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| Title: | The Royal Niger Company: the impact of European activities on the communities of the Lower Benue, 1884-1897 |
| Author: | Ohiare, Joseph A. |
| Year: | 1990 |
| Periodical: | Savanna: A Journal of the Environmental and Social Sciences |
| Volume: | 11 |
| Issue: | 2 |
| Pages: | 84-90 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic terms: | Nigeria United Kingdom |
| Subjects: | Basa Igbira colonial conquest colonialism multinational enterprises |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the impact of European commercial activities (especially those of the United African Company, or Royal Niger Company (RNC) as from 1886) on the political relations between the communities of the Lower Benue, Nigeria (amongst others, the Ebira and the Bassa). The study focuses on the last years of the RNC (1884-1897), a period crucial to the understanding of the process of British colonial imposition and the subsequent loss of independence of the Nigerian peoples. The society upon which the RNC imposed its treaties was not a stable one. It was politically fragmented as a result of jihadist activities of invaders from the Sokoto Caliphate. In this situation, any group favoured by an association with the RNC, which was recognized as militarily powerful and assured military assistance in the case of an enemy attack, considered itself lucky. However, much confusion existed about the authenticity of the claims of such treaties, and the picture the RNC had of the political relations in the Niger-Benue confluence area was based on wrong assumptions. The author argues that the RNC deliberately interpreted political relations in the area in this way and cashed in on this situation when it had its treaties of cession of territories and protection signed by the much tormented chiefs and people of the Lower Benue. Notes, ref., sum. |