Abstract

This paper is an assessment of the gradual rise of the British owned Royal Niger Company (RNC) to power in the Niger-Benue confluence area and the schemes it devised in outwitting other European trading companies on the River Niger in the 19th century. Historical approaches were adopted as methodology for this paper. These included primary and secondary sources from archives and libraries. Relevant materials were carefully studied and analyzed using historical methods. The paper agrees that the discovery of the mouth of the Niger by Richard and John Landers in 1830, and the realization of the navigability of the river from the Gulf of Guinea to the interior galvanised Britain into scrambling for the ownership and control of the Niger-Benue confluence area. The paper unravels that the Eurocentric claims that Africans on the banks of the Niger knew little about the river than fishing on it before the arrival of the Europeans is no longer tenable. In the course of their exploration, the Lander Brothers came into contact with the lieutenants of the Attah Igala in the confluence area. The explorers acknowledged them as “the war chiefs of the river.” The Attah Igala had chiefs on the river that were collecting duties and tolls on his behalf. It took the amalgamation of British companies in the area to be able to earn monopoly against other European companies. A charter signed with the RNC for it to deploy force to be able to take absolute control of the area from the local chiefs.

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