Niger Coast Protectorate

Oil Rivers Protectorate
(1884–1893)
Niger Coast Protectorate
(1893–1900)
1898–1900
Flag of
Flag
Coat of arms of
Coat of arms
Anthem: God Save the Queen
StatusProtectorate of the United Kingdom
CapitalOld Calabar
Common languagesEnglish, Igbo, Ibibio-Efik, Edo, Ijaw and others
Religion
Christianity, Igbo religion, Edo religion
GovernmentColonial administration
Monarch 
• 1884—1900
Victoria
Consul General 
• 1884–1891
Edward Hyde Hewett
• 1891–1896
Claude Maxwell MacDonald
• 1896–1900
Ralph Moor
Historical eraNew Imperialism
• Established
1898
• Disestablished
1 January 1900
CurrencyPound sterling
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Aro Confederacy
Kingdom of Benin
Akpakip Oro
Akwa Akpa
Kingdom of Bonny
Southern Nigeria Protectorate

The Niger Coast Protectorate was a British protectorate in the Oil Rivers area of present-day Nigeria, originally established as the Oil Rivers Protectorate in 1884 and confirmed at the Berlin Conference the following year. It was renamed on 12 May 1893, and merged with the chartered territories of the Royal Niger Company on 1 January 1900 to form the Southern Nigeria Protectorate.

Queen Victoria on a stamp of the Niger Coast Protectorate, 1894

This covered the eastern coast of what it today Nigeria, and in theory extended inland as far as Lokoja. It was established to better regulate and control the large trade in palm oil that was coming through both Calabar and the Niger Delta, and which had given the various rivers in the area the name of oil rivers.