Abstract
During the early Atlantic period (fifteenth-sixteenth centuries), West Africa was characterized by the rise of powerful mega states that changed intergroup relations between the different ethnic nationalities. Using the Edo (Bini), Igala, and Eastern Ijo mega states as examples, this chapter hopes to shed more light on the theories of state formation and explore how the encounter between each of these mega states and their Igbo neighbors impacted Igbo history before the beginning of the Aro trade network.
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Notes
G.T. Stride and Caroline Ifeka, Peoples and Empires of West Africa: West Africa in History (New York: Afrcan Publishing Corporation, 1971), 315–16.
Robert Smith, Warfare and Diplomacy in Pre-Colonial West Africa (Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1989), 4.
Alan Ryder, Benin and the Europeans (New York: Humanities Press, 1969), 52.
The fact that Ahoada traditions associate Ewuare with the emigration of the Igbo from the Benin Empire provides further evidence that the population movements occurred over time. Eze Chukwuemeka Idozu, a Traditional Ruler of Ahoada, was one of my informants on the history of the town. He was interviewed on July 11, 1985. For the traditions of the Umuezeala village, see J. Mbadiegwu, Some Aspects of the History of Egbuoma, B.A. Project, Department of History, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, 1985, 9–12.
Stella Okeke, Chieftaincy Institution in Oraifite, 1900–1986, B.A. Project, Department of History, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, 3–9.
M. Njoku, History of My Town (Ohaffia), History 121, Department of History, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, 1982, 1–3, and Nsugbe (1974), 15–18 have provided more information on the origins of Ohaffia.
William Allen and T. Thompson, A Narrative of the Expedition sent by Her Majesty’ Government to the River Niger in1841 under the Command of Captain H.D. Trotter, R.N. Vol. 1 (London: Richard Bentley, 1968), 236.
See also K. Nwachukwu-Ogedengbe, “Slavery in 19th Century Aboh,” in S. Miers and I. Kopytoff (eds.), Slavery in Africa: Historical and Anthropological Perspectives (Madison: Wisconsin University Press, 1977), 142.
Charles Meek, An Ethnographic Report on the Peoples of Nsukka Division (Lagos: Government Printer, 1903), 3.
Basil Davidson, Black Mother: The Years of the African Slave Trade (Boston: Atlantic- Little, Brown Brooks, 1961), 33–40.
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© 2011 John N. Oriji
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Oriji, J.N. (2011). The Igbo and the Benin, Igala, and Ijo Mega States During the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. In: Political Organization in Nigeria since the Late Stone Age. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230116689_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230116689_4
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-38369-6
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