Colonial Nigeria
Explore Nigeria’s colonial era (c. 1861–1960), from the annexation of Lagos and the Royal Niger Company to the 1914 amalgamation and the road to independence. This category examines British administration, missionary education, commerce and railways, taxation and labor, cultural change and urban life, and the rise of nationalist movements, including women’s protests, unions, and political parties. Discover biographies, key events, and documents that reveal resistance, collaboration, and everyday experiences across Nigeria’s regions.
Lalage Jean Bown and the Rise of Adult Education in Post Colonial Africa
When Lalage Jean Bown arrived in the Gold Coast in 1949, she entered a region on the edge of historic change. Colonial rule was...
The Peace Cord of Yorubaland
In nineteenth century Yorubaland, diplomacy did not always depend on written letters. Long before colonial administration expanded written correspondence, Yoruba communities already possessed a...
How the Ooni of Ife Used Àrokò to Invite Missionaries to Yorubaland
In the early nineteenth century, communication across Yorubaland did not depend only on written letters. Important messages often travelled through trusted messengers, spoken interpretation,...
When a Missionary Met the Alake of Abeokuta, What Richard Henry Stone Saw in a Nineteenth Century Yoruba Court
In 1899, American missionary Richard Henry Stone published a memoir describing his years among the Yoruba of what is now southwestern Nigeria. The book,...
How Lagos Entered 1884, A City of Sports, Society Balls, and Public Debate
In the opening days of 1884, Lagos appeared as a town alive with celebration, ceremony, and civic discussion. Public sports drew crowds to Tinubu...
Ibadan in the Early 1960s, The City That Moved Western Nigeria
In the early 1960s, Ibadan stood as one of the most influential cities in Nigeria. It was a place of movement and ambition, a...
The Making of Nigeria Under British Rule
Nigeria’s emergence as a single political entity was a long historical process shaped by commerce, diplomacy, rivalry, and military expansion. Long before Britain ruled...
Colonial Rule in Nigeria, Economic Extraction, Political Exclusion, and the Rise of Nationalism
British colonial rule in the territory that became Nigeria developed through conquest, treaties, and administrative consolidation. In 1914, the British government amalgamated the Northern...
The 1929 Women’s War That Shook Colonial Nigeria
In late 1929, women across Eastern Nigeria launched one of the most formidable mass protests in West African colonial history. Commonly known as the...
Sir George Goldie and the Corporate Conquest of the Niger
Sir George Dashwood Taubman Goldie, 1846 to 1925, stands among the most influential figures in the making of colonial Nigeria. He was neither an...