British West Africa

British West Africa was the name given to the British possessions and "protected areas " in West Africa.

Expansion of British West Africa

British West Africa included the territories of present states of Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Gambia and Ghana ( former name: Gold Coast). The beginnings of British influence in this part of Africa date back to the 17th century, when the British established fortified trading posts such as Cape Coast Castle or Fort Metal Cross here. In different ways they colonized the lie to these bases areas in the late 1780s to the 1960s.

British West Africa was never a single administrative area within the British colonial system, but it was within these areas from 1907 to 1962 (or until the independence of the individual states ), a single currency, the West African pound.

Different forms of the exercise of power

The British distinction in British West Africa between crown colonies, protectorates and territories. These differentiations were far more than just administrative distinctions. They related to different degrees of autonomy of the regions and possible civil rights of residents.

Crown Colonies within the British West Africa were small areas around the city of Bathurst in today's Gambia to Freetown in present-day Sierra Leone and around the city of Lagos in Nigeria today. A larger area comprised only the Gold Coast Crown colony, consisting of the coastal region of present-day Ghana. Within these formed in the 19th century the influence of the British crown colonies was more direct, but there was also extensive freedom of the press and certain civil rights. For example, the residents had the right to form political associations and local lawyers were able to prevent excesses of the colonial regime in the legal way.

The rest of British West Africa, geographically that is, the absolute majority, consisted of " protectorates " and " territories " in which largely traditional structures - or what the British considered this - have been retained. Here it was forbidden to practice lawyers and political associations were allowed to form only disguised as cultural organizations. For these areas, the concept of so-called indirect rule was invented, so the " indirect rule " of the British, who ran partly through recognized traditional ruler, but often also within the population is not that accepted " traditional ruler of Britain's graces ".

The "Elite"

Within the British West Africa there were in the first half of the 20th century, a western educated, native layer called "elite". This - the vast majority - men knew each usually with each other, no matter what part of British West Africa they came from. They moved most freely between the British dominions, and had - in contrast with the educated classes in the French colonies - more of a West African, as a Nigerian or Gambian identity.

The end of British West Africa

The end of British colonial rule in West Africa has been accelerated by the Second World War, which caused a significant economic upturn and the first signs of industrialization in West Africa. Moreover, this war had been conducted with the participation of several thousand West African soldiers in British service on the Allied side in the name of freedom and democracy. The pace of decolonization has also been determined through various forms of civil resistance and open revolts in the various colonies, such as the so-called Accra Riots in 1947 in the Gold Coast.

Ghana became independent in 1957, followed in 1960 Nigeria, Sierra Leone in 1961 and 1965 eventually Gambia.