The company, during its tenure of administrative power under the charter, had organized its territories south of the confluence into trading districts, over each of which there was placed a European agent. The executive powers in Africa were entrusted to an agent-general with 3 provincial and 12 district superin tendents. There was a small judicial staff directed by a chief justice, and there was a native constabulary of about i,000 men, trained and drilled by white officers. The company kept also upon the river a fleet of about 3o steamers. The entire direction of the proceedings of the company was, however, in the hands of the council in London, and the administrative control of the territories was practically from first to last vested in the person of Sir George Goldie. The local work of the representatives of the company was mainly commercial.
Southern Nigeria, 1885-1906.—While the development of the Royal Niger Company's territories was proceeding in the manner described, the regions under direct British control were also being opened up and law and order introduced. In 1893, when the title Oil Rivers Protectorate was changed to that of Niger Coast Pro tectorate, a regular administration was established (subject to the Foreign Office in London) under Sir Claude Macdonald, who was succeeded as commissioner and consul-general in 1896 by Sir Ralph Moor (1896-1904). Under these officials peace was gradu ally established between various tribes, trade routes opened, and progress made in civilization. The work was one of extreme difficulty, largely because there was no central native authority with which to deal. Small military expeditions had constantly to be employed to break up slave-raiding gangs or reduce to order tribes which blocked trade routes or made war on other tribes living peaceably under British protection. The most serious military operations were against the Beni, a peaceful mission to the king of Benin having been massacred in the bush in Jan. 1897. The operations were completely successful and the Benin country was added to the protectorate (see BENIN). The administration improved the condition of the natives without undue interfer ence with customary law. The submission of the Aros to the Government in 1902 brought to an end the system of tribal war fare for the purpose of making slaves, while a proclamation of 1901 prohibited the buying, pawning, or selling of slaves. Trade steadily developed, and owing to the large sums paid as duty on imported spirits the revenue of the protectorate was sufficient to cover the expenditure.
Northern Nigeria.—In Northern Nigeria at the time of the transfer (1900) British authority had still to be established. The man selected for the post of first high commissioner was Colonel (Lord) Lugard, who had conducted one of the Royal Niger com pany's most successful expeditions into the western portion of the interior and had already been employed by the British Gov ernment to raise and organize the West African Frontier Force. On Jan. 1, 1900, the Union Jack was hoisted at Lokoja, and the formation of a local administration was entered upon. The headquarters of the West African Frontier Force had been at Jebba, not far from the point at which Mungo Park had lost his life upon the river. Neither Jebba nor Lokoja was considered suitable for the permanent capital of the protectorate and sur vey parties were sent out to find a more suitable site, with strict orders to avoid conflict with the nominally friendly natives. This was selected on a branch of the Kaduna river in the south western corner of the province of Zaria, at a place of which the native name of Zungeru was retained. The ruler of Zaria, while professing friendliness, was, however, unable or unwilling to restrain the rulers of Kontagora and Nupe from aggression. These two potentates raided for slaves to the borders of the rivers and openly threatened the British position on the Niger. The Ashanti War of 1900 claimed the despatch of a strong detachment of the West African Frontier Force, and it was not until the return of the troops in Feb. Igo' that Nupe and Kontagora could be effectively dealt with. In that year both provinces were subdued, their emirs deposed, and letters of ap pointment given to new emirs, who undertook to rule in accord ance with the requirements of humanity, to abolish slave-raid ing and slave dealing, and to acknowledge the sovereignty of Great Britain. Illorin and Borgu with a portion of Kabba were
already under British rule. The rulers of other neighbouring provinces offered their allegiance, and by the end of the year 1901 nine provinces, Illorin, Kabba, Middle Niger, Lower Benue, Upper Benue, Nupe, Kontagora, Borgu and Zaria had accepted the British occupation. An initial system of administration was or ganized and British residents were appointed to each province. Seventeen legislative proclamations were enacted in the first year dealing with the immediate necessities of the position and providing for the establishment of a supreme and provincial court of justice, for the legalization of native courts of justice, and for regulating questions of slavery, importation of liquor and firearms, land titles, etc. In the autumn of 1901 the emir of Yola (the extreme eastern district in the territories bordering upon the Benue) was, in consequence of the aggressions upon a trading station established by the Niger Company, dealt with in the same manner as the emirs of Nupe and Kontagora, and a new emir was appointed. In 1902 Bauchi and Bornu were brought under British rule. Military stations were established in each and both were included in the system of British adminis tration. Later in the same year an act of treachery culminating in the murder of a British resident, Captain Moloney, in the province of Nassarawa, led to the military subjugation of that province. By the end of the year 1902 British administration had been extended to the whole of the provinces in the south, east, and west of the protectorate. The important Mohammedan states of Sokoto, Gando, Kano, and Katsena remained independ ent. These states were regarded as the stronghold of Fula supremacy. The emir of Sokoto held the position of religious as well as political head of all the lesser states of Northern Nigeria, and in response to friendly overtures on the part of the British administration had declared that between Sokoto and Great Britain there could be nothing but war. Katsena was the centre of local learning, while Kano was at once the commercial and the military centre of power. By the end of 1902 it had become evident that a trial of strength between the Mohamme dan powers and the new British administration was inevitable. The Mohammedan rulers were themselves of comparatively recent date. In fighting them there was no question of fighting the whole country. On the contrary it was presumed with justice that their overthrow would be hailed with satisfaction by many of the subject peoples. Every attempt was made to settle the question at issue by conciliatory methods, but, these having failed, a campaign against Kano and Sokoto was entered upon in Jan. 1903. It was entirely successful. The capital of Kano, a walled and fortified town of great extent and formidable strength, fell to a British assault in Feb. 1903. Sokoto submitted after a battle which took place on May 17. The sultan fled, and on May 21 a new sultan, chosen by the council of elders, was installed by the British high commissioner, after he had publicly accepted the conditions imposed by the British Government, namely, that all rights of conquest acquired by the Fulani throughout Northern Nigeria passed to Great Britain, that for the future every sultan and emir and principal officer of state should be appointed by Great Britain, that the emirs and chiefs so appointed should obey the laws of the British Government, that they should no longer buy and sell slaves, nor enslave people, that they should import no firearms, except flintlocks, that they should enforce no sen tences in their courts of law which were contrary to humanity, and that the British Government should in future hold rights in land and taxation. When these conditions were accepted by the Fulani chiefs the supremacy of Great Britain was established over the entire country. Katsena and Gando followed the example set for them by Kano and Sokoto. After the conquest of the Hausa states in 1902-3 the King's writ ran—with the exception of a few districts inhabited by primitive savages—through the whole area known as Northern Nigeria.