Chapter II: Northern Nigeria Prior to the British Occupation

The political events of which Northern Nigeria was the scene last century are well known, but a brief recapitulation of them is necessary by way of introduction to the study of its present conditions, the life of its people, and the accomplishments and problems of the British Administration.

In the opening years of the nineteenth century, what is now Northern Nigeria consisted of the shattered remnants of the once famous Bornu Empire; of seven independent states more or less (generally less) controlled by chieftains of the remarkable so-called “Hausa” race, invaders of a thousand years before “out of the East,” and of the aboriginal inhabitants whose origin is lost in the mists of antiquity. Scattered throughout the region and constantly shifting their habitat in response to the necessities of their calling, were tribes of light-coloured straight-haired people, Fulani, nomadic herdsmen and shepherds. From the ranks of these people, spread over West Africa from the Senegal to the Chad, had sprung from time to time political leaders, divines and men of letters who had played a conspicuous part in the history of the old Niger civilizations. The Hausa Chieftains had established a nominal authority over a wide expanse of territory and were constantly at war with the aborigines on their borders. It was not, however, for warlike feats, but for their commerce, farming, cotton and leather industry; for the spread of their language; for the great centres of human activity they had formed and for the fertility and prosperity of the land which they had made their home, that the Hausas were justly renowned all over Western and Northern Africa. They had evolved no great imperial dominion whose various parts acknowledged a central Head, such, alternately, as Melle, Ghanata, Kanem and Bornu; but they had leavened with their intelligence and fertilised with their industrial achievements some of the naturally richest areas of tropical West Africa, and they had earned for themselves in these respects a widespread fame.

It was at this period that a learned Fulani, Othman Fodio, fell foul of the chieftain ruling over the most ancient and aristocratic of the Hausa States, Gober. The latter, fearing for his authority, ordered all the Fulani in his country to be slaughtered, with the result that Othman found himself at the head of a numerous following. Emerging successfully from the struggle, Othman preached a _jihad_, confided sacred standards to his worthiest captains and despatched them far and wide. The Hausa Chieftains were successively overthrown and replaced by Fulani, and regions unassimilated previously by the Hausas were occupied. Othman’s warriors even crossed the Niger and invaded Yorubaland, a large part of which they conquered and retained (Ilorin), the forest belt, Yoruba resistance within it, and, probably, the tsetse fly proving an insurmountable barrier to further progress southwards. Down the Niger they advanced no further than the neighbourhood of Lokoja. Othman adopted the title of _Sarikin mussulmi_, and during his life and that of his son Bello, Hausaland experienced for the first time the grip of a central, directing power. It is doubtful, however, if this change in their rulers had much effect upon the mass of the population, to whom dynastic convulsions mean very little, and it is noteworthy that the Fulani conquerors possessed sufficient statecraft to interfere but slightly with the complicated and efficient system of administration and of taxation which the Hausas had introduced. They took over the government of the towns from the Hausas, the people in many instances assisting and welcoming them. The general condition of the country remained pretty much what it had been. Moreover—and this fact is significant in connection with the arguments I shall presently adduce as regards the inspiring motive of the Fulani uprising—such of the old Hausa families who by their learning and piety had become invested with a special public sanctity were not generally molested by the conquering Fulani. Thus the Kauru, Kajura and Fatika families of Zaria, which had given birth to a long line of Mallams, were preserved in all their authority and dignity by Othman and his successors.

A period of comparative political quiet ensued. Othman issued regulations, and caused them to be strictly enforced, inflicting the severest punishments upon robbers and evil-doers generally. A recrudescence of spiritual influence and of letters everywhere manifested itself. Learned men flocked to Sokoto, where Othman had built his capital, from West and North Africa. The trans-desert trade revived. Security was so well established that Clapperton, who visited the country during Bello’s reign, records the common saying of the time that a woman could pass unmolested through the land, even if she carried a casket of gold upon her head. With the death of Bello the influence of the central power, enormously difficult to maintain in any case owing to the greatness of the area and the absence of ways of communication, declined. Administrative decay gradually set in and extended with the years. Little by little the authority of the Emir of Sokoto was openly questioned, in all save spiritual matters. Allegiance slackened. Emirs quarrelled amongst themselves. This or that chief acted on his own responsibility in political affairs affecting the general weal, or entirely broke away from control. The roads became infested with bands of highwaymen whose proceedings differed in no way from the banditti of feudal Europe. Rebellious chieftains formed robber strongholds. Military operations degenerated into mere raiding for the capture and sale of prisoners of war to replenish revenues from ordinary taxation which the disturbed state of the country was causing to decrease.

There has probably been a natural tendency in recent years to exaggerate the aggregate effect for evil upon the country which accompanied the weakening of the Fulani dynasty. There is no proof that the state of affairs was worse than what had obtained previous to Othman’s _jihad_. It could hardly have been worse than the condition of Western Europe at sundry stages in its history, when the weakness of the paramount authority and the foraging and strife of rival Barons combined to desolate the homesteads of the people and lay waste the country side. Some notion of parallels in approaching the events of West African history is very desirable, but not often conspicuous. But there can be no doubt—the evidence of one’s own eyes in ruined villages and once cultivated areas “gone to bush” is conclusive—that when the alien Britisher arrived upon the scene as a reforming political force, Northern Nigeria was once more urgently in need of a power sufficiently strong to restore order. Such was the condition of the Hausa States. In Bornu matters had gone from disorder to chaos, culminating in the final tragedy of Rabeh’s incursion, the slaughter of the _Shehu_ and the sack of Kuka, the capital.

There is no need here to describe the events which led to the British occupation, or to narrate the circumstances attending it. We have replaced the Fulani in supreme control of the destinies of Northern Nigeria. We are there to stay. How are we carrying out our self-imposed mission? What are the problems with which we have to grapple? These are the questions to examine. But before doing so, let us first see what manner of people they are over whom we rule henceforth as over-lords. What is their mode of life, their principal occupation, their character, and the material and spiritual influences which direct their outlook and mould their existence?