154 
EUROPE AND AFRICA 
In 1878, the first Ashanti war had led the imperial authori- 
ties into an extension of their authority into the hinterland 
of the British Gold Coast colony; and in 1882, competition 
between the French and English colonists in West Africa 
forced them to join with the French in delimiting the north- 
ern boundary of Sierra Leone, as far inland as the head 
waters of the Mellicouri and Great Scarcies Rivers. And 
now, in order to reap the results of the efforts of the National 
African Company and to protect her interests on the Niger, 
a British protectorate was proclaimed on June 5, 1885! 
over the coast region extending from the river Benin (east- 
ern boundary of Lagos) to the west bank of the Rio del Rey, 
and the hinterland reaching to Lokoja at the confluence of 
the Niger and the Benué, and to Ibi on the Benué. And in 
1886 the English Government recognized the work of the 
company officially, appointing it their legal agent by a royal 
charter 2 issued to that corporation under the name of the 
“Royal Niger Company,” which it still bears. 
The entire region mentioned in the official declaration of 
the Niger protectorate was placed at first under the juris- 
diction of the new company, together with any territory to 
the north that it might acquire in the future. In August, 
1891, the Oil Rivers district and the trading posts of the 
coast section were organized into the “Oil River Protector- 
ate” under an Imperial Commissioner, which changed its 
name to the “Niger Coast Protectorate” in May, 1893. 
This was extended in 1899 north as far as Idah on the 
Niger — 280 miles from the coast — under the title of the 
Protectorate of Southern Nigeria.? In July 1901 the pro- 
tectorate attached to the colony of Lagos * was extended 
so that it became contiguous with Southern and Northern 
I Brit. and For. St. Papers, vol. 76, p. 978. 
2 Ind. vol. 77, p. 1022. 3 Itwd., vol. 91, pp. 1140-55, 
t Ibnd., vol. 94, pp. 194-95.