How Did The British Influence Colonial Nigeria

Colonial Nigeria refers to the area of West Africa which became modern day Nigeria during the time of British rule in the 19th and 20th centuries. British influence began with proscription of the slave trade to British subjects in 1807. British influence in the region increased gradually over the 19th century, however, Britain did not formally garner occupation until 1885 (Acemoglu et al 2001, 1375). As British presence ballooned during this time and with Nigeria officially transitioning into a colony of Great Britain, it became unambiguous that British motivations were the search for a cheap supply of resources, human and material, to ultimately contribute to the subsidence of the British Empire. Consequently during the early decades of colonial …show more content…
The Portuguese discovered a society that did not have an advanced civilization with copious amounts of precious metals to plunder. Brazilian Indians were basically hunter–gatherers, however, some were moving towards agriculture using slash–and–burn techniques to cultivate cassava (Skidmore, 2009 37-38). In the first century of occupation, it was evident that it was difficult to use Indians as slave labor. Brazilian Indians were viewed as docile and had high mortality due to exposure to western diseases. Due to these factors the Portuguese turned to imported African slaves for manual labor (Skidmore, 2009 …show more content…
This corruption has ties to colonialism, as it acts as the source and the perpetual force to government corruption. Development has been slowest in areas where extractive institutions were established purely for the financial gains of the colonizer. This can be attributed to the poor creation and maintenance of governmental institutions which are thought to continue to exist into modern day. In the areas where colonizers settled, the establishment of institutions synonymous with European ones, created a situation where the colonizer was ready to fight for these institutions even in light of the anguish from the colonized (2001 Acemoglu et al; 1374). Colonizers had the advantage of increased bargaining power, allowing them to establish a governing body that offers representation and property rights. This is not necessarily true for areas of extraction that was absent of interaction between colonized and colonizer. The result was uncontested elite monopolies of power and source of income. This scenario is one that comes easily in cases of indirect rule, where leaders were appointed among the indigenous