce that trade often erupted into an armed battle between the crews of the large canoes. [73] An estimated 500,000 Nigerians would lose their lives due to the pandemic, severely decreasing production capabilities on Nigerian farms and plantations. Amalgamation of Nigeria was envisioned from early on in its governance, as is made clear by the report of the Niger Committee in 1898. He was aware that the Muslim north would present problems, but he had hopes for progress along the lines which he laid down in the south, where he anticipated "general emancipation" leading to a more representative form of government. . They never were able to elect sizeable legislative delegations, but they served as a means of public expression for minority concerns. The Colonial Era (1882-1960) British colonialism began under the pretense of policing the slave trade. [64], Each region also had a Native Administration, staffed by locals, and possessing a Native Treasury. Resistance to colonial rule took a number of forms, incrementally moving Nigeria toward independence. Falola, Toyin, Ann Genova, and Matthew M. Heaton. Wartime experiences provided a new frame of reference for many soldiers, who interacted across ethnic boundaries in ways that were unusual in Nigeria. Sometimes forced labour was used directly for public works projects. If an eye is kept on the Gazettes as they come in this will enable us to warn him of any objections we may entertain to legislative proposals, and also give Liverpool and Manchester an opportunity of voicing their objections. Its final leg enabled it to meet another line, constructed 19071911, running from Baro, through Minnia, to Kano. In the twentieth century, Lagos became a center for resistance to colonial rule. At first, the trade centered around West Central Africa, now the Congo. Direct taxation on men was introduced in 1928 without major incidents. These schools would teach "the basic principles that would and should regulate character and conduct". Protestant missionaries tended to divide the country into spheres of activity to avoid competition with each other, and Catholic missions similarly avoided duplication of effort among the several religious orders working there. of the Belgian colonial rule that eventually gave rise to a violent resistance against colonial rule, and the repression of this resistance resulted in the . The company negotiated treaties with Sokoto, Gwandu and Nupe that were interpreted as guaranteeing exclusive access to trade in return for the payment of annual tribute. [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. British soap and cosmetics manufacturers tried to obtain land concessions for growing oil palms, but these were refused. The Women's War of 1929, known among Igbo women as Ogu Umunwanyi, occurred from November 23 to January 10, 1930. How did Algerias resistance to French control differ rom East africas resistance to German rule. In contrast to Lugard, Clifford argued that colonial government had the responsibility to introduce as quickly as practical the benefits of Western experience. With the exception of Brandenburg-Prussia's short-lived attempt to gain a foothold on the West African coast and to participate in the 17th-century transatlantic slave trade, German colonialism began only in the 1880s. We bind ourselves not to have any intercourse with any strangers or foreigners except through the said national African Company (Limited), and we give the said National African Company (Limited) full power to exclude all other strangers and foreigners from their territory at their discretion. He aroused political awareness through his newspaper, the Lagos Daily News. I would encourage the society to resist by declaring a war against the Europeans. A . [57], Egerton also supervised improvements to the Lagos harbour and extension of the local telegraph network. A third type of organisation that was more pointedly political was the youth or student group, which became the vehicle of intellectuals and professionals. The Action Group, which staged a lively campaign, favoured stronger government and the establishment of three new states while advocating the creation of a West Africa Federation that would unite Nigeria with Ghana and Sierra Leone. In the Eastern Region, appointed officials who were given "warrants" and hence called warrant chiefs, were strongly resisted by the people because they lacked traditional claims. European slave trading from West Africa began before 1650, with people taken at a rate of about 3,000 per year. This is what happened in 1929 when Igbo and Ibibio market women in Owerri and Calabar (Nigeria) made war against warrant chiefs and colonial authorities over issues of taxation and colonial administration. The search for oil, begun in 1908 and abandoned a few years later, was revived in 1937 by Shell and British Petroleum. In February 1961, a plebiscite was conducted to determine the disposition of the Southern Cameroons and Northern Cameroons, which were administered by Britain as United Nations Trust Territories. Harding, director of Nigerian affairs at the Colonial Office, defined the official position of the British Government in support of indirect rule when he said that "direct government by impartial and honest men of alien race [] never yet satisfied a nation long and [] under such a form of government, as wealth and education increase, so do political discontent and sedition". Native institutions were utilized and interference with local customs kept to a minimum, although the British did not always understand the local customs. Lagos became a major slave port in the late 1700s and into the 1850s. Afeadie, "The Hidden Hand of Overrule" (1996), p. 1012. As a protectorate, it did not have the status of a colony, so its officials were appointed by the Foreign Office and not by the Colonial Office. [51], Guidelines for running the Nigerian colony were established in 1898 by the Niger Committee, chaired by the Earl of Selborne, in 1898. . Frederick Lugard, shortly before becoming High Commissioner of Northern Nigeria.[68]. Under the Political Department of the Civil Service were Residents and District Officers, responsible for overseeing operations in each region. British colonialism created Nigeria, joining diverse peoples and regions in an artificial political entity along the Niger River. Afeadie, "The Hidden Hand of Overrule" (1996), p. 1719. Three of these posts were assigned to representatives from each region, and one was reserved for a delegate from the Northern Cameroons. Traditional authorities were co-opted in the north, where the spread of Western education by Christian missionaries was strongly resisted by Muslim leaders. Indigenous Resistance to New Colonialism. Each was under a Lieutenant Governor and provided independent government services. Between 1919 and 1954 the title reverted to governor. [16] Starting in 1740, the British were the primary European slave trafficker from this area. These policies met with ongoing resistance. [19], West Africa also bought British exports, supplying 3040% of the demand for British cotton during the Industrial Revolution of 17501790.[27]. The Northern People's Congress (NPC) was organised in the late 1940s by a small group of Western-educated Northern Nigerians. In the year 1901, Nigeria officially became a part of the huge British Empire. The British, when faced with dissent, tended to grant political reforms in an effort to dispel the attractiveness of more-radical suggestions. The proliferation of labour organisations fragmented the movement, and potential leaders lacked the experience and skill to draw workers together. The Central African Federation, embracing Nyasaland, Northern and Southern Rhodesia, was created in 1953 . Frederick Lugard, who was appointed as High Commissioner of the Northern Nigeria Protectorate in 1900 and served until 1906 in his first term, often has been regarded by the British as their model colonial administrator. Retrieved October 11, 2014 from. Under Lugard from 1900 to 1906, the Protectorate consolidated political control over the area through military conquest and initiated the use of British currency in substitute for barter. He also led the Nigerian National Democratic Party, which dominated elections in Lagos from its founding in 1922 until the ascendancy of the National Youth Movement in 1938. [23] Regardless, slavery had decimated the population and fuelled militarisation and chaos, thereby paving the way for more aggressive colonisation.[21][24]. British Prime Minister Lord Palmerston detested slavery, and in 1851 he took advantage of divisions in native politics, the presence of Christian missionaries, and the maneuvers of British consul John Beecroft to encourage the overthrow of the regime. 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. [73], Africa as a whole was hit by three waves of H1N1 influenza A, the first and second would be the most deadly for the colony of Nigeria. Nigeria: ColonizationKatie Graham. Most internal problems were concealed, and open opposition to the domination of the Muslim aristocracy was not tolerated. Nigeria: A Country Study. Washington: GPO for the Library of Congress, 1991. In the Northern Cameroons, however, the largely Muslim electorate chose to merge with Nigeria's Northern Region. A more representative system did not appear until 1946, when each geographic group of provinces had its own House of Assembly, with a majority of nonofficial (though not yet all elected) members; there were also a House of Chiefs and, in Lagos, a central Legislative Council. In Africa, Nigerians lived under British rule from 1900 to 1960. Initial British attempts to open trade with the interior by way of the Niger could not overcome climate and diseases such as malaria. "Separatist Agitations in Nigeria Since 1914." I will be dealing almost exclusively with the areas of East and Central Africa - Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Malawi, Zimbabwe - where a more or less coherent debate can be seen. Nigeria is a country in West Africa and was colonized by the British. The Journal of Modern African Studies, 8(04), 563. doi:10.1017/s0022278x00023909, This page was last edited on 30 January 2023, at 05:21. [8], Through a progressive sequence of regimes, the British imposed Crown Colony government on much of the area of West Africa which came to be known as Nigeria, a form of rule which was both autocratic and bureaucratic. In pursuance of the above general principles the chief civil officers of the provinces are to be called Residents which implies one who carries on diplomatic relations rather than Commissioners or Administrators. The Colony was ultimately governed by the British Colonial Office in London. While initially organised for professional and fraternal reasons, these were centres of educated people who had chances to develop their leadership skills in the organisations, as well as form broad social networks. Definition of Colonialism Colonialism means a system which the Europeans adopted in ruling the colonies of Africa to their own benefits. The British had participated in it until human trafficking was abolished in 1807. To prevent any united opposition to its authority, the British adopted a divide-and-rule policy, keeping Nigerian groups separate from one another as much as possible. The 1922 constitution provided Nigerians with the chance to elect a handful of representatives to the Legislative Council. It also means foreign rule on foreign lands. The superior weapons, tactics and political unity of the British are commonly given as reasons for their decisive ultimate victory. Even before gaining its charter, the Company signed treaties with local leaders which granted it broad sovereign powers. In the 1850s, quinine had been found to combat malaria, and aided by the medicine, a Liverpool merchant, Macgregor Laird, opened the river. The British, like other newcomers to the slave trade, found . The Sokoto jihad and the Yoruba wars stimulated the slave trade at a time when the British were actively trying to stop it. [67], The Colonial Office, where Lugard was still held in high regard, accepted that changes might be due in the south, but it forbade fundamental alteration of procedures in the north. The delta masked the mouth of the great river, and for centuries Nigerians chose not to tell Europeans the secrets of the interior. After the Napoleon war, the British tried to expand their colonial rule in Africa and began to establish trade tides with Nigeria in 1898. Further dislocation accompanied the outbreak of World War I. European traders in Nigeria initially made widespread use of the cowrie, which was already valued locally. 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. This rate rose to 20,000 per year in the last quarter of the century. In 1908 and abandoned a few years later, was revived in 1937 by Shell and British Petroleum also. 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