<Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article needs additional citations for verification . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . (January 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> <P> British West Africa was the collective name for British colonies in West Africa during the colonial period, either in the general geographical sense or the formal colonial administrative entity . The United Kingdom held varying parts of these territories or the whole throughout the 19th century . From west to east, the colonies became the independent countries of the Gambia, Sierra Leone, Ghana and Nigeria . Until independence, Ghana was referred to as Gold Coast . </P> <P> British West Africa, or the British West African Settlements, constituted during two periods (17 October 1821, until its first dissolution on 13 January 1850, and again 19 February 1866, until its final demise on 24 November 1888) an administrative entity under a governor - in - chief (comparable in rank to a Governor - general), an office vested in the governor of Sierra Leone (at Freetown). </P> <P> The other colonies originally included in the jurisdiction were the Gambia and the British Gold Coast (modern Ghana). Also western Nigeria, eastern Nigeria and northern Nigeria . </P>

British colonial rule in west africa started in the year