Then they resisted the policy as much as possible. 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. After the defection of Kano, the only significant disagreement within the NPC was related to moderates. [25][n 1], The missionaries gained in power throughout the 1800s. 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). African resistance to colonial rule began with A) The arrival of the Europeans on the continent in the late 19th century B) The end of World War II C) . Crowther was succeeded as bishop by a British cleric. Robin Hermann, "Empire Builders and Mushroom Gentlemen: The Meaning of Money in Colonial Nigeria". [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. [57], Egerton also supervised improvements to the Lagos harbour and extension of the local telegraph network. [17] Much of this oil was sold elsewhere in the British Empire. The Nigerian Resistance. [73] The spread of the disease was quick and deadly, with an estimated 1.5% of the population of Lagos falling victim. Accordingly, as the volume of trade increased, merchants requested that the Government of the United Kingdom appoint a consul to cover the region. Afeadie, "The Hidden Hand of Overrule" (1996), p. 1213. Nigeria officially became a democracy on its independence from Britain in October 1960. Colonial official A. J. Harding commented in 1913: Sir F. Lugard's proposal contemplates a state which it is impossible to classify. The NPC was called on to form a government, but the NCNC received six of the ten ministerial posts. This was because; education in Southern Nigeria was already leading to a level of awareness and militancy or resistance to colonial rule. Beecroft was the British representative to Fernando Po, where the African Slave Trade Patrol of the Royal Navy was stationed. Crowther, a liberated Yoruba slave, had been educated in Sierra Leone and in Britain, where he was ordained before returning to his homeland with the first group of CMS missionaries. Although realistic in its assessment of the situation in Nigeria, the Richards Constitution undoubtedly intensified regionalism as an alternative to political unification. The most dramatic event having a long-term effect on Nigeria's economic development was the discovery and exploitation of petroleum deposits. France sold Louisiana to the United States in 1803, the same year that it gave up on trying to regain Saint-Domingue from the Haitian Revolution. Main aim. The High Commissioner will be guided by all the usual laws of succession and the wishes of the people and chief but will set them aside if he desires for good cause to do so. Recovery came quickly and improvements in port facilities and the transportation infrastructure during World War I furthered economic development. 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. The basic economic units in each town were "houses", family-operated entities that engendered loyalty for its employees. 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]. Gradually, however, the trade forced major economic and social changes in the interior, although it hardly undermined slavery and the slave trade. Nigeria Table of Contents. Indigenous responses to imperialism during the period of 1750-1900 varied widely depending on the specific group of people and the imperial power they were interacting with. European slave trading from West Africa began before 1650, with people taken at a rate of about 3,000 per year. In: The Journal of African History: (1990 . 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. There were numerous differences of detail among the regional systems, but all adhered to parliamentary forms and were equally autonomous in relation to the Nigerian federal government at Lagos. The Northern People's Congress (NPC) was organised in the late 1940s by a small group of Western-educated Northern Nigerians. [82], Oil exploration began in 1906 under John Simon Bergheim's Nigeria Bitumen Corporation, to which the Colonial Office granted exclusive rights. It was replaced by a new coalition government led by David Lloyd George featuring Conservatives and Lloyd George's supporters in the Liberal Party, while Asquith and the remainder of the Liberals entered opposition.[69]. 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 Colony was ultimately governed by the British Colonial Office in London. Revolts took place across Nigeria, but were most frequent in the Niger Delta. 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. Both Africans and Europeans found illegal supplies such as secret stills, obtaining colonial liquor permits, and smuggling. In the 1850s, quinine had been found to combat malaria, and aided by the medicine, a Liverpool merchant, Macgregor Laird, opened the river. To some extent, competition amongst these companies undermined their collective position vis--vis, local merchants. It continued to enjoy special privileges and maintained a de facto monopoly over commerce. "Separatist Agitations in Nigeria Since 1914." By the end of World War I, most of Africa had been effectively colonized. [73], Africa as a whole was hit by three waves of H1N1 influenza A, the first and second would be the most deadly for the colony of Nigeria. [31], Captain John Glover, the colony's administrator, created a militia of Hausa troops in 1861. The so-called Macpherson Constitution, after the incumbent Governor-General John Stuart Macpherson, went into effect the following year. [52], The territory of the Royal Niger Company became the Northern Nigeria Protectorate, and the Company itself became a private corporation which continued to do business in Nigeria. Menelik II, emperor of Ethiopia, led his army to accomplish this unique feat in March 1896, defeating General Oreste Baratieri's Italian . For some time, missionaries operated in the area between Lagos and Ibadan. These changes included taking land from African people and giving it to the growing number of Europeans in the colonies. 57-100 discuss issues of resistance and collaboration. Resistance movements began to rise in . Its residents were employed in official capacities and were active in business. Nigerians also requested more political representation. Afeadie, "The Hidden Hand of Overrule" (1996), p. 1012. The trade subsequently continued under the Portuguese Empire. [18], In 1807, the Parliament of the United Kingdom enacted the Slave Trade Act, prohibiting British subjects from participating in the Atlantic slave trade. The Central African Federation, embracing Nyasaland, Northern and Southern Rhodesia, was created in 1953 . They were the most politically conscious segment of the population and created the vanguard of the nationalist movement. Britain also annexed Freetown in Sierra Leone, declaring it a Crown Colony in 1808.[20]. The council was promoted as a device for allowing the expression of opinions that could instruct the Governor-General. They wanted self-government, charging that only colonial rule prevented the unshackling of progressive forces in Nigeria and other states. 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. Critics, including representatives of the Middle Belt who resented Muslim domination, were relegated to small, peripheral parties or to inconsequential separatist movements.[85]. Initial British attempts to open trade with the interior by way of the Niger could not overcome climate and diseases such as malaria. The Deputy Governor served as political administrator for company territory and appointed three officials in Nigeria to carry out the work of administration. All were knighted. . In 1851 deposed king Akintoye of Lagos sought British help in restoring him to the throne. 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. [42], The British had difficulty conquering Igboland, which lacked a central political organisation. British business interests wanted to use this to create a monopoly over the industry, but Prime Minister H. H. Asquith's Liberal government and subsequent war coalition favored allowing international free trade. In the south the British occasionally created a political hierarchy where there had been none before; in most cases they ruled through those who were most malleable, whether these people had held traditional positions of authority or not. These schools would teach "the basic principles that would and should regulate character and conduct". Bolivian indigenous activist Ivan Ignacio, one of many indigenous activists at the second People's Summit in Qubec . In the year 1901, Nigeria officially became a part of the huge British Empire. British merchants led the trade in palm oil, while the Portuguese and others continued the slave trade. From January 1914 onwards, the newly united colony and protectorate was presided over by a proconsul, who was entitled the Governor-General of Nigeria. Britain annexed Lagos in 1861 and established the Oil River Protectorate in 1884. The conference drafted the terms of a new constitution. The British High Commissioners could depose emirs and other officials if necessary. In 1900, the Southern Nigeria Protectorate and Northern Nigeria Protectorate passed from company hands to the Crown. After the Berlin Conference of 1884, Britain announced the formation of the Oil Rivers Protectorate, which included the Niger Delta and extended eastward to Calabar, where the British Consulate General was relocated from Fernando Po. Direct taxation on men was introduced in 1928 without major incidents. However, decolonization also brought regionalization and a hardening of ethnic identities. According to the Trans-Atlantic Slave Voyage Database, 308,800 were sold across the Atlantic from Lagos in 17761850. It, therefore, hired native intermediaries who could conduct diplomacy, trade and intelligence work in the local area. Newspapers, some of which were published before World War I, provided coverage of nationalist views. The early history of Lagos Colony was one of repeated attempts to end the Yoruba wars. 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. 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. The National Youth Movement used nationalist rhetoric to agitate for improvements in education. In 1946 a new constitution was approved by the British Parliament at Westminster and promulgated in Nigeria. 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. Further dislocation accompanied the outbreak of World War I. [51], Guidelines for running the Nigerian colony were established in 1898 by the Niger Committee, chaired by the Earl of Selborne, in 1898. His government guided the country for the next three years, operating with almost complete autonomy in internal affairs. This led to protests known as Women's War. Author. Any activity in the north that might include participation by the federal government (and consequently by southern civil servants) was regarded as a challenge to the primacy of the emirates. . 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 . The British turned to Persia for oil.[83]. Background: Attitudes Towards Policing The period from the mid-1800s to the early 1900s marked the zenith of imperial rule in Africa. How did British keep Nigerians from developing organized political resistance. Bello wanted to protect northern social and political institutions from southern influence. 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. After the Napoleon war, the British tried to expand their colonial rule in Africa and began to establish trade tides with Nigeria in 1898. Broadening political participation and expanding educational opportunities and other social services also were viewed as threats to the status quo. Hausa was recognised as an official language in the north, and knowledge of it was expected of colonial officers serving there. The risings in the midwest of Nigeria and the Niger delta during the early stages of the war cannot be understood except in the context of falling prices for palm products, and the drop in trade due to the exclusion of the . 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 seven men who governed Northern Nigeria, Southern Nigeria and Lagos through 1914 were Henry McCallum, William MacGregor, Walter Egerton, Ralph Moor, Percy Girouard, Hesketh Bell and Frederick Lugard. The growth of Islam in pre-colonial Igbomina / Adesina Yusuf Raji. Separate legislative bodies, the houses of assembly, were established in each of the three regions to consider local questions and to advise the Lieutenant Governors. It soon gained a virtual monopoly over trade along the River[11]. The Eastern region was dominated by Azikiwe and the Western one by Chief Obafemi Awolowo, a Yoruba lawyer who in 1950 founded the Action Group. 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. [12] Trade was also conducted through a mechanism of barter and credit. Mordi, Emmanuel Nwafor. 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. The colony was created through the consolidation of the Colony and Protectorate of Southern Nigeria and the Northern Nigeria Protectorate. The Niger Delta and Calabar, which once had been known for the export of slaves, became notable for the export of palm oil. 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 . [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. 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. Nigerian recruits participated in the war effort as labourers and soldiers. Revolutionary Mahdism and resistance to colonial rule in the Sokoto Caliphate, 1905-6 / by Paul E. Lovejoy and J.S. 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. Nigerian delegates were selected to represent each region and to reflect various shades of opinion. The Native Administration was headed by the traditional rulersmostly emirs in the north and often obas in the southand their District Heads, who oversaw a larger number of Village Heads. colonizers and passive resistance by refusing to collaborate with the colonizers e .g. nigeria resistance to colonial rule. British staffs in each region continued to operate according to procedures developed before unification. Most people under colonialism lived their lives normally until a policy like this came about. It assumed that comparable alterations would be made elsewhere, an attitude that won the party minority voting support in the other regions. Local administration, where the colonial citizens typically experienced colonial authority, was based on the policy of indirect rule first developed in the north. Other firms applying for licenses were rejected. In November 1908, Bergheim reported striking oil; in September 1909, he reported extracting 2,000 barrels per day. British expansion accelerated in the last decades of the nineteenth century. In the twentieth century, Lagos became a center for resistance to colonial rule. By the 1950s, there were organized nationalist parties that demanded political independence in almost every colony in Africa. Balewa was called on to head an NPC-NCNC coalition government, and Awolowo became the official leader of the opposition. 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. The experiment began in 1890 and was repealed in 1939,[71]. 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. 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 colonial rule appeared secure in the first two decades of the 20th century, the British struggled to keep control of their Nigerian colony and continued to do so until Nigeria became independent in 1960. Significantly, Macauley's NNDP remained almost entirely a Lagos party, popular only in the area whose people already had experience in elective politics. . British colonialism created Nigeria, but did little to make it a viable, stable, self-sustaining national entity. The economy suffered from the decline in the slave trade, although considerable smuggling of slaves to the Americas continued for years afterward. 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 . In general, the regional constitutions followed the federal model, both structurally and functionally. 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. In elections that year, the NYM ended the domination of the NNDP in the Legislative Council and worked to establish a national network of affiliates. Alterations would be made elsewhere, an attitude that won the party minority voting support the... 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