ABSTRACT
This dissertation is an examination of the various processes that laid the foundation for

the establishment of British colonial economy in Kiri district between the years 1900 to I960.

These processes transformed a pre-colonial subsistence society where the economic preoccupation

was basically agriculture to one centred on the export of agricultural produce,

particularly cotton. Though, the pre-colonial economy in Kiri area was adequately balanced

in terms of agricultural productions,this balance was disrupted by the actions and policies of

the British Colonial Government. As a result, our emphasis is to understand the production

and reproduction of people within Kiri district, which picked up momentum from 1913 to

1957. This development in the colonial economichistory of Kiri district and indeed Nigeria as

a whole, led to the incorporation of Kiri society into the international capitalists economy.

On the whole, this dissertation demonstratedhow colonialism impacted on the

agriculturalproduction of Kiri districtthrough the introduction of modern innovations in

agricultural methods and practices. Thus, the scenario created, abated the independent growth

of the economic pre-occupalionof a people. The effect of this situation was the

commercialization of cotton production through the competitive, oligopolistic and

monopolistic tendencies of the Colonial State and its agents. This, in a lot of ways created

imbalances within the fabrics of Kiri district,especially economic, political, social and

cultural spheres of development that has kept her in a state of an underdeveloped rural

community.