The Niger Coast Protectorate was a British

protectorate A protectorate, in the context of international relations, is a State (polity), state that is under protection by another state for defence against aggression and other violations of law. It is a dependent territory that enjoys autonomy over ...

in the Oil Rivers area of present-day

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

, originally established as the Oil Rivers Protectorate in 1884 and confirmed at the

Berlin Conference The Berlin Conference of 1884–1885 was a meeting of colonial powers that concluded with the signing of the General Act of Berlin,

the following year. It was renamed on 12 May 1893, and merged with the chartered territories of the Royal Niger Company on 1 January 1900 to form the

Southern Nigeria Protectorate Southern Nigeria was a British protectorate in the coastal areas of modern-day Nigeria formed in 1900 from the union of the Niger Coast Protectorate with territories chartered by the Royal Niger Company below Lokoja on the Niger River. The L ...

This covered the eastern coast of what it today Nigeria, and in theory extended inland as far as

Lokoja Lokoja is a north-central city in Nigeria. It lies at the confluence of the Niger River, Niger and Benue River, Benue list of rivers of Nigeria, rivers and is the capital city of Kogi State. While the Bassa Nge, Yoruba people, Yoruba Oworo peopl ...

. It was established to better regulate and control the large trade in

palm oil Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from the mesocarp (reddish pulp) of the fruit of oil palms. The oil is used in food manufacturing, in beauty products, and as biofuel. Palm oil accounted for about 36% of global oils produced from o ...

that was coming through both Calabar and the Niger Delta, and which had given the various rivers in the area the name of oil rivers.

References

* Thomas Pakenham, '' The Scramble for Africa'' (Random House, 1991), pp. 197–199
StampWorldHistory

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Former British protectorates Former Nigerian administrative divisions History of the petroleum industry 19th century in Nigeria States and territories disestablished in 1900 Niger River Delta Former British colonies and protectorates in Africa Petroleum industry in Nigeria Colonial Nigeria 1884 establishments in the British Empire 1900 disestablishments in Nigeria Niger Coast Protectorate {{Nigeria-stub