Colonial Nigeria

Colonial Nigeria was the British dependency that governed the territory of modern Nigeria from 1914 until independence on 1 October 1960. Britain annexed Lagos in 1861 and later established protectorates over the Niger Delta and the hinterland; from 1886 to 1899 the Royal Niger Company administered much of the area under charter. In 1900 the Northern and Southern Nigeria Protectorates passed to the Crown, and in 1914 they were amalgamated with the Colony of Lagos to form the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria. The capital was Lagos, the former colonial port, until the administration began moving to Abuja in the late 1970s. Government combined direct rule in Lagos with indirect rule through local chiefs elsewhere. Until 1914 the south had been administered separately, and the amalgamation created a single administration for the whole territory, and the three regions retained considerable autonomy. Post-war constitutions widened representation, and Nigeria became independent in 1960, with Lagos remaining the capital until 1991.