1. Crowder, 1978, pp. 139-70; Burns, 1 9 6 9 , op_. c i t . ,pp. 115 et a l .
2. See Dike, Trade and Politics in the Niger D e l t a , 1956, Chapter III et al; Hope Masterton Waddell, Twenty-Nine Years in the West Indies and Central Africa: A Review of Missionary Work and Adventure 1829-1658, 2nd edition,
(1863,London: Frank Cass and Co. Ltd., 1970), Chapter XXI et al; C.W.Newbury, The Western Slave Coast and its R u l e r s , "[London: Oxford University Press, 1961) Chapters II and I I I ;
Crowder 1 9 7 8 , pp. 98-138, esp.p.125; Burns, History of N i g e r i a , 1969, p. 297.
3. Newbury, 1961, pp. 46-48.
4. See Treaties, 17 June and 19 July 1861, Hertslet, X I (1864), pp. 37-39; see also Parliamentary P a p e r s , 1862: Papers relating to the Occupation of Lagos, LXI, p . 339; Alan C. Burns, History of N i g e r i a , 6th edition (London: George Allen and Unwin Ltd., 8th imp., 1963), p . 126; T . O . E l i a s ,Nigerian Land L a w , 4th edition(1951, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd., Sweet and Maxwell, 1971), p.2; Attorney General of Southern Nigeria v. John Holt [1910] 2 N.L.R.l; Amodu Tijani v. Secretary, Southern Pro v i n c e , [1921] 3, N.L.R.- 21; Oduntan Onisiwo v. Attorney General of Southern Provinces
On 13 March 1862, a new entity officially called the "Settlement of Lagos" was established. On 19 February 1866, the Settlement of.Lagos was merged with Sierra L e o n e , ,Gambia, and Gold Coast into what was known as the "West African Settle ment", having a separate Legislative Council, but subject to
r
lthe Governor-in-Chief whose headquarters were at Sierra Leone. This arrangement was changed on 24th July 1874 when a new charter was issued separating the Gold Coast and Lagos from the Government of Sierra Leone, and erecting them into one colony under the name of the Gold Coast Colony, under a
Governor-in-Chief at the Gold Coast with an Administrator at L a g o s .^
On 13 January 1886, Lagos was separated from the Gold Coast and established as an independent colony.
From the time of its cession in l86l, the boundaries of the Colony of Lagos were gradually extended by further
cessions until the whole of Yorubaland, with the exception of the Egba State, was attached to the Colony of Lagos as a
British Protectorate.^ In 1914^ this area too came unreservedly 4
under the Government of the Protectorate of Nigeria.
1. See J.J. Crooks, Records Relating to the Gold Coast Settle ments, from 1750 to 1874, (Dublin: Browne and Nolan Ltd., 1923),P. 375.
2. Crooks, ibid. ,p. 539; See also Newbury, 1961, Chapter IV; Samuel Johnson, The History of the Yorubas: From the
Earliest Times to the Beginning of the British P r o tectorate, edited by 0. Johnson, (Lagos: C.S.S. Bookshops, 1921, re- print 1976), pp. 508 et_ a l ; Elias, Nigerian Land L a w , 1976, p p . 2-3.
3. For a useful account of these cessions, and the subsequent reaction of the various communities, see Johnson, History of the Y o rubas, esp.pp. 643-50; and for the treaties, see Ibid., Appendix A; see also Newbury, 1961, pp. 77-95; and generally, Burns, History of Nig e r i a , pp. 127-39, 211-31. 4. See Nigeria: Report by Sir F.D.Lugard on the Amalgamation
of Northern and Southern Nigeria and A d m i n i stration, 1912- 1919, Cmd. 468, London, 1920, p. 12; Until 1914 Abeokuta was a semi-independent state, guaranteed by a treaty of 1893, under the administration of the Egba Government - see Crowder, p. 202.
(III) The Niger Coast Protectorate
Twenty-three years after the creation of the Colony :of- Lagos, the Niger; River Delta was * established as a. British
Protectorate. After the opening up of the Niger, trade was established along the banks of the Niger and Benue R i v e r s . In 1879, the various British firms trading on these rivers were amalgamated. At the Conference of European Powers at Berlin in 1 8 8 5 , Britain successfully claimed that British interests were supreme on the lower Niger. The area known as the Oil Rivers Protectorate came under the control of a British Consul, but administration was left to the National African Company, which consisted of the amalgamated companies. In 1887> a charter was granted to the amalgamated companies, which became known as the Royal Niger Company, Chartered and Limited, to take the lead in opening up the Niger. In 1893, by Order in Council,, the Oil Rivers Protectorate was extended over the hinterland and renamed the "Niger Coast Protectorate".^
In 1894, after fierce fighting, a British expedition subdued the powerful Jekri Chief, the famous Nana, whose
p
authority had extended over nearly the whole area. In 1897, a similar expedition captured the city of Benin. In 1899, the charter of the Royal Niger Company was revoked, and on 1 January 1900, its territories along the Niger came under the formal
*3
control of the British Government. The Arochuku people, however, were not subdued until 1902, and some of the other
1. See Great Britain: Parliamentary P a p e r s , Niger Coast
Protectorate, Report on the administration, 1894-95, 1895 [C. 7916] Vol. LXXI, 245.
2. See Obaro Ikime, Merchant Prince of the Niger D e l t a , (London Heinemann, 1968); Hodgkin, Nigerian Pe r s p e c t i v e s , 373-74; King Jaja of Opobo, another powerful ruler of the Delta had been earlier deported to the West Indies by Britain, see Great Britain: Parliamentary P a p e r s , Papers concerning King Jaja and the Opening of Markets to British Trade, 1888, C. 53657, Vol. L X X I V ; Dike, 1956, pp.182-202, 215-17:
Hodgkin, 369-73*
3. See Great Britain, Parliamentary P a p e r s , Government of Niger Territories, Papers on the Revocation of the Royal. . Niger Company's Charter, 1899CC. 9372] Vol.LXIII,p.479;. ; Great Britain, Niger Coast Protectorate: Report on the Administration. 1894-95, 1895 [C.7916] Vol. LXXI,p . 245.
Igbo groups, much later than this.'1' (I V ) The Northern Protectorate
As previously rioted,the Royal Niger Company, by its charter, became responsible for the government of the river basins and the whole of Hausaland and Bornu, but in practical terms, its influence extended little beyond the banks of the Niger and Benue Rivers. Owing to the restrictions on trade caused by artificial boundaries, and the virtual monopoly which the Niger Company exercised, to the inability of the C o m p a n y fs forces to restrain the slave-raiding propensities of the Fulani Chiefs, and to foreign aggression on the Western frontiers, it became necessary for the British Government to assume a more direct control over the country. When the Company's charter was revoked in 1900, the northern portion of its territories became the Northern Nigerian Protectorate; while the southern portion was added to the Niger Coast Protectorate, and the whole was renamed the Protectorate of Southern Nigeria. Both the Northern and Southern Protectorates were placed under Colonial Office control.^
(V) The Unification of Nigeria
When the Royal Niger Company disappeared from the scene as an instrument of government in 1900, there still remained three separate administrations, reduced to two in
1906, when the Colony and Protectorate of Lagos was amalgamated with the Niger Coast Protectorate to form the Colony and
1. See Crowder, 1978, pp. 188-89; Some parts of Igboland were not finally brought under British control until as late as 1918, see J.C.Anene, "The Southern Nigeria Protectorate and the Aros, 1900-02", 1, J . H . S . N ., 1 December 1956, pp. 20-26 Burns, 1969, pp. 215-216.
2. See Crowder, 1978, pp. 171-72; Burns, 1969,P P .162-70;
Parliamentary P a p e r s : .Papers on the Revocation of the Royal Niger C o m p a n y ’s Charter, 1899, o£. c i t .; see also
Parliamentary Papers, Niger Coast Protectorate: Report on the Administration, 1894-95, [C.7916] Vol. LXXI, p . 245, generally,
Protectorate of Southern Nigeria.^"
On 1 January 1914, the Northern Protectorate, and
the Colony arid Protectorate of Southern Nigeria were amalgamated and formed into the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria under
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