Imperialism In Nigeria

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Recommended: Colonial impact on Igbo society

Colonization can be defined as the action or process of settling among and establishing control over the indigenous people of an area. Many European countries took part in colonization during the age of imperialism, by doing this these countries used their superiority to dominate the economic, political, and cultural life of the weaker nation being colonized. The age of imperialism came at a time after the Industrial Revolution when European nations were seeking new sources of raw materials and markets to sell manufactured products, colonization solved this problem. Industrialized countries of the west sought to expand their economies by obtaining raw materials from their colonies which could be transported back to factories, turned into manufactured goods, and shipped back to the colonies markets for sale. During …show more content…

In pre-colonial Igbo politics, communities were semi autonomous and devoid of kings or governing chiefs, most Igbo village governments were ruled solely by an assembly of the common people. Though men who held titles were respected and often performed special functions given to them in the assemblies, they were never seen as kings. The Igbo tribe settled law matters by taking an oath to god. If that person died in a certain amount of time, he was guilty. If found not guilty he was free to go, but if guilty that person could face exile or servitude to a deity. When the British came to colonize Nigeria, they sought to centralize the decentralized government they encountered. Under British colonial rule, the diversity within each of Nigeria's major ethnic groups slowly decreased by means of a centralized government, but distinctions between the Igbo and other large ethnic groups became sharper. British rule brought about changes in government by having the tribe to be ruled by chiefs or ezes (traditional rulers), there had been no monarchies before

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