NIGERIA IN HISTORY EPISODE 4

 

Igbo states

The Nri Kingdom in the Awka area was founded in about 900 AD in North Central Igboland. The Nsukka-Awka-Orlu axis is said to be the oldest area of Igbo settlement and therefore, homeland of the Igbo people. This ancient kingdom is still considered the cradle of Igbo culture. The Nri people are children of the historical and mythical divine king Eri (founder of Aguleri of the Umueri clan on the Anambra river valley). It was a center of spirituality, learning, and commerce. They were agents of peace and harmony whose influence stretched beyond Igboland. The Nri people's influence in neighboring lands was especially in Southern Igalaland and Benin kingdom in the 12th to 15th centuries. As great travelers, they were also business people involved in the long distant Tran Saharan trade. The development and sophistication of this civilization is evident in the bronze castings found in Igbo Ukwu, an area of Nri influence. The Benin kingdom became a threat in the 15th century under Oba Ewuare. Since they were against slaves and slavery, their power took a downturn when the slave trade was at its peak in the 18nth century. The Benin and Igala slave raiding empires became the main influence in their relationship with Western and Northern Igbos their former main areas of influence and operation. Upper Northwest Cross River Igbo groups like the Aro Confederacy and Ohafia peoples, as well as the Awka and Umunoha people used oracular activities and other trading opportunities after Nri's decline in the 18th century to become the major influences in Igboland and all adjacent areas. This includes parts of Igalaland and places west of the Niger river indirectly affected by the Benin kingdom.

 Yoruba and Benin kingdoms

Historically the Yoruba have been the dominant group on the west bank of the Niger. Of mixed origin, they were the product of periodic waves of migrants. The Yoruba were organized in patrilineal groups that occupied village communities and subsisted on agriculture. From about the 8th century adjacent village compounds, called ile, coalesced into numerous territorial city-states in which clan loyalties became subordinate to dynastic chieftains. The earliest known of these city states formed at Ife and Ijebu. The latter city was fortified by a wall and ditch known today as Sungbo's Eredo around 800 AD. Urbanization was accompanied by high levels of artistic achievement, particularly in terracotta and ivory sculpture and in the sophisticated metal casting produced at Ife. The Yoruba placated a luxuriant pantheon headed by an impersonal deity, Olorun, and included lesser deities who performed various tasks. Oduduwa was regarded as the creator of the earth and the ancestor of the Yoruba kings. According to myth Oduduwa founded Ife and dispatched his sons to establish other cities, where they reigned as priest-kings. Ife was the center of as many as 400 religious cults whose traditions were manipulated to political advantage by the oni (king).