British West Africa , compilation of widely separated areas in West Africa managed by Great Britain during the colonial era. These included Sierra Leone , Gambia , Nigeria (with British Cameroon) and the Gold Coast (including the Gold Coast Crown Colony, the Asante Empire , the Northern Territories and British Togoland).
Britannica Quiz Destination Africa:Fact or Fiction? Is Africa's northernmost point further north than Europe's southernmost point? See if your geographical knowledge points north or south on this journey through Africa.Sierra Leone was colonized by freed slaves from England in 1787; other groups followed from Nova Scotia (1792) and Jamaica (1800). They were sponsored and ruled by the private Sierra Leone Company until Britain made Sierra Leone a crown colony in 1808. In 1816 the British founded the colony of Bathurst at the mouth of the Gambia River . Both colonies served as bases for British efforts to Slave Trade along the coast to block . British rule spread to interior Sierra Leone and the United States later in the century Gambia . Both interiors became protectorates created by indigenous rulers were governed .
British policy of indirect rule was most clearly articulated by Frederick JD Lugard in Nigeria . In the early 1900s, long after Britain had annexed Lagos as a crown colony (1861), Lugard conquered the north. Northern Nigeria and Southern Nigeria , formed as separate entities in 1906, were merged in 1914 under the leadership of Lugard. His central government consisted of an appointed governor, an executive branch, and a legislative council. However, local administration and jurisdiction depended on traditional rulers and traditional institutions. In some cases, this meant depriving the new class of Western-educated Africans of authority and social change to Suppress . A British resident or district officer served as liaison between the traditional ruler and the colonial regime. Lugard's system became a model for all of British West Africa.
Parts of Gold Coast (present Ghana ) were adopted by the UK at different times. The Gold Coast Crown Colony on the Coast des Gulfs of Guinea was added to the Areas Fante and Ga established near British coastal trading forts. The Mighty The Asante Empire in the north was conquered in 1900–01 and made a protectorate. The far north also became a protectorate. Sir Gordon Guggisberg, who served as governor from 1919 to 1929, introduced indirect rule by granting the Asante King returned his title.
After the WWI the former German colonies of Togoland and Cameroon was split between the UK and France, respectively League of Nations Mandates . British Togoland was administered from the Gold Coast, British Cameroons from Nigeria. In 1946 they became Trustees of United Nations redefined ( see Trustee ).
British West Africa came to an end when Western-educated Africans, excluded from power under indirect rule, launched nationalist movements led for independence. Ghana (including British Togoland) became independent in 1957. Nigeria followed in 1960, Sierra Leone in 1961 and The Gambia in 1965. The British Cameroonians were settled between Nigeria and the Republic of Cameroon divided .