How was West Africa colonised?Standard aim – to explain how West Africa was colonised

Super aim – to explain how West Africa was colonised and explain the significance of different factors (including the Berlin West Africa Conference)

What do you already know

about how these countries were

colonised?

List as many points as you can arguing that the Berlin West Africa Conference was significant.

List as many points as you can to show that the Berlin West Africa Conference was insignificant in causing colonisation (i.e. Other factors were more important).

How significant was the Berlin West Africa Conference for causing colonisation?

How significant was the Berlin West Africa Conference for causing colonisation?

Introductions!

Plan

Introduction

Significant – set the boundaries, sped it up,

principle of effective occupation, led to

colonisation of the Sudan

Significant – Congo to King Leopold and areas of the

Niger to Britain, accelerated imperialism as others tried

to compete, e.g. In the Sudan

Significant – protection of missionaries and slavery,

used to support the colonisation of Uganda,

Sudan and Malawi

Insignificant – circumstantial reasons more important,

e.g. Egypt

Insignificant – potential profits more important, e.g.

Egypt

Conclusion

How significant was the Berlin West Africa Conference for causing colonisation?

Conclusions...

What do you need to remember to do?

Plan

Introduction

Significant – set the boundaries, sped it up,

principle of effective occupation, led to

colonisation of the Sudan

Significant – Congo to King Leopold and areas of the

Niger to Britain, accelerated imperialism as others tried

to compete, e.g. In the Sudan

Significant – protection of missionaries and slavery,

used to support the colonisation of Uganda,

Sudan and Malawi

Insignificant – circumstantial reasons more important,

e.g. Egypt

Insignificant – potential profits more important, e.g.

Egypt

Conclusion

Case study – Nigeria The rapid expansion in palm oil exports, especially after 1830, occurred precisely at the time

slave exports collapsed. 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. In time they built depots onshore and eventually moved up the Niger River to establish stations in the interior. An example was that at Onitsha, where they could bargain directly with local suppliers and purchase products likely to turn a profit. Accordingly, as the volume of trade increased, merchants requested that the British government appoint a consul to cover the region. Consequently in 1849, John Beecroft was accredited as consul for the rights of Benin and Biafra, a jurisdiction stretching from Dahomey to Cameroon. Beecroft was the British representative to Fernando Po, where the prevention squadron of the British Royal Navy was stationed.

In the 1850s, the benefits of quinine had been found to combat malaria, and aided by the medicine, a Liverpool merchant, Macgregor Laird, opened the river to trade and the British. 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.

1. How did Britain increase its influence in Nigeria? 2. Add this to your book cover. Think of a way to have it in the background.

Case study – Nigeria The legitimate trade in commodities attracted a number of rough-hewn British merchants to the Niger River, as well as some men who had

been formerly engaged in the slave trade but who now changed their line of wares. The large companies that subsequently opened depots in the delta cities and in Lagos were as ruthlessly competitive as the delta towns themselves and frequently used force to compel potential suppliers to agree to contracts and to meet their demands. The most important of these trading companies, whose activities had far-reaching consequences for Nigeria, was the United Africa Company, founded by and granted broad concessionary over the region—a principle systematically violated as the company strengthened its monopoly to forestall French and German trade interests. The company also was supposed to respect local customs "except so far as may be necessary in the interests of humanity." The qualifying clause was aimed at slavery and other activities categorized as "barbarous practices" by British authorities, and it foreshadowed the qualifications applied to non-interference as a guide to official policy when Britain assumed formal colonial responsibility in Nigeria.

The United Africa Company became the Royal Niger Company after the Berlin West Africa Conference – it got royal status. It established its headquarters far inland at Lokoja, which was the main trading port of the company, from where it pretended to assume responsibility for the administration of areas along the Niger and Benue rivers where it maintained depots. The company interfered in the territory along the Niger and the Benue, sometimes becoming embroiled in serious conflicts when its British-led native constabulary intercepted slave raids or attempted to protect trade routes. The company negotiated treaties with Sokoto, Gwandu, and Nupe that were interpreted as guaranteeing exclusive access to trade in return for the payment of annual tribute. Officials of the Sokoto Caliphate considered these treaties quite differently; from their perspective, the British were granted only extraterritorial rights that did not prevent similar arrangements with the Germans and the French and certainly did not surrender sovereignty.

Under Goldie's direction, the Royal Niger Company was instrumental in depriving France and Germany of access to the region. Consequently, he may well deserve the epithet "father of Nigeria," which historians accorded him. He definitely laid the basis for British claims.

1. How did Britain increase its influence? 2. Add this to your book cover.

Case study – Nigeria After the Berlin Conference of 1884, Britain announced 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. The protectorate was organized to control and develop trade coming down the Niger. Vice consuls were assigned to ports that already had concluded treaties of cooperation with the Foreign Office. Local rulers continued to administer their territories, but consular authorities assumed jurisdiction for the equity courts established earlier by the foreign mercantile communities. A constabulary force was raised and used to pacify the coastal area.

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. 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.

1. How has Britain increased their influence? 2. What earlier events did they use to help them? Add this to your book cover.

This book charts....

A book about the colonisation of Nigeria.

What caused the colonisation of Nigeria? Include the Berlin West Africa Conference in your pie chart. Give

a fact to support each factor actually leading to colonisation. How does it compare with your earlier pie chart?

Homework

• Revise for your assessment on Thursday.

Case Study – the Congo