Imperialism in Nigeria Today, Nigeria is one of the many developing third-world countries in Africa, with a high prevalence of poverty, disease, violence, poor human rights record, and stagnant ideals relative to modern ways of thinking. All of these current issues are a result of one underlying cause: imperialism. From 1901 to 1960, Nigeria was under British colonial rule. As a result of the Industrial Revolution, economic interest proliferated. Thus, a craving for natural resources, new markets, and cheap labor was born, a desire only to be further galvanized due to competition amongst European countries. In Europe’s perspective, Nigeria, along with the rest of Africa, was an invaluable source of raw materials and market for industrial …show more content…
Molded by European ideas, modern Nigerian nationalists in the south opposed indirect rule, as they believed that it had strengthened ruling classes and social hierarchies. The nationalists particularly recognized Britain’s failure to appreciate the antiquity, richness, and intricatcies of indigenous cultures, and thus demanded self-government. In the 1920s, ethnic and kinship organizations, which took the form of tribal unions, surfaced. Major ethnic groups, such as the Igbo Federal Union and the Egbe Omo Oduduwa emerged, leading to identification with ethnicity where none had existed before. (Isichei) These resistance movements and increased nationalistic ideas led to greater tension between Nigeria and Britain, as the Europeans were stunned that the Nigerians wanted to develop independence from Britain, whilst the Nigerians believed that they had every right to …show more content…
The effects of British colonization were permanent, embossed into ideals of Nigeria manifest in its present day condition. Britain’s indirect rule of Nigeria intensified the conflicts and only promoted a lack of unity between the north and south; British colonizers cultivated great wealth in South Nigeria due to the Niger River and the control of palm oil trade by the Royal Niger Company, while in North Nigeria, the Sokoto Caliphate ruled over the region, often engaging in warfare with other kingdoms and conducting slave raids. Thus, when independence finally came to Nigeria, these vast disparities left behind a country fragmented into cultural, ethnic, and economical strata. (Nigeria, Mount Holyoke