factors that led to the british conquest of nigeria

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. Nigerian recruits participated in the war effort as labourers and soldiers. Hence, precolonial level of development is positively asso-ciated with level of Spanish colonialism, but negatively associated with level of British colonialism. David Richardson, "Background to annexation: Anglo-African credit relations in the Bight of Biafra, 17001891"; in Ptr-Grenouilleau. In the north Frederick Lugard, the first high commissioner of Northern Nigeria, was instrumental in subjugating the Fulani emirs. Other European powers acknowledged Britain's dominance over the area in the 1885 Berlin Conference. [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 war also made the British reappraise Nigeria's political future. In practice, British administrative procedures under indirect rule entailed constant interaction between colonial authorities and local rulersthe system was modified to fit the needs of each region. [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. Agents also collected intelligence for the colonial officials; they gathered information on public opinion and the military resources of the local polities; they also spied on rival colonial forces in foreign territories. By 1903 the conquest of the emirates was complete. Although churchmen in Britain had been influential in the drive to abolish the slave trade, significant missionary activity for Africa did not develop until the 1840s. 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. Order. The departure of Azikiwe and other Igbo members of the NYM left the organisation in Yoruba hands. During the war, union membership increased sixfold to 30,000. Hausa was recognised as an official language in the north, and knowledge of it was expected of colonial officers serving there. 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. Political activists in the southern areas spoke of self-government in terms of educational opportunities and economic development. The first factor to be taken into account is that the British by nature are conservative. 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. [11] [12] From 1790 to 1807, predominantly British slave traders purchased 1,0002,000 slaves each year in Lagos alone. The superior weapons, tactics and political unity of the British are commonly given as reasons for their decisive ultimate victory. [31], Captain John Glover, the colony's administrator, created a militia of Hausa troops in 1861. The Lander brothers were seized by slave traders in the interior and sold down the river to a waiting European ship. 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. 1839 - The Opium Wars between China and Britain, resulting from the trade of opium leading to widespread addictions. He was convinced that the Muslim religion had fallen into utter degeneration as a result of moral depravity of the Hausa Emirs. The British also created "divide and rule" policies, pitting Hindu and Muslim Indians against one another. . The said National African Company (Limited) bind themselves to protect the said King and Chiefs from the attacks of any neighbouring tribes (Ibid.). 12 tribes of israel family tree; why did poseidon often adopt the shape of a steed. An example was that at Onitsha, where they could bargain directly with local suppliers and purchase products likely to turn a profit. With these events, the daily routines of the royal court were . [12] Trade was also conducted through a mechanism of barter and credit. 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. Despite conquering villages by burning houses and crops, continual political control over the Igbo remained elusive. 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. Great Britain was the leaders at this time in colonizing the land filled with rich natural recourses. The council was promoted as a device for allowing the expression of opinions that could instruct the Governor-General. [11], Britain's imperialistic posture became more aggressive towards the end of the century. The primary motives of European explorers were economic. A consul was maintained at Fernando Po to oversee the lucrative palm oil trade in the region called the Oil Rivers. 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. L'indpendance du. 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. FACTORS THAT LED TO NATIONALISM IN NIGERIA. The nationalism that became a political factor in Nigeria during the interwar period derived both from an older political particularism and broad pan-Africanism, rather than from any sense among the people of a common Nigerian nationality. [38][39], In 1892 the British Armed Forces set out to fight the Ijebu Kingdom, which had resisted missionaries and foreign traders. During the 1880's through 1914, the start of WWI, was an age of imperialism. [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). Local rulers continued to administer their territories, but consular authorities assumed jurisdiction for the equity courts established earlier by the foreign mercantile communities. In 1851 deposed king Akintoye of Lagos sought British help in restoring him to the throne. By 18261850, the British Royal Navy was intervening significantly with Lagos slave exports. Economic links among the regions increased, but indirect rule tended to discourage political interchange. The pulpits of the independent congregations became avenues for the free expression of critics of colonial rule. 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. 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. Lagos was the first part of Nigeria to be conquered and declare a British colony in 1861. Most accounts of Nigeria's colonisation were written by British officials, presenting it as a noble civilising mission to rid Africans of barbaric superstition and corrupt tribal leadership. ", Simon Heap, "'We think prohibition is a farce': drinking in the alcohol-prohibited zone of colonial northern Nigeria. 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. 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. The British and the French fought the Carnatic Wars, which the British won decisively - making the British the foremost colonial power. It was suspended in 1950 against a call for greater autonomy, which resulted in an inter-parliamentary conference at Ibadan in 1950. Their common denominators tended to be based on newly assertive ethnic consciousness, particularly that of the Yoruba and Igbo. By 1919 the National Council of British West Africa, an organization consisting of elites across West Africa, was demanding that half the members of the Legislative Council be Africans; they also wanted a university in West Africa and more senior positions for Africans in the colonial civil service. The Ekumeku, however, became a great source of Igbo nationalism. During World War II, three battalions of the Nigeria Regiment fought against Fascist Italy in the Ethiopian campaign. A.J. . Both claimed in 1908; territories formed in 1962 (British Antarctic Territory) and 1985 (South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands). Laird's efforts were stimulated by the detailed reports of a pioneer German explorer, Heinrich Barth, who travelled through much of Borno and the Sokoto Caliphate, where he recorded information about the region's geography, economy and inhabitants. 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. In the Bight of Biafra, the major ports were Old Calabar (Akwa Akpa), Bonny and New Calabar. The Southern Protectorate financed itself from the outset, with revenue increasing from 361,815 to 1,933,235 over the same period. In 1900, the Southern Nigeria Protectorate and Northern Nigeria Protectorate passed from company hands to the Crown. [32] This included a river fleet which it used for retaliatory attacks on uncooperative villages. 1. The principal commodities of legitimate trade were palm oil and palm kernels, which were used in Europe to make soap and as lubricants for machinery before petroleum products were developed for that purpose. [11][12], The amalgamation of different ethnic and religious groups into one federation created internal tension which persists in Nigeria to the present day.[13]. 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 Governor was, in effect, the coordinator for virtually autonomous entities that had overlapping economic interests but little in common politically or socially. The policy of indirect rule used in Northern Nigeria became a model for British colonies elsewhere in Africa. Afeadie, "The Hidden Hand of Overrule" (1996), p. 1719. In 1850, the British created a "Court of Equity" at Bonny, overseen by Beecroft, which would deal with trade disputes. The most dramatic event having a long-term effect on Nigeria's economic development was the discovery and exploitation of petroleum deposits. 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. 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. The legal justification for this campaign was a treaty signed in 1886, when the British had interceded as peacemakers to end the Ekiti Parapo war, which imposed free trade requirements and mandated that all parties continue to use British channels for diplomacy. The British turned to Persia for oil.[83]. Facebook Instagram Email. Significantly, the regional governments controlled public expenditures derived from revenues raised within each region. Most of the fighting was done by Hausa soldiers, recruited to fight against other groups. The British captured Kano in 1903. In the north, the emirs intended to maintain firm control on economic and political change. Resistance was strong in western Igboland, where a series of wars were waged against the British. It is not a unitary state with local government areas but with one Central Executive and one Legislature. 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. [77] Its revenue quickly increased, from 4,424 in 1901 to 274,989 in 1910. In time they captured Oba Ovonramwen and sent him into exile to Calabar, a town east of Benin. Ethnic and kinship organisations that often took the form of a tribal union also emerged in the 1920s. Direct taxation on men was introduced in 1928 without major incidents. Although lacking Azikiwe's compelling personality, Awolowo was a formidable debater as well as a vigorous and tenacious political campaigner. 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. Nigerian delegates were selected to represent each region and to reflect various shades of opinion. In the Northern Cameroons, however, the largely Muslim electorate chose to merge with Nigeria's Northern Region. 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. Sometimes forced labour was used directly for public works projects. The trade subsequently continued under the Portuguese Empire. PhD dissertation accepted at the Graduate Programme in History, York University, Ontario. [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. 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? [57], Egerton also supervised improvements to the Lagos harbour and extension of the local telegraph network. As a practice, colonialism is traced to the1854 and 1855 conference at Berlin in Germany. [42], The British had difficulty conquering Igboland, which lacked a central political organisation. 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. Men such as Balewa believed that only by overcoming political and economic backwardness could the NPC protect the foundations of traditional northern authority against the influence of the more advanced south. The Nigerian Civil War is also known as the Nigerian-Biafran war and took place between July 1967 and January 1970. "Separatist Agitations in Nigeria Since 1914." However, in October 1929 in Oloko a census related to taxation was conducted, and the women in the area suspected that this was a prelude to the extension of direct taxation, which had been imposed on the men the previous year. In the north, for instance, legislation took the form of a decree cosigned by the Governor and the emir, while in the south, the Governor sought the approval of the Legislative Council. French Roman Catholic missionaries, established in Ouidah (Whydah), arrived in Lagos and considered missionary work on the Niger. Among the other major parties, the NCNC took fifty-six seats, winning a majority in both the Eastern and the Western regions, while the Action Group captured only twenty-seven seats. In the meantime, public sector spending increased even more dramatically than export earnings. The National Youth Movement used nationalist rhetoric to agitate for improvements in education. In 1920, portions of former German Cameroon were mandated to Britain by the League of Nations and were administered as part of Nigeria. The Anglicans and other religious groups had a conscious "native church" policy to develop indigenous ecclesiastical institutions to become independent of Europeans. Gradually, however, the trade forced major economic and social changes in the interior, although it hardly undermined slavery and the slave trade. 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. They selected an increasingly high proportion of African clergy for the missions. Doctrine of Lapse. Frederick Lugard, shortly before becoming High Commissioner of Northern Nigeria.[68]. Most of these came from military backgrounds. One of the factors that contributed to the success of indirect rule in Northern Nigeria was the use of the existing traditional system of administration. These seven factors led to the development of the slave trade: The importance of the West Indian colonies The shortage of labour The. The federal government retained specified powers, including responsibility for banking, currency, external affairs, defence, shipping and navigation and communications, but real political power was centred in the regions. We also understand that the said National African Company (limited) have full power to mine, farm, and build in any portion of our territory. In the long term, the acceptance of Christianity by large numbers of Nigerians depended on the various denominations adapting to local conditions. European slave trading from West Africa began before 1650, with people taken at a rate of about 3,000 per year. Developed from Mayan civilization B. acquired empires by means of military conquest C. Independently developed iron technology D. Depended entirely on oral record keeping . The NPC federal parliamentary leader, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, was appointed Prime Minister of Nigeria. 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. 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. By a British Act of Parliament, Nigeria became independent on 1 October 1960. He used for the first time in Nigeria modern, sometimes flamboyant, electioneering techniques. penn wood high school alumni; picture of shawn westover; microblading nickel allergy At the same time, George Dashwood Goldie, a British businessman, bought out all French rivals and created the Royal Niger Company (chartered 1886) in order to control trade on the Niger and administer the immense territories of the Sokoto caliphate and Borno. British influence in the Niger area increased gradually over the 19th century, but Britain did not effectively occupy the area until 1885. [10], Following military conquest, the British imposed an economic system designed to profit from African labor. Economic competition among these "houses" was so fierce that trade often erupted into an armed battle between the crews of the large canoes. Davies and Nnamdi Azikiwe. Nigerian students abroad, particularly at British schools, joined those from other colonies in pan-African groups such as the West African Students Union, founded in London in 1925. From there, the strategy to conquer the additional portions of what would be Nigeria was planned and executed until nearly all of what is today Nigeria was under British control in 1905. [19], West Africa also bought British exports, supplying 3040% of the demand for British cotton during the Industrial Revolution of 17501790.[27]. Catholic missionaries were particularly active among the Igbo; the CMS worked among the Yoruba. [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. factors that led to the british conquest of nigeriaturkish airlines flight 981 victims. 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. 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.

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