ABSTRACT

Although both Bishop Ajayi Crowther and Sir George Taubman Goldie have obtained considerable attention from able scholars in the last decade,1 there is a crucial aspect of their activity in Nigeria that has so far eluded notice. This is the ‘duel’ which, with important consequences for the peoples of the Lower Niger, both men fought for their mutually conflicting interests. It is the purpose of this chapter to analyse the background of this ‘duel’ which occurred in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, leaving a detailed examination of the peculiar relations between the Church Missionary Society and the Royal Niger Company for the next chapter.