Note 118 — Chapter VIII · THE BRITISH IN AFRICA, I (West Coast, Morocco, North-Central.)

British Nigeria and the exploration of Africa generally—its botany, anthropology, and languages—owe much to the work of William Balfour Baikie, a native of the Orkney Islands, who between 1854 and 1864 served the British Government on the Niger and succeeded the equally remarkable John Beecroft as Consul. Baikie founded Lokoja in 1860. Lander, Laird, Beecroft, Baikie, and the black Bishop Samuel Crowther were the principal creators of British Nigeria.