Abstract

By the last quarter of the 19th century, European powers converged in Berlin, Germany and partitioned Africa among themselves. Following the partitioning, all forms of resistance by Nigerians against British imperialism were quelled and by 1903 the entire country was under the British imperial power. Agatu land, could not escape the menace. This study is an attempt at reconstructing the socio-economic and political history of Agatu people of Doma following the introduction of colonial rule at the beginning of the 20th Century. The study argues that colonialism has eroded much of Agatu pre-colonial socio-economic and political practices to the point that some practices are under threat of extinction. The methodology adopted in this work engages primary and secondary sources of history from the point of view of critical historical analysis. The approach combines both written and non-written sources within the frame of primary and secondary sources of history.

Keywords: Colonialism, socio-economic developments.