The Colonial Experience

Since the Protectorate of Northern Nigeria of 1900, Nigeria was now officially under the rule of the British. Instead of a direct rule, however, Britain tried an approach to control Nigeria using 'indirect rule'.
As classified by www.historians.org, indirect rule is "the plan to use existing tribal structures and traditions as conduits for establishing rules and regulations while English officials worked behind the scenes and could exercise a veto power. In some cases the British designated a person to act as "chief" in settings where there was no clearly hierarchical structure in place" (E). Basically, this means that the village chiefs were left to govern their areas, but they followed British rule. Britain also used a divide-and-rule strategy. Basically, this meant that they tried to keep the Nigerian groups separated in order to try to prevent a rebellion (C).


British rule also brought many new ideas, and influenced Nigerians. These included Christianity, western education, the English language, new currencies, and transportation techniques (C). New transportation techniques included trains and bikes.


Economy thrived under the rule of the British! Nigeria began to export cash crops, and the economy was in great shape (C). The cash crops included cocoa, cotton, hardwoods, palm oil, peanuts, and tin (B).