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The Royal Niger Company was a mercantile company chartered by the British government in the nineteenth century. It was formed in 1879 as the ''United African Company '' and renamed to ''National African Company'' in 1881 and to ''Royal Niger Company'' in 1886. The company existed for a comparatively short time (1879–1900) but was instrumental in the formation of Colonial Nigeria, as it enabled the British Empire to establish control over the lower Niger against the German competition led by Bismarck during the 1890s. In 1900, the company-controlled territories became the Southern Nigeria Protectorate, which was in turn united with the Northern Nigeria Protectorate to form the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria in 1914 (which eventually gained independence within the same borders as the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 1960). ==United African Company == Richard Lander first explored the area of Nigeria as the servant of Hugh Clapperton. In 1830, he returned to the river with his brother John; in 1832, he returned again (without his brother) to establish a trading post for the "African Steamship Company"〔"(Niger )" in the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', 10th ed. 1902.〕 at the confluence of the Niger and Benue rivers. The expedition failed, with 40 of the 49 members dying of fever or wounds from native attacks. One of the survivors, Macgregor Laird, subsequently remained in Britain but directed and funded expeditions to the country until his death in 1861. He opposed the failed Niger expedition of 1841 but the success of the ''Pleiad''’s first mission in 1854 led to annual trips under Baikie and the 1857 foundation of Lokoja and the Niger–Benue confluence. There were no voyages for the three years following Laird's death, but the establishment of the was soon followed by several other firms. The competition reduced prices to the point that profits were minimal. Arriving in the region in 1877,〔Máthé-Shires, László. "(Lagos Colony and Oil Rivers Protectorate )" in the ''Encyclopedia of African History'', Vol. 3, pp. 791–792. Accessed 5 Apr 2014.〕 George Goldie argued for the amalgamation of the surviving British firms into a single monopolistic chartered company, a method contemporaries supposed had been buried with the ultimate failure of the East India Company following the Sepoy Rebellion. By 1879, he had helped combine James Crowther's WAC, David Macintosh's , and the William Brothers' and James Pinnock's firms into a single ; he then acted as the combined firm's agent in the territory.〔 Almost immediately, the firm saw renewed competition as two French firms—the French Equatorial African Association and the Senegal Company—and another English one—the Liverpool and Manchester Trading Company—begin establishing posts on the river as well.〔McPhee, Allan. (''The Economic Revolution in British West Africa'', pp. 75 ff ). Frank Cass & Co. Ltd. (Abingdon), 1926 and reprinted 1971. Accessed 4 Apr 2014.〕 A native attack on the UAC's outpost at Onitsha in 1879 was repulsed with help from HMS ''Pioneer''〔 but the Gladstone administration subsequently denied Goldie's attempt to procure a government charter in 1881, on the grounds that the international rivalry might occasion unnecessary conflict and that the united firm was undercapitalized for the expense of genuine colonial administration.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Royal Niger Company」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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