Abstract
Nigerian historiography has concentrated largely on the mega states without paying much attention to the mini states that provided the foundations for their cultural advancements. This chapter will, then, attempt to examine the politico-religious organization of the mini states of the forest region and the Eastern Ijo delta of Nigeria before the genesis of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade to better understand their similarities and differences. In addition, the study will discuss the intergroup relations that existed between the Igbo and other peoples of the forest region before the fifteenth century, and then move on to examine the theories and myths of state formation. The concluding section hopes to delve into the history of Igbo-Ukwu, using its example to explain the diverse historical factors that contributed to the decline of the mega states.
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Notes
John S. Boston, The Igala Kingdom (Ibadan: Oxford University Press, 1968), 8.
John Oriji, “Dibia: An Historical Analysis of the Priests, Healers and Diviners of Igbo Society,” Lincoln Journal of Social and Political Thought, 4.2 (2007), 89–99.
Robin Horton, The Gods as Guests: An Aspect of Kalabari Religious Life (Lagos: Nigeria Magazine, 1987), 7. See also Alagoa (1972), 123–60, and (1980), 68.
Nkparom Ejituwu, “Thesis, Antithesis, Synthesis: Niger Delta Historiography in Time Perspective,” in Chima Korieh and Femi Kalopi (eds.), The Aftermath of Slavery: Transitions and Transformations in Southeastern Nigeria (Trenton: Africa World Press, Inc. 2007), 207–27. Ejituwu (page 220) noted that the archeological studies sponsored by E.J. Alagoa, were carried out by Fred Anozie, Nwana Nzewunwa, and A. Derefeka.
Leonard (1968), 22–23, Talbot (1967), 238, H. Crow, Memoirs of the Late Captain Crow of Liverpool (London: Frank Cass 1970), 228, J. Adams, Remarks on the Country Extending from Cape Palmas to the River Congo (London: G. and W.B. Whittaker, 1823), 131–32,
T. Hutchinson, Impressions of Western Africa, (London: Brown, Green, Longmans and Roberts, 1858), 103
and Comte CN de Cardi, “Juju Laws and Customs in the Niger Delta,” Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, 29.2 (1899), 51–64.
E.J. Alagoa and A. Fombo, A Chronicle of Grand Bonny (Ibadan: Ibadan University Press, 1972), 4–5. They admitted that the Igbo were among the early settlers of Bonny, but not its founders.
Pachecho Pereira, Esmeraldo de Situ Orbis, Translated by George H.T. Kimble (London: The Hakluyt Society, 1937), 132.
For example, E.J. Alagoa, in “Long Distance Trade and the State in the Niger Delta,” Journal of African History, 2.3 (1970), 319–29, claims that the traders were from the Central and Western Ijo areas, while Jones (1963), 34, noted that they might be traders from Obu Amafo (the former Kalabari settlement in Ikwerre axis).
Ogundiran (2003), 43–46. For the dispersion of Yoruba Igbo farmers from Ile-Ife, see also Robert Smith, Kingdoms of the Yoruba (Norwich: Fletcher and Sons, Ltd, 1976), 20–21.
Don Ohadike, “Igbo-Benin Wars,” in Toyin Falola and Robin Law (eds.), Warfare and Diplomacy in Precolonial Nigeria: Essays in Honor of Robert Smith (Wisconsin-Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1992), 171.
R.E. Bradbury, The Benin Kingdom and the Edo-Speaking Peoples of South-Western Nigeria (London: Stone & Cox Ltd., 1964), 15–17 and 31–34.
Jacob Egharevba, A History of Benin (Ibadan: University of Ibadan Press, 1968), 11.
John S. Boston, Ikenga Figures among the North-West Igbo and the Igala (Lagos: Federal Department of Antiquities, 1977), 2–3.
Miles Clifford and Richard Palmer, “A Nigerian Chiefdom,” The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, 66 (July-December, 1936), 394–98.
For a major work on cowries see Jan Hogendorn and Marion Johnson, The Shell Money of the Slave Trade (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986). The book covered different regions of the world, including West Africa, 68–79.
Mervin David Jeffreys, “The Divine Umundri King,” Africa: Journal of the International African Institute, 8.3 (1935), 349. He also discussed the roles the Umudiana played during the ritual death and resurrection of the Eze Nri. See also Onwuejeogwu (1987), 87.
Mervin David Jeffreys, “The Umundri Tradition of Origin,” African Studies, 15 (1956), 129.
Smith (1969), 17–35, Basil Davidson with F.K. Buah, A History of West Africa 1000–1800 (Harlow Esex: 1965), 118–19,
and John Pemberton III and Funso S. Afolayan Yoruba Sacred Kingship: A Power Like that of the Gods (Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1996), 1–3.
A. Smith, “The Early States of the Central Sudan,” in J.A. Ajayi and A. Crowder (eds.), History of Africa (New York: Longmans Group, 1972), 196.
J. Atande, “Historical Evolution of Traditional Rulers and Institutions in Nigeria up to c. 1900,” A paper delivered during a Conference on the Role of Traditional Rulers in the Governance of Nigeria, Institute of African Studies, Ibadan University, 1988, 6. For the transformation of the mini states into mega states see also Toyin Falola, The History of Nigeria (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1999), 17–38.
Paul Lovejoy, Transformations in Slavery: A History of Slavery in Africa (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988), 55.
P. Amuary Talbot, The Peoples of Southern Nigeria, Vol. IV (London: Oxford University Press, 1926), 82.
George T. Crane and Abla Amawi (eds.), The Theoretical Evolution of International Political Economy: A Reader (New York: Oxford University Press, 1977), 244–52.
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© 2011 John N. Oriji
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Oriji, J.N. (2011). The Igbo and Their Neighbors Before the Fifteenth Century. In: Political Organization in Nigeria since the Late Stone Age. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230116689_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230116689_3
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