trade by the Yoruba civil wars, and fears that the French would take over Lagos. Through a series of steps designed to facilitate trade, by 1906 present-day Nigeria was under British control. Northern Nigeria, 1900-1945 The area that is now modern-day northern Nigeria was once dominated during prehistoric times by the Nok civilization. When the British arrived in what became Northern Nigeria, there were by then lets say for arguments sake two nations ruling the North predominantly the Fulani and then also the Indigenous Hausa, the latter of which the Hausa kingdoms were constantly being attacked by the Fulani who are conquers by nature. The British to keep a balance assisted the Hausa and with their help confronted the Fulani. When the 19th century opened, the Fulani appeared to be the predominant race in the Sudan. Fulani is the Hausa name for the people who call themselves Fulbe. From 1900 to 1946, the regional British government in Northern Nigeria made exportation a high priority and set up a system of regulation to control disease and maintain quality. In terms of exports, one of the main agricultural industries involved the production and export of hides and skins. It had been developed long before the British arrived for the pre-colonial caravan trade and have reached an international market. World demand soared during the two world wars. The regional government imposed new, more efficient procedures in flaying, trimming, and drying hides and skins. It imposed new rules regarding minimum standards, and compulsory inspection, which had the effect of raising quality and obtaining higher prices. European merchants and industrialists had unlimited access to, and sometimes prevailed on, the colonial state, but the latter exercised autonomous decision-making power on matters affecting the economy and commerce of the colony. National Economic Interests in the Postwar Period Starting in 1949, when Nigeria 's elites were first consulted by the British as part of a constitutional review on emergent labor and commercial industry and in the ongoing debate over the pressure of decolonization, independence, and modernization. The two coup d'états of 1966 and the civil war of 1967-70 reflected economic as well as political elements. Between 1951 and 1960, the major political parties played leading roles in unifying and locally mobilizing the economic elite. Elites from majority parties in the regional assemblies who cooperated with the ruling federal coalition dispensed a wide range of rewards and sanctions, thus