Royal Niger Company
The Royal Niger Company was a trading company hired by Great Britain in the 19th century . It formed the basis for today's state of Nigeria .
history
Sir George Taubmann Goldie planned to give the relatively unexplored regions around the lower and central parts of the Niger River to the British Empire . For more than 20 years he tried to implement his plans. Government activities were to be turned over to companies hired within the Empire, a method that should have vanished from the scene with the end of the British East India Company . In the first step, he united all British economic interests in Niger, which he succeeded in 1879 with the United African Company. In 1881 Goldie hoped for a treaty with the British government of William Ewart Gladstone , but his attempts were unsuccessful.
At that time, French traders, encouraged by Léon Gambetta , were spreading in the lower area of the river, making it difficult for society to secure territorial rights. But their territories were bought from the French in 1884, so that Goldie was able to announce at the Berlin West Africa Conference in 1885, where he was an expert on issues relating to the Niger River, that only the British flag was flying on the lower Niger. At the same time the Niger coast became a British protectorate. Over 400 political treaties were signed with traditional leaders in the lower Niger region and with representatives of the Hausa people . After the British had overcome their scruples, the government mandate was officially handed over to the National African Company in July 1886, which became the Royal Niger Company, with Henry Austin Bruce, 1st Baron Aberdare , as chairman and Goldie as vice-chairman. The place Lokoja at the confluence of the rivers Benue and Niger became the headquarters of the Company; This received a royal charter in 1886, with which it acquired sovereign rights in the lower Niger through contracts with the local rulers, levied customs duties and traded. The number of the black population in the areas under the Company was estimated at 20 to 35 million.
As a private company, the Royal Niger Company was unable to withstand the state-sponsored protectorates of France and Germany . In addition, there was a major military conflict with the Sultan of Bida, as a result of which their expenses exceeded their income. And so on January 1st, 1900, the Royal Niger Company surrendered its territories to the British government for the sum of £ 865,000. The preserved areas, along with the coastal protectorate, which was already in British possession, were divided into the protectorates of northern and southern Nigeria ; British Colonial Secretary Joseph Chamberlain became one of the main owners of the Company.
In 1920, the English group Lever Brothers bought the company, which now operated under the name Niger Company. As a result of negative price developments on the raw material market, Royal Niger merged with the African & Eastern Trade Corporation to form the United African Company in 1929 . After Lever Brothers merged with the Dutch Margarine Union to form Unilever in the same year , the United African Company finally merged into the new large group.
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ The Coron Chronicle - the 20th Century: 1900–1903 . S. 24. Coron-Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-577-17101-4 .
- ↑ Unilever: The Penny Empire . In: Der Spiegel . No. 40 , 1960 ( online ).
- ↑ Palm Line history. (No longer available online.) In: oceanlinermuseum.co.uk. Archived from the original on April 15, 2016 ; accessed on January 7, 2017 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
