The Crusades and the Reconquista cemented religious intolerance, and the Christians looked to colonization partly as a means of continuing religious conquests. Taxes became a source of discontent in the south, however, and contributed to disturbances protesting British policy. Most of the fighting was done by Hausa soldiers, recruited to fight against other groups. 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. They were the most politically conscious segment of the population and created the vanguard of the nationalist movement. In the 1850s, quinine had been found to combat malaria, and aided by the medicine, a Liverpool merchant, Macgregor Laird, opened the river. The rapid growth of organised labour in the 1940s also brought new political forces into play.
A Summary of British Rule in India - ThoughtCo The Reconquista, or reconquest, refers to the 800 years of violence and expulsion of Muslims from the Iberian Peninsula after the failed Crusades. Both Africans and Europeans found illegal supplies such as secret stills, obtaining colonial liquor permits, and smuggling. All were knighted. African nationalism is a political movement for the unification of Africa (Pan-Africanism) and for national self-determination. [9] Administration and military control of the territory was conducted primarily by white Britons, both in London and in Nigeria. 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. It is not a personal union of separate colonies under the same Governor like the Windwards, it is not a Confederation of States. In the South, only English had official status. 24. 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. 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. Men Robin Hermann, "Empire Builders and Mushroom Gentlemen: The Meaning of Money in Colonial Nigeria". 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. [65], Half of all taxes went to the colonial government and half went to the Native Treasury. [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. 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. 1819 - Singapore founded by Sir Stamford Raffles. England would forever be changed politically, economically, and socially as a result. They were instrumental in the development of government diplomacy with the traditional rulers; they spread government propaganda among the indigenous people; and they assisted colonial officials in parleying with native forces at war with government troops. 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. 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. As a further step toward independence, the Governor's Executive Council was merged with the Council of Ministers in 1957 to form the all-Nigerian Federal Executive Council. 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?
factors that led to the british conquest of nigeria [] They needed special personnel: such officials who knew the local conditions and who could communicate between the Company and the indigenous people. . In some instances, however, a double allegianceto the idea of sacred monarchy for its symbolic value and to modern concepts of law and administrationwas maintained. Afeadie, "The Hidden Hand of Overrule" (1996), p. 1921. In general, the regional constitutions followed the federal model, both structurally and functionally. The racial discriminatory tendencies of the Europeans to Nigerians. They wanted self-government, charging that only colonial rule prevented the unshackling of progressive forces in Nigeria and other states. [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. The protectorate was organised to control and develop trade coming down the Niger. Lugard informed the leaders of conquered Sokoto: The Fulani in old times [] conquered this country. Facebook Instagram Email. The appointment of Joseph Chamberlain as colonial secretary in 1895 especially marked a shift towards new territorial ambitions of the British Empire. Newspapers, some of which were published before World War I, provided coverage of nationalist views. The council was promoted as a device for allowing the expression of opinions that could instruct the Governor-General. Davies and Nnamdi Azikiwe. For example, many people in Ibadan opposed Awolowo on personal grounds because of his identification with the Ijebu Yoruba. [22] Many locals remained unconvinced of the Crown's authority to completely reverse the legal and moral attributes of a social institution through fiat.
Colonial System of Administration In Nigeria: Definition, Historical 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. Even before gaining its charter, the Company signed treaties with local leaders which granted it broad sovereign powers. British colonialism destroyed the Ndebele state at the end of the nineteenth century. Catholic missionaries were particularly active among the Igbo; the CMS worked among the Yoruba. Resistance was strong in western Igboland, where a series of wars were waged against the British. The Emirs and chiefs who are appointed will rule over the people as of old-time and take such taxes as are approved by the High Commissioner, but they will obey the laws of the Governor and will act in accordance with the advice of the Resident. NEPU formed a parliamentary alliance with the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC). The war was driven by the commercial and imperial rivalry between Britain and France, and by the antagonism between Prussia (allied to Britain) and Austria (allied to France). [8], Through a progressive sequence of regimes, the British imposed Crown Colony government on much of the area of West Africa which came to be known as Nigeria, a form of rule which was both autocratic and bureaucratic. This was a case of plenty harvest but few hands to cultivate. Several churches were built to serve the Edo community and a small number of African converts. 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.
The British Conquest State (Chapter 3) - A History of Zimbabwe British soap and cosmetics manufacturers tried to obtain land concessions for growing oil palms, but these were refused. A chief of Bonny in 1860 explained that he refused a British treaty due to the tendency to "induce the Chiefs to sign a treaty whose meaning they did not understand, and then seize upon the country".[14]. These recourses were considered a necessity to the industrialization of the world . The most powerful figure in the party was Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto. 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. 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.
Reasons for the development of the slave trade - BBC Bitesize It was also partly to protect the Egba that the British shelled Lagos in 1851, expelled Kosoko, the reigning oba, and restored his uncle, Akitoye, who appeared more willing to join in a campaign to abolish the slave trade. However, the British East India Company was able to lay the foundation of an empire in the Indian sub-continent because, from a British perspective, of a fortuitous series of circumstances. [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. In the Northern Cameroons, however, the largely Muslim electorate chose to merge with Nigeria's Northern Region. The only significant interruption in economic development arose from natural disasterthe Great Drought of 191314. The colonial economic policies in Nigeria, for instance, discouraged indigenous industrialization, but promoted export crop and mineral production to feed the British factories.
Colonialism and Development: A Comparative Analysis of Spanish and Britain also encouraged the formation of the Muslim League of India in 1907. Its final leg enabled it to meet another line, constructed 19071911, running from Baro, through Minnia, to Kano. Britain also annexed Freetown in Sierra Leone, declaring it a Crown Colony in 1808.[20]. A third type of organisation that was more pointedly political was the youth or student group, which became the vehicle of intellectuals and professionals. The company's major imports to the area included gin and low-quality firearms. [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. 3. 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. In the name of liberating the Igbos from the Aro Confederacy, the British launched the Anglo-Aro War of 19011902. Village Heads were paid 10 shillings for conscripts, and fined 50 if they failed to supply. The large companies that subsequently opened depots in the delta cities and in Lagos were as ruthlessly competitive as the delta towns themselves and frequently used force to compel potential suppliers to agree to contracts and to meet their demands. 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 Headquarters of Gombe emirate was Gombe-Abba[15] until when the then Emir of Gombe, Umaru Kwairanga (18981922), was forced to move from Gombe-Abba, a town founded by his grandfather and the founder of Gombe Emirate, Modibbo Bubayero, to Nafada town in 1913, and then to the current Gombe in 1919, that was after Gombe Emirate was conquered by British colonialists in 1903. The war also made the British reappraise Nigeria's political future. 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. It, therefore, hired native intermediaries who could conduct diplomacy, trade and intelligence work in the local area. At the urging of Governor Frederick Lugard, the two territories were amalgamated as the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria, while maintaining considerable regional autonomy among the three major regions (Northern protectorate, Southern protectorate and the Colony of Lagos). The first factor to be taken into account is that the British by nature are conservative. Clifford emphasized economic development, encouraging enterprises by immigrant southerners in the north while restricting European participation to capital intensive activity. The government was responsible to a Parliament composed of the popularly elected 312-member House of Representatives and the 44-member Senate, chosen by the regional legislatures. The experiment began in 1890 and was repealed in 1939,[71]. The incidence of slavery in local societies increased. The conference is popularly called "The Berlin Conference". Christian missionaries were barred, and the limited government efforts in education were harmonized with Islamic institutions.[67]. Combining the three jurisdictions would reduce administrative expenses and facilitate deployment of resources and money between the areas. In 1907, the corporation received a loan of 25,000, repayable upon discovery of oil. The Niger Delta and Calabar, which once had been known for the export of slaves, became notable for the export of palm oil. The classic example in English history was the victory of the Parliament over the king. Herbert Richmond Palmer developed details of this model from 1906 to 1911 as the Governor of Northern Nigeria after Lugard.[66].