ABSTRACT

This work is an attempt to study the Impact of British Colonial Rule on Zangon Kataf District, 1907 - 1960. In order to achieve this, several sources were consulted and oral interviews were carried out on the field of study. The research revealed that colonialism was the cause of underdevelopment of our area of study. This is because the British colonisers did not introduce policies aimed at improving the living condition of the people. The result of colonialism led to the dependence of the local people on manufactured goods and other commodities of the British and Europe as a whole. The policy of colonial taxation negatively affected the people of Zangon-Kataf District. The failure of the people to pay tax was usually interpreted by the British as refusal to recognize their authority. As a result, the people were punished collectively. There are food and security challenges that are presently confronting Nigeria and it is in a critical moment for it to embrace lasting change by moving away from colonial legacies. We can not continue to blame the Europeans for our condition. We have to look for ways to solve our problems. One of the major legacies left by the colonizers is that they disrupted the traditional system of production in indigenous Nigerian societies, thereby reinforcing the existing systems of social inequality and introducing oppressive forms of social stratification throughout the country. Colonial policies relegated women to the background. Women are the main caretakers of the household members. The nation has to acknowledge that when women are empowered, there would be improvement in the well being of the family, the community and society at large. It is also concluded that colonialism left a legacy of divide and rule which the colonialists adopted in order to have effective control of the people. Today Nigeria is bedeviled by ethnic and religious conflicts here and there. There is no unity among the people of Nigeria. The major causes of lawlessness in Nigeria are as a result of poverty and hopelessness as well as greed and corruption of the highest order.