Nigeria

The west African country of Nigeria was a major economic power when the British invaded and occupied parts of the country from 1861. Nigeria gained its independence in 1960. With a population of 135 million and [Page 1212]covering 923,700 sq. km, it still dominates—politically and economically—much of west Africa.

In the early 17th century, European powers started to establish trading posts along the coast of what is now Nigeria. Initially, some of these posts were for trading with the local people, but soon the English and other Europeans started the slave trade. The Company of the Royal Adventurers was chartered in 1660, succeeded 12 years later by the Royal Africa Company. Along the coast, trading posts were replaced by English and Dutch forts where slaves were held before being transported to the Americas.

During the Napoleonic Wars, following the French invasion of the Netherlands, the British broke the hold of the Dutch. By the middle of the 19th century, most of the British trade was focused on the area around Lagos and the delta of the River Niger. This trade coincided with many wars in the region among different tribes. With the abolition of the slave trade, the British started expanding into plantation agriculture, dealing in palm oil, and also attempting to secure sources of oil and ivory.

A fishmonger arranging her wares in a Nigerian market. The country's oil industry employs just 10 percent of the workforce.

The British started ruling Nigeria in 1861, with Lagos becoming a crown colony. Ostensibly, the aim was to prevent illegal slave trading and also involvement in the Yoruba civil wars. In 1900 the Protectorate of Northern Nigeria was established. By 1906 the whole of Nigeria was under British control, with the colony of Lagos being incorporated into the Protectorate of Southern Nigeria. In 1914 the Northern and Southern protectorates were merged. The economic focus of the country was on growing cash crops and exploiting raw materials and minerals to help industrial development in Europe.

In the 1890s a railway was built, and in the late 1920s, roads were improved, thereby helping create a wealthy elite in Nigeria that started consuming British manufactured exports. The pound sterling became the medium of exchange. As a result, many British companies and some local firms started mining tin; growing cotton, cocoa, and groundnuts; and continuing palm oil plantations. As a result of increasing wealth in Nigeria, many British and other agency houses operated in the country, and many Nigerians enlisted in the British armed forces during World War I and World War II. During the latter conflict, agitation for independence increased, and in 1945, a large 40-day strike crippled the country's economy. The British made many concessions, and Nigeria started preparing for independence. After experiments in federalism, independence was granted in 1960.

Political problems started in 1962 along tribal lines. In 1966 the military staged a coup detat, which was followed by countercoups. In May 1967 Lt. Col. Ode-megwu Ojukwa urged autonomy for eastern Nigeria, which then formally seceded as the Republic of Biafra. This secession led to a civil war from May 1967 to January 1970, in which tens of thousands of people were killed or died of starvation or lack of medical supplies. It ended with defeat for Biafra.

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