Voloshina T.G.

Candidate of Philology, Associate Professor

Belgorod State University,
Belgorod, Russia

NIGERIAN HISTORY SINCE EARLY PERIOD TILL BRITISH

COLONIAL ERA

Summery: The paper presents the historical results of English development in

Nigeria during the early stages of the British colonial era. The author provides the
main typologies of culture, landscapes, political organization formations of the first
Nigeria people, as well as analyzes the key moments of British conquests
colonizers.
Keywords: historical aspect, ethnic groups, English language, Nigeria, Pidgin-
English, early period, the period of British colonization.

The earliest evidence of civilization in Nigeria dates back to the description

of the rocks of Iwo-Eleru, located near Akure, Ondo state. Inside this cave a
skeleton dating back to 9000 BC during the late period of Stone age was found [1,
98]. Several notable events of the 11th century shaped the culture, landscape and
political organization of Nigeria's first peoples. Social groups in Nigeria did not
live in isolation, but instead formed segmented political kingdoms and empires.
Even nomadic peoples such as the Fulani, moved in a well-organized political
structure. These first Nations created long-range diplomatic and economic
relations.
Much of the trade involved buying and selling slaves and Nigeria played an
important role in the transatlantic slave trade, with seven of the thirteen major
slave depots in West Africa located in Nigeria. The abolition of the slave trade
from the supply of side (in Africa) was the main merit of European missionaries [2,
112-133]. The first Europeans on the coast of Nigeria were the Portuguese in 1472,
they established regular trade contacts with the locals. Since the end of XV century
there were English, Danish, French and German merchants who bought spices,
palm nuts and ivory. British colonial era covers the period from 1840 to 1960.
Initially, the interest of Europeans was manifested in trade and humanitarian
projects in Africa, along with this, there was also a strong desire to study
geographical wealth. In 1797 Mungo Park went to West Africa on the Niger river.
Another major expedition in 1820s was carried out by Hugh Clapperton, in which
there was a meeting with representatives of the Royal family house and
subsequently carried out the trade on the river Niger [1, 99-101]. By the 1850s,
European governments had not only begun to dominate trade in West Africa, but
also because of the interest in the security of the territory, which had been largely
driven by competition among European powers. In the case of Nigeria, it should be
noted that the British did not claim the territory of that country because of the
desire to dominate the French or Germans.
By the arrival of British colonizers, Nigeria was a feudal state, the colonial
administration appeared in 1861, after the seizure of the Benin Lagos. In 1870, the
United national African company (from1886 — Royal Nigerian company) was
founded, headed by sir George Goldie, one of whose functions was to control trade
between Britain and the population of the Niger river basin [2, 266-271]. Along
with the merchants the territory of Nigeria was penetrated by Anglican
missionaries of the Church missionary society (eng. Church Missionary Society),
the result of which was the ordination of Samuel Crowther first Anglican Bishop
of the Yoruba (1864). In 1902, as a result of the Anglo-Aro war, the territory of the
Aro Confederation was annexed to colonial Nigeria. In 1903 a military expedition
of Frederick Lugard put an end to the feudal state of Sokoto. The resistance to
colonial expansion was fierce, as a result of the struggle, the Northern and southern
protectorates were merged to create unity in Nigeria in 1914. Nigeria became A
British colony during the second half of the 20th century. Thus, in 1914. British
possessions on the coast of the Gulf of Guinea were united in a single colony,
called the Colony and protectorate of Nigeria. The specificity of the British
colonization was to preserve the power of local rulers loyal to the British crown. In
1916 when the Governor established an Advisory Council of Nigerian (Nigerian
Council) consisting of representatives of the local aristocracy. The colonialists
built in Lagos, a major seaport, held in 1916, the railway Lagos-Kano, introduced
new crops: cocoa beans and peanut [1, 116-118].
The end of the second World War marked the beginning of a period of
organized resistance to the colonial regime in the country. Nigerians called on the
people to actively oppose the current state of society. In 1945, 40,000 workers
began a General strike that lasted more than one month. The demand of the
workers was the increase of payment and improvement of working conditions. At
the end of the strike, the workers ' demands were agreed upon [2, 124-128.
Thus, by the end of the 1950s Britain was experiencing great difficulties in
maintaining the leading position of colonial rule and came to an agreement to
maintain a dialogue of cultures and the need for dialogue with the anti-Colonial
leaders of Nigeria and colonial officials. One of the first steps in the decolonization
process had been the process of gaining the independence and form of government
of a state that could meet the requirements of an independent Nigeria. In 1957,
Nigeria's Eastern and Western regions became self-governing, and then two years
later, the country's Northern Region. The General elections, which determined the
structure and composition of the first Republic of Nigeria, took place in December
1959, Nigeria became independent on 1 October 1960.

References

1. Falola T. Historical Dictionary of Nigeria / T. Falola, A. Genova. – The

Scarecrow Press Inc, Lanham, Maryland, 2009 – 473P.
2. Katchru B. The handbook of World Englishes / B. Katchru, Y. Katchru, C.
Nelson. – Blackwell Publishing Ltd, Malden MA, 2006 – 833P.