Oil Rivers Protectorate; Niger Coast Protectorate

Oil Rivers Protectorate (1885 1893)

Fast facts;

Region: West Africa

Group: British Nigeria

Classification: Colony (British)

Prior Regime: Opobo State

Key Dates:

1862, January 1 Lagos Island is annexed as a colony of Britain

1885 Nigeria territory confirmed at the Conference of Berlin 1885 Oil Rivers
Protectorate proclaimed by the British after they had defeated King Jaja of Opobo

1893, May 12 Oil Rivers Protectorate expanded and renamed Niger Coast Protectorate

1900, Jan 1 Southern Nigeria Protectorate formed by joining Niger Coast Protectorate
with territories from the Royal Niger Company

1906 Lagos became part of Southern Nigeria

1914, Jan 1 Southern Nigeria and Northern Nigeria were combined to form the colony of
Nigeria

History

The history of the Niger Delta in the period under survey is to some extent an introduction to
the economic and political history of Nigeria. This region became from the sixteenth century
the main centre of the African trade with Europeans in the Gulf of Guinea. During the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the Delta was one of the most important, if not the
leading, slave mart in West Africa. In the first thirty years of the nineteenth century when the
trade in palm oil had begun to displace the trade in men it exported more oil than the rest of
West Africa put together. When in 1830 the Landers proved that the Delta was the mouth of
the River Niger, a succession of British commercial expeditions sought to penetrate the
hinterland through the Niger waterway. In the nineteenth century, therefore, this river, like
the more famous Congo, became one of the highways of imperialism in Africa. The Royal
Niger Company, the chief instrument by which Britain won her Nigerian empire, based its
activities in the Delta and the Niger valley. British ascendancy in this important trading area
justified her claim to supremacy in the Niger territories during the Berlin West African
Conference of 1885.
British colonization in western Africa didnt really begin until after the British Parliament
prohibited British subjects from participating in the slave trade, and in 1833 and in 1843,
totally eliminating slavery throughout the British Empire. British influence in the Nigeria
area increased gradually over the 19th century with the establishment of a Colony in Lagos in
1862 and the creation of the United African Company (later the Royal Niger Company) in
1879 to develop the Niger basin.
The delta of the Niger River (in present day Nigeria) was initially called "Oil Rivers", not
because the area was a producer of "black gold", but, because at the time, the delta was a
large producer of palm oil. (Ironically, the area did become a large oil producing region in
the 1950s.) The delta came under British rule in 1885, the "Oil Rivers Protectorate". This was
done to control trade on the Niger River, and to prevent encroachment by other Europeans
during the "Scramble for Africa".
In 1893, the territory was expanded, sweeping from Calabar towards Lokoja up the Niger
River, headquarters of the chartered Royal Niger Company. Consequently, the name changed
to the "Niger Coast Protectorate".

Map of Southern Nigeria and Northern Nigeria 1914

In 1900, the Niger Coast Protectorate, and the territories heretofore controlled by the Royal
Niger Company, became the Protectorates of Southern Nigeria and Northern Nigeria. Lagos
joined Southern Nigeria in 1906. The protectorates were combined, forming Nigeria in 1914.
The British sphere of interest in the Niger basin was internationally recognized in 1885, as
the second British outpost in the Niger River region, after Lagos (1862). The administrative
centre 1885-1894 was at Bonny; British consuls were stationed at Old Calabar. In 1891 the
Oil Rivers Protectorate was formally proclaimed, named after Palm Oil, the major export
product. In 1893 it was extended and re-named the Niger Coast Protectorate. In 1900 this
enlarged protectorate was amalgamated with the southern part of the territory that had been
administered by the Royal Niger Company to form the Colony and Protectorate of Southern
Nigeria (1900-1914).
In 1885 the Oil River Irregulars were established, a unit of Africans commanded by British
officers. In 1891 they were renamed the Oil Rivers Constabulary; they served in several
campaigns against native emirates. In 1893 they were renamed Niger Coast Constabulary.
In 1892 the British undertook an expedition against Ijebu, the only Yoruba state to refuse
access to missionaries. The Ijebu army was routed; the Yoruba states recognized British
military superiority and signed treaties. In 1895 the British took the city of Oyo under
artillery fire, to force the ruler of Oyo to accept British conditions. When several Englishmen
had been killed in the Kingdom of Benin in 1897, the British launched an expedition,
confiscated their art treasures and burnt the capital.
To fully understand and appreciate the current context we must take ourselves back through
Niger Delta history to the regions first formation of city states, the Oyo and Benin
Kingdoms, circa 11th Century. These kingdoms grew quickly in terms of political and
economic prowess, becoming an independent trading power and controlling the coastal ports
along what is now known as the Niger Delta. Political and religious authority resided in the
Oba (King). The kingdom of Benin grew to an approximate size of 100,000 inhabitants,
this urbanization being accompanied by artistic, cultural and commercial development
including terracotta, ivory sculpture and metal casting (please note that Benin City is now
the capital of Edo State, a south western region of the Niger Delta, not to be confused with
the country bordering the west coast of Nigeria). Outside of Benin, the Niger Delta was a
collection of regions controlled by different tribes and Kings, for example, Urhobo, Delta
Igbos, Isoko, Itsekiri, Oron and Ijaw (note that the Ijaw have always been the ethnic majority
group in the Delta). These communities traded with each other before the arrival of the
Europeans in the late 15th Century.
In 1471, the quest for glory and profit brought Portuguese navigators to the Niger Delta and
established contact with the local people. However, it was 10 years later that the first royal
emissary visited the court of the Oba of Benin. The relationship between both sides was
cordial with early reports of the Portuguese being allowed to speak in the Obas court. The
relationship was formed over mutually beneficial trade, exchanges which saw the Oba offer
peppers, ivory and slaves in exchange for coral beads, textiles and other products from a
more developed European markets. As the relationship was sustained, secondary economies
grew that provided services to slave traders, creating self-sustaining economic conditions.
The growing slave trade into Europe saw the breakdown of the inter-community trade
relationships, not due to conflict, but due to the more lucrative opportunity from the
European demand for slaves to the Americas.
The economic and social inflows into the region saw an emergence of new cities and states,
built as internal and external markets developed. Interestingly, even before the Slavery
Abolition Act of 1833, the regions reliance on the Slave Trade dwindled due to an even more
lucrative opportunity in the palm oil trade. Demand for the native palm oil ran in parallel to
the Industrial Revolution in Europe as the demand for factory machine lubricant increased
exponentially. In addition, as the European population and wealth grew, secondary demands
for palm oil based products e.g. soaps and margarine grew increasing the demand for the
natural oil.
Towards the end of the 19th Century the British began to explore and charter the regions
territory and river systems in preparation for potential trade. One man in particular, George
Goldie (1846 1925) formed the United African Company, modelled on the former East
India Company, a typical international British trade (and unincorporated) organization of
the time. The motive behind these companies was control, ownership and profit with little
regard for the native communities in the region, such was the arrogance of the British and
Europeans alike. Goldie partnered with other organizations trading in the same area and
effectively took control of the Lower Niger River, an obviously key trade route in and out of
the region. Within two years Goldie and his agents had signed treaties with tribal leaders
along the major Benue and Niger Rivers whilst also penetrating into the mainland, against
verbal agreements that had been made to restrict the organisations activities to coastal
regions. The company name changed to The National Africa Company which in 1886 was
granted a royal charter (equivalent of incorporation at the time) authorizing the company to
administer the Niger Delta and the country on the banks of the Benue and Niger Rivers. The
now chartered company was once again renamed The Royal Niger Company.
As the trading relationships developed, a certain degree of agitation grew amongst the Niger
Delta middle men, who had forged a successful and prosperous association with the
European traders. As these middle men were from different regions and tribes, the
commercial competition between them grew as the European traders were able to choose the
intermediate that offered the best opportunity and therefore the greater profit for the
European traders. Tensions rose to a point where the first major conflict occurred, the
rebellion of King William Koko of Nembe, who from 1894-1895 resisted the Royal Niger
Companys attempts to shut out the Nembe people from the lucrative trade in palm oil.
This was a major event and is particularly note-worthy as it marks the feeling of imposition
that the residents of the Niger Delta have felt since the 19th Century.
The self- imposed British control over the region was insufficient to stop the growing role in
the area of the state sponsored protectorates of France and Germany who also craved
hegemony, as well as growing tensions from native tribes that required the use of Gun Boats
from the Royal Navy to protect British interests. Consequently in 1899, the Royal Niger
Company sold its interest to the British Government for 865,000, the equivalent today of
approximately 87,000,000. The interests were merged with the Niger Coast Protectorate of
Brass, Bonny, Oporobo, Aobh and Old Calabar excluding Lagos. This formed the Southern
Nigerian Protectorate under the control of the British Colonial Office.

Reference;
http://bigblue1840-
1940.blogspot.com.ng/2014/06/TheClassicStampsofNigerCoastProtectorate.html
http://www.stakeholderdemocracy.org/about-the-niger-delta/niger-delta-history/
http://www.dcstamps.com/?p=3826
http://www.zum.de/whkmla/region/westafrica/oilrivers.html
K. Onwuka Dike, Trade and Politics in the Niger Delta, 1830-1885: An Introduction to the
Economic and Political History of Nigeria

Read more;
Asuk, O. C., an International Multi-Disciplinary Journal, Ethiopia, Vol. 5 (2), Serial No. 19,
April, 2011, ISSN 1994-9057 (Print) ISSN 2070-0083 (Online), Two Oils, Same Phenomena:
Historicizing Exclusion, Poverty and Contemporary Violence in the Niger Delta