Colonial Nigeria

Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria
British colony
1914–1960
Flag Coat of arms
Anthem God Save the King (1914–1952) God Save the Queen (1952–1960)
Nigeria (red) British possessions in Africa (pink) 1914
Capital		Lagos
Languages		English
Government		British Crown colony
High Commissioner/Governor
•	1914–1919	Sir Frederick John Dealtry Lugard
•	1948–1954	Sir John Stuart Macpherson
History
•	Established	1 January 1914
•	Disestablished	1 October 1960
Currency		British West African pound (1914–1958) Nigerian Pound (from 1958)
Preceded by Succeeded by Northern Nigeria Protectorate Southern Nigeria Protectorate Federation of Nigeria

Colonial Nigeria was the area of West Africa that became the modern day Nigeria, during the time of British rule in the 19th and 20th centuries. British influence in the region began with the prohibition of slave trade to British subjects in 1807. The resulting collapse of African slave trade led to the decline and eventual collapse of the indigenous Edo Empire. Britain annexed Lagos in 1861 and established the Oil River Protectorate in 1884. British influence in the Niger area increased gradually over the 19th century, but Britain did not effectively occupy the area until 1885. Other European powers acknowledged Britain's power over the area in the 1885 Berlin Conference.

From 1886 to 1899, much of the country was ruled by Royal Niger Company, authorized by charter, and governed by George Taubman Goldie. In 1900, the Southern Nigeria Protectorate and Northern Nigeria Protectorate passed from company hands to the Crown. At the urging of governor Frederick Lugard, the two territories were amalgamated as the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria, while maintaining considerable regional autonomy among the three major regions. Progressive constitutions after World War II provided for increasing representation and electoral government by Nigerians. The colonial period proper in Nigeria lasted from 1900 to 1960, after which Nigeria gained its independence.

Through a progressive sequence of regimes, the British imposed Crown Colony government on the area of West Africa which came to be known as Nigeria, a form of rule which was both and bureaucratic. After initially adopting an indirect rule approach, in 1906 the British merged the small Lagos Colony and the Southern Nigeria Protectorate into a new Colony of Southern Nigeria, and in 1914 that was combined with the Northern Nigeria Protectorate to form the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria. Administration and military control of the territory was done primarily by white Britons, both in London and in Nigeria.