THE STORY OF NIGERIA, Michael Crowder, Faber and Faber, London, 1978
(1962)

The preface to this fourth edition speaks of the vast pace of recent
research, makes the traditional acknowledgements and explains the
omission of previous prefaces due to space limitation.

Chapter One, "The Birth of Nigeria" (pp. 11-23), begins with Flora
Shaw's coining of the name Nigeria in 1898 and the joining of the
two British protectorates in 1914. It mentions the geography of the
area, the antiquity and complexity of human habitation and the
sources, palaeo-botanical, archaeological, written and oral. It
quotes Jan Vansina on oral sources:

   "Written sources are better than oral ones," is the maxim of a
   non-historian. For the practitioner sources are sources. They can
   be good or bad, but there is nothing intrinsically less valuable
   in an oral source than in a written one. p. 16

There is a brief survey of prehistory: Aechulian finds on the Jos
Plateau, the subsequent Sangoan culture, the spread of agriculture,
the introduction of iron smelting, probably from Carthage, the
impressive Nok culture and its possible artistic influence on the
Yoruba, and the facilitation of trade by the introduction of the
camel to North Africa at the beginning of the Common Era.

Chapter Two, "Sudanese States" (pp. 24-36), begins with the great
states that flourished as middlemen in trans-Saharan trade. This
trade also brought Islam and writing. There was the empire of Kanem
Bornu with its Sefawa dynasty reigning almost a thousand years,
albeit with intra-dynastic conflict and with retrenchments
occasioned by dominance even in Kanem itself of other families.
There is reference to the pilgrimmage of Dunama Dibbalemi (c. 1250)
and his founding at Cairo a madrasa for students from Kanem.

There is a look at the rise of the Hausa states, at founding
legends, including the Baghdad origin of legitimacy in six of the
seven legitimate states. The seventh's came from Bornu. Kano had
been ruled by priests of the god Tsumburburai, but this shrine was
destroyed as control was more firmly asserted by the "legitimate"
dynasty. Islam came to Kano and to Katsina from Kanem and/or Mali.
Muhammad Rumfa (c. 1466-1493) made Islam the state religion of Kano
and for him al-Maghili, who lived for a while in Kano, wrote his
OBLIGATION OF PRINCES. There are Sixteenth Century records such as
the TARIKH al-FATTASH and KANO CHRONICLE and the travelogue of Leo
Africanus. Songhai conquered Kano and Katsina. Bornu flourished and
the reign of Idris Alooma (c. 1569-1600), some of it recorded, was a
prosperous time. His troops had firearms.

Chapter Three, "Kingdoms of the Forest" (pp. 37-47), begins with
Benin and Yorubaland, with migration myths, linguistics and the
bronzes and terra cottas found at Ife. It refers to Oyo founded
sometime between 1390 and 1440. It describes the extensive, though
of varying intensity, Oyo control of Yorubaland, the complexity of
Oyo's political organization, legendary rulers, including Sango, and
more historical ones. Events referred to by outside sources include
the Nupe invasion of Oyo in the Sixteenth Century and Oyo's attack
against Porto Novo in 1698. There is a look at early Benin, its
extent, influence, wealth, and its interesting administrative
procedure of having an official administer widely separated
villages, thus depriving him of a coherent block of support and
decreasing his temptation to rebel.

Chapter Four, "The Atlantic Slave Trade" (pp. 48-58), starts with
the arrival to Benin of Joao Affonso d'Aveiro in 1486 and gives a
flashback to Phoenician and Carthaginian voyages, to Henry the
Navigator, Fernao Gomes and others. There is trade in peppers and an
ambassador from Benin to Portugual in the late Fifteenth Century.
There is the surprise of the English in 1553 at finding the King of
Benin speaking Portuguese. However, mostly it is slavery that forms
the topic of this chapter: the acceptance of the practise by both
European buyers and African sellers, the estimate that fifteen
million people from West Africa and Angola survived the Atlantic
crossing and nine million did not, the uncivilized conditions also
in the colonies, and the survival there of Yoruba culture, including
religion.

Chapter Five, "The Niger Delta and its Hinterland" (pp. 59-68),
looks at the transformation of the Delta fishing villages to slave
trading ports. It mentions the growth of canoe houses, trading
families able to transport slaves in canoes, "paddled by fifty men
and with muskets and cannon tied fore and aft." (p. 61) It quotes
some contemporary accounts of dealings. It mentions items traded for
slaves:

   In exchange for the slaves the Europeans brought salt, used as
   ballast on the way out from Liverpool and Bristol, dried fish
   which came from Norway and new consumer goods such as cloth and
   tools. Probably most important of all, however, they brought
   firearms which enabled the Ijo states and their neighbours to
   dominate the trade. p. 60

There is reference to the influence of the Aro subgroup of the Igbo
people on account of the oracle of Chukwu they tended. Aro mediators
facilitated trade.

Chapter Six, "The Holy War of Usman dan Fodio (1804-1830)" (pp.
69-83), begins with a look at Bornu's continued position and
increasing intellectual attainments, at the struggles amongst the
Hausa states, at the championing of Islam by Muslim Fulani clans, at
the decline of Islam with the breakup of the Songhai Empire and the
Fulani revolts in the Eighteenth Century in their Senegal homeland.

Then comes a look at the background of the Muslim scholar, tutor to
the prince of Gobir, and the opposition of Yunfa, when he became
king, to his former tutor. In 1804, Usman dan Fodio, fifty years of
age, launched his jihad against the pagan compromises and excessive
taxes of his Muslim king.

   The actual history of the Jihad can be divided into three phases:
   establishment of the Fulani Empire; the attack on Bornu; and the
   southward expansion of the Fulani Empire. p. 76

The text refers to the end of the first phase with the death in
battle of the king of Gobir in 1808, though resistance continued in
Hausaland, and some Hausa remained unpacified in areas where they'd
been driven.

Initial successes against Borno were checked by the nomadic Kanembu.
The Kanembu leader, al-Kanemi, replaced the titular kings of Borno
and re-established much of the territory of the old kingdom of
Kanem. In the south, political factionalism and intrigue permitted
the penetration of the Fulani Empire into Nupe and Ilorin.

Although later excesses and decline may be more remembered, there
was vitality at the beginning, and the Fulani Caliphate is
noteworthy for administering its extensive territories, for
stimulating trade there and for the intellectual vigour now felt, a
vigour that included the encouragement of women.

Chapter Seven, "Yoruba Wars" (pp. 84-97), begins with a mention of
the extent and political instability of the Oyo Empire in the
Eighteenth Century, the revolt of Ilorin and the Nineteenth Century
wars. There is reference to the spiritual position of Ife, to the
tyrannical nature of the rule of Eighteenth Century Alafins of Oyo,
to the constraining power of the Oyo Mesi (Council of Notables),
which could order a despotic ruler to commit suicide, and to the
Ogboni, a secret society, whose approval was needed by the Oyo Mesi.

There is description of conflict with Dahomey, absorbed into a
tributary status, of the power of the Basorun (Head of the Council
of Notables) until the Alafin Abiodun seized control in 1774 and
exterminated Basorun Gaha and Gaha's family and presided over an era
remembered as a time of peace and prosperity.

It is said an order to attack an Ife town, contrary to his oath of
accession, caused the Alafin Awole to lose support. This led various
areas to assert independence and unleashed a period of conflict
lasting until 1893. In 1828 refugees from Oyo, etc. settled at
Ibadan, and a year or so later Abeokuta was founded. Oyo was finally
abandoned c. 1835 and around the same time Ife, too, was deserted. A
new Oyo was founded by the Alafin Atiba, who named the Ibadan ruler
Basorun. There were tangled civil wars. The chapter concludes with
the British supplying firearms to enable Abeokuta to survive an
attack from Dahomey, which included a sizeable force of Dahomeyan
female warriors.

Chapter Eight, "The Suppression of the Slave Trade" (pp. 98-105),
begins with the mention of the 1807 abolition by Britain, with
Granville-Sharp and the 1772 Somersett vs Knowles case, with M.P.
William Wilberforce and the founding in 1787 of the Society for the
Abolition of the Slave Trade, and with the advances in British
industry and commerce readying the country for the abolition.
Britain sought to suppress the trade in slaves, seeking agreement
with other European governments, patrolling the West African coast
and seizing slaving ships, and also eventually ships without slaves,
but with slaving equipment. African leaders tried to carry on the
trade, as well as to meet increased British interest in legitimate
trade, especially in palm oil. They faced British encroachment on
sovereignty.

Chapter Nine, "Explorers and Missionaries" (pp. 106-119), introduces
the European desire to get past African coastal middlemen and reach
into the interior. There was in 1788 the founding of the African
Association. It sought to find the Niger, and following a number of
unsuccessful expeditions Mungo Park succeeded, after considerable
difficulty. A subsequent major expedition was a disaster that cost
all forty-five European lives, including Park's. Many years later,
in 1830, after a number of unsuccessful attempts, the river was
followed to its mouth by John Lander.

This leads to the missionaries and their joint aims of substituting
legitimate trade for slaving and of civilizing, including through
religious conversion, the Africans. There was the impressive
expedition in 1841, one hundred and forty-five Europeans in three
ships. Their attempt to demonstrate effective agriculture to
Africans was a failure, and more than a third of them died from
malaria. The susceptibility of Europeans to this disease brought to
the fore freed slaves from Sierra Leone, including the renowned
Samuel Ajayi Crowther, who returned to Nigeria with the new
religion. There were also freed Jamaican slaves, encouraging
Christianity in Calabar and discouraging such traditional practises
as human sacrifice on the death of a chief. Missionaries from
Europe became more practical, following the successful Niger
expedition of 1854, where quinine kept all the Europeans alive. The
European missionaries' intent to eradicate traditional religion and
culture was offset by administrators seeking to function with
existing institutions, and proved unsuccessful.

Chapter Ten, "The Growth of Legitimate Trade" (pp. 120-138), looks
at the increased activities of legitimate traders and at the role of
influential British consuls, such as John Beecroft from 1849 until
his death in 1854. He dealt with African leaders, deposing Kosoko of
Lagos and William Dappa Pepple in Bonny. There is intricate internal
politics in each case. Also, in 1852 a regular mail service between
Britain and West Africa began, permitting smaller British traders to
compete and demonstrate both the poor quality and the high prices of
the goods from the big British houses.

The big British houses and the African middlemen vigorously opposed
new inland ventures and this impacted on the missions, viewed as
intricately connected with inland traders. England was keen to
protect her West African concerns against French and other
interests. Consuls in Lagos (the first was Campbell 1853-1860)
intervened in internal politics, predisposed to facilitate trade.
For example, they opposed Egba blocking of Ibadan's attempts to
reach the sea, and in 1865 England used West Indian troops against
the Egba.

Chapter Eleven, "Prelude to Alien Rule" (pp. 139-151), recounts the
ever increasing involvement of British consuls in the affairs of
Nigeria. There was Glover's opposition to Egba. There was the rise
of Jaja in the Anna Pepple faction of Bonny and his founding of the
breakaway kingdom of Opobo. There were the trading interests along
the Benin River and British involvement in Itsekiri dynastic
disputes to further such interests. There continued effects on
trading posts and missions inland because of opposition from
middlemen.

Other Europeans sought to compete against Britain, but they failed
largely because of the determination of Goldie Taubman, who drew on
his personal fortune to undercut the French and as British
representative at the Berlin conference secured British interests in
Nigeria.

Chapter Twelve, "Company and Consuls" (pp. 152-170), begins with the
issuing of the royal charter in 1886 to Goldie's Niger Company, and
the company's monopolistic nature, in violation of the terms of the
charter. Not only were middlemen and Liverpool merchants upset, but
Germans and especially the French tried to intrude into company
territory. There is the French desire for Borgu and Lugard's dash to
Nikki, whose king had suzereignty over Borgu. There is dispute
with Jaja of Opobo and his deportation to the West Indies. There is
the Niger Coast Protectorate:

   It was governed by a Consul General responsible to the Foreign
   Office, under whom served a number of vice-consuls responsible
   for individual areas. Its administration included customs,
   postal, marine and medical departments as well as a small army of
   200 men. pp. 161-162

This clashed with Nana of the Benin River and he was exiled to the
Gold Coast. When the Royal Niger Company was attacked by those
outside its territory, who were frustrated by its monopolistic
practices, the Niger Coast Protectorate struck against the Brass at
Nembe. There was the insistence of some Englishmen that they visit
Benin at a sacred time, Benin prevention of this with British
deaths, Britain's firm military response and the fall of Benin and
the exile of its ruler, Oba Ovenramwen. There was the achievement of
peace between Ibadan and the Ikiti-Parapo and Ibadan and Ilorin.
There were treaties made by Governor Gilbert Carter with the Ijebu,
Egba, Oyo's Alafin, and Ibadan.

Chapter Thirteen, "Emirs and Maxims" (pp. 171-187), begins with the
revoking of the Niger Company's charter with compensation, and the
three protectorates of the area officially referred to as Nigeria on
January 1, 1900. It then looks at the Northern Protectorate and the
later years of the Sokoto Caliphate. Perhaps the better to justify
British intervention this had been depicted as a time of moral
decadence and political decay there. Unbiased analysis indicates
remaining spiritual, intellectual and administrative vigour, albeit
there were places such as Kontagora providing grounds for the overly
hasty generalizations.

There is a bit of detail given in Lugard's extension of British
rule, replacing the Caliphate, but maintaining local administration
and freedom of religion. There was force displayed, but the
overwhelming nature of British weaponry reduced the occasion for its
use. There was the shelling of Bebiji, the move on Kano, the defeat
of the Sokoto army, the defeat of the Sultan at Burmi, and the
suppression of the Satiru Rebellion. Lugard is also praised for his
keen administrative ability in sphere's other than the military.

Chapter Fourteen, "The Unification of Nigeria" (pp. 188-206), begins
with the attack against the Aro, and the burning of the Arochukwu
oracle in 1901. It mentions the increased pace of Westernization.
There were enormous changes with the railway, with a vast free trade
area and the elimination of tolls and other barriers to trade, with
status from wealth rivalling hereditary status. And:

   In Nigeria traditional land laws were observed and Europeans were
   unable to purchase land. Since corporate ownership of land by
   lineages was fundamental to the traditional structure of most
   Nigerian societies, the observance of customary land law proved a
   bulwark against the disruptive elements of the new economic
   order. At the same time it prevented the economic exploitation of
   the land by individual Nigerians. p. 191

The chapter underlines the distinction between the government policy
of indirect rule and, aside from fostering conditions for trade,
interfering as little as possible in traditional ways, and the
conscious and deliberate effort of the missionaries to transform
society.

The union of the country took place on January 1, 1914. Lugard, the
first governor general, did not listen to suggestions for dividing
Nigeria into five or six provinces, but kept the dual division of
north and south protectorates with Lagos a British colony. The south
was subdivided into six, and Lugard's thought of raising taxes
through obas, as if these were identical to northern emirs, did not
find favour in the Foreign Office. Nigerians remained loyal during
the Great War and participated courageously in the conquest of
German Cameroun and in the East Africa campaign.

Chapter Fifteen, "The Rise of Nigerian Nationalism" (pp. 207-223),
begins with the first consciousness of trans-tribal awareness for
Nigeria, even for Africa as a whole, and such individuals as J.P.
Jackson and Herbert Macauley. There were the difficulties of
colonial administration, especially in the poorly understood
south-east, Lagos newspapers and the election there of three members
of the Legislative Council. There is Governor David Cameron and his
views on moderating the policy of indirect rule, especially in the
north. There is Ladipo Solanke and the West African Students' Union
and the formation in 1936 of the Nigerian Youth Movement. There is
Nnamdi Azikwi and his newspaper, WEST AFRICAN PILOT. There is that
splendid quote from Governor Bourdillon just after his term ended:

   'If there is one lesson which the writer has learned thoroughly
   in the course of thirty-five years spent in trying to manage
   other people's affairs for them, it is that on the whole they
   prefer to manage them themselves.' p. 220

World War II by introducing many Nigerians to Westerners who were of
more ordinary classes did much to stimulate an awareness of the
possibility of self-rule.

Chapter Sixteen, "Three Constitutions" (pp. 224-236), begins with
Governor Arthur Richards and the 1947 constitution, including the
north, broadening non-official participation in the Legislative
Council, and criticized for bringing regional and ethnic divisions
into national politics. In 1948, a new governor, John Macpherson,
launched extensive consultations on the form of a new constitution.
This came into effect in 1952 and there were elections which
demonstrated the tensions between regional and national viewpoints.
There had also been labour unrest, the widespread dismay at the
Enugu shootings, and the attempted assassination of the Chief
Secretary. Regional and ethnic tensions intensified through the
early 50s with strong sentiment in the north for separation from the
south. There were constitutional conferences in London and Lagos and
agreement on how to address regional concerns with a new 1954
constitution.

Chapter Seventeen, "Independence Achieved" (pp. 237-258), begins
with calm, with an enthusiastic royal visit, with questions of
conflict of interest, with constitutional review and preparations
for independence. There is reference to economic expansion during
and after World War II, to the importance of agriculture, to
regional marketing boards, to the discovery of petrolium, to
industry and the growth of cities. There is reference to the need
for both skilled replacements for departing Westerners and for
finding positions for those completing school. The two universalist
religions, particularly Islam, expanded, but there was much
traditional survival even within them. Independence came on October
1, 1960.

Chapter Eighteen, "A Decade of Troubles" (pp. 259-277), begins with
the advantages and high expectations on independence, and five
reasons for the coup in 1966: political corruption, wage
disparities, slavish pro-Western policies, political cynicism and
regionalism, exacerbated by the north having greater influence than
the west and east combined. There were strikes, and political
instability in the west. So, there was a coup in January 1966 headed
by officers of eastern origin. Their solution of advocating a
federal (Nigerian), rather than a regional, focus caused a northern
backlash. Northern officers staged a coup.

With the loss of thousands of easterners in northern riots and with
constitutional apprehension, the east seceded. Civil war ensued and
it took two and a half years before the east was subdued.

"Postscript 1970-1976" (pp. 278-283) gives a glimpse at increased
petrolium production and resulting government revenue, at prosperity
for some, inflation and hardship for others, at the indefinite
postponement of return to civilian rule and at the coup in 1975.

There are genealogical appendices, lists of governors and national
ministers, and as a supplement to the notes and bibliography, a
bibliographical essay on significant historigraphical contributions
from 1965 to the date of this edition.

This is a superb survey of a thoroughly fascinating topic, still
very much worth the read.

Michael McKenny October 5-7, 2002 C.E.


Solarguard Homepage

Solarguard Africa