The Royal Niger Company was a mercantile company chartered by the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

government in the nineteenth century. It was formed in 1879 as the ''United African Company '' and renamed to ''National African Company'' in 1881 and to ''Royal Niger Company'' in 1886. In 1929 the company became part of the

United Africa Company The United Africa Company (UAC) was a British company which principally traded in West Africa during the 20th century. The United Africa Company was formed in 1929 as a result of the merger of The Niger Company, which had been effectively owne ...

, which came under the control of

Unilever Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy dri ...

in the 1930s and continued to exist as a subsidiary of Unilever until 1987, when it was absorbed into the parent company. The company existed for a comparatively short time (1879–1900) but was instrumental in the formation of Colonial Nigeria, as it enabled the British Empire to establish control over the lower

Niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languagesBismarck during the 1890s. In 1900, the company-controlled territories became the

Southern Nigeria Protectorate Southern Nigeria was a British protectorate in the coastal areas of modern-day Nigeria formed in 1900 from the union of the Niger Coast Protectorate with territories chartered by the Royal Niger Company below Lokoja on the Niger River. The ...

, which was in turn united with the Northern Nigeria Protectorate to form the

Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria Colonial Nigeria was ruled by the British Empire from the mid-nineteenth century until 1960 when Nigeria achieved independence. British influence in the region began with the prohibition of slave trade to British subjects in 1807. Britain a ...

in 1914 (which eventually gained independence within the same borders as

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

in 1960). The Royal Niger Company was eventually integrated into

United African Company

Richard Lander Richard Lemon Lander (8 February 1804 – 6 February 1834) was a British explorer of western Africa. He and his brother John were the first Europeans to follow the course of the River Niger, and discover that it led to the Atlantic. Biograp ...

first explored the area of

as the servant of

Hugh Clapperton Bain Hugh Clapperton (18 May 1788 – 13 April 1827) was a Scottish naval officer and explorer of West and Central Africa. Early career Clapperton was born in Annan, Dumfriesshire, where his father, George Clapperton, was a surgeon. He gained s ...

. In 1830, he returned to the river with his brother

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

; in 1832, he returned again (without his brother) to establish a trading post for the "African Steamship Company" at the confluence of the Niger and Benue rivers. The expedition failed, with 40 of the 49 members dying of

fever Fever, also referred to as pyrexia, is defined as having a temperature above the normal range due to an increase in the body's temperature set point. There is not a single agreed-upon upper limit for normal temperature with sources using val ...

or wounds from native attacks. One of the survivors, Macgregor Laird, subsequently remained in Britain but directed and funded expeditions to the country until his death in 1861. He opposed the failed Niger expedition of 1841 but the success of the ''Pleiads first mission in 1854 led to annual trips under Baikie and the 1857 foundation of Lokoja at the Niger–Benue confluence. There were no voyages for the three years following Laird's death, but the establishment of the was soon followed by several other firms. The competition reduced prices to the point that profits were minimal. Arriving in the region in 1877,Máthé-Shires, László.
Lagos Colony and Oil Rivers Protectorate
in the ''Encyclopedia of African History'', Vol. 3, pp. 791–792. Accessed 5 April 2014.

George Goldie Sir George Dashwood Taubman Goldie (20 May 1846 – 20 August 1925) was a Manx administrator who played a major role in the founding of Nigeria. In many ways, his role was similar to that of Cecil Rhodes elsewhere in Africa but he did ...

argued for the amalgamation of the surviving British firms into a single monopolistic

chartered company A chartered company is an association with investors or shareholders that is incorporated and granted rights (often exclusive rights) by royal charter (or similar instrument of government) for the purpose of trade, exploration, and/or coloni ...

, a method contemporaries supposed had been buried with the ultimate failure of the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...

following the

Sepoy Rebellion ''Sepoy'' () was the Persian-derived designation originally given to a professional Indian infantryman, traditionally armed with a musket, in the armies of the Mughal Empire. In the 18th century, the French East India Company and its oth ...

. By 1879, he had helped combine

James Crowther James Gerald Crowther (26 September 1899, Halifax – 30 March 1983) was one of the founders of science journalism. He was appointed the scientific correspondent of ''The Manchester Guardian'' in 1928. James was the second child of James Crowther, ...

's WAC,

David Macintosh David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

's , and the

William Brothers William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

' and James Pinnock's firms into a single ; he then acted as the combined firm's agent in the territory. Almost immediately, the firm saw renewed competition as two French firms—the French Equatorial African Association and the Senegal Company—and another English one—the Liverpool and Manchester Trading Company—begin establishing posts on the river as well.McPhee, Allan
''The Economic Revolution in British West Africa'', pp. 75 ff
Frank Cass & Co. Ltd. (Abingdon), 1926 and reprinted 1971. Accessed 4 April 2014. A native attack on the UAC's outpost at Onitsha in 1879 was repulsed with help from HMS ''Pioneer'' but the Gladstone administration subsequently denied Goldie's attempt to procure a government charter in 1881, on the grounds that the international rivalry might occasion unnecessary conflict and that the united firm was undercapitalized for the expense of genuine colonial administration.

National African Company

Sir George Dashwood Taubman Goldie by Sir Hubert von Herkomer

Goldie first began addressing the administration's concerns by increasing the company's capitalization to £100 000. He then managed to corral £1 000 000 in investments in a new concern—the —which bought up the UAC and its interests in 1882. The death of

Léon Gambetta Léon Gambetta (; 2 April 1838 – 31 December 1882) was a French lawyer and republican politician who proclaimed the French Third Republic in 1870 and played a prominent role in its early government. Early life and education Born in Cahors, Ga ...

the same year deprived the French companies of their support within the French government and the strong subsidies it had been providing them. Goldie's cash-flush NAC was then able to maintain 30 trading posts along the riverGeary, Sir William N.M. (1927)
pp. 174 ff
and ruin its competition in a two-year price war: by October 1884 all three had permitted him to buy out their interests in the region and the NAC's annual report for 1885 was able to crow that it "remained alone in undisputed commercial possession of the Niger–Binué region". This

monopoly A monopoly (from Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situation where a speci ...

permitted Britain to resist French and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

calls to internationalize trade on the Niger river during the negotiations at the 1884–1885

Berlin Conference The Berlin Conference of 1884–1885, also known as the Congo Conference (, ) or West Africa Conference (, ), regulated European colonisation and trade in Africa during the New Imperialism period and coincided with Germany's sudden emergenc ...

on African colonization. Goldie himself attended the meetings and successfully argued for including the region of the NAC's operations within a British sphere of interest. Pledges from him and the British diplomats that

free trade Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. It can also be understood as the free market idea applied to international trade. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold econ ...

(or, in any case, non-discriminatory tariff rates) would be respected in their territory were dead letters: the NAC's over 400 treaties with local leaders obliged the natives to trade solely with or through the company's agents. Large tariffs and license fees eliminated competing firms from the area. The terms of these private contracts were made into general treaties by the British consuls, whose own treaties expressly incorporated them.Geary, Sir William Nevill Montgomerie
''Nigeria under British Rule'', p. 95
Frank Cass & Co, 1927. Accessed 5 April 2014. Similarly, when King Jaja of Opobo organized his own trading network and even began running his own shipments of palm oil to Britain, he was lured onto a British warship and shipped into exile on Saint Vincent on charges of "treaty breaking" and "obstructing commerce". Despite treaties extending British control over the tribes of the

Cameroons British Cameroon or the British Cameroons was a British mandate territory in British West Africa, formed of the Northern Cameroons and Southern Cameroons. Today, the Northern Cameroons forms parts of the Borno, Adamawa and Taraba states of N ...

, however, Britain was willing to recognize the German colony that usurped the area in 1885 as a check on French activity in the upper Congo and Ubangi watersheds. The scruples of the British government being overcome, a charter was at length granted (July 1886), the National African Company becoming The Royal Niger Company Chartered and Limited (normally shortened to the Royal Niger Company), with Lord Aberdare as governor and Goldie as vice-governor.

Niger Company

It was, however, evidently impossible for a chartered company to hold its own against the state-supported protectorates of France and

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, and in consequence its charter was revoked in 1899 and, on 1 January 1900, the Royal Niger Company transferred its territories to the British Government for the sum of £865,000. The ceded territory together with the small

Niger Coast Protectorate The Niger Coast Protectorate was a British protectorate in the Oil Rivers area of present-day Nigeria, originally established as the Oil Rivers Protectorate in 1884 and confirmed at the Berlin Conference the following year. It was renamed on 12 ...

, already under imperial control, was formed into the two protectorates of northern and southern Nigeria. The company changed its name to The Niger Company Ltd and in 1929 became part of the

. The United Africa Company came under the control of

in the 1930s and continued to exist as a subsidiary of Unilever until 1987, when it was absorbed into the parent company.

References

External links

* * {{Authority control British West Africa Colonial Nigeria Chartered companies Niger River Retail companies established in 1886 Companies disestablished in 1900 1886 establishments in Africa 1900 disestablishments in Nigeria 1886 establishments in the British Empire 1900 disestablishments in the British Empire Defunct companies of Nigeria Defunct companies of the United Kingdom History of Nigeria Unilever companies Trading companies of the United Kingdom Trading companies established in the 19th century Trading companies disestablished in the 19th century

United African Company

National African Company

Niger Company

See also

References

External links