HISTORY FORM 3 – COLONIAL ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEMS

BACK GROUND OF THE COLONIAL ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEMS.

Colonial administrative systems were the ways of controlling and maintaining colonial power in colonies after the establishment of colonialism.

Colonialists including Germany, French, British, Portugal, Belgium etc; after colonizing African countries they introduced different administrative systems in their colonies depended on the following:

1. The nature of the people in the colonies, such as being cooperative, military, strong, weak etc.
   
2. Challenges encountered during acquiring colonies i.e. by strong resistance, collaboration etc.
   
3. The character of colonial power. For example Germany preferred direct rule while British preferred indirect rule and French preferred assimilation policy.
   

 

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REASONS WHY COLONIALISTS INTRODUCED DIFFERENT ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEMS AFTER THE ESTABLISHMENT COLONIAL RULE.

1. To change the form or tradition of the African system of administration.
   
2. To maintain or ensure effective occupation/ control of the colony socially, politically and economically.
   
3. Maximization of profit through colonial exploitation by setting up a system of administration which favored colonialists.
   
4. To ensure peace and harmony in colonies after faced reactions/ resistances during the establishment of colonial rule.
   
5. To prepare the suitable and conducive environment for establishment of colonial economy.
   
6. To fulfill the agreement reached during the Berlin conference of 1884-1885 on effective occupation of colonies.
   

 

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Therefore; the reasons behind the establishment of different colonial administrative system in Africa after colonialists managed to defeat Africans, was due to many resistances colonialists faced while they were trying to introduce colonial rule in Africa.

Also colonialists introduced different administrative system due to:

1. Language problems.
   
2. Lack of enough manpower since they were few in number.
   
3. Colonialists needed a lot of fund to run their activities.
   

 

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Therefore different challenges which colonialists faced during the time of establishing colonial rule led them to apply different forms/ types of administrative systems.

TYPES/FORMS OF COLONIAL ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEMS ADOPTED IN AFRICA

1. DIRECT RULE
   
2. INDIRECT RULE
   
3. ASSIMILATION POLICY
   
4. ASSOCIATION POLICY
   

 

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DIRECT RULE

Direct rule was the form/ type of colonial administrative system applied by the Germans where by Africans were ruled directly without local rulers support. It was applied in Namibia, Tanganyika, Togo etc.

INDIRECT RULE

Indirect rule was the form of administrative system applied by the British where by Africans were ruled indirectly through local rulers support. It was applied in Uganda, Nigeria etc

ASSIMILATION POLICY

This was the French administrative system applied in her colonies which turned Africans to be like French citizens. African who were assimilated [changed/turned] to be French men were called ASSIMILADORS.

ASSOCIATION POLICY

Was the French administrative system which replaced assimilation policy which did not aim at turning Africans into French citizens instead it considered African culture.

       All the above colonial systems were different from one colonial power [colonialist] to another. For example British preferred using indirect rule in her colonies such as Nigeria, Ghana and Sierra Leon.

German used her direct rule in her colonies such as Tanganyika, Congo, Namibia, Angola and Mozambique. French used assimilation policies in Algeria and Senegal.

INDIRECT RULE

Introduction

Indirect rule was a administrative system applied [adopted] by the British where by African traditional local rulers were allowed to participate in colonial administration by implementing the colonial policies.

Indirect rule was British administrative system which used local rulers/ chiefs to implement British colonial policies.

Within indirect rule African local rulers [chiefs] were given chances or allowed to govern their fellow Africans through orders and supervision from British colonial government.

British indirect rule adopted in many African countries after being succeed to be implement in the Northern Nigeria in the 1900-1906 and the whole Nigeria between 1912-1920 by British governor known as LORD LUGARD.

Therefore indirect rule was first introduced by the British governor Lord Lugard in Nigeria in 1912-1920.

FEATURES/ CHARACTERISTICS OF INDIRECT RULE

1. Chiefs who were appointed were required to implement British policies to their fellow Africans.
   
2. Indirect rule forced and collectedtaxes from people.
   
3. Indirect rule aimed at getting cheap labours.
   
4. Indirect rule forces British law and ordinances.
   
5. Indirect rule aimed at maintaining peace and harmony on behalf of the British government.
   

 

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Therefore the chiefs who were appointed to implement British government policies became a part of British colonial government hence chiefs were favored and given the following things;

1. Chiefs were given colonial protection.
   
2. Chiefs were paid salaries.
   
3. Chiefs were given good accommodation e.g. houses.
   
4. Chiefs family include sons and daughters were given good social services i.e. education.
   
5. Chiefs were given gifts.
   

 

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WHY BRITISH USED/ APPLIED INDIRECT RULE?

1. Lack of manpower.
   

   British were few in number hence used indirect rule because it was very difficult to rule large African population without assistance.
   

2. Communication problems.
   

    British adopted indirect rule because they had no good information links with the Africans than African local rulers such as chiefs and kings.
   

3. To avoid resistance.
   

 

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         The British used indirect rule because they wanted to avoid resistance since there was no direct contact between
Africans and British but Africans with their rulers.

4. The system was economically cheap.

The African chiefs were not directly paid by the colonial governments. Also the African chiefs could not demand services from the
colonial government such as accomodation, transport and medical services.

5. Number of colonies
    Britain had many colonies in Africa but had very few officials to dispose in these colonies. Colonial offices were not enough to  dispose from the grass root levels and above. African natives thought that they were still under their chiefs; orders given by the colonizers passed through the African chiefs who reduced the impacts of the Africans.

6. The system reduced resistance from Africans.
Physical difficulties in Africa forced the British to use African chiefs. Thick forests, hostile climate and remoteness of the area; the British found difficult to penetrate the hinterland because of the named problems.

7. Language barrier.
Some Africans could not be organized through radio and other means of communication therefore the use of African chiefs was efficient. The African chiefs would communicate with their people using their people.

8. The system ensured the collection of tax from the African communities as the chiefs lived with their people.

9. It was a suitable technique to govern illiterate African.

10. Tropical diseases which killed many British personels. e.g Malaria

APPLICATION OF INDIRECT RULE IN NIGERIA BY LORD FREDRIC  LUGARD.

Indirect rule was first applied in Nigeria  by the British governor known as Sir Fredrick Lugard in 1900-1906.

Indirect rule in Nigeria was applied after British encountered [faced] a lot of challenges from big tribes which had strong traditional administrative systems like Fulani aristocracy who governed Sokoto caliphate by using Islamic laws in Northern Nigeria.

Therefore the British by using indirect rule which was required as a role model in the British colonial administration.  Local native leaders in Nigeria continued to rule their traditional land, collect taxes and implement orders and duties as assigned by the British. So British succeeded to apply indirect rule in Northern Nigeria despite it was not successful much in Southern Nigeria in Yomba tribe.

Through indirect rule Lord Lugard was able to control Nigeria by using their local traditional rulling system and cooperative leaders who performed the following activities;

1. To collect taxes.
   
2. To implement British laws and policies.
   
3. To reduce resistance from the people.
   
4. To reduce the political, economic and military costs.
   
5. To rule their land under the British control.
   

 

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Despite the fact that indirect rule succeeded to rule Nigeria especially Northern Nigeria, other areas in Nigeria like southern Nigeria was unsuccessful due to poor and less cooperation from YORUBA land chiefs or kings who did not organize and centralize Yoruba people since before.

Therefore the British found the following as the failure of indirect rule in Southern Nigeria;

1. Chiefs /Local rulers of Southern Nigeria were not given respect by the Yoruba people.
   
2. Local rulers were appointed to implement the British polices but they failed i.e. collection of taxes.
   
3. Southern Nigerian societies had strong traditional administrative system such as the use of chiefs for example Lagos had no chiefdom system.
   
4. Southern Nigeria was decentralized than Northern Nigeria which was more centralized.
   

 

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Therefore indirect rule became very difficult to be applied in Southern Nigeria by Lord Lugard during his six years of administering Nigeria so as to transform it into commercial [economically] as well as politically and to establish British protectorate by using its local rulers.

WHY LORD FREDRICK LUGARD APPLIED /PREFERED APPLICATION OF INDIRECT RULE IN THE BRITISH COLONIES

1. Some of the African societies were centralized hence no need of the new colonial administrative system. For example sokotocaliphat, Bugando.
   
2. Some of the African communities were not competent to control themselves with the British assistance hence used indirect rule.
   
3. British wanted to spread their superiority complex over Africans.
   
4. They used indirect rule to avoid administrative costs.
   
5. British wanted to avoid communication barriers, for example language problems and poor infrastructures.
   
6. British were few in number so indirect rule solved the problem of manpower.
   
7. Lord Lugard preferred indirect rule because it avoided resistance and conflicts from local rulers and people.
   

 

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