Officials of the Sokoto Caliphate considered these treaties quite differently; from their perspective, the British were granted only extraterritorial rights that did not prevent similar arrangements with the Germans and the French and certainly did not surrender sovereignty. Colonial Lagos was a busy, cosmopolitan port. The rapid growth of organised labour in the 1940s also brought new political forces into play. All the territories were now under British control, and the search for an identity began, first as Northern and Southern Nigeria and then with eventual amalgamation. In 1794, the African Association in Great Britain commissioned Mungo Park, an intrepid Scottish physician and naturalist, to search for the headwaters of the Niger and follow the river downstream. The incidence of slavery in local societies increased. The receding British presence enabled local officials and politicians to gain access to patronage over government jobs, funds for local development, market permits, trade licenses, government contracts, and even scholarships for higher education. [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. [19] This scenario provided an opportunity for naval expeditions and reconnaissance throughout the region. The preparation of a new federal constitution for an independent Nigeria was carried out at conferences held at Lancaster House in London in 1957 and 1958, which were presided over by The Rt. The war years brought a polarization between the older, more parochial leaders inclined toward gradualism and the younger intellectuals, who thought in more immediate terms. Most of the fighting was done by Hausa soldiers, recruited to fight against other groups. When Faidherbe and his successors proceeded with their conquest of the hinterlands they met with strong and sustained resistance from a number of sources including the Moors, the Toucouleur Empire of Segou under Al Hajj Umar and the powerful Almamy . Although per capita income in the country as a whole remained low by international standards, rising incomes among salaried personnel and burgeoning urbanization expanded consumer demand for imported goods. By an overwhelming majority, voters in the Southern Cameroons opted to join formerly French-administered Cameroon over integration with Nigeria as a separate federated region. The departure of Azikiwe and other Igbo members of the NYM left the organisation in Yoruba hands. [57], From 1895 to 1900, a railway was constructed running from Lagos to Ibadan; it opened in March 1901. Reasons for the development of the slave trade - BBC Bitesize Lagos became a major slave port in the late 1700s and into the 1850s. necessitated by several factors. David Richardson, "Background to annexation: Anglo-African credit relations in the Bight of Biafra, 17001891"; in Ptr-Grenouilleau. The officers of the RWAFF were British. A third of the people associated with an 1842 riverine expedition died. Their common denominators tended to be based on newly assertive ethnic consciousness, particularly that of the Yoruba and Igbo. These seven factors led to the development of the slave trade: The importance of the West Indian colonies The shortage of labour The. The British were not yet willing to assume the expense of maintaining an administration in Nigeria. From 1815 to 1840, palm oil exports increased by a factor of 25, from 800 to 20,000 tons per year. Some of the treaties contained prohibitions on diplomacy conducted without British permission, or other promises to abide by British rule. ", Tamuno, T. N. (1970). European Conquest and Colonization of Africa - 1504 Words | Critical 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. The economy suffered from the decline in the slave trade, although considerable smuggling of slaves to the Americas continued for years afterward. The factors that led to the colonization of africa by the europeans. In an economy with many qualified applicants for every post, great resentment was generated by any favouritism that authorities showed to members of their own ethnic group. Anietie A. Inyang & Manasseh Edidem Bassey, "Imperial Treaties and the Origins of British Colonial Rule in Southern Nigeria, 18601890". Nigerian units also contributed to two divisions serving with British forces in Palestine, Morocco, Sicily and Burma, where they won many honours. The kingdom of Benin - BBC Bitesize 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. Subsequent revisions contained in the Lyttleton Constitution, enacted in 1954, firmly established the federal principle and paved the way for independence. In 1916, Sir Edward Carson led the majority of the Conservative and Unionist Party to vote against Party Leader Bonar Law on the issue, forcing it to withdraw from the Asquith coalition and for the government to begin to break apart. This became the Lagos Constabulary, and subsequently the Nigerian Police Force. The search for oil, begun in 1908 and abandoned a few years later, was revived in 1937 by Shell and British Petroleum. Sir Richmond Palmer, acting as Lieutenant Governor in the North, disagreed with Clifford and advocated the principles of Lugard and further decentralisation. Despite these difficulties, the Action Group rapidly built an effective organisation. These courts contained majorities British members and represented a new level of presumptive British sovereignty in the Bight of Biafra. Nigerian recruits participated in the war effort as labourers and soldiers. 1821 - Sierra Leone, Gambia and the Gold Coast form British West Africa. The Journal of Modern African Studies, 8(04), 563. doi:10.1017/s0022278x00023909. The NPC federal parliamentary leader, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, was appointed Prime Minister of Nigeria. His objective was to conquer the entire region and to obtain recognition of the British protectorate by its indigenous rulers, especially the Fulani emirs of the Sokoto Caliphate. In popular parlance, discussions of colonialism in Africa usually focus on the European conquests that resulted in the scramble for Africa after the Berlin Conference in the 19th century. The political parties jockeyed for positions of power in anticipation of the independence of Nigeria. The British entry into World War I saw the confiscation of Nigerian palm oil firms operated by expatriates from the Central Powers. Its program reflected greater planning and was more ideologically oriented than that of the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons. SLAVE TRADE - Central Connecticut State University The superior weapons, tactics and political unity of the British are commonly given as reasons for their decisive . [72] In the south, he saw the possibility of building an elite educated in schools modelled on a European method (and numerous elite children attended high-ranking colleges in Britain during the colonial years). They later discovered that the demand for palm oil was in fact stimulating an internal slave trade, because slaves were largely responsible for collecting palm fruits, manufacturing palm oil, and transporting it to the coast, whether by canoe or by human porterage. Indeed it was these developments in the history of Kano that transformed the political outlook of the people. 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. [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 Sokoto jihad and the Yoruba wars stimulated the slave trade at a time when the British were actively trying to stop it. One 1885 treaty read: We, the undersigned King and Chiefs [] with the view to the bettering of the condition of our country and people, do this day cede to the National Africa Company (Limited), their heirs and assigns, forever, the whole of our territory [] We also give the said National African Company (Limited) full power to settle all native disputes arising from any cause whatever, and we pledge ourselves not to enter into any war with other tribes without the sanction of the said National Africa Company (Limited). History of Colonization in Africa | How Africa News The pace of constitutional change accelerated after the promulgation of the Richards Constitution. In 1894 the territory was redesignated the Niger Coast Protectorate and was expanded to include the region from Calabar to Lagos Colony and Protectorate, including the hinterland, and northward up the Niger River as far as Lokoja, the headquarters of the Royal Niger Company. It was suspended in 1950 against a call for greater autonomy, which resulted in an inter-parliamentary conference at Ibadan in 1950. The Resident also oversaw a Provincial Court at the region's capital. Colonialism and Development: A Comparative Analysis of Spanish and Summary of course material Economic freedom in Muslim countries an But in the 1700s, the Bight of Benin (also known as the Slave Coast) became the next most important hub. 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 British wanted products like palm oil and palm kernel and export trade in tin, cotton, cocoa, groundnuts, palm oil and so on (Graham, 2009). They were helped by two major factors; the discovery of quinine as a preventive drug against malaria and the armory the British possess which was superior compared to those of the Nigerians. Balewa formed a coalition government that included the Action Group as well as the NCNC to prepare the country for the final British withdrawal. Lugard, replacing Egerton as Governor, aborted the project in May 1913. All were knighted. Free shipping for many products! British are not always carriers of high economic freedom (see Pakistan, Sierra Leone, Bangladesh, and Nigeria). [11][12], In 1900, the British Government assumed control of the Southern and Northern Protectorates, both of which were ultimately governed by the Colonial Office at Whitehall. [56], Walter Egerton's sixfold agenda for 1908, as detailed on 29 November 1907, in a telegram to the Colonial Office, is representative of British priorities. [81] In 1936, of 6,259,547 income for the Nigerian state, 1,156,000 went back to England as home pay for British officials in the Nigerian civil service. In 1805, he set out on a second expedition, sponsored by the British Government, to follow the Niger to the sea. Other European powers acknowledged Britain's dominance over the area in the 1885 Berlin Conference. factors that led to the british conquest of 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. Nigerian delegates were selected to represent each region and to reflect various shades of opinion. The emirs gave support to limited modernization largely from fears of the unsettling presence of southerners in the north, and by observing the improvements in living conditions in the South. Newspapers, some of which were published before World War I, provided coverage of nationalist views. Oil income was still marginal, but the prospects for continued economic expansion appeared bright and accentuated political rivalries on the eve of independence. Macbeth) in the essay title portion of your citation. However, development of the Nigerian oilfields slowed when Bergheim died in a car crash in September 1912. Afeadie, "The Hidden Hand of Overrule" (1996), p. 1012. September 1996. At first, the trade centered around West Central Africa, now the Congo. The British responded to such evidence of rivalry by defending their right to free navigation on the river at the Berlin West Africa Conference of 188485. European Colonialism in Africa. factors that led to the british conquest of nigeria By 1938 the NYM was agitating for dominion status within the British Commonwealth of Nations so that Nigeria would have the same status as Canada and Australia. David Ellis, "African and European relations in the last century of the transatlantic slave trade"; in Ptr-Grenouilleau. ", Simon Heap, "'We think prohibition is a farce': drinking in the alcohol-prohibited zone of colonial northern Nigeria. The slave trade was heaviest in the period 17001850, with an average of 76,000 people taken from Africa each year between 1783 and 1792. Broadening political participation and expanding educational opportunities and other social services also were viewed as threats to the status quo. The Factors That Led to the Colonization of Africa by the Europeans Rather than seeing themselves as Zulu, Xhoasa, Sotho, etc, nationalist leaders wanted Africans to view themselves as South Africans. [12] Trade was also conducted through a mechanism of barter and credit. In time, they built depots onshore and eventually moved up the Niger River to establish stations in the interior. 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. The Royal Niger Company had its own armed forces. Other Protestant denominations from Great Britain, Canada, and the United States also opened missions and, in the 1860s, Roman Catholic religious orders established missions. The delta masked the mouth of the great river, and for centuries Nigerians chose not to tell Europeans the secrets of the interior. [64], Each region also had a Native Administration, staffed by locals, and possessing a Native Treasury. factors that led to the british conquest of nigeria. Hausa was recognised as an official language in the north, and knowledge of it was expected of colonial officers serving there. The council was promoted as a device for allowing the expression of opinions that could instruct the Governor-General. The Ekumeku, however, became a great source of Igbo nationalism. One place that felt victim to this imperialism was Africa. 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. In the 1870s, therefore, George Taubman Goldie began amalgamating companies into the United African Company, soon renamed the National African Company. PDF BRITISH CONQUEST, COLONIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION IN NIGERIA - ResearchGate Other firms applying for licenses were rejected. [] They needed special personnel: such officials who knew the local conditions and who could communicate between the Company and the indigenous people. 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. [73] An estimated 500,000 Nigerians would lose their lives due to the pandemic, severely decreasing production capabilities on Nigerian farms and plantations. Some European traders switched to legitimate business only when the commerce in slaves became too hazardous. In the immediate post-World War II period, Nigeria benefited from a favourable trade balance. [25][n 1], The missionaries gained in power throughout the 1800s. It soon gained a virtual monopoly over trade along the River[11]. In 1912, Lugard returned to Nigeria from his six-year term as Governor of Hong Kong, to oversee the merger of the northern and southern protectorates. In the 1850s, quinine had been found to combat malaria, and aided by the medicine, a Liverpool merchant, Macgregor Laird, opened the river. [74] The disease first found its home among the many trading ports along the West African coast. [19][41], In 18961897 the forces of the Niger Coast Protectorate fought with the remnants of the Edo Empire. In this way Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowtherborn in the Yoruba-inhabited area of Oshogbo and the first African ordained by the CMSwas able to establish mission stations at Onitsha, Lokoja, and Eggan and later at Brass and Bonny. Ever since, the north-south divide has dominated the politics of independent Nigeria. These include the fact that military conscription (draft) of numerous African colonial subjects into European armies generated great amounts of anger. The Southern Protectorate financed itself from the outset, with revenue increasing from 361,815 to 1,933,235 over the same period. 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. [77] Its revenue quickly increased, from 4,424 in 1901 to 274,989 in 1910. The CMS pioneered trade on the Niger by encouraging Scottish explorer and merchant Macgregor Laird to run a monthly steamboat, which provided transportation for missionary agents and Sierra Leonean traders going up the Niger. In 1851 deposed king Akintoye of Lagos sought British help in restoring him to the throne. 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. The traders suffered from the risks of their position and believed they were at the mercy of the coastal rulers, whom they considered unpredictable. The most striking departure was in the Northern Region, where special provisions brought the regional constitution into consonance with Islamic law and custom. According to the Trans-Atlantic Slave Voyage Database, 308,800 were sold across the Atlantic from Lagos in 17761850. Aside from the possibility of treasure, the European governments aimed to find a passage through the Americas to Asia. 2. Awolowo had little difficulty in appealing to broad segments of the Yoruba population, but he worked to avoid the Action Group from being stigmatized as a "tribal" group. Lugard bequeathed to his successor a prosperous colony when his term as Governor-General expired. Much of the human trafficking which occurred there was nominally illegal, and records from this time and place are not comprehensive. What Were Reasons for European Exploration of the Americas? [72], The Influenza pandemic made its way to the port of Lagos by September 1918 by way of a number of ships including the SS Panayiotis, the SS Ahanti, and the SS Bida. It represented a substantial element of reformism in the North. An example was that at Onitsha, where they could bargain directly with local suppliers and purchase products likely to turn a profit. Missionaries were active: Presbyterians in Calabar and the Church Missionary Society (CMS), Methodists, and Baptists in Lagos, Abeokuta, Ibadan, Oyo, and Ogbomoso. The British finalized the border between Nigeria and French West Africa with the Anglo-French Convention of 1898. 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. the British Government completed their assignment of conquest and came up with what they called the Amalgamation of Nigeria . 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. ", Helen Chapin Metz, ed. In the South, only English had official status. But the war had more concrete consequences. The Governor-General represented the British monarch as head of state and was appointed by the Crown on the advice of the Nigerian prime minister in consultation with the regional premiers. [23] Regardless, slavery had decimated the population and fuelled militarisation and chaos, thereby paving the way for more aggressive colonisation.[21][24]. Kingdoms and empires of precolonial Nigeria, Controversies surrounding the 2007 presidential election, Nigeria under Umaru Musa YarAdua and Goodluck Jonathan, The 2015 elections and electorate concerns, Recession, fight against corruption, and insecurity, Which Country Is Larger By Population? In the face of threats to the divided Yoruba states from Dahomey and the Sokoto Caliphate, as represented by the emirate of Ilorin, the British Governorassisted by the CMSsucceeded in imposing peace settlements on the interior. They were the most politically conscious segment of the population and created the vanguard of the nationalist movement. Although Azikiwe later came to be recognised as the leading spokesman for national unity, when he first returned from university training in the United States, his outlook was pan-African rather than nationalist, and emphasised the common African struggle against European colonialism. A third type of organisation that was more pointedly political was the youth or student group, which became the vehicle of intellectuals and professionals. They had obtained the assent of the emirs to form a political party to counterbalance the activities of the southern-based parties. Robin Hermann, "Empire Builders and Mushroom Gentlemen: The Meaning of Money in Colonial Nigeria". Gradually, however, the trade forced major economic and social changes in the interior, although it hardly undermined slavery and the slave trade. brighton grey motion loveseat; waterford, ct obituaries; jane wymark children. In the name of liberating the Igbos from the Aro Confederacy, the British launched the Anglo-Aro War of 19011902. The British encouraged this secession, worsening the war even further. Davies and Nnamdi Azikiwe. factors that led to the british conquest of nigeria. After the Berlin Conference of 1884, Britain announced the formation of the Oil Rivers Protectorate, which included the Niger Delta and extended eastward to Calabar, where the British Consulate General was relocated from Fernando Po. Some of them also manned Company stations and served as District Agents.". British colonialism destroyed the Ndebele state at the end of the nineteenth century. factors that led to the british conquest of nigeriaturkish airlines flight 981 victims. [51], Guidelines for running the Nigerian colony were established in 1898 by the Niger Committee, chaired by the Earl of Selborne, in 1898. In contrast to Lugard, Clifford argued that colonial government had the responsibility to introduce as quickly as practical the benefits of Western experience. British exploitation of their fatherland. A people with no knowledge of their past would suffer from collective amnesia, groping blindly into the future without guide-posts of precedence to shape their course. In 1886, Taubman secured a royal charter and his company became the Royal Niger Company. The experiment began in 1890 and was repealed in 1939,[71]. Alienated by the anonymity of the urban environment and drawn together by ties to their ethnic homelandsas well as by the need for mutual aidthe new city dwellers formed local clubs that later expanded into federations covering whole regions. [61], The task of unification was achieved on the eve of World War I. The Native Administration was headed by the traditional rulersmostly emirs in the north and often obas in the southand their District Heads, who oversaw a larger number of Village Heads. By demonstrating the heavy reliance on West African soldiers for the 'European' conduct of the Great War campaign in the region, it shows how West Africans helped determine the outcome of war in the region. 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 definitely laid the basis for British claims. It, therefore, hired native intermediaries who could conduct diplomacy, trade and intelligence work in the local area. The company received 865,000 compensation for the loss of its Charter. Quiz. An extensive immigrant population of southerners, especially Igbo, already were living in the north; they dominated clerical positions and were active in many trades. Because of the hazards of climate and tropical diseases for Europeans and the absence of any centralized authorities on the mainland responsive to their interests, European merchants moored their ships outside harbours or in the delta, and used the ships as trading stations and warehouses. These recourses were considered a necessity to the industrialization of the world . From January 1914 onwards, the newly united colony and protectorate was presided over by a proconsul, who was entitled the Governor-General of Nigeria. The NCNC backed creation of a midwest state and proposed federal control of education and health services. [11] In 1891, the African Banking Corporation founded the Bank of British West Africa in Lagos.[33]. Most of these came from military backgrounds. African Nationalism | South African History Online On a subsequent expedition to the Sokoto Caliphate, Scottish explorer Hugh Clapperton learned about the mouth of the Niger River, and where it reached the sea, but after suffering malaria, depression and dysentery, he died before confirming it. The NPC, entering candidates only in the Northern Region, confined campaigning largely to local issues but opposed the addition of new regimes.