nigeria resistance to colonial rule

The operations of this force are still not fully known due to a policy of strict secrecy mandated by the British Government. [70], Lugard's immediate successor (19191925), Sir Hugh Clifford, was an aristocratic professional administrator with liberal instincts who had won recognition for his enlightened governorship of the Gold Coast in 19121919. Although Azikiwe later came to be recognised as the leading spokesman for national unity, when he first returned from university training in the United States, his outlook was pan-African rather than nationalist, and emphasised the common African struggle against European colonialism. [76], The British treasury initially supported the landlocked Northern Nigeria Protectorate with grants, totalling 250,000 or more each year. The colonial period proper in Nigeria lasted from 1900 to 1960, after which Nigeria gained its independence. The departure of Azikiwe and other Igbo members of the NYM left the organisation in Yoruba hands. Colonial Nigeria was ruled by the British Empire from the mid-nineteenth century until 1960 when Nigeria achieved independence. Portuguese Roman Catholic priests who accompanied traders and officials to the West African coast introduced Christianity to the Edo Empire in the fifteenth century. With this victory, the British went on to conquer the rest of Yorubaland, which had also been weakened by sixteen years of civil war. Until he stepped down as Governor-General in 1918, Lugard primarily was concerned with consolidating British sovereignty and with assuring local administration through traditional rulers. Three constitutions were enacted from 1946 to 1954. Examples of passive resistance include complex and/or costly application processes, a failure to provide guidance on how to request information, or enforcement mechanisms that are difficult to use. opposed early self-rule for colonial Nigeria on the ground of perceived domination by the southerners. "The agents performed similar but more expansive roles as their Company counterparts. The goal of activists initially was not self-determination, but increased participation on a regional level in the governmental process. Ken Swindell, "The Commercial Development of the North: Company and Government Relations, 19001906". Some of them also manned Company stations and served as District Agents.". A.J. When direct Portuguese contacts in the region were withdrawn, however, the influence of the Catholic missionaries waned. They had obtained the assent of the emirs to form a political party to counterbalance the activities of the southern-based parties. [59], Lugard advocated constantly for the unification of the whole territory, and in August 1911 the Colonial Office asked Lugard to lead the amalgamated colony.[60]. The movement brought to public notice a long list of future leaders, including H.O. In 1957, the Western and the Eastern regions became formally self-governing under the parliamentary system. Osoba and Fajana pointed . Then they resisted the policy as much as possible. [29] His servant, Richard Lander, and Lander's brother John were the ones to demonstrate that the Niger flowed into the sea. In 1894 the territory was redesignated the Niger Coast Protectorate and was expanded to include the region from Calabar to Lagos Colony and Protectorate, including the hinterland, and northward up the Niger River as far as Lokoja, the headquarters of the Royal Niger Company. Deadly battles broke out sporadically through 1906. Sir Richmond Palmer, acting as Lieutenant Governor in the North, disagreed with Clifford and advocated the principles of Lugard and further decentralisation. After the defection of Kano, the only significant disagreement within the NPC was related to moderates. 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. Adam Smith wrote in 1776 that the African societies were better established and more populous than those of the Americas, thus creating a more formidable barrier to European expansion. what were negative effects of colonial rule in african continent. In 1805, he set out on a second expedition, sponsored by the British Government, to follow the Niger to the sea. 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. Its program reflected greater planning and was more ideologically oriented than that of the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons. Mordi, Emmanuel Nwafor. It also makes imporatant new developments in the study of interwar history. In 1850, the British created a "Court of Equity" at Bonny, overseen by Beecroft, which would deal with trade disputes. The NPC continued to represent the interests of the traditional order in the pre-independence deliberations. The trend was toward the establishment of a parliamentary system of government, with regional assemblies and a federal House of Representatives. . Alan Lennox-Boyd, M.P., the British Secretary of State for the Colonies. Recovery came quickly and improvements in port facilities and the transportation infrastructure during World War I furthered economic development. 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]. The French had abolished slavery following the French Revolution, although it briefly re-established it in its Caribbean colonies under Napoleon. 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. Internal self-government was granted to the Western and Eastern regions in 1957. From Lugard's point of view, clear-cut military victories were necessary because the surrenders of the defeated peoples weakened resistance elsewhere. Clifford also believed that indirect rule encouraged centripetal tendencies. A more representative system did not appear until 1946, when each geographic group of provinces had its own House of Assembly, with a majority of nonofficial (though not yet all elected) members; there were also a House of Chiefs and, in Lagos, a central Legislative Council. The transfer of responsibility for budgetary management from the central to the regional governments in 1954 accelerated the pace of public spending on services and on development projects. The protectorate was organised to control and develop trade coming down the Niger. Because Western education and Christianity spread rapidly in the south and not in the north, development was much slower in the north, and the growing disparity between north and south later caused political tensions. The search for oil, begun in 1908 and abandoned a few years later, was revived in 1937 by Shell and British Petroleum. Maji-Maji Uprising (Tanganyika) 4. [77] Its revenue quickly increased, from 4,424 in 1901 to 274,989 in 1910. [11], By the 1880s, the National African Company became the dominant commercial power, increasing from 19 to 39 stations between 1882 and 1893. 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. 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. "Nigerian Forces Comforts Fund, 19401947: 'The Responsibility of the Nigerian Government to Provide Funds for the Welfare of Its Soldiers'. How did British keep Nigerians from developing organized political resistance. Although the Muslim emirs eventually collaborated with the British to establish such rule in Northern Nigeria, the absence of similar authority structures in the South led to more direct colonial rule. Nigerian units also contributed to two divisions serving with British forces in Palestine, Morocco, Sicily and Burma, where they won many honours. ", Simon Heap, "'We think prohibition is a farce': drinking in the alcohol-prohibited zone of colonial northern Nigeria. Battle of Adowa (Ethiopia) 5. The Sokoto jihad and the Yoruba wars stimulated the slave trade at a time when the British were actively trying to stop it. Although Nigeria came under the British charter in 1885 and was . [75] The colonial government was not equipped nor ready in general for such a situation. Village Heads were paid 10 shillings for conscripts, and fined 50 if they failed to supply. 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. This scheme proved unpopular and confusing to many involved parties and was phased out. The British had participated in it until human trafficking was abolished in 1807. September 24, 2021 at 9:40pm by jones.7592. Regional administrations also varied widely in the quality of local personnel and in the scope of the operations they were willing to undertake. How did Africans resist c. The National Youth Movement used nationalist rhetoric to agitate for improvements in education. 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. vestigation of the forms of primary resistance by Africans to the impo-sition of colonial rule in the classic period of European imperialism, say from 1880 to 1914. The company's major imports to the area included gin and low-quality firearms. During the war, the colonial government earmarked a large portion of the Nigerian budget as a contribution to imperial defence. 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. 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. Lugard's campaign systematically subdued local resistance, using armed force when diplomatic measures failed. Other European powers acknowledged Britain's dominance over the area in the 1885 Berlin Conference. Uneasy with the amount of latitude allowed traditional rulers under indirect rule, Clifford opposed further extension of the judicial authority held by the northern emirs. . Published August 7, 2020. 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]. Frequently African armies of 20, 000 were defeated by European-led armies of 2,000 or less. [54] Olivier was a member of the Fabian Society and a friend of George Bernard Shaw. At the same time, British scientists were interested in exploring the course and related settlements along the Niger River. 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. In 1900, the Southern Nigeria Protectorate and Northern Nigeria Protectorate passed from company hands to the Crown. 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. Gandhi. Significantly, the regional governments controlled public expenditures derived from revenues raised within each region. [74] The disease first found its home among the many trading ports along the West African coast. 22. [19] Although the Ijebu had some weapons they were wiped out by British Maxims, the earliest machine gun. By the 1820s, the British had made connections . The most important of these was a near fetish with indirect rule that was supposed to facilitate a cheap and effective ruling strategy. For some time, missionaries operated in the area between Lagos and Ibadan. Bolivian indigenous activist Ivan Ignacio, one of many indigenous activists at the second People's Summit in Qubec . 57-100 discuss issues of resistance and collaboration. 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. In fact, while the southern delegates pressed for 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 delegation was led by Balewa of the NPC and included party leaders Awolowo of the Action Group, Azikiwe of the NCNC, and Bello of the NPC; they were also the premiers of the Western, Eastern and Northern regions, respectively. However, decolonization also brought regionalization and a hardening of ethnic identities. Public works, such as harbour dredging and road and railway construction, opened Nigeria to economic development. These changes included taking land from African people and giving it to the growing number of Europeans in the colonies. In addition to their economic grievances, they also called for the end of the reform of the native courts. The trade subsequently continued under the Portuguese Empire. Some European traders switched to legitimate business only when the commerce in slaves became too hazardous. Nigeria became an independent state on the October 1, 1960 after being a British colony for over 40 years. 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. Colonial official A. J. Harding commented in 1913: Sir F. Lugard's proposal contemplates a state which it is impossible to classify. Du Bois. 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. In response to Azikiwe and other nationalists, the Lyttelton constitution of 1954 created a fully federal system, comprising the three geographic regions of Nigeria, the Southern Cameroons, and the Federal Territory of Lagos. A . At the same time it is feasible by degrees to bring them gradually into approximation with our ideas of justice and humanity. Anticolonialism in the twentieth and twenty-first century refers to two interconnected concepts: a historical event and a critical analytic. The said National African Company (Limited) bind themselves to protect the said King and Chiefs from the attacks of any neighbouring tribes (Ibid.). The Anglicans and other religious groups had a conscious "native church" policy to develop indigenous ecclesiastical institutions to become independent of Europeans. 19, no. Significantly, Macauley's NNDP remained almost entirely a Lagos party, popular only in the area whose people already had experience in elective politics. Bright Alozie. Although lacking Azikiwe's compelling personality, Awolowo was a formidable debater as well as a vigorous and tenacious political campaigner. Goods were made available on credit to African middlemen, who were expected to trade them at a pre-arranged price and deliver the proceeds to the company. [] These intermediaries assisted government diplomacy and helped to establish and maintain relations between the company and the traditional rulers. Frederick Lugard, who assumed the position of high commissioner of the Protectorate of Northern Nigeria in 1900, often has been regarded as the model British colonial administrator. During World War II, three battalions of the Nigeria Regiment fought against Fascist Italy in the Ethiopian campaign. The most important innovations in the new charter reinforced the dual course of constitutional evolution, allowing for both regional autonomy and federal union. Afeadie, "The Hidden Hand of Overrule" (1996), p. 1213. Nigeria: ColonizationKatie Graham. [19] This scenario provided an opportunity for naval expeditions and reconnaissance throughout the region. [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. His government guided the country for the next three years, operating with almost complete autonomy in internal affairs. Contacts in the alcohol-prohibited zone of colonial Northern Nigeria Protectorate with grants, totalling 250,000 or more each.! To 274,989 in 1910 the Nigerian government to Provide Funds for the colonies defeated... Willing to undertake imporatant new developments in the new charter reinforced the dual course of evolution! Of state for the colonies, the Western and Eastern regions in 1957, the earliest gun... The establishment of a parliamentary system of government, with regional assemblies and a analytic... The Welfare of its Soldiers ' stimulated the slave trade at a time when the commerce in became! 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