Bellringer (3/7/14) *Have your Analyzing Imperialism Motives assignment out* Three robbers armed with guns enter your house. You have three choices: Fight them Cooperate with them so they do not hurt you or your family Hide and call the police and wait for assistance Choose your course of action and explain your choice.

Today’s Class (3/7/14) Outcome: Agenda: Be able to analyze situations experienced by Nigerians as a result of European colonialism. Agenda: Bellringer Group Activity – Respond to scenarios experienced by Nigerians during colonialism Class Review – Your Choice & Actual Responses

Group Activity – Analyzing Scenarios 5 Groups In your groups, you will be reading a scenario that Nigerians experienced during European colonization of Africa. Your group will be deciding how to respond to these scenarios from the perspective of the Nigerians.

Group Activity – Analyzing Scenarios http://www. online-stopwatch For each Event (5 minutes): Read the scenario description & question. As a group, decide what response to take. Describe potential outcomes for your choice.

Event A: The Slaves-for-Guns Trade Scenario: Europeans begin trading along coast of Nigeria with local tribes, offering weapons & valuables in exchange for enslaved Africans. Some tribes refuse to take part, but other tribes desire weapons to gain advantage over their rivals. This trade created a slaves-for-guns cycle that broke up families and communities to keep rival groups & Europeans at bay. Question: The British have recently signed a trade treaty with your rival kingdom. You need a steady supply of guns to maintain your independence. What would you advise your leader to do? Why? Trade your own servants, prisoners of war, hired workers, and criminals for guns and gunpowder. Carry out slave raids on neighboring African peoples to acquire a greater number of slaves, thereby gaining great trade leverage with the European slave traders. Refuse to sell slaves to the Europeans and attempt to negotiate with your neighbors to support your decision. Actual Response: Most Nigerian groups traded enslaved Africans at some point. Some groups in the interior region refused to take part. These interior groups were later easily conquered by Europeans due to their lack of modern weapons.

Event B: Protection Treaties & Christian Missionaries Scenario: Rivalries amongst Nigerian tribes result in Kosoko forcing Akitoye off the throne. Kosoko refuses to sign treaty that would protect missionaries & is removed by Britain. British approach Akitoye and offer to restore him as King and protect kingdom in exchange for allowing missionaries to spread Christianity. Question: You are one of Akitoye’s, the former King of Lagos, trusted advisors. What do you advise him to do? Why? Refuse to sign the protection treaty Sign the treaty and join the British in ruling Lagos. Join Kosoko and other Nigerians and choose to fight against the British in hopes of removing them from Lagos. Actual Response: Akitoye signed the treaty because it returned him to the throne. He ruled until his death in 1853. Afterwards, fighting broke out amongst groups in Nigerian interior & Britain took direct control of the area.

Event C: Jaja of Opobo Scenario: After slave trade was outlawed, King Jaja monopolized the new palm-oil trade in Nigeria. He traded directly with European merchants & cut out European middlemen, hurting Europeans’ profits. Angered British sent warship to demand Jaja allow free trade. When Jaja went aboard ship, he was given choice: face trial in Britain for “blocking trade” or return ashore and have Opobo bombarded by the warship. Question: What would you advise Jaja to do? Why? Give himself up and face trial in British courts. Return to Opobo and fight the British. Promise to allow free trading if the British promise not to bombard & let him return to shore. Actual Response: Jaja surrendered to the British in hopes of saving his people. He was tried and convicted of “blocking the highways of trade.” He was deported to the West Indies, where he died 4 years later.

Event D: Lagos & Chief Oluwa Scenario: British founded a colony at city of Lagos in 1861 and used indirect rule to govern it. In 1919, the British took a piece of land from the Chief’s family and gave it to European merchants, giving Chief Oluwa 500 pounds, much less than the value of the property. Chief Oluwa sues the colony at great financial expense and loses in both the British courts & Nigerian Colonial Supreme Court. Question: You are a member of Chief Oluwa’s family who lives on the land claimed by the British. What would you advise Chief Oluwa to do? Why? Try to rouse fellow Lagos residents to arms and fight British, forcing them off your family’s lands. Accept the decisions of the colonial courts and move from your land. Spend even more money to sail to England and try the case in the highest British courts in hopes of getting a decision in your favor. Actual Response: Chief Oluwa went to England in 1920 and appealed his case to the British Privy Council in London. He won the case and was awarded the sum of 7,500 pounds, paid by the British colonial government in Lagos.

Event E: Women’s Reaction to Colonial Taxes Scenario: British routinely collect taxes from all African men. In 1929, a British colonial officer begins counting the number of wives in the colony. Women in the colony peacefully protest to avoid potential tax on women, which would make them appear as property of their husbands. The British removed the colony’s Chief, who supported the tax, but plans for the census continued. Question: You are a woman living in a neighboring province where the census has been proposed. What should you and the women in your village do? Why? Pay the tax and avoid confronting the colonial government. Refuse to pay the tax. Organize a protest in the streets with other women to build support for an anti-tax movement. Actual Response: Women in neighboring town gathered in streets to protest the proposed tax. The demonstration turned violent and spread to neighboring areas. British troops killed 26 women during a protest and chose not to tax women in the area. Officials responsible for the killings were reprimanded by British government.

Comparing Bellringer to Nigerians’ Response to Colonialism If three robbers with guns entered your house, would you (1) fight them, (2) cooperate with them so that they would not hurt you or your family, or (3) call the police and wait for assistance. How does this compare to Africans during the time of Imperialism/Colonialism?