Abstract
The changes that have been occurring in Igbo society since the genesis of British imperialism gained greater momentum after the Aro Expedition (1901–1902), when the colonial frontier expanded to encompass entire southeastern Nigeria. This chapter is divided into three major periods, which will show how the three arms of British imperialism and their local agents affected Igbo history since annexation. The first period (1890s–1918) deals with the establishment of British authority in Igbo towns on the Lower Imo River after the banishment of Jaja of Opobo, the annexation and administration of entire Igboland, and other themes, until the end of the First World War (1914–1918). The second period examines the sequence of events that led to the Igbo Women’s War (1929), while the third period discusses the political and administrative changes of the 1930s–1970s, showing how they helped in empowering the literate elite and other interest groups.
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Notes
Adiele Afigbo, “The Aro Expedition of 1901–1902: An Episode in the British Occupation of Iboland,” in Falola (2005), 331.
A report of Harcourt’s trip is contained in Elizabeth Isichei, Igbo Worlds: An Anthology of Oral Histories and Historical Descriptions (London: Macmillan Educational Ltd, 1978), 211.
Ibid., and J.E.N. Nwaguru, Aba and British Rule: The Evolution and Administrative Developments of the Old Aba Division of Igboland, 1896–1960 (Enugu: Santana Press, 1973), 46–47.
Joseph C. Anene, Southern Nigeria in Transition, 1885–1906 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1966), 228–29.
Felix Ekechi, Missionary Enterprise and Rivalry in Igboland, 1857–1914 (London: Frank Cass, 1972), 122.
Jones Vol. I (1988), 130 and Afigbo (2005), 330–31. The replacement of traditional currencies was a difficult goal to achieve until the government began to confiscate manilas during a campaign it called “Operation Manila” (1948–1949). See Chuku (2005), 170 and Birgit Muller, “Commodities as Currencies: The Integration of Overseas Trade into the Internal Trading Structure of the Igbo of South-East Nigeria,” Cahiers d’Etudes Africaines, 25.97 (1985), 57–77.
Felix Ekechi, Tradition and Transformation in Eastern Nigeria: A Sociopolitical History of Owerri and its Hinterland 1902–1947 (Kent: The Kent State University Press, 1989), 22–27. He discussed the events which led to the punitive expedition against Ahiara after the death of Dr. Stewart. For the military patrols against the Ezza, see Ottenberg (2005), 53–54.
Afigbo (2005), 342–31, Isichei (1973), 141. See also Don Ohadike, The Ekumeku Movement: Western Igbo Resistance to the British Conquest of Nigeria, 1883–1914 (Athens: Ohio University Press, 1991).
Adiele Afigbo, The Warrant Chiefs: Indirect Rule in South-Eastern Nigeria, 1891–1929 (London: Longman Group Ltd., 1972)
and Harry Gailey, The Road to Aba: A Study of British Administrative Policy in Eastern Nigeria (New York: New York University Press, 1970).
For the Yoruba Examples see Olufemi Vaughan, Nigerian Chiefs: Traditional Power in Modern Politics, 1890s–1990s (Rochester: University of Rochester Press, 2000), 22–57,
and Toyin Falola, The History of Nigeria (West Port: Greenwood Press, 1999), 70–74. Toyin argued that Yoruba rulers (Obas), wielded arbitrary powers during indirect rule, and many of them abused their offices. Tax riots also broke out in Yorubaland during the period. Corruption and other social problems are still haunting modern Nigeria.
Nwando Achebe, Farmers, Traders, Warriors and Kings: Female Power and Authority in Northern Igboland, 1900–1960 (Portsmouth: Heinemann, 2005), 205–15.
Walter Amobi was probably not a lineage head. But he was among the first literate persons in his community. Amobi served as a court interpreter before he was appointed a Warrant Chief in 1906. He was reputed to be a leading patron of the CMS in Ogidi. Similarly, Egbukole of Egbu attracted the CMS to his village, and his house was used as a place of worship until a church building was erected in the town. See Eze Felix Egbukole, Ezeship in Igboland: 100 Years of Egbukole Dynasty (Owerri: publisher not indicated, 2002), 19–26.
Onwuka Njoku, “The Development of Roads and Road Transport in Southeastern Nigeria, 1903–1939,” Journal of African Studies, 5.4 (1978), 471–97 and Chuku (2005). 152.
Susan George, Palm Oil and Protest: An Economic History of the Ngwa Region, Southeastern Nigeria, 1800–1980 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988), 92–93.
Wariboko, “New Calabar Middlemen …” op. cit. 35 and Anthony Nwabughuogu, “From Wealthy Entrepreneurs to Petty Traders: The Decline of the African Middleman in Eastern Nigeria, 1900–1950,” The Journal of African History, 23.3 (1982), 365–79.
E.A. Ayandele, Nigerian Historical Studies (London: Frank Cass, 1979), 167.
Chuku (2005), 214–19 and John Oriji, “The Igbo Women’s War,” Thomas Benjamin (ed.), Encyclopedia of Western Colonialism since1450 (Detroit: Gale Group Inc./Macmillan, 2007), 569–71.
T.O. Echewa, I Saw the Sky Catch Fire (New York: the Penguin Group, 1993).
Gailey (1970), 108–13, Judith V. Allen, “‘Sitting on a Man’: Colonialism and the Lost Political Institutions of Igbo Women,” Canadian Journal of African Studies, 6.2 (1972), 165–81
and Caroline Ifeka-Moller, “Female Militancy and Colonial Revolt: The Women’s War of 1929, Shirley Ardner (ed.), Perceiving Women (New York: Wiley, 1975), 127, 154.
Sylvia Leith-Ross, African Women: A Study of the Igbo of Nigeria (London: Rutledge and Kegan Paul, 1939), 38.
Gwilym Jones, Report of the Position, Status and Influence of Chiefs and Natural Rulers in the Eastern Region of Nigeria (Enugu: Government Printer, 1957) and “Chieftaincy in the Former Eastern Region of Nigeria” in Michael Crowder and Obaro Ikime (eds.), West African Chiefs: Their Changing Status under Colonial Rule and Independence (Ile-Ife: University of Ife Press, 1970), 312–24.
Afigbo (2005), 490–91. See also Anambra/Imo States of Nigeria, Government White Paper on the Report of the Committee on Chieftaincy Matters (Enugu: Government Printer, 1975), 1–14.
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© 2011 John N. Oriji
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Oriji, J.N. (2011). Developments in Igboland from the 1890s to the 1970s. In: Political Organization in Nigeria since the Late Stone Age. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230116689_7
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