ABSTRACT
The establishment of colonial rule in West Africa produced what has been described as the colonial situation. The impact of European administration led to change in all spheres of African life, though it was limited in the number of people it affected. Colonial occupation grouped peoples into new political units, and facilitated their movement within them, especially towards the new urban centres which were the focus of colonial commerce and administration. Opportunities for trade or employment provoked great movements of peoples into areas inhabited by other ethnic groups and across Anglo-French boundaries. Colonial rule opened up new opportunities for, or forced people to undertake, migration from one part of West Africa to another. Migrants facilitated the spread of European ideas and knowledge about Europe.
