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.
Britain’s Oil Rivers Protectorate, Trade, Treaties, and Imperial Power in the Niger Delta, 1885 to 1893
In the late nineteenth century, the Niger Delta stood at the centre of a powerful export economy. Its creeks and river mouths carried palm...
Britain Said He Broke a Treaty, Then They Removed Him, The 1887 Deportation of King Jaja of Opobo
In the late nineteenth century, the Niger Delta was a region of structured political authority and intense commercial competition. River systems connected inland producers...
Gunboats at the Lagoon, How Britain Forced the Cession of Lagos and Turned It Into a Crown Colony
In the mid nineteenth century, Lagos stood at a strategic crossroads of trade and politics along the West African coast. Its lagoon system linked...
Nigeria’s 13,000 Year Old Burial, Inside Iwo Eleru Rock Shelter and the Deep Human History of Southwestern Nigeria
Southwestern Nigeria is known for its vibrant cultures and long historical traditions, yet its far older human record stretches back thousands of years beyond...
The Trans Saharan Trade and Northern Nigeria, How the Desert Built Markets, Cities, and Power
For centuries, the Sahara was not a barrier, it was a corridor. Camel caravans crossed its dunes and oases, stitching together the savannah belt...
The Trans Saharan Trade and the Rise of Northern Nigeria’s Great Market Cities
For many readers, the Sahara Desert sounds like a wall. In reality, for centuries it worked more like a long, demanding road. Caravans crossed...
European Contact and the Atlantic Slave Trade
European contact with southern Nigeria’s coastline began as commerce rather than conquest. From the late fifteenth century, Portuguese ships reached the West African coast...
How the 1804 Sokoto Jihad Reordered Northern Nigeria, and Why It Changed Islam’s Social Reach
Long before 1804, Islam had taken root in Hausaland through trans Saharan trade, clerical scholarship, and court patronage. Cities such as Kano and Katsina...
Britain’s Abolition of the Slave Trade and the Transformation of Commerce in Southern Nigeria
In 1807, the British Parliament passed the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act, banning British ships and British subjects from participating in the transatlantic...
Bauchi and the Early Years of Aviation in Northern Nigeria
For many people in Bauchi, the story of the town’s first aeroplane arrival has long been told as a dramatic moment of wonder, noise,...