Removing Rulers in the Niger Delta, 1887–1897

Abstract

By the mid 1880s, Britain had joined the ‘scramble for Africa’. The European powers were now not simply seeking to open up trade with African rulers, but to make exclusive territorial claims. With a framework established at the Berlin Conference for how imperial powers could claim territory on the West African coast, each of them hurried to assert their rights in particular areas. In contrast to her European neighbours, Britain did not wish to annex large swaths of new territory as colonies, both because of the potential expense involved and because of the legal problems presented by making British subjects of people who still practised slavery. However, in the context of intense territorial competition between the European powers, the traditional English conception of protectorates came under pressure. In an era when both diplomats and international lawyers were increasingly viewing African polities as lacking the capacity to be actors on the international stage, the British notion that protectorates were at base relationships founded on treaty obligations gradually gave way to the view held by the other European powers that