factors that led to the british conquest of nigeria
History of the British Takeover of Nigeria - U.OSU The war also made the British reappraise Nigeria's political future. The conquest was personal to William. Critics, including representatives of the Middle Belt who resented Muslim domination, were relegated to small, peripheral parties or to inconsequential separatist movements.[85]. [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. They caused major transformations in traditional society as they eroded the religious institutions such as human sacrifice, infanticide and secret societies, which had formerly played a role in political authority and community life.[26]. History of Colonization in Africa | How Africa News This page was last edited on 30 January 2023, at 05:21. In the south the British had to fight many wars, in particular the wars against the Ijebu (a Yoruba group) in 1892, the Aro of eastern Igboland, and, until 1914, the Aniocha of western Igboland. Because of the spread of mission schools and wealth derived from export crops, the southern parties were committed to policies that would benefit the south of the country. 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. Egypt) and titles (e.g. Between them, the French and the British had purchased a majority of the slaves sold from the ports of Edo. The company interfered in the territory along the Niger and the Benue, sometimes becoming embroiled in serious conflicts when its British-led native constabulary intercepted slave raids or attempted to protect trade routes. Until he stepped down as Governor-General in 1918, Lugard primarily was concerned with consolidating British sovereignty and with assuring local administration through traditional rulers. In 1957, the Western and the Eastern regions became formally self-governing under the parliamentary system. 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. They took the right to rule over it, to levy taxes, to depose kings and to create kings. 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. [11], By the 1880s, the National African Company became the dominant commercial power, increasing from 19 to 39 stations between 1882 and 1893. 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. Trained as an army officer, he had served in India, Egypt and East Africa, where he expelled Arab slave traders from Nyasaland and established British presence in Uganda. This line was extended to Oshogbo, 100 kilometres (62mi) away, in 19051907, and to Zungeru and Minna in 19081911. Beecroft was the British representative to Fernando Po, where the African Slave Trade Patrol of the Royal Navy was stationed. After initially adopting an indirect rule approach, in 1906 the British merged the small Lagos Colony and the Southern Nigeria Protectorate into a new Colony of Southern Nigeria, and in 1914 that was combined with the Northern Nigeria Protectorate to form the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria. Earlier elements related to this were its founding of the Sierra Leone Colony in 1787 as a refuge for freed slaves, the independent missionary movement intended to bring Christianity to the Edo Kingdom, and programs of exploration sponsored by learned societies and scientific groups, such as the London-based African Association. In 1850, the British created a "Court of Equity" at Bonny, overseen by Beecroft, which would deal with trade disputes. Palm oil was used locally for cooking, the kernels were a source for food, trees were tapped for palm wine, and the fronds were used for building material. 1. To raise additional revenues, Lugard took steps to institute a uniform tax structure patterned on the traditional system that he had adopted in the north during his tenure there. Sir Richmond Palmer, acting as Lieutenant Governor in the North, disagreed with Clifford and advocated the principles of Lugard and further decentralisation. [73] An estimated 500,000 Nigerians would lose their lives due to the pandemic, severely decreasing production capabilities on Nigerian farms and plantations. 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. factors that led to the british conquest of nigeria Colonial Nigeria was ruled by the British Empire from the mid-nineteenth century until 1960 when Nigeria achieved independence. The protectorate was organised to control and develop trade coming down the Niger. What were the causes of the Biafran/Nigerian Civil War? What - eNotes 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. Under the Political Department of the Civil Service were Residents and District Officers, responsible for overseeing operations in each region. The Reconquista, or reconquest, refers to the 800 years of violence and expulsion of Muslims from the Iberian Peninsula after the failed Crusades. 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: He insisted on maintaining the territorial integrity of the Northern Region. Britain subsequently lobbied other European powers to stop the slave trade as well. All were knighted. Despite these difficulties, the Action Group rapidly built an effective organisation. "The Hidden Hand of Overrule: Political Agents and the Establishment of British Colonial Rule in Northern Nigeria, 18861914". In the 1700s, the British Empire and other European powers had settlements and forts in West Africa but had not yet established the full-scale plantation colonies which existed in the Americas. A third of the people associated with an 1842 riverine expedition died. In May of this year, Herbert J. Both claimed in 1908; territories formed in 1962 (British Antarctic Territory) and 1985 (South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands). 979 Words. Most of these came from military backgrounds. David Richardson, "Background to annexation: Anglo-African credit relations in the Bight of Biafra, 17001891"; in Ptr-Grenouilleau. He was prepared to introduce educational and economic changes to strengthen the north. The Colonial Office approved most of Lugard's plan, but balked at authorising him to pass laws without their approval. [51], Guidelines for running the Nigerian colony were established in 1898 by the Niger Committee, chaired by the Earl of Selborne, in 1898. The Norman conquest in 1066 was the last successful conquest of England. Lagos was the first part of Nigeria to be conquered and declare a British colony in 1861. Lugard bequeathed to his successor a prosperous colony when his term as Governor-General expired. [9] Administration and military control of the territory was conducted primarily by white Britons, both in London and in Nigeria. 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. The Crusades and the Reconquista cemented religious intolerance, and the Christians looked to colonization partly as a means of continuing religious conquests. This was a case of plenty harvest but few hands to cultivate. [78], After establishing political control of the country, the British implemented a system of taxation in order to force the indigenous Africans to shift from subsistence farming to wage labour. 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. Initial British attempts to open trade with the interior by way of the Niger could not overcome climate and diseases such as malaria. The NPC platform emphasized the integrity of the north, its traditions, religion and social order. 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 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 1905, the colonial government divided Bengal into Hindu and Muslim sections; this division was revoked after strong protests. The most powerful figure in the party was Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto. Its architecture was in both Victorian and Brazilian style, as many of the black elite were English-speakers from Sierra Leone and freedmen repatriated from the Empire of Brazil and Spanish Cuba. [74] The disease first found its home among the many trading ports along the West African coast. Three years later internal divisions arose that was dominated by major ethnic loyalties. The classic example in English history was the victory of the Parliament over the king. From Lugard's point of view, clear-cut military victories were necessary because the surrenders of the defeated peoples weakened resistance elsewhere. The British encouraged this secession, worsening the war even further. The trade subsequently continued under the Portuguese Empire. They invited missionaries to follow them and, in the 1840s, made themselves available as agents who allowed missionaries and British traders to gain access to such places as Lagos, Abeokuta, Calabar, Lokoja, Onitsha, Brass, and Bonny. 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. 1839 - The Opium Wars between China and Britain, resulting from the trade of opium leading to widespread addictions.
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