Well done! And then came the pivot to Indirect Rule and with that the shoring up of that same recently defeated patrimonial authority as a useful tool for colonial governance. With that too necessarily went a ‘go-slow’ on the abolition of ‘the economy of human capture’ and a slow conversion to ‘legitimate commerce’ (palm oil/cocoa and later oil). For the British commerce was ‘legitimate’ as long as it was subordinated to the imperial economy. But not industry. Industrialization was forbidden and completely out of the question. Over time, Indirect Rule produced a wealthy indigenous rentier elite also committed to commerce but to industry not so much. So here we are.
Permit me to go on a tangent, but what makes me saddest when I read this story is that if you change the nomenclatures used a bit, you could be writing about the situation in Nigeria in 2026.
Men with arms (that we now call bandits and herdsmen) are currently sacking and depopulating entire regions of the country with impunity. The government's claim to sovereignty and control is largely paper based. Humans are still stolen from their homes to be sold for profit (being sold back to their loved ones instead of slavers).
To my mind, it seems like the problem was that the mindset of our elites never changed but the colonial system of constitutional democracy seemed to have restrained them, but that veneer now largely seem to have disappeared after 60 odd years of independence and we are back to where we were before anyone came to intervene in our situation.
Abdu TimTim was definitely making a play for something. Power, money- could be either or both. Tried to play both sides against each other and simply got what was coming.
My guess would be money. It is unusual how almost all historical sources - Nigerian and British - all say he was a crook. I imagine it’s something he had done to make money a few times in the past. But of course it always works until the day it doesn’t
Well done! And then came the pivot to Indirect Rule and with that the shoring up of that same recently defeated patrimonial authority as a useful tool for colonial governance. With that too necessarily went a ‘go-slow’ on the abolition of ‘the economy of human capture’ and a slow conversion to ‘legitimate commerce’ (palm oil/cocoa and later oil). For the British commerce was ‘legitimate’ as long as it was subordinated to the imperial economy. But not industry. Industrialization was forbidden and completely out of the question. Over time, Indirect Rule produced a wealthy indigenous rentier elite also committed to commerce but to industry not so much. So here we are.
Indeed, plus ca change! Almost as if the whole thing was a waste of everyone's time
Permit me to go on a tangent, but what makes me saddest when I read this story is that if you change the nomenclatures used a bit, you could be writing about the situation in Nigeria in 2026.
Men with arms (that we now call bandits and herdsmen) are currently sacking and depopulating entire regions of the country with impunity. The government's claim to sovereignty and control is largely paper based. Humans are still stolen from their homes to be sold for profit (being sold back to their loved ones instead of slavers).
To my mind, it seems like the problem was that the mindset of our elites never changed but the colonial system of constitutional democracy seemed to have restrained them, but that veneer now largely seem to have disappeared after 60 odd years of independence and we are back to where we were before anyone came to intervene in our situation.
The *pattern* of insecurity is disturbingly similar. It’s almost as if it never went away
Abdu TimTim was definitely making a play for something. Power, money- could be either or both. Tried to play both sides against each other and simply got what was coming.
My guess would be money. It is unusual how almost all historical sources - Nigerian and British - all say he was a crook. I imagine it’s something he had done to make money a few times in the past. But of course it always works until the day it doesn’t
Brilliant. Simply Brilliant
Thanks for reading!
This was amazing. There is so many stories like this left untold. Really grateful for this series.