The Kikuyu people of Kenya, like most Africans, were laborers with the women doing most work at home while the men found work across the country. Published August 7, 2020. 3 The Amakholwa's upsurge as a black, conservative, and educated class in the Cape Colony helped establish political resistance to colonial rule. To establish settled government in the newly won districts; To improve and extend native footpaths throughout the country; To construct properly graded roads in the more populated districts; To clear the numerous rivers in the country and make them suitable for launch and canoe traffic; and. Another court was established in 1856 at Calabar, based on an agreement with local Efik traders which prohibited them from interfering with British merchants. 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. In May of this year, Herbert J. 1324 Words6 Pages. 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. resistance and successfully imposed colonial rule should attest to the point that African military resistance was ineffectual. According to the Trans-Atlantic Slave Voyage Database, 308,800 were sold across the Atlantic from Lagos in 17761850. 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. He shows that, long before the growth of a mass independence movement in the wake of the second world war, there was considerable opposition to colonial rule. Colonial official A. J. Harding commented in 1913: Sir F. Lugard's proposal contemplates a state which it is impossible to classify. [75] The colonial government was not equipped nor ready in general for such a situation. However, decolonization also brought regionalization and a hardening of ethnic identities. His mission failed, but Park and his party covered more than 1,500 kilometres (930mi), passing through the western portions of the Sokoto Caliphate, before drowning when their boats overturned in rapids near Bussa. In fact, while the southern delegates pressed for 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]. In consideration of the foregoing, the said National African Company (Limited) bind themselves not to interfere with any of the native laws or customs of the country, consistently with the maintenance of order and good government [and] agree to pay native owners of land a reasonable amount for any portion they may require. Non-violent Resistance - In the Year of African Independence, 1961, 17 countries declared themselves independent of colonial powers, most of them non-violently, through protest and/or negotiation . Lagos remained the capital of the south, with Zungeru the new capital of the north. The Nigeria Regiment of the RWAFF, integrating troops from the north and south, saw action against German colonial forces in Cameroon and in German East Africa. Nigeria in the past was forced to participate in the slave trade. In April 1927, the British colonial government in Nigeria took measures to enforce the Native Revenue (Amendment) Ordinance. Clifford emphasized economic development, encouraging enterprises by immigrant southerners in the north while restricting European participation to capital intensive activity. This study examines the nature of various economic activities of the Adamawa emirate during the pre-colonial period. Several churches were built to serve the Edo community and a small number of African converts. In her . The arrival of the British. [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. 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. Early British Imperialism. . The Nigerian Resistance. Elections were held for a new and greatly enlarged House of Representatives in December 1959; 174 of the 312 seats were allocated to the Northern Region on the basis of its larger population. [25][n 1], The missionaries gained in power throughout the 1800s. (This was also reflective of growing pan-Africanism among American activists of the time.) By a British Act of Parliament, Nigeria became independent on 1 October 1960. Nigeria became an independent state on the October 1, 1960 after being a British colony for over 40 years. British colonialism created Nigeria, joining diverse peoples and regions in an artificial political entity along the Niger River. Britain also annexed Freetown in Sierra Leone, declaring it a Crown Colony in 1808.[20]. He aroused political awareness through his newspaper, the Lagos Daily News. 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. These courts contained majorities British members and represented a new level of presumptive British sovereignty in the Bight of Biafra. 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. The book traces communications in Nigeria back to pre-colonial indigenous communications, through the development of telecommunication, broadcasting networks, the press, the Nigerian lm industry ('Nollywood') and on to the digital . Quiz. 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. 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. Beecroft was the British representative to Fernando Po, where the African Slave Trade Patrol of the Royal Navy was stationed. Other commercial crops, such as cocoa and rubber, were encouraged, and tin was mined on the Jos Plateau. Lugard bequeathed to his successor a prosperous colony when his term as Governor-General expired. 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. [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. Elliot J. Berg, "The Development of a Labour Force in Sub-Saharan Africa"; France sold Louisiana to the United States, Learn how and when to remove this template message, Military history of Nigeria during World War II, National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons, discovery and exploitation of petroleum deposits, "The Nigeria (Constitution) Order in Council, 1954", "Gombe-Abba: Historic emirs' town ruined by the British", A Very Bloody Transaction: Old Calabar and the Massacre of 1767, The Impact of the Slave Trade on African Economies, "Managing Epidemic: The British Approach to 19181919 Influenza in Lagos", "The Nigerian Victory Against The 1918 Influenza Pandemic and 1897 Smallpox Epidemic", "African Pentecostalism and the 1918 Influenza Pandemic: The Supernatural Amid the Fearful and Implications for the COVID-19 Pandemic", "The influenza pandemic of 191819 and the spread of cassava cultivation on the lower Niger: a study in historical linkages", Google Cultural Institute: Birth of the Nigerian Colony, 18511914, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Colonial_Nigeria&oldid=1136412842. In general, the regional constitutions followed the federal model, both structurally and functionally. There was virtually no pressure for greater unity among the regions until after the end of World War II. Afeadie, "The Hidden Hand of Overrule" (1996), p. 1213. Between them, the French and the British had purchased a majority of the slaves sold from the ports of Edo. In the long term, the acceptance of Christianity by large numbers of Nigerians depended on the various denominations adapting to local conditions. The Sokoto jihad and the Yoruba wars stimulated the slave trade at a time when the British were actively trying to stop it. Antrobus, Fiddes and Strachey in the Colonial Office promoted amalgamation, along with Lugard. [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. Hausa was recognised as an official language in the north, and knowledge of it was expected of colonial officers serving there. 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. A new constitution was created in 1922 under British colonial rule, largely due to Nigerian calls for reform. Some of the treaties contained prohibitions on diplomacy conducted without British permission, or other promises to abide by British rule. Afeadie, "The Hidden Hand of Overrule" (1996), p. 1315. 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. The British took an interest in Nigeria because of its resources. Political leaders resorted to the use of political parties and the media to mobilize millions of Nigerians against the continuation of British rule. Effects/Impact of Colonialism on Nigeria 1. The Colonial Office could veto or revise his policies. [38][39], In 1892 the British Armed Forces set out to fight the Ijebu Kingdom, which had resisted missionaries and foreign traders. The decrease in trade indirectly led to the collapse of states like the Edo Empire. Author. The first missions were opened by the Church of England's Church Missionary Society (CMS). A third of the people associated with an 1842 riverine expedition died. ", Tamuno, T. N. (1970). 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. As the emirs settled more and more into their role as reliable agents of indirect rule, colonial authorities were content to maintain the status quo, particularly in religious matters. Political activists in the southern areas spoke of self-government in terms of educational opportunities and economic development. [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. This became the Lagos Constabulary, and subsequently the Nigerian Police Force. Its final leg enabled it to meet another line, constructed 19071911, running from Baro, through Minnia, to Kano. (During World War II they again served in East Africa, as well as in Burma [now Myanmar].) The most important of these was a near fetish with indirect rule that was supposed to facilitate a cheap and effective ruling strategy. These schools would teach "the basic principles that would and should regulate character and conduct". 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 Lander brothers were seized by slave traders in the interior and sold down the river to a waiting European ship. Local leaders, cognizant of the situation in the West Indies, India, and elsewhere, recognised the risks of British expansion. [43][44] The British forces began annual pacification missions to convince the locals of British supremacy. Alan Lennox-Boyd, M.P., the British Secretary of State for the Colonies. 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. Afeadie, Philip Atsu. As a result, the trading post at the Niger River is created and the British economic rule is maintained over the colonies, exploiting Nigerians (Graham, 2009). Segments of the Yoruba community had their own animosities and new rivalries arose. In the 1870s, therefore, George Taubman Goldie began amalgamating companies into the United African Company, soon renamed the National African Company. The British, like other newcomers to the slave trade, found . By extending the elective principle and by providing for a central government with a Council of Ministers, the Macpherson Constitution gave renewed impetus to party activity and to political participation at the national level. In 1929, this incident in Nigeria later became one of the reasons for the fight against colonial rule in Africa A) The Nigerian Oil crisis B) The Aba Women's Revolt C) . Each region had a governor, premier, cabinet, legislature, and civil service, with the significantly weaker federal government represented in Lagos by a governor-general, bureaucracy, House of Representatives, and Senate. 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. Discover how the Mandinka Empire, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, and Nigeria resisted European colonists and the impact each conflict had. The incidence of slavery in local societies increased. Oil income was still marginal, but the prospects for continued economic expansion appeared bright and accentuated political rivalries on the eve of independence. The central government, presided over by the governor-general and accountable to the secretary for the colonies in London, was more powerful but distant from the people. [10], Following military conquest, the British imposed an economic system designed to profit from African labor. The approaches of the two men to colonial development were diametrically opposed. Afeadie, "The Hidden Hand of Overrule" (1996), p. 1719. African Resistance to Colonial Rule (Talten, Africana Age) LITERATURE AND LANGUAGE The search for oil, begun in 1908 and abandoned a few years later, was revived in 1937 by Shell and British Petroleum. Britain annexed Lagos in 1861 and established the Oil River Protectorate in 1884. Webster, Boahen and Idowu are of the opinion that the conquest of Africa was very simple and that it was carried out with ease. Nigeria is a good example. 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. September 1996. [61], The task of unification was achieved on the eve of World War I. 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. Revolts took place across Nigeria, but were most frequent in the Niger Delta. They received attention from major parties before elections, at which time either a dominant party from another region or the opposition party in their region sought their alliance. The early history of Lagos Colony was one of repeated attempts to end the Yoruba wars. Nigerian delegates were selected to represent each region and to reflect various shades of opinion. It was a relatively simple adjustment for many Igbo families to transport the oil to rivers and streams that led to the Niger Delta for sale to European merchants. Britain subsequently lobbied other European powers to stop the slave trade as well. Otherwise, the Governor-General's office was essentially ceremonial. [73], Due to the failure of the sanitation officers in Lagos, the virus would continue to spread throughout the southern provinces throughout September and finally make its way into the hinterlands by October. The NPC captured 142 seats in the new legislature. Although this trade grew to significant proportionspalm oil exports alone were worth 1 billion a year by 1840it was concentrated near the coast, where palm trees grew in abundance. The most important innovations in the new charter reinforced the dual course of constitutional evolution, allowing for both regional autonomy and federal union. 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