factors that led to the british conquest of nigeria factors that led to the british conquest of nigeria

Other commercial crops, such as cocoa and rubber, were encouraged, and tin was mined on the Jos Plateau. [13], The Colonial Office accepted Lugard's proposal that the Governor would not be required to stay in-country full-time; consequently, as Governor, Lugard spent four months out of the year in London. In 1905, the colonial government divided Bengal into Hindu and Muslim sections; this division was revoked after strong protests. The most striking departure was in the Northern Region, where special provisions brought the regional constitution into consonance with Islamic law and custom. 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. 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. These recourses were considered a necessity to the industrialization of the world . The Action Group was thus the heir of a generation of flourishing cultural consciousness among the Yoruba and also had valuable connections with commercial interests that were representative of the comparative economic advancement of the Western Region. [73] In direct reaction to the epidemic, colonial authorities allowed African doctors and medical personnel to work with influenza patients due to the severity of the situation. From January 1914 onwards, the newly united colony and protectorate was presided over by a proconsul, who was entitled the Governor-General of Nigeria. Borno capitulated without a fight, but in 1903 Lugard's RWAFF mounted assaults on Kano and Sokoto. Significantly, Macauley's NNDP remained almost entirely a Lagos party, popular only in the area whose people already had experience in elective politics. By 1903 the conquest of the emirates was complete. Indeed it was these developments in the history of Kano that transformed the political outlook of the people. Although his own ambitions were limited to the Northern Region, Bello backed the NPC's successful efforts to mobilize the north's large voting strength so as to win control of the national government. David Ellis, "African and European relations in the last century of the transatlantic slave trade"; in Ptr-Grenouilleau. The basic economic units in each town were "houses", family-operated entities that engendered loyalty for its employees. [75] The colonial government was not equipped nor ready in general for such a situation. A lack of interest in extending the NPC beyond the Northern Region corresponded to this strictly regional orientation. At first, they lived in small family groups, but gradually these groups developed into a. 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. ", Simon Heap, "'We think prohibition is a farce': drinking in the alcohol-prohibited zone of colonial northern Nigeria. The incidence of slavery in local societies increased. by How Africa 6 years ago. The early history of Lagos Colony was one of repeated attempts to end the Yoruba wars. In practice, Lugard used the annual sessions to inform the traditional rulers of British policy, leaving them with no functions at the council's meetings except to listen and to assent. British business interests wanted to use this to create a monopoly over the industry, but Prime Minister H. H. Asquith's Liberal government and subsequent war coalition favored allowing international free trade. The influence of Christianity and the establishment of schools made the nationalists realize that after all God created everyman equal . From 1790 to 1807, predominantly British slave traders purchased 1,0002,000 slaves each year in Lagos alone. While each generated considerable political controversy, they moved the country toward greater internal autonomy, with an increasing role for the political parties. 1833 - The abolition of slavery throughout the British Empire. [65], Half of all taxes went to the colonial government and half went to the Native Treasury. Ouidah (now part of Benin) and Lagos were the major ports on the coast. [8] British influence in the region began with the prohibition of slave trade to British subjects in 1807. Following military conquest, the British imposed an economic system designed to profit from African labor. The Delta streams were called "oil rivers". 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. Lugard's campaign systematically subdued local resistance, using armed force when diplomatic measures failed. In 1851 deposed king Akintoye of Lagos sought British help in restoring him to the throne. Its effects are still widely felt up till today. 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. The influx of cowrie led to inflation. At the same time, British scientists were interested in exploring the course and related settlements along the Niger River. 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 . David Richardson, "Background to annexation: Anglo-African credit relations in the Bight of Biafra, 17001891"; in Ptr-Grenouilleau. With this victory, the British went on to conquer the rest of Yorubaland, which had also been weakened by sixteen years of civil war. FACTORS THAT LED TO NATIONALISM IN NIGERIA. European slave trading from West Africa began before 1650, with people taken at a rate of about 3,000 per year. His government guided the country for the next three years, operating with almost complete autonomy in internal affairs. These were the Agent-General, the Senior Judicial Officer, and the Commandant of the Constabulary. The Action Group consistently supported minority-group demands for autonomous states within a federal structure, as well as the severance of a midwest state from the Western Region. [43][44] The British forces began annual pacification missions to convince the locals of British supremacy. In elections that year, the NYM ended the domination of the NNDP in the Legislative Council and worked to establish a national network of affiliates. Davies and Nnamdi Azikiwe. [72] In line with this attitude, he rejected Lugard's proposal for moving the capital from Lagos, the stronghold of the elite in whom he placed so much confidence for the future. . The trade subsequently continued under the Portuguese Empire. [21], Whether British conquest of Nigeria resulted from a benevolent motive to end slavery or more instrumental motives of wealth and power, remains a topic of dispute between African and European historians. Although it reserved effective power in the hands of the Governor-General and his appointed Executive Council, the so-called Richards Constitution (after Governor-General Sir Arthur Richards, who was responsible for its formulation) provided for an expanded Legislative Council empowered to deliberate on matters affecting the whole country. Lugard's governmental model for Nigeria was unique and there was apparently not much planning for its future development. 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. Subsequent revisions contained in the Lyttleton Constitution, enacted in 1954, firmly established the federal principle and paved the way for independence. The company's major imports to the area included gin and low-quality firearms. 0 Wishlist. Among his leading lieutenants were Samuel Akintola of Ogbomoso and the Oni of Ife, the most important of the Yoruba monarchs. The Southern Protectorate financed itself from the outset, with revenue increasing from 361,815 to 1,933,235 over the same period. The charter allowed the company to collect customs and make treaties with local leaders.[12]. The 1922 constitution provided Nigerians with the chance to elect a handful of representatives to the Legislative Council. Protestant sects had flourished in Christianity since the Protestant Reformation; the emergence of independent Christian churches in Nigeria (as of black denominations in the United States) was another phase of this history. From 1815 to 1840, palm oil exports increased by a factor of 25, from 800 to 20,000 tons per year. This scheme proved unpopular and confusing to many involved parties and was phased out. 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. Under the Political Department of the Civil Service were Residents and District Officers, responsible for overseeing operations in each region. Other firms applying for licenses were rejected. The Journal of Modern African Studies, 8(04), 563. doi:10.1017/s0022278x00023909. Egypt) and titles (e.g. Nigeria (Sokoto Caliphate inclusive) fell prey to the attacks. The colonial period proper in Nigeria lasted from 1900 to 1960, after which Nigeria gained its independence. 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. The legitimate trade in commodities attracted a number of British merchants to the Niger River, as well as some men who had been formerly engaged in the slave trade but who now changed their line of wares. 12 tribes of israel family tree; why did poseidon often adopt the shape of a steed. Colonial official A. J. Harding commented in 1913: Sir F. Lugard's proposal contemplates a state which it is impossible to classify. It was colonized by the British in 1884 and the colony is established at the Berlin conference which divides Africa by European powers. The British penetration of Nigeria met with various forms of resistance throughout the country. Village Heads were paid 10 shillings for conscripts, and fined 50 if they failed to supply. Empty cart. As a practice, colonialism is traced to the1854 and 1855 conference at Berlin in Germany. [36], The company, as was common among European businesses in Africa, paid its native workers in barter. Herbert Richmond Palmer developed details of this model from 1906 to 1911 as the Governor of Northern Nigeria after Lugard.[66]. [29] His servant, Richard Lander, and Lander's brother John were the ones to demonstrate that the Niger flowed into the sea. [73] The spread of the disease was quick and deadly, with an estimated 1.5% of the population of Lagos falling victim. The Colonial Civil Service used intermediaries, as the Royal Niger Company had, in an expanded role which included diplomacy, propaganda and espionage. prince edward island newspapers online; how to clean a wavy turban shell; flip or flop nashville house locations; sunrise growers diced strawberry cup nutrition facts; factors that led to the british conquest of nigeria. 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 war years brought a polarization between the older, more parochial leaders inclined toward gradualism and the younger intellectuals, who thought in more immediate terms. Frederick Lugard, shortly before becoming High Commissioner of Northern Nigeria.[68]. Bello wanted to protect northern social and political institutions from southern influence. African nationalism attempted to transform the identity of Africans. The approaches of the two men to colonial development were diametrically opposed. [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. This led to protests known as Women's War. It backed Yoruba irredentism in the Fulani-ruled emirate of Ilorin in the Northern Region, and separatist movements among non-Igbo in the Eastern Region. Resistance was strong in western Igboland, where a series of wars were waged against the British. Local leaders, cognizant of the situation in the West Indies, India, and elsewhere, recognised the risks of British expansion. 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. British colonialism created Nigeria, joining diverse peoples and regions in an artificial political entity along the Niger River. His political platform called for economic and educational development, Africanization of the civil service, and self-government for Lagos. Though the Europeans possess many considerable settlements both upon the coast of Africa and in the East Indies, they have not yet established in either of those countries such numerous and thriving colonies as those in the islands and continent of America. He was convinced that the Muslim religion had fallen into utter degeneration as a result of moral depravity of the Hausa Emirs. Britain annexed Lagos in 1861 and established the Oil River Protectorate in 1884. factors that led to the british conquest of nigeria. 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. That's human geography 101. [61] John Anderson diplomatically suggested: If it is the necessity for formally submitting the drafts that hurts Sir F. Lugard, I should be quite prepared to omit that provision provided that the period of publication of the draft prior to enactment is extended from one month to two. The British were not yet willing to assume the expense of maintaining an administration in Nigeria. [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. Lugard's success in northern Nigeria has been attributed to his policy of indirect rule; that is, he governed the protectorate through the rulers defeated by the British. [50] In the same year, the British created the Royal West African Frontier Force (RWAFF or WAFF), under the leadership of Colonel Frederick Lugard. (Specifically it would enable direct subsidy of the less profitable Northern jurisdiction.) necessitated by several factors. The boundaries of the two protectorates and the territories of the Royal Niger Company were difficult to define, but the tension was eased in 1894 when both entities were merged into the Niger Coast Protectorate. 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. British colonialism destroyed the Ndebele state at the end of the nineteenth century. The movement brought to public notice a long list of future leaders, including H.O. African nationalism is a political movement for the unification of Africa (Pan-Africanism) and for national self-determination. tamko building products ownership; 30 Junio, 2022; factors that led to the british conquest of nigeria . rockin' the west coast prayer group; easy bulky sweater knitting pattern. brighton grey motion loveseat; waterford, ct obituaries; jane wymark children. A revelatory account of British imperialism's shameful impact on Africa's most populous state. 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. 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. Lord Lugard recorded a huge success mainly because he used the highly developed traditional system of administration that was already in existence in the Northern Nigeria. Colonialism is both a practice and a word that means so much to Nigeria. In the south, by contrast, traditional rulers were employed as vehicles of indirect rule in Edoland and Yorubaland, but Christianity and Western education undermined their sacerdotal functions. [37] Economically, local colonial administrators also pushed for the imposition of British colonial rule, believing that trade and taxation conducted in British pounds would prove far more lucrative than a barter trade which yielded only inconsistent customs duties. Consequently, in 1849, John Beecroft was accredited as consul for the bights of Benin and Biafra, a jurisdiction stretching from Dahomey to Cameroon. Missionary forces demanded prohibition of liquor, which proved highly unpopular. The proliferation of labour organisations fragmented the movement, and potential leaders lacked the experience and skill to draw workers together. In 1841 the British tried to settle some Egba on a model farm in Lokoja, but the plan was aborted because the mortality rate among European officials was so high. The so-called Macpherson Constitution, after the incumbent Governor-General John Stuart Macpherson, went into effect the following year. 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. In 1805, he set out on a second expedition, sponsored by the British Government, to follow the Niger to the sea. But in the 1700s, the Bight of Benin (also known as the Slave Coast) became the next most important hub. 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. He insisted on maintaining the territorial integrity of the Northern Region. The rapid expansion in exports, especially after 1830, occurred precisely at the time slave exports collapsed.