The British colonies and protectorates in tropical Africa had not been claimed originally because they were needed as colonial estates. Rather, they had been claimed for strategic reasons, and they had to be developed as colonial estates to pay the costs of their administration. Their economic development was more a consequence than a motive of the" scramble". As an explanation of European rule in tropical Africa, the theory of economic imperialism puts the trade before the flag, the capital before the conquest, the cart before the horse. 3

It might be thought premature to suggest that the economics of imperialism now require reconsideration. But in attacking the conventional concept of economic imperialism the critics have tended to underrate all other economic motives. The purpose of the present investigation is to explore some neglected economic aspects of the partition of West Africa with special reference to the case of Lagos, and to put forward for future use some propositions which take account of the economic elements in the scramble for tropical Africa.