UNIVERSITY OF MAIDUGURI CENTRE FOR DISTANCE LEARNING

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1 UNIVERSITY OF MAIDUGURI CENTRE FOR DISTANCE LEARNING HIS 207: West Africa Under Colonial Rule (2 Units) Course Facilitator: Dr. Hamza Tukur 1

2 STUDY GUIDE Course Code/ Title: HIS 207: West Africa Under Colonial Rule Credit Units: 2 Timing: 26hrs Total hours of Study per each course material should be twenty Six hours (26hrs) at two hours per week within a given semester. You should plan your time table for study on the basis of two hours per course throughout the week. This will apply to all course materials you have. This implies that each course material will be studied for two hours in a week. Similarly, each study session should be timed at one hour including all the activities under it. Do not rush on your time, utilize them adequately. All activities should be timed from five minutes (5minutes) to ten minutes (10minutes). Observe the time you spent for each activity, whether you may need to add or subtract more minutes for the activity. You should also take note of your speed of completing an activity for the purpose of adjustment. Meanwhile, you should observe the one hour allocated to a study session. Find out whether this time is adequate or not. You may need to add or subtract some minutes depending on your speed. You may also need to allocate separate time for your self-assessment questions out of the remaining minutes from the one hour or the one 2

3 hour which was not used out of the two hours that can be utilized for your SAQ. You must be careful in utilizing your time. Your success depends on good utilization of the time given; because time is money, do not waste it. Reading: When you start reading the study session, you must not read it like a novel. You should start by having a pen and paper for writing the main points in the study session. You must also have dictionary for checking terms and concepts that are not properly explained in the glossary. Before writing the main points you must use pencil to underline those main points in the text. Make the underlining neat and clear so that the book is not spoiled for further usage. Similarly, you should underline any term that you do not understand its meaning and check for their meaning in the glossary. If those meanings in the glossary are not enough for you, you can use your dictionary for further explanations. When you reach the box for activity, read the question(s) twice so that you are sure of what the question ask you to do then you go back to the in-text to locate the answers to the question. You must be brief in answering those activities except when the question requires you to be detailed. In the same way you read the in-text question and in-text answer carefully, making sure you understand them and locate them in the main text. Furthermore before you attempt answering the (S AQ) be 3

4 sure of what the question wants you to do, then locate the answers in your in-text carefully before you provide the answer. Generally, the reading required you to be very careful, paying attention to what you are reading, noting the major points and terms and concepts. But when you are tired, worried and weak do not go into reading, wait until you are relaxed and strong enough before you engage in reading activities. Bold Terms: These are terms that are very important towards comprehending/understanding the in-text read by you. The terms are bolded or made darker in the sentence for you to identify them. When you come across such terms check for the meaning at the back of your book; under the heading glossary. If the meaning is not clear to you, you can use your dictionary to get more clarifications about the term/concept. Do not neglect any of the bold term in your reading because they are essential tools for your understanding of the in-text. Practice Exercises a. Activity: Activity is provided in all the study sessions. Each activity is to remind you of the immediate facts, points and major informations you read in the in-text. In every study session there is one or more activities provided for you to answer them. You must be very careful in answering these activities because they provide you with major facts of the text. You can have a separate note book for the activities which can serve as summary of the 4

5 texts. Do not forget to timed yourself for each activity you answered. b. In-text Questions and Answers: In-text questions and answers are provided for you to remind you of major points or facts. To every question, there is answer. So please note all the questions and their answers, they will help you towards remembering the major points in your reading. c. Self Assessment Question: This part is one of the most essential components of your study. It is meant to test your understanding of what you studied so you must give adequate attention in answering them. The remaining time from the two hours allocated for this study session can be used in answering the selfassessment question. Before you start writing answers to any questions under SAQ, you are expected to write down the major points related to the particular question to be answered. Check those points you have written in the in-text to ascertain that they are correct, after that you can start explaining each point as your answer to the question. When you have completed the explanation of each question, you can now check at the back of your book, compare your answer to the solutions provided by your course writer. Then try to grade your effort sincerely and honestly to see your level of performance. This procedure should be applied to all SAQ 5

6 activities. Make sure you are not in a hurry to finish but careful to do the right thing. e-tutors: The etutors are dedicated online teachers that provide services to students in all their programme of studies. They are expected to be twenty- four hours online to receive and attend to students Academic and Administrative questions which are vital to student s processes of their studies. For each programme, there will be two or more e-tutors for effective attention to student s enquiries. Therefore, you are expected as a student to always contact your e- tutors through their addresses or phone numbers which are there in your student hand book. Do not hesitate or waste time in contacting your e-tutors when in doubt about your learning. You must learn how to operate , because ing will give you opportunity for getting better explanation at no cost. In addition to your e-tutors, you can also contact your course facilitators through their phone numbers and s which are also in your handbook for use. Your course facilitators can also resolve your academic problems. Please utilize them effectively for your studies. Continuous assessment The continuous assessment exercise is limited to 30% of the total marks. The medium of conducting continuous assessment may be through online testing, Tutor Marked test or assignment. You may be required to submit your test or assignment through your . The continuous assessment may be conducted more than once. You must 6

7 make sure you participate in all C.A processes for without doing your C.A you may not pass your examination, so take note and be up to date. Examination All examinations shall be conducted at the University of Maiduguri Centre for Distance Learning. Therefore all students must come to the Centre for a period of one week for their examinations. Your preparation for examination may require you to look for course mates so that you form a group studies. The grouping or Networking studies will facilitate your better understanding of what you studied. Group studies can be formed in villages and township as long as you have partners offering the same programme. Grouping and Social Networking are better approaches to effective studies. Please find your group. You must prepare very well before the examination week. You must engage in comprehensive studies. Revising your previous studies, making brief summaries of all materials you read or from your first summary on activities, in-text questions and answers, as well as on self assessment questions that you provided solutions at first stage of studies. When the examination week commences you can also go through your brief summarizes each day for various the courses to remind you of main points. When coming to examination hall, there are certain materials that are prohibited for you to carry (i.e Bags, Cell phone, and any paper etc). You will be checked before you are allowed 7

8 to enter the hall. You must also be well behaved throughout your examination period. 8

9 COURSE OUTLINE HIS 207: WEST AFRICA UNDER COLONIAL RULE 1. The Imposition of Colonial Rule 2. The French Colonial Administration 3. The British Colonial Administration 4. The Colonial Economy 5. Social Developments 6. The Growth of Nationalist Movements and Independence 9

10 TOPIC 1 TABLE OF CONTENT Topic 1: Imposition of Colonial Rule 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Learning Outcome 1.3 In-text Imposition of Colonial Rule 1.4 In-text Question In-text Answer 1.5 Summary 1.6 Self-assessment Question 1.7 References 1.8 Suggested Reading 10

11 1.1 INTRODUCTION By the end of the 19 th and beginning of the 20 th century, West Africa was occupied by the European powers. In the course of the occupation there was resistance by some people but ultimately they were conquered. The Europeans- British, French, Germans and Portuguese subsequently established their various forms of administration on the people of West Africa. 1.2 LEARNING OUTCOME At the end of the topic, the students should be able to: (i) Discuss the method used in the colonial conquest (ii) Examine the reasons for the ineffectiveness of African resistance. 1.3 IN-TEXT THE IMPOSITION OF COLONIAL RULE At the Berlin conference of 1884/5, the European powers divided Africa into their spheres of influence and by 1900 the partition of West Africa amongst the colonizing nations of Europe France, Britain, Germany and Portugal was practically over. The imposition of colonial rule was one aspect of the history of the colonial enterprise. The second aspect was in establishing colonial 11

12 rule, that is in bringing colonial rule home and making it acceptable to the different West African peoples and their rules, most of who were not consulted either before or during the partition. In the partition and imposition of colonial rule there was no use of force among the European powers because their interests were common. The French mainly concentrated on the Sudan while the commercially minded British, for the most part, wanted the forest regions which were rich in cash crops. However, such accommodation was not possible when it came to the imposition of colonial rule on West Africans who were sentimental on the issue of their land to which they were very attached to. Their individual and collective well-being and selfrespect were closely tied to the sanctity of their sovereignty over their time-honored patrimony. Furthermore, the West Africans had always regarded the Europeans as their guests and felt responsible for their safety and comfort. However, after the partition there was the reversal of roles in which the protectors became the protected, with all its implications for the sovereignty and independence of the people. This was totally unacceptable and was contested at every turn with all the means at their disposal. 12

13 Consequently, in spite of initial claims that treaties of protection with West African chiefs constituted the basis of the colonial regime, European rule ultimately derived from military conquest and depended on the military might of the European powers. Military conquest as a means of imposing and consolidating European presence and rule in West Africa was not a postpartition discovery. It went back to a much earlier time. For the French it was Lieutenant Colonel Louis Faidherbe who inaugurated it with the policy of Peace or powder, while with the British its origin can be traced back to the gunboat politics of Consul Beecroft, the first result being the bombardment of Lagos in 1851 and its subsequent annexation in In the course of the imposition of colonial rule there were a number of skirmishes between the Europeans and the indigenous people. In the Gold Coast (Ghana) due to the arrogance of the Governor Frederick Hodgson, precipitated a futile nine months war of Asante independence. In Northern Nigeria despite the long presence of the Royal Niger Company, Lugard had to begin the military occupation from the scratch. Starting with Bida and Kontagora in 1901, he took Bauchi the following year, then Kano 13

14 and Sokoto in This was by no means the end of armed resistance to British rule in the Sokoto Caliphate, for three years later the British had to face and defeat a Mahdist uprising at Satiru. In Eastern Nigeria because of the absence of a central authority to overthrow, the British had to engage in a series of expeditions between 1905 and 1919 in order to subdue the area. Among the more important of these were those against the Ezza of Abakiliki and the Ahiara in 1905, the people of the Onitsha hinterland on 1904 and Awgu in In French West Africa also there were a series of military actions designed to break the back of indigenous resistance to French rule. In the Guinea, in 1900, as a result of open revolt, the leaders were executed. Yet the spirit of the people remained unbroken and militant until 1906 when the last manifestation of armed resistance was destroyed. In Ivory Coast also up to 1908 only a strip of territory was occupied until the coming of Governor Angoulvant with the policy of blood and iron. After seven years French arms triumphed. In Niger no such complete victory was achieved by the French until

15 Why did West African resistance to European conquest prove generally so ineffective? The ultimate explanation for the ineffectiveness of West Africa resistance to colonial conquest lay in the superiority of the colonial armies in arms, experience and strategy. The armies of resistance, even those commanded by Samory Toure, were compared with the armies of the colonial powers, poorly trained, poorly armed and poorly officered. The statement by Hilaire Belloc: Whatever happens we have got the Maxim gun and they have not was unfortunately true in the case of West Africa. The military superiority illustrates the pathetic futility of West Africa s traditional war machinery in the modern world. In addition to military weakness of West Africa s resistance was the lack of political sagacity which made it impossible for them to take a united stand against the colonial invaders. It was to be expected at least, that the Islamic states in the Sudan would unite against a common enemy however, that was not the case. Samoury Toure did not cooperate with Ahmadu Seku against the French and Ahmadu also failed to cooperate with the Caliph at 15

16 Sokoto. The lack of cooperation was common to almost all the states and Kingdoms in West Africa. Furthermore, most states were in disarray especially the Guinea states. The Benin Empire had become the shadow of its former self. The Oyo Yoruba Empire had fragmented in the early nineteenth century and its successor states had entered into a prolonged strife for ascendancy and leadership in Yorubaland. Dahomey also was in a comatose state. Military conquest was the preliminary to the actual organization and consolidation of colonial rule in West Africa. In order to realize the economic ambitions and social reforms which inspired the powers to undertake the colonial enterprise, the European powers established systems of administration. Consequently, the French, the British and the Germans had to take steps to strengthen their hands against subsequent threats to their position and to promote the work of economic exploitation and social change. 1.4 IN-TEXT QUESTION What were the methods the Europeans used in conquering West African territories? 16

17 1.5 IN-TEXT ANSWER After the Berlin Conference of 1884/5 in which Africa was partitioned by the European powers, they proceeded to annex and establish their authorities on the territories. They began with treaties of protection and subsequently those areas that resisted them were conquered militarily. 1.6 SUMMARY By the first decade of the 20 th century almost all of West Africa was occupied by one colonial power or the other. The colonial powers used treaty signing and military might in conquering the area. The West Africans resisted but it proved ineffective largely because of their military superiority. After the conquest they established their different systems of administrations which geared towards the exploitation of the colonies. 1.6 SELF-ASSESSMENT QUESTION Examine the reasons why West Africans resistance to European conquest was ineffective. 1.7 REFERENCES Crowder, M. (1968) West Africa under Colonial Rule, London: Hutchinson 17

18 Ajayi, J.F.A. and Crowder, M. (1974) History of West Africa; vol.ii. London: Longman. 1.8 SUGGESTED READING Ki-Zerbo, J.(ed), (1981) UNESCO General History of Africa, Vols. I- III; London: Heineman. 18

19 TOPIC 2 TABLE OF CONTENT Topic 2: The French Colonial Administration 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Learning Outcome 2.3 In-text The French Colonial Administration Assimilation Administration in Practice 2.4 In-text Question In-answer 2.5 Summary 2.6 Self-Assessment Question 2.7 References 2.8 Suggested Reading 19

20 2.1 INTRODUCTION France unlike Britain had conquered a large territory which was contiguous to each other. The French main policy was to create a French African which dictated their policy of Assimilation. However, there were obstacles in the implementation of Assimilation which made them to change the administrative policy to Association. 2.2 LEARNING OUTCOME At the end of the topic, the students should be able to: (i) Discuss the reasons behind the adoption of the Assimilation system (ii) Examine the operations of the French colonial administration. 2.3 IN-TEXT THE FRENCH COLONIAL ADMINISTRATION At the early stages of colonial conquest the conquistadors had little time to consider the advantages and disadvantages of the systems of administration they decided to impose on the peoples whose lands they conquered. This was due to the fact that they were ignorant of the areas they conquered and were, more 20

21 interested with the next stage of conquest. The administrations imposed by the occupying powers were, therefore, necessarily ad hoc and greatly influenced by the personality imposing them. More important also was the nature of the society to be governed whether large centralized state, small independent village or the desert nomad tribe. During the early years of colonial rule there was considerable debate as to what type of colonial rule was desirable for Tropical Africa a system whereby both the African and the colonial power would benefit from. From these debates three dominant trends in colonial policy emerged in West Africa. The first major trend was that of assimilation or a colonial theory which advocated identity between the colony and mother country. The second trend was that of indirect rule or the theory which held that there could be no identity between such divergent cultures as those of Europe and Africa and so advocated that Africans are best suited being governed through their own institutions. The third was paternalism which was middle road between the two systems as they were opposed to both assimilation and Indirect Rule. They advocated that indigenous society would be reorganized in order to 21

22 achieve the aims of colonial rule that would benefit both the colonizer and the colonized ASSIMILATION The practice of Assimilation rested upon an ideal to which Frenchmen have had, in theory at least, a strong commitment since the revolution of 1789 the idea of the equality of men. In the context of colonialism, it meant that subject people should be treated as if they were Frenchmen and encouraged to become as much like Frenchmen as possible. Assimilation theories fell into two main groups: those which advocated personal assimilation of the administered peoples; and those which, though they discarded personal assimilation as unrealistic, advocated administrative, political or economic identity between the mother country and the colony. Theories of personal assimilation asserted that all men were equal irrespective of their racial origin or cultural background, there being no differences between men that education could not eliminate. Thus the illiterate African peasant was just as worthy of citizenship as the illiterate French peasant. It followed then that 22

23 the African colonial subject could be treated as a Frenchman with all his rights and duties. The ideal of assimilation was relatively easy to put into practice as long as France s West African possessions were confined to a cluster of small settlements on the coast of Senegal, whose inhabitants had a fairly high degree of exposure to French culture. The right of electing a Deputy in the French Assembly, and the more fundamental right of citizenship, was held by the members of the four communes of St. Louis, Dakar, Rufisque and Goree. When French rule expanded over the vast area of French West Africa, the doctrine of assimilation became more difficult to put into practice. The numbers involved were vastly greater: if the people of French West Africa had been able to send deputies to Paris in proportion to their population, the Africans would have outnumbered the Frenchmen. Moreover, as they came into contact with Africans who had, in fact, very little contact with French culture it seemed less practicable to treat them as Frenchmen. What actually happened was a compromise. The inhabitants of the four communes kept their rights of citizenship. In all the 23

24 rest of French West Africa, it was possible, but very difficult, to obtain the same right, after The applicant for citizenship had to have one wife only, to read, write and speak fluent French, to have done military service, and to have worked for the French for ten years. In the case of administration there was the problem of how to administer the mass of non-assimilated colonial subjects. In a number of cases, a policy of indirect rule was advocated. But the idea of ruling through indigenous institutions raised a number of objections, particularly among the French. Their arguments were that the Africans had no evolved political institutions worthy of note, there were variety of these institutions and that these institutions were not adopted to fulfill the aims of colonial rule which was the exploitation of indigenous people for the benefit of the colonial and the colonized. The best solution would have been direct administration but this was impossible for to employ sufficient Frenchmen to institute such a system of administration would have been prohibitively expensive and there were not enough Europeanized Africans to take their place. Therefore African society would have to be 24

25 radically reorganized to meet the exploitative requirements of the colonial authorities, and for want of Frenchmen or educated Africans, traditional chiefs would be used in a new role, as agents of the administration and substitutes for educated Africans. This was the system of administration that has been called Association ADMINISTRATION IN PRACTICE A glance at a map of colonial West Africa shows one of the key differences between French and British colonies. French West Africa formed one continuous land mass. Despite its vast extent, it could thus be regarded as a single unit. At its head was the Governor General of French West Africa, with his headquarters at Dakar, in Senegal. He exercised supreme authority over the lieutenant Governors in the individual colonies. The Governor General had a very wide range of powers. He alone could communicate with the Minister for Colonies, controlled the customs revenue, which he shared out among the colonies, and even controlled the appointments of most civil servants. The Governor General had an advisory council, the Council of Government, where the overwhelming majority was French officials. 25

26 Below the Governor - General were the Lt. Governors who administered the colonies and advised by a conseil d Administration. The Lt. Governor s had beneath them diverse services ranging from education to the printing departments, some of which like agriculture and posts and telecommunications, were dependent on Dakar. The colonies were divided into cercles (about188), roughly equal in size, or population, and these were in turn divided into subdivisions. The commandant de cercle and chefs de subdivisions were almost exclusively French. Since the Lt. Governor were bogged down with paper work and restricted with ability to travel, the colonial authority, more often than not, depended on the administrator on the spot and the agent of civilization who was the commandant de cercle. Under this were the chiefs who were transformed into the agents of the administration. They collected taxes, raised forced labour for work on the roads, railways and even European plantations and provided carriers for the administration and ensured the forced cultivation of certain cash crops. 26

27 2.4 IN-TEXT QUESTION Examine the reasons for the adoption of Assimilation system by the French IN-TEXT ANSWER The French were mainly influenced by the ideals of their which emphasized the equality of men. They believed that the subject people should be treated as if they were Frenchmen. There are two theories of Assimilation- personal assimilation and administrative, political or economic identity between the mother country and the colony. 2.5 SUMMARY The topic has discussed the French colonial administration which was centered on the Assimilation policy. The French introduced the policy because of their belief in the equality of men and that the African can be trained to become a Frenchman. However, as their territory and population increased, Assimilation was discarded in favor of Association. The French had a uniform system of administration for West Africa with the Governor General in Dakar and Lt. Governors in the colonies. 27

28 2.6 SELF-ASSESSMENT QUESTION Why did the French abandon Assimilation system in favor of Association? 2.7 REFERENCES Crowder, M and Ikime, O. (eds.) (1970) West Africans Chiefs: Their Changing Status Under Colonial Rule and Independence, Ife. Crowder, M The Administration of French West Africa Tarikh, 2, 4, SUGGESTED READING Oliver, R and Fage, J. D, (1972),A Short History of Africa, Penguin Books. 28

29 TOPIC 3 TABLE OF CONTENT Topic 3: British Colonial Administration 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Learning Outcome 3.3 In-text British Colonial Administration 3.4 In-question In-Answer 3.5 Summary 3.6 Self-Assessment Question 3.7 References 3.8 Suggested Reading 29

30 3.1 INTRODUCTION When the British finished conquering and establishing their authority in West Africa, they adopted what is known as the Indirect Rule system. The system was mainly adopted because of lack of funds, lack of personnel and vastness of territory. Indirect rule was based on the fact that Africans should be by the British through their own political institutions. 3.2 LEARNING OUTCOME At the end of the topic, the students should be able to: (i) (ii) Analyze why the British adopted Indirect rule system Examine the administrative structure of the colonial administration 3.3 IN-TEXT THE BRITISH COLONIAL ADMINISTRATION (The Indirect Rule System) Indirect rule as administered by the British in its colonies was inspired by the belief that the European and the African were culturally distinct and that the institutions of government most suited to the African were those which he had devised for himself. 30

31 Therefore, the European colonial powers should govern their African subjects through their own political institutions. The British by 1900 had six dependencies in West African- Gambia, Sierra Leone, the Gold cast and three in Nigeria-the Lagos colony and protectorate, the Southern protectorate and Northern protectorate. In 1906 Lagos was integrated with the Southern Nigerian protectorate and in 1914 the South and North were amalgamated to form the single colony of Nigeria. Each of the four British territories was divided into colony and protectoratethe colony represented the lands acquired before the scramble while the protectorate was acquired after it. The use of indigenous political institutions was to be based on certain modifications of the local institutions which fell into two categories. The first one was the modification of aspects of local government which seemed repugnant to the European ideas of what constituted good government, and secondly, modifications that were designed to ensure the achievement of the main purpose of colonial rule, the exploitation of the colonized country. Examples of the first one would be the abolition of human sacrifice, the cutting of hands of thieves and the abandonment of 31

32 certain methods of treating criminals. While the examples of the second one were the introduction of taxation for running of the native administration and to stimulate production of cash crops for exports. Indirect Rule as conceived by Lugard was to be a dynamic system of local government. The indigenous political institution, under the guidance of the resident European political office, would be continually developing into more efficient units of administration, responding to and adapting themselves to the new situations created by colonial rule. Native administration took on a variety of forms because of the wide rage of differences in the institutions of the people the British governed. However, by the 1930s there had emerged a dominant pattern which is indirection of command or the use of indigenous chiefs for local government. Modernization of the system was to come from within stimulated mainly by advice from the British administrator. Two trends emerged in the implementation of indirect rule in West Africa. The first one was the practice of allowing traditional chiefs govern their subjects, so long as they agreed to abolish some practices the British 32

33 considered obnoxious, they were allowed to be internally autonomous. The second trend was the attempt to discover chiefs where none existed, or to give executive sanctions to chiefs without traditional political authority. The Chiefs or indigenous agencies were responsible for a wide variety of tasks which varied from one area to another. Prominently public works and administration at the local level was left in other hands. They also became tax collectors and mobilizers for forced labor. Taxation especially became the backbone of colonial administration as Laggard saw it as a triple-edged weapon: as a stimulus to production, as a source of revenue for the support of the colonial administration and finally as the basis for the development of his system of indirect rule which meant the modernization of traditional institutions through their own agency. It is always assumed that Lugard was the originator of indirect rule which is not so, because long before its application in Northern Nigeria, the French had used it in parts of their East Indian empire, the Dutch in the Dutch East Indies, the British in India and even in the Southern part of Nigeria in 1886 by Sir George Taubman Goldie, the Chief Executive officer of the Royal 33

34 Niger company. Lugard only perfected it and institutionalized it in Northern Nigeria which became the model of indirect rule. The structure of the colonial administration established in Northern Nigeria was headed by the High commissioner (later Lt. Governor). The territory was divided into a number of provinces each headed by a Resident, the provinces were further broken into Divisions with the District officer (D.O) as the head while an Emir or Chief within a Division was the highest indigenous authority. A number of Emirates made up a Division. The Divisional level was the lowest-level of posting for the British colonial political or administrative officers. The remaining levels of administration from the Division downward were headed by indigenous officers as their authorities. Below the Divisions were the Emirates and a group of Districts constituted an Emirate. The Districts were led by District Heads who had under them officials termed village heads. Lastly, come ward heads who were in charge of the smallest administrative units. It was apparently of the success of Indirect rule in Northern Nigeria that when Lugard became the Governor-General of Nigeria 34

35 in 1912 sought to introduce it to the Southern provinces which however was not that successful. Indirect rule in the Nigerian sense was not introduced to the Gold Coast and Sierra Leone until the 1930s. In the Gold cast indirect rule was introduced to buttress up the authority of the Colony states while in Sierra Leone it was to bring the chiefdoms under some form of control. Where the British could not find chiefs in a society, they tended to impose them. In the Gambia there was the imposition of these chiefs. In parts of Northern Ghana clan leaders whose authority was primarily religious were attributed executive powers alien to their societies. In Eastern Nigeria, with few exceptions, the establishment of chiefs was entirely foreign, for power in matters both religious and secular was shared in the community. In each case the British did what they could to find someone with traditional authority of some kind to act as intermediary between their inadequately staffed administrative service and the people. 3.4 IN-TEXT QUESTION Examine the reasons behind the adoption of the Indirect rule system by the British. 35

36 3.4.1 IN-TEXT ANSWER The British believe that the best institutions of government were those which the African had devised for himself. Also, there was the lack of funds, lack of enough European personnel and the vastness of the conquered colony. 3.5 SUMMARY The British adopted the Indirect Rule system in the administration of their colonies. This system entails the administration of the people through their own institutions. A number of reasons forced them to adopt this system among which was the lack of funds and personnel. The traditional chiefs became the agents of British colonial administration. In areas where there were no chiefs the British created them and gave executive functions. 3.6 SELF-ASSESSMENT QUESTION Discuss the operations of the British colonial administration. 3.7 REFERENCES Afigbo, A.E (1972) The Warrant Chiefs Indirect Rule in South Eastern Nigeria, , London: Longman. 36

37 Kirk-Greene, A.H.M (1963) Lugard and the Amalgamation of Nigeria, London: Frank Cass. 3.8 SUGGESTED READING Perham, M (1967) Native Administration in Nigeria, London: Oxford University Pres. 37

38 TOPIC 4: TABLE OF CONTENT Topic 4: The Colonial Economy 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Learning outcome 4.3 In-text The colonial economy 4.4 In-text question In-text answer 4.5 Summary 4.6 Self-assessment question 4.7 Reference 4.8 Suggested reading 38

39 4.1 INTRODUCTION Since one of the major reasons for the colonial enterprise was economic, after subjugation of the West African territories the European powers main economic policy was to derive economic gains as much as possible from the colonies. They encouraged the production of cash crops, monetized the economy, introduced taxation and imposed forced labor. 4.2 LEARNING OUTCOME At the end of the topic, it is hoped that the students would be able to: i. examine the main thrust of the colonial economy ii. analyze the effects of the policy on the colonies 4.3 IN-TEXT THE COLONIAL ECONOMY The cardinal principles of the colonial economic policy were to stimulate the production and export of cash crops- palm produce, groundnuts, cotton, rubber, cocoa, coffee and timber; to encourage the consumption and expand the importation of 39

40 European manufactured goods; and, above all, to ensure that as much as possible the trade of the colony, both imports and exports, was conducted with the metropolitan country concerned. To facilitate the achievement of these objectives, new currencies, tied to the currencies of the metropolitan countries, displaced local currencies and barter trade. The state of the colonial economy was measured not by the welfare of African peasant formers, manufacturers, consumers, businessmen or taxpayers, but solely by the increase of exports and imports and the proportion of this trade that was conducted with the ruling country. In theory, the various colonial governments adopted a laissez-faire policy of the state encouraging but not directly interfering with trade. In practice, colonial currencies, banking facilities, navigation, judicial processes, customs regulations and other measures ensured the domination of the economy by a relatively small number of large expatriate firms. These firms cooperated and colluded concerning the prices of both imports and exports, through agreements not to compete in one another s major spheres of interest and other monopolistic and discriminatory practices. As a result of this, African businessmen 40

41 were effectively eliminated from the import/export trade and that the African producer and consumer did not enjoy the benefit of a competitive market in relation to either the price of his exports or the imported goods he bought. Similarly, when the labor of the African was needed, the firms instead of paying a competitive price agreed among themselves to fix a low wage. Sometimes the political officer enforced this through recruitment of contract and obligatory labor. Such price-fixing extended all the way to freight charges whereby the West African shipping conference, representing the major expatriate firms and having a virtual monopoly of the import/export shipping, imposed higher rates on non-members. The African merchants were therefore put in a disadvantaged position. Also, the collection and transport to the coast of export crops and the retail marketing of imported goods, both of which in the 19 th century had been exclusively in African hands, gradually passed to expatriates, not only to the large firms but to Levantines and a few Greeks and Indians as well. The European firms and banks showed greater confidence in these non-european 41

42 expatriates by extending to them credit and banking facilities which they denied African competitors. From the establishing of colonial rule up to the second world war, it was cash-crop producing areas that were affected by the colonial economy. Even then, their material life was little affected since the majority of export crops earned low prices and the return to the farmer was so small that after paying his taxes and the usurious rate of interest on advances made to him over the cultivation season and other dues, he usually had little left with which to buy imported goods. The economic life of those West Africans living outside the cash crop areas would have been scarcely affected by the colonial presence but for the obligation to pay taxes which was not enforced in the Gold Coast till the end of the Second World War and the obligatory crop cultivation in Portuguese Guinea and French West Africa. Money to pay taxes had to be found either from internal trade in selling food crops in cash crop areas, or from the earnings of the younger members of the family who had to migrate voluntarily or through contract labor organizations to 42

43 areas where cash could be earned. This labor did little more than provide taxes for the workers families. In principle only those areas that had potentials for growing cash crops or had mineral resources were opened up by roads and railways financed by the colonial governments. It would appear that the building of railways was dictated by the collection of export commodities. In Nigeria the Kano-Apapa railway line was built to facilitate the collection of cotton, groundnuts and cocoa for export. The Enugu- Port Harcourt line was built to facilitate the oil-palm trade. Among other railway lines built specifically for export commodities were the Marampa- Pepel line in Sierra Leone, the Fria Conakry line in Guinea, the entire railway system of Liberia, the Dakar Niger railway line in Mali and Senegal, etc. The Germans in Togo, for example, actually named their railway lines after particular primary commodities and minerals which they were supposed to transport. Thus, there were the cotton line, the cocoa line, the coconut line, the iron line and the palm oil line. Thus a map of the railways and major roads represents a grid draining the exportable resources of the interior towards the 43

44 coastal ports. Roads and railways were not built for the specific purpose of developing internal trade. In the name of a laissez faire, the colonial governments did very little to encourage the production of cash crops. Yet they did not hesitate to use the resources of the colonial regimes to encourage the production of cash crops. Likewise, the colonial governments were willing to use tariffs and other measures to reserve colonial markets as much as possible for the trade of metropolitan companies whether or not there were other economically beneficial customers. There was no encouragement or protection for local manufactures. No new industries were created to process the cash crops locally. For a long time not even the shells of the groundnuts were removed locally. In short the colonial regimes pursued only a one-sided laissez faire policy. Where the interest of European firms was concerned, the administrations placed their resources at the firms disposal at the expense of Africans. Where the interest of Africans was concerned, the administrations were indifferent and left the field free for the privileged Europeans to compete unfairly with the Africans. That was the essence of colonial exploitation. 44

45 In the colonial economy, the African found himself the simple producer of raw materials for which Lebanese were the agents of sale and European companies the exporters. Also, these same companies imported the goods which the African bought, mainly at the shops or through the agencies of Lebanese traders, with the money he earned from the sale of his crop. Only in rare cases did the African survive as an importer, almost never as an exporter, and in neither role was he significant. This meant that the African s role in the colonial economy became almost exclusively that of petty trader and primary producer of cash crop, or as a laborer on the farms of others. 4.4 IN-TEXT QUESTION What would you consider to be the cardinal principles of the colonial economy? IN-TEXT ANSWER The major principle of the colonial economic policy was to stimulate the production and export of cash crops. Secondly, it was to encourage the consumption and expand the importation of 45

46 European manufactured goods. To facilitate these, new currencies were institutionalized which displaced local currencies and barter trade. In theory the colonial governments adopted laissez faire, but in practice, it was to encourage European and Levantines firms to the detriment of the African. Furthermore, even the transport system was centered towards areas which had cash crops and mineral resources. 4.5 SUMMARY The major thrust of the colonial economy was the promotion of cash crops to the detriment of good crops. In theory laissez faire was practiced, but in practice, it was to the disadvantage of the Africans as the colonial governments supported the expatriate firms by fixing prices of goods, banking facilities, etc. The role of the African was just as a producer of cash crops and a laborer in the plantations owned by the expatriate firms. 4.6 SELF-ASSESSMENT QUESTION The colonial economic policy was to the detriment of the African and to the advantage of the expatriate firms. To what extent is this statement correct? 46

47 4.7 REFERENCE Ake, Claude (1981) A Political Economy of Africa (Longman, Ibadan). Ajayi, J.F.A., and Crowder, M. (eds). History of West Africa vol. II, (Longman, Ibadan). 4.8 SUGGESTED READING Ikime, O (ed.) (1980). Groundwork of Nigerian History. 47

48 TOPIC 5: TABLE OF CONTENT Topic 5: Social Developments 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Learning outcome 5.3 In-text The colonial economy 5.4 In-text question In-text answer 5.5 Summary 5.6 Self-assessment question 5.7 Reference 5.8 Suggested reading 48

49 5.1 INTRODUCTION The imposition of colonial rule led to what was termed as the colonial situation which brought about a lot of social developments. Among these developments were labor migration, growth of new towns, introduction of a new health system and the introduction of Western education which led to the emergence of new elite. 5.2 LEARNING OUTCOME At the end of the topic, the students should be able to: i. examine the social changes brought about by colonial rule. ii. Analyse the social developments under colonial rule 5.3 IN-TEXT SOCIAL DEVELOPMENTS The impact of European administration led to change in all spheres of African life. The creation of political units facilitated the movements of people within these units especially towards the new urban centres which were the focus of colonial commerce and administration. Opportunities for trade or employment provoked 49

50 great movements of peoples into areas inhabited by other ethnic groups and across Anglo-French boundaries. The new administrative and commercial centres of the colonial powers presented many Africans with the opportunity of escaping from situations they did not wish to tolerate at home. A slave could liberate himself from his obligations to his master, and even hope to forget his inferior status. The authority of the chief and elders could be avoided. A young man with a rudimentary education, could escape long hours of dull labor on the land and obtain job as a messenger or clerk in a colonial administrative centre. Furthermore, as wealth and education became rivals to traditional position as indicators of status, the motives to leave the village for the towns to seek fortune became stronger. The exodus from the country side to the towns was one of the most striking of social changes under colonial rule; but it was not as dramatic as the great shifts of population which resulted from the taxation and labor policies of the French. All Africans were subject to taxation by the French, but since many lived on lands that do not produce cash crops and taxation had to be paid in five francs pieces not in cowries or kind, the 50

51 young men were forced to migrate to areas where they could sell their labor. Thus the Mossi of Upper Volta first began to migrate in search of work because of the taxes demanded in francs after their conquest. Many other groups also moved in search of labor in order to get money to pay the imposed taxes. Taxation however was not the only reason laborers moved from one territory to the other. Forced labor, conscription and the exactions of the administrator and the chief all pushed the young peasant to seek work on the fields of other peoples. Avoidance of forced labor seems to have been a strong factor in the migration of Zaberma and Gao to the Gold Coast. The French forced hundreds of thousands of the ablest bodied men of Niger, Sudan, Upper Volta and Guinea to migrate over distances up to 2000 kilometres. As a result of these movements there were grant shifts of population within individual colonial territories. In Nigeria, for example, Hausas and other muslims set up Zangos on the edge of Yoruba towns dominating the Kola and meat trades. The growth of towns was one of the most marked developments of the colonial period. Towns had existed before the colonial period which were far and between. Under colonial rule, 51

52 their number and population grew rapidly. In the towns with its bars, its prostitutes, its crimes, its delinquency and other vices, there was the growth of individualism against the traditional values of communal African society. However, the same towns were the residence of the new African educated elite, who found it easier than their less educated well-educated brethren to cross the barriers of ethnicity. They formed debating and literary societies, where a person s ethnic origin did not matter, and where political questions came increasingly to the fore. The town then became a melting pot of ideas. The monotheistic religions of Islam and Christianity made great advances in West Africa under colonial rule. Islam, it is said, made greater and more advance in fifty years of colonial rule than in the thousand years preceding it. Likewise Christianity which at the beginning of the colonial occupation had less than fifty thousand converts but in the fifties had over two million followers. Both these religions were to have a profound effect on African society in the period of colonial occupation. The Christian impact was more pronounced because it was closely linked with that of the occupying powers, particularly in the field of education. 52

53 Though Western education was to prove in its impact the most radical of all the innovations introduced by the colonial powers, education as such was not foreign to African society. Both France and Britain, whether through the agency of the missionaries or directly through their colonial administrations, came to see the introduction of Western education as essential to the prosecution of their exploitation of West Africa. Without Western education there would be no clerks and technicians to fill those roles in the administration and commerce. With so limited an objective, it is not surprising that very few children ever got even to primary school under the colonial regime, let alone to secondary school. Whilst both Britain and France s basic educational objective was the training o Africans for participation in the colonial economy and administration, they differ substantially in their approach. France in the education of her elite aimed at producing French Africans, whose loyalty to France and indifferences to local nationalism would be assured. Britain sought to produce an African African, and was aware she could not educate the people of a colony without expecting them to ask for self-government. 53