the crown colonies - Memorial University's Digital Archives Initiative

'4'
T HE CRO W:-'- COLQ).:IES
should become an asset of increasing value to the
British Empire.
The history of Nigeria is a little confusing, because
it is not a plant that has grown from a single stem, as
the case has been in so many of Britain's colonies. T he
dependency is an amalgamation of a number of
d istin ct enterp rises begun at different points on th e
Bight of Benin, formerly called the Slave Coast, and
working independently. T hus the colony proper comprises
what was known a generation ago as Lagos, an d
consists of the present Lagos town and a strip of coast
on either side. The huge Protectorate: is divided into
two main divisions called the Northern and Sout hern
Provinces, and these coincide with the boundaries of the
earlier and ~parate protectorates of Southern Nigeria
and Northern Nigeria. Southern Nigeria grew out of
th e old protectorates founded b)' the trading companies,
the Oi l Rivers Protectorate and the Niger Coast
Protectorate, situated on the delta of the Niger River.
No rthern Nigeria resulted from th e journ eys of British
explorers and the active emissaries of trade. The British
Cameroons were part of the former German colony of
Ka merun, conquered by Ang lo-French forces dur ing
the Great War, and divided between the two powers at
the peace to be governed under a League of Nations
mandate.
These various parts of Nigeria were once under
sc:parate administrations. To-day they are ruled by one
Governor who has his seat at Lagos. He is assisted by
an Executive Council, which controls both the Co lon)'
and the Protectorate. T here is also a Legislative Counc il
for the Colony and the Southern Provinces of the Protectorat
e, which, in addi tion, supervises expenditure in
th e Northern Provinces. It does not, however, ma ke