The Niger Delta occupies 7.5% of the total land area of
Nigeria and was historically a major producer of palm oil with traders living in
the area using the Delta and the River Niger as a centre for inland trade for
oil and outward trade for slaves. Originally covering
areas that were part of the ancient Benin and Calabar
kingdoms the land determined as the Delta today occupies 70,000 square
km and is home to thirty one million, mainly impoverished people.
Portuguese
explorers and traders began their activity the area in the fifteenth
century after they reached the mouth of the River Niger
in 1470 then from 1806 until the end of that century the British were
busy exploring the area, charting its territory and rivers and
preparing it for trade, mainly in palm oil which it was hoped would
provide financial compensation for the loss of the slave trade that had
seen millions of Nigerian slaves shipped to America during the 16-18th
centuries.
As part of this exploration George Goldie (right) (1846 - 1925), a
former Royal Engineer, had formed the United African Company with designs to resurrect a company
modelled on the former East India
Company to operate in what is now modern day Nigeria. He worked with
others trading in the area and the trading company effectively took control of the Lower
Niger River.
It was renamed as the National African Company in
1882 and within two years Goldie and his agents had signed treaties
with tribal leaders including the emirs of Sokoto and Gandoalong along
the Benue and Niger rivers and had forged deeper into the mainland much
to the consternation of local tribes of the interior who understood
they had an unwritten agreement that trade would be limited to coastal
areas. In 1886
the company was once again renamed as the Royal Niger Company after
receiving a charter from the British government authorizing it to
administer the Niger Delta and the country on the banks of the Niger
and Benue rivers.
However this mandate by itself was insufficient to stop the growing
role in the area of the state sponsored protectorates of France and
Germany who were also jostling for hegemony as well as growing dissent
from native tribes of the interior that often broke out into open conflict requiring
use of gun boats deployed by the Royal Navy. As such, on 31st December
1899, the Royal Niger Company sold its interests to the British
Government for ?865,000 and merged with the Niger Coast Protectorate
(formerly the Oil Rivers
Protectorate of Brass, Bonny, Opobo, Aobh, and
Old Calabar excluding Lagos) to
form the Southern Nigeria Protectorate under the control of the British
Colonial Office.
As
Nigeria began to prepare for independence, the search for oil began in
the Delta in the 1950s and by 1956 it was discovered in commercial
quantities. Less than two years later it was being commercially produced
and sold on the international markets. Today around two million barrels
of oil are extracted in the Niger Delta every day making it the world's
eight largest oil producer in a country that remains one of the
world's poorest as the oil revenues largely bypass those living and
working outside that industry.
Foreign companies extract the oil and it has been alleged that they do
so without regard for local cultures or the local environment which has
been ravaged by oil spills, fires, pollution, deforestation and poor
waste management. As such, much of the Niger Delta is increasingly
uninhabitable with local groups being forced to leave the area. This video of the
Niger Delta has some different facts and figures however describes what may
happen to the area and its inhabitants should climate change continue to flood
the area.
After you've watch the video explore the Niger Delta using our
interactive map below.
Portuguese
explorers and traders began their activity the area in the fifteenth
century after they reached the mouth of the River Niger
in 1470 then from 1806 until the end of that century the British were
busy exploring the area, charting its territory and rivers and
preparing it for trade, mainly in palm oil which it was hoped would
provide financial compensation for the loss of the slave trade that had
seen millions of Nigerian slaves shipped to America during the 16-18th
centuries.
As
Nigeria began to prepare for independence, the search for oil began in
the Delta in the 1950s and by 1956 it was discovered in commercial
quantities. Less than two years later it was being commercially produced
and sold on the international markets. Today around two million barrels
of oil are extracted in the Niger Delta every day making it the world's
eight largest oil producer in a country that remains one of the
world's poorest as the oil revenues largely bypass those living and
working outside that industry.
