Quiz. This primary resistance was not unified and centered, yet it allowed understanding that the colonial rule and the presence of Europeans in Africa were negative (Chamberlain 89). The Action Group was largely the creation of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, General Secretary of Egbe Omo Oduduwa and leader of the Nigerian Produce Traders' Association. Locally this involved the immediate invasion of the German-held Kamerun (Cameroon) by Nigerian forces, followed by a costly campaign that lasted until 1916. In: Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs: (1999), vol. There was virtually no pressure for greater unity among the regions until after the end of World War II. It soon gained a virtual monopoly over trade along the River[11]. Nigeria is a good example. Afeadie, "The Hidden Hand of Overrule" (1996), p. 1315. After the defection of Kano, the only significant disagreement within the NPC was related to moderates. In 1886, Taubman secured a royal charter and his company became the Royal Niger Company. 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. 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 forces unleashed against the British were now diverse, including soldiers who had served in World War II, the media, restless youth, market women, educated people, and farmers, all of whom became committed to the anticolonial movement. The British Culture in Nigeria. Nigerian units also contributed to two divisions serving with British forces in Palestine, Morocco, Sicily and Burma, where they won many honours. He aroused political awareness through his newspaper, the Lagos Daily News. [64], Each region also had a Native Administration, staffed by locals, and possessing a Native Treasury. Out of reverence for traditional kingship, for instance, the Oba of Benin, whose office was closely identified with Edo religion, was accepted as the sponsor of a Yoruba political movement. It was guerrilla warfare in the case of the Mau Mau Uprising in Kenya (1952-60) and Zimbabwe's war of independence (1965-79); it was all . (This was also reflective of growing pan-Africanism among American activists of the time.) Lagos was annexed as a Crown Colony in 1861 via the Lagos Treaty of Cession.[30]. This system, in which the structure of authority focused on the emir to . Nigeria did not come into being until 1914, when the consort of a colonial Governor-General, Flora Shaw and her man, the fascist Lord Lugard willed and named Nigeria into being, with the dubious . 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. These policies met with ongoing resistance. The European struggle to establish forts and trading posts on the West African coast from about the mid-1600s to the mid-1700s was part of the wider competition for trade and empire in the Atlantic. This led to protests known as Women's War. The decrease in trade indirectly led to the collapse of states like the Edo Empire. In 1851 deposed king Akintoye of Lagos sought British help in restoring him to the throne. The . By a British Act of Parliament, Nigeria became independent on 1 October 1960. "Specifically, the Company sought to secure the cooperation of the traditional rulers in ensuring peaceful conditions for trade. Modern nationalists in the south, whose thinking was shaped by European ideas, opposed indirect rule, as they believed that it had strengthened what they considered an anachronistic ruling class and shut out the emerging Westernised elite. (Specifically it would enable direct subsidy of the less profitable Northern jurisdiction.) Significantly, the regional governments controlled public expenditures derived from revenues raised within each region. Despite his somewhat successful efforts to enlist non-Yoruba support, the regionalist sentiment that had stimulated the party initially continued. How did Algerias resistance to French control differ rom East africas resistance to German rule. . In 1916, Sir Edward Carson led the majority of the Conservative and Unionist Party to vote against Party Leader Bonar Law on the issue, forcing it to withdraw from the Asquith coalition and for the government to begin to break apart. The NPC platform emphasized the integrity of the north, its traditions, religion and social order. 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. Not wishing to appear out of control or weak, they approved the expedition (two days after it began) on 19 January 1903.,[47] In general, the Colonial Office allowed Lugard's expeditions to continue because they were framed as retaliatory and, as Olivier commented in 1906, "If the millions of people [in Nigeria] who do not want us there once get the notion that our people can be killed with impunity they will not be slow to attempt it."[48]. Afeadie, "The Hidden Hand of Overrule" (1996), p. 1921. Although lacking Azikiwe's compelling personality, Awolowo was a formidable debater as well as a vigorous and tenacious political campaigner. The British, when faced with dissent, tended to grant political reforms in an effort to dispel the attractiveness of more-radical suggestions. 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. These were the Agent-General, the Senior Judicial Officer, and the Commandant of the Constabulary. The Treasury used a planned budget for payment of staff and development of public works projects, and therefore could not be spent at the discretion of the local traditional ruler. Davies and Nnamdi Azikiwe. With this victory, the British went on to conquer the rest of Yorubaland, which had also been weakened by sixteen years of civil war. Local leaders, cognizant of the situation in the West Indies, India, and elsewhere, recognised the risks of British expansion. The Northern People's Congress (NPC) was organised in the late 1940s by a small group of Western-educated Northern Nigerians. The Journal of Modern African Studies, 8(04), 563. doi:10.1017/s0022278x00023909, This page was last edited on 30 January 2023, at 05:21. They later discovered that the demand for . NEPU formed a parliamentary alliance with the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC). 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. By the end of World War I, most of Africa had been effectively colonized. At the same time, British scientists were interested in exploring the course and related settlements along the Niger River. A constabulary force was raised and used to pacify the coastal area. Discover how the Mandinka Empire, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, and Nigeria resisted European colonists and the impact each conflict had. After independence, tensions that had been building between two . 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]. ", Helen Chapin Metz, ed. Britain annexed Lagos in 1861 and established the Oil River Protectorate in 1884. Hausa was recognised as an official language in the north, and knowledge of it was expected of colonial officers serving there. He said that he did "not consider that their past traditions and their present backward cultural conditions afford to any such experiment a reasonable chance of success". The basic economic units in each town were "houses", family-operated entities that engendered loyalty for its employees. Under Goldie's direction, the Royal Niger Company was instrumental in depriving France and Germany of access to the region. Accordingly, as the volume of trade increased, merchants requested that the Government of the United Kingdom appoint a consul to cover the region. In the long term, the acceptance of Christianity by large numbers of Nigerians depended on the various denominations adapting to local conditions. [67], This system, in which the structure of authority focused on the emir to whom obedience was a mark of religious devotion, did not welcome change. 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. In pursuance of the above general principles the chief civil officers of the provinces are to be called Residents which implies one who carries on diplomatic relations rather than Commissioners or Administrators. The company received 865,000 compensation for the loss of its Charter. By. . Gradually, however, the trade forced major economic and social changes in the interior, although it hardly undermined slavery and the slave trade. [22] Many locals remained unconvinced of the Crown's authority to completely reverse the legal and moral attributes of a social institution through fiat. Updated: 11/12/2021 Create an account Afeadie, "The Hidden Hand of Overrule" (1996), p. 1719. The growth of Islam in pre-colonial Igbomina / Adesina Yusuf Raji. Political opposition to colonial rule often assumed religious dimensions. This video gives a detailed explanation of Colonial rule in Africa, as it answers the questions: Why did Europeans colonize africa? At first, the trade centered around West Central Africa, now the Congo. Read published a Memorandum on British possessions in West Africa, which remarked upon the "inconvenient and unscientific boundaries" between Lagos Colony, the Niger Coast Protectorate and the Royal Niger Company. It was guerrilla warfare in the case of the Mau Mau Uprising in Kenya (1952-60) and Zimbabwe's war of independence (1965-79); it was all . Libyan Resistance. 19, no. Following Lugards success in the north, he set out the principles of the administrative system subsequently institutionalized as indirect rule. Essentially, local government was to be left in the hands of the traditional chiefs, subject to the guidance of European officers. Consequently, in 1849, John Beecroft was accredited as consul for the bights of Benin and Biafra, a jurisdiction stretching from Dahomey to Cameroon. 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. Support for broad Nigerian concerns occupied a clear second place. colonizers and passive resistance by refusing to collaborate with the colonizers e .g. [53] The first five heads of the Nigeria Department (18981914) were Reginald Antrobus, William Mercer, William Baillie Hamilton, Sydney Olivier, and Charles Strachey. In the ensuing decade, resistance to colonial rule continued, but Africans altered their tactics and women featured prominently in anticolonial resistance when cultural changes tended to disadvantage women. These changes included taking land from African people and giving it to the growing number of Europeans in the colonies. 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. The Royal Niger Company had its own armed forces. The most powerful figure in the party was Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto. By the end of World War I, most of Africa had been effectively colonized. To be sure, there were widespread resistances against colonial rule, which include the 'Abd al-Qadir led resistance against the French in Algeria, the Asante King (Prempeh I) led revolt against British colonialists in Ghana, the Maji Maji revolt in Tanganyika, the Ndebele rebellions in Rhodasia, the Ijebu Kingdom and the Opobo resistances in . The so-called Macpherson Constitution, after the incumbent Governor-General John Stuart Macpherson, went into effect the following year. Throughout this period of reign, many changes were made to their . In an era of globalization, leaders of "recognized" nations often discuss the development of indigenous resources without inviting aboriginal leaders to the table. Today, Lagos remains Nigeria's financial capital and, as home to an estimated eight million people, ranks . Frederick Lugard, who was appointed as High Commissioner of the Northern Nigeria Protectorate in 1900 and served until 1906 in his first term, often has been regarded by the British as their model colonial administrator. Then they resisted the policy as much as possible. Between them, the French and the British had purchased a majority of the slaves sold from the ports of Edo. In: The Journal of African History: (1990 . This line was extended to Oshogbo, 100 kilometres (62mi) away, in 19051907, and to Zungeru and Minna in 19081911. In the 1850s, quinine had been found to combat malaria, and aided by the medicine, a Liverpool merchant, Macgregor Laird, opened the river. The British High Commissioners could depose emirs and other officials if necessary. Some of them also manned Company stations and served as District Agents.". [8] British influence in the region began with the prohibition of slave trade to British subjects in 1807. Resistance movements began to rise in . Webster, Boahen and Idowu are of the opinion that the conquest of Africa was very simple and that it was carried out with ease. 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. In one year, Lugard recruited 2600 troops, evenly split between Hausa and Yoruba. By 18261850, the British Royal Navy was intervening significantly with Lagos slave exports. According to the Trans-Atlantic Slave Voyage Database, 308,800 were sold across the Atlantic from Lagos in 17761850. British colonialism created Nigeria, joining diverse peoples and regions in an artificial political entity along the Niger River. [73] The spread of the disease was quick and deadly, with an estimated 1.5% of the population of Lagos falling victim. Local administration, where the colonial citizens typically experienced colonial authority, was based on the policy of indirect rule first developed in the north. Formal diplomatic relations were established with the opening of the American Embassy in Lagos and of the Nigerian Embassy in Washington, both on 1 October 1960, the same day which Nigeria acquired its independence from British rule. 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. resistance to British invasion and colonial rule so as to close that vacuum created by the 'majority syndrome' approach. He was prepared to introduce educational and economic changes to strengthen the north. They had obtained the assent of the emirs to form a political party to counterbalance the activities of the southern-based parties. Demanding immediate self-government, the Action Group was opposed by the Northern Peoples Congress (NPC), which was composed largely of northerners and headed by several leaders, including Abubakar Tafawa Balewa. A new constitution was created in 1922 under British colonial rule, largely due to Nigerian calls for reform. 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