Trading With Aggressive Imperialism Analysis

trading with aggressive imperialism"(Uchendu 1965, p.4). According to Coleman (1971) “the discovery in 1830 that the Niger entered the Bight of Biafra served as an invitation for traders to penetrate the hinterland” (p.41). According to him between 1886 till 1890 the Royal Niger Company administered territories in the basin of the Niger on behalf of Britain after these areas had been acknowledged in the Berlin conference of 1885 as belonging to Britain.
The British merchants were as vital to the conquest of Igbo land, so also were the Missionaries and the colonial administrators that followed them (Njoku 1991). If one should consider the roles that the British merchants - especially the Royal Niger Company- played along the coast of Bight of Biafra till inside the Igbo hinterlands according to Coleman (1971);
According to Lugard (1904) on January 1, 1900 the flag of Britain replaced the flag of the Royal Niger Company –bringing to an end the rule by the company and the beginning of that of Britain, Brigadier-General Sir Frederick John Dealtry Lugard represented Britain and hence direct British colonialism started. In 1914, Brigadier-General Sir Lugard amalgamated the Protectorate of Northern Nigeria and Protectorate of Southern Nigeria to be known as Nigeria (Coleman 1971). This sounds exactly like the description of imperialism as cited in Wood (1983). Every position here points towards the argument by Ume (1980) that "(...) the real impetus of the European contact as a deliberate attempt to enhance their economy by fair or foul means"