History Lesson Notes JSS3 (Basic 9)

Second Term
HISTORY SCHEME OF WORK JSS THREE SECOND TERM

POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA

Week 1 – 4 : British colonization of Nigeria Territories

1. British contact with Nigeria:

 As explorer
 As traders
 As missionaries

2. How the British conquered Nigerian Territories:

 Signing of treaties
 Waging of wars.

3. British system of colonialism:

 Direct rule
 Indirect rule.

Week 5 – 7: The Evolution of the Nigeria State.

1. The Berlin Treaty:

 Major reasons for the treaty.

 Major features of the treaty

2. The roles of the Royal Niger Company in Nigeria Territories.

3. Colonial concept and administration of Nigeria territories.

Week 8 – 10: The Amalgamation of Nigeria

1. Meaning of Amalgamation

2. Reasons for the Amalgamation of Nigerian Territories.

3. Key personalities and their roles in the Amalgamation of the Nigeria Territories:

 Taubman Goldie.
 Lord Laggards
 The European Missionaries
 Nigerian Traditional Rulers etc.

Week 11 – 12: Revision and Examination

WEEK 1-4

BRITISH COLONIZATION OF NIGERIA

TERRITORIES
Before the conquest of Nigerian territories which gradually started in the mid 19 th century, the
British merchants had related with the natives on the basis of trade, they bought their spies and
wares

Eventually, the slave trade started and many Nigerians were captured and shipped to Britain and
other countries,

MAJOR STRATEGIES USED IN CONQUERING NIGERIA

TERRITORIES

1. signing of treaties; a treaty is a signed agreement between nations to obey and comply with
a matter(s) mutually decided, a treaty has also been defined as a written agreement between
two or more countries or nations, formally approved and signed by their leaders

Among such treaties signed by the British with the territories were;

1. Lagos treaty of cession; this was a treaty between great Britain and Oba Dosunmu of
Lagos ,this was signed on August 6th 1861.
2. Treaty of peace, friendship and commerce of 1886; this was the kiriji/Ekiti parapo peace
Treaty. It was signed in 1886 between the British and the warring factions ( kiriji and Ekiti
parapo),it was to end the war and bring peace.
3. British Treaty with Itsekiri 1884; This was the first treaty of protection between the British
and the Itsekiri,it was signed on July 16th ,1884.
4. British treaty with the Itsekiri in1894; This was the second treaty of protection between the
British and the Itsekiri, it was signed on August 2nd 1894

2. Waging of wars; another methods used by the British was the waging of wars against communities
that resisted their move to occupy their territories, examples;

1. Bombardment of Lagos by the British in 1851.

2. The 1982 war against the Ijebu kingdom 1892.
3. War against the Benin Empire of 1896-1897
 4. Anglo-Aro war of 1901-1902
5. Series of war in the North

BRITISH SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT

Direct Rule; direct rule has been defined as a system in which a central government rules an area
which had its own parliament of law making organization in the past, it is a system of government in
which colonial government rules its territories using a central authority, The British government
adopted this system for Lagos colony in 1861 meaning that Lagos crown colony was under the direct
administration of the British government

Features of direct rule;

1. It required more British officials in governance

2. Native laws and customs were not utilized by British
3. It required more funds for administration,

INDIRECT RULE

Indirect rule can be defined as a system in which a foreign power controls its territories by using
intermediaries like traditional rulers and institutions,

Indirect rule as Lord Lugard puts it is ‘The rule through the native chiefs who were defined powers
and functions recognized by the government with defined powers and functions recognized by the
government and by law and does not depend upon the caprice of an Executive officer.

It was introduced by Lord Lugard first in the Northern Nigeria between 1900 and 1913 it was later
introduced to Western and eastern provinces in 1914 and 1927 respectively

REASONS FOR ADOPTING INDIRECT RULE BY THE BRITISH

1. Shortage of British personnel

2. financial problem
3. multi ethnic nature of Nigeria
4. The successful implementation in the North

FEATURES OF INDIRECT RULE IN NIGERIA

1. It made use of traditional rulers

2. It used modified native laws and customs
3. It had Governors and a Governor General
4. There was a legislative council
5. There was an executive council

The British officials worked closely with the native rulers as supervisors and advisers
Native police and courts were used. Existing traditional system was maintained.

CLASSWORK

1. Mention the strategies used by the British to conquer Nigerian territories

2. State the challenges faced by the British in exploring Nigeria
3. Mention at least treaties signed by Nigerian traditional rulers with the British

ASSIGNMENT

Explain the meaning of ‘AMALGAMATION’

WEEK 5 - 7

CLASS: JSS 3

SUBJECT: HISTORY

TOPIC: THE EVOLUTION OF THE NIGERIAN STATE.

PERIODS: Two Periods 40 Minutes Each.

ENTRYKNOWLEDGE: The students are familiar with the methods used by the Europeans to conquer
Nigerian Territories

REFERENCE: Adewuyi, O.O, Time Perspective History for Junior Secondary Schools, Book 3 OM
Publishers Ogun State

INSTRUCTIONALMATERIALS: Textbooks

LESSONOBJECTIVES: At the end of this lesson, students should be able to:

Describe the Berlin treaty that awarded Nigerian territories to Great Britain

Explain the role of the Royal Niger Company in Nigerian territories

Describe the colonial conquest and administration of Nigerian territories

CONTENT

THE BERLIN CONFERENCE AND TREATY (1884-1885)

The Berlin Conference was a conference held in Berlin, Germany in 1884-1885 to divide Africa
among the European powers

The Berlin Treaty was the agreement signed by the European powers at the Berlin Conference in
1885 to formalize the sharing of Africa among the European powers.

The competition among European powers to capture and control African territories was already
leading to conflicts especially between the British, the French, Portuguese and Belgium. This rivalry
led the German Chancellor Otto Von Bismarck to intervene. He called a meeting of European powers
in late 1884, in Berlin. Fourteen European countries and the USA were present at the meeting; they
sought to discuss the partitioning of Africa, establishing rules to amicably divide resources among
the European powers at the expense of the African people. Of these fourteen countries at the Berlin
Conference, France, Germany, Great Britain and Portugual were the main major players. At the end
of the conference, Congo was formally recognised as King Leopold II’s personal possession, and the
territories that now make up Nigeria were given as a portion to Britain to control, and that marked
the evolution of Nigerian state.

THE MAJOR REASONS FOR THE BERLIN TREATY

To divide the African continent among the European powers

To establish international protocols

To prevent war

To establish direct political control in Africa

THE MAJOR FEATURES OF THE BERLIN TREATY

The Berlin treaty provided international guidelines for making claims to African land to avoid conflict
between European powers.

It did allow free trade among the colonies

It did not allow the peoples of Africa to participate in the partitioning of their homelands

It legalized and formalized the process of European colonization of Africa

It outlawed slave trade.

No country was allowed to monopolize the Congo River i.e. it is neutral and thus any of the countries
could carry out trade activities freely through it.

THE FEATURES OF THE BERLIN CONFERENCE

The Berlin conference was a meeting of fourteen countries to discuss territorial disputes in Africa.
It was organized by the German Chancellor, Otto Von Bismarck

No African was invited to the conference

The main dominating powers of the conference were France, Great Britain, Germany and Portugual

At the end of the conference, Africa was divided into 50 colonies

It recognized European colonization and trade in Africa.

THE ROLES OF ROYAL NIGER COMPANY IN NIGERIAN TERRITORIES

The Royal Niger Company was formed in 1876 as the United African company, it was renamed
National African Company. In 1886, it was chartered by the British government and thus was
renamed the Royal Niger Company under the leadership of Sir Taubman Goldie.

Before the charter of the company was revoked in 1899 and Taubman compensated £865,000, it
was in control of Southern Nigeria.

THE MAJOR ROLES OF THE ROYAL NIGER COMPANY

It acquired territories for British control

It signed treaties with the traditional rulers

It secured Nigerian territories for the British influence.

It established colonial control in Nigeria.

Promotion of palm oil trade between Nigeria and Britain during the industrial revolution

It opened up different trading stations e.g. Bonny, Lokoja, Warri, etc. which became important
trading centres for Britain.

EVALUATION

Describe the Berlin treaty that awarded Nigerian territories to Great Britain

Explain the role of the Royal Niger Company in Nigerian Territories

ASSIGNMENT
Identify the reasons for the amalgamation of Nigerian territories.

Identify the key personalities involved in the amalgamation of Nigerian territories

WEEK 8-10

Meaning of Amalgamation
Amalgamation can be defined as the uniting two or more different communities under a single
administrative and political authority to case governance.

The definition is applicable to what the British did in Nigeria in 1914, when the Northern and
Southern protectorates were brought together as a single nation.

Before the 1914 amalgamations, there was an amalgamation of the colony of lagos created in 1861
with Niger coast protectorate to form the colony and southern protectorate in 19893.

This was the first amalgamation that took place in Nigeria.

The major reasons for the amalgamation of Nigerian territories

are following;

1. To reduce cost of administration

2. To raise more funds for the colony
3. To ease administration
4. To unite the colony
5. To accelerate growth and development of Nigeria
6. To achieve Lugards personal ambition
7. To Gain full control of the territories

PROCESS OF AMALGAMATION

The Amalgamation process started long before the event took place on January 1914, the process is
summarized below.

1. Arrival of Lord Lugard to Northern territory in 1895; this was significant and crucial to the
1914 amalgation, lugard,on arrival to the North used military forces to conquer sokoto the
seat of the caliphate in 1903.
2. This was the last Northern territory to be captured by the British ,meaning that the entire
Northern territory was eventually under their control,
3. This was a major achievement that acted as a starting point for future amalgamation of
Nigeria being nursed by Lugard and other British officials
4. The establishment of Northern protectorate; This was created in 1900 and had sir Fredrick
Lugard as it first high commissioner,
 5. Division of Nigeria into three separate region; the next step was division of the british colony
into three separate units, they were; The Lagos colony, The Niger coast protectorate, The
Northern protectorate.

The first Amalgamation

The three separate units were reduced to two,The Lagos colony was merged with Niger coast
protectorate to create colony and protectorate of southern Nigeria with its capital in lagos, with
this ,only two protectorates existed ,the southern and Northern protectorates which were governed
by lugard as a British colony.

The plan to merge the two protectorates

The idea of merging the two protectorates began with sir Frederick Lugard, he shared this idea with
the then secretary of state for the colonies, Mr lewis veron Harcourt, His argument was based on
ease governance of two sides, the colony secretary bought this idea and the process of achieving this
started.

preliminary field work for the amalgamation

Lugard was manded to conduct a detailed field work of the country to see the possibility of uniting
different regions of Nigeria, This was necessary before a proposal for amalgamation could be
submitted to the queen

submission of amalgamation proposal

On May 9th 1913,the proposal was submitted to the colonial office in London stating the unification
of the two protectorates into a single administrative units after a thorough field work had been
carried out by lord lugard.

Approval by the Queen;

The Amalgamation

On January 1st 1914, the two protectorates were amalgamated and sir Fredrick Lugard became the
first Governor- General of the country.

PERSONALITIES INVOLVED IN THE AMALGAMATION OF

NIGERIA TERRITORIES ARE;

 GOLDIE TAUBMAN,
 LORD LUGARD
 TRADITIONAL RULERS
 MISSIONARIES

CLASS WORK;
1. State the meaning of Amalgamation
2. state the major personalities involved in the amalgamation of Nigerian territories,
3. Explain two reasons for the amalgamation of Nigeria territories,