Those are all (unless I, or other people, add others) from the book Civilizations of Africa - A History To 1800 By Christopher Ehret

The maps are big, they are meant to be kept as archive and consulted on-a-need basis for those interested in African history. While I post them, it doesn't mean I agree with everything on them (like names or dates for example). I used imageshack which allowed me to keep the images in their original sizes.

Map 16 Peoples, states, and cities in Africa, ca. 100 CE:

Interesting maps...How was the extent of Nri Kingdom determined ? I would like to know about this...

Tony Spike: Interesting maps...How was the extent of Nri Kingdom determined ? I would like to know about this...

I don't know the answer to your question. I presume a mix of archeological and linguistic analysis (not sure of they used oral history or other historical accounts).

Here's what the book says about the Nri Kingdom:


[...]These factors include growing population densities and the establishment of regular markets for local products, such as cotton textiles.

The early era of scattered towns gave way around about 800-1000 to a major burst of urban development in what is today southern and central Nigeria and to the emergence of the first large states. The focal region of state development lay around the confluence of the Niger and Benue Rivers and the stretch of the Niger River immediately south of the confluence. The rise of urban life encompassed a wider set of areas all around that region, notably to the west of the lower Niger River among the Yoruba peoples.

The earliest large kingdom we know of was the Nri state. In existence by the eighth and ninth centuries it was located to the immediate east of the middle parts of the lower Niger River, in and along the northern fringe of the rainforest belt. Its core population was apparently Igbo, a people whose deeper historical roots lay in the Benue-Kwa branch of Niger-Congo civilization. We believe that the capital of the Nri state was located at the archeological site of Igho- Ukwu. Igho-Ukwu and its rulers liad abundant wealth, as revealed by the rich goods and fine brass sculptures found in the site. But the legitimacy of the Nri state rested very much on the ruler's ritual functions as the intermediarY between the society and the territorial and ancestral spirits and not on secular power and military force. The Nri was a king, in other words, whose legitimacy was rooted in the kind of authority exerted by the old ritual clan chiefs of Niger- Congo civilization and in a mastery of the realm of the territorial spirits as well.

In about the thirteenth century, a maior shift in the architecture of political authority began to take place across the region. The institution of the Nri lost its political dimension, although maintaining its ritual importance and a new form of kingly rule appeared, in which the ability to bring large armed forces into the field mattered as much as claims to ritual authority. A powerful new kingdom, that of the lgala, arose in the woodland savannas around the confluence itself of the Niger and Benue Rivers, with its capital city at Idah located just south of the confluence. The continuing power of history is never the less evident in the legitimization of the Igala Kinship: the kings of the Igala claimed descent from the Nri of Igbo-Ukwu, and they continued to be enthroned by Nri ritual experts right down to the early twentieth century.

To the northeast of the Igala kingdom, a second powerful savanna state, Nupe, came into being by the fourteenth century. The extent to which its origins were connected to those of the Igala remain unclear, but its institutions and ideas of kinship appear to have drawn both on the kinds of ideas associated with the Nri state and on ideas that may have come from the Sudanic sacral kinship.

A third major kingdom, Benin, emerged also in about the fourteenth century, in the rainforest region between the Igala kingdom and Niger Delta. Benin traditions of the past few centuries claim Yoruba origins for their ruling family, but it appears from archeological evidence and sixteenth-century written documentation that the actual impetus for the establishment of the kingdom came from the north, most probably from Igala.

West of the Igala, still another strong kingdom, Kwararafa, dominated the middle stretches of the Benue River in the thirteenth to eighteenth centuries.
[...]

While I'm at it, I may as well add the following paragraph (skipping the one about the Kwararafa kingdom):

The common material basis of the rise of these several large kingdoms surely rested on their involvement in increasingly important and complex commercial relations. Products such as cotton cloth, camwood for dye, and iron goods crisscrossed the region, coming from a variety of producing areas, while kola and food products from the rainforest were exchanged for crops, animals, and manufactures of the savanna. The importance of trade from as far as north as the southern Sahara and as far west as the Bend of the Niger was already great in the ninth and tenth centuries, as we can see from the abundance of copper at the Nri capital, Igbo-Ukwu, as well as the presence there of carnelian beads, imported from Gao, more than 1,000 kilometers away. The rise of the Igala kingdom around the confluence of the Niger and Benue reflects the continuing importance in the thirteenth century of the two rivers as key routes of transport. Kwararafa's position along the middle Benue probably similarly took advantage of the movement of goods east and west along that river and between the rainforest to the south and the Chad Basin to the north. By the fiftheeth century the commodities of commerce in these regions included large numbers of horses, brought overland from the drier savanna and steppe to the north. The possession of horses allowed the kings of both Nupe and Igala to use cavalry forces to exert their power over long distances.

What professor Ehret wrote about Benin and Igala above is based on J.K. Thornton's theory about kingship origins. The validity of the theory is very questionable. Much of it seems to be based on Thornton's confusion about the word Oghene ("Hooguanee"/"Ogane" in Portuguese documents), the title of the ruler which Benin informants told Portuguese visitors about. Oghene is a word that basically means great lord in Edo and closely related languages and it was the title of that ruler. I'm not sure that Thornton was aware of the context of the use of the word in those documents before he wrote his original article.

In his original paper, Thornton seemed to believe that because European mapmakers and some later European writers mistook the title of the king (Oghene) for the name of a kingdom and then further corrupted the name to "Agare", "Agarra" and a few other similar words that could match closely with "Igala," that there was actually some "Agare"/"Oghene" kingdom northeast of Benin - basically Thornton was arguing that the European mapmakers were indicating an "Agare"/"Ogane"/"Oghene" kingdom located northeast of Benin, when they should have been writing about or indicating the Igala kingdom, since that was the actual kingdom the Benin informants were referring to.

In reality, they were not referring to the Igala kingdom, but to the title of a ruler, as the wording in the original documents makes absolutely clear. And the ruler they were referring to was not the ruler of the Igala kingdom, but the ruler of a completely different place (presumably Ife, although they don't actually say that outright).

The only point which I think is in favor of Thornton's theory are the 14th century Catalan and Italian maps which he mentions in his article as indicating a "kingdom of Organa" (Ogane/Oghene) along the Niger river (the capital of the Igala kingdom, Idah, is also located right next to the river Niger), but that indication on those maps could also be due to geographical confusion about the location of the kingdom and also an even earlier confusion of the title of the ruler (Oghene) with the name of the kingdom by Europeans who relied on African informants from places other than Benin.

The idea of the Igala kingdom preceding Benin or being the source for the monarchs of Benin also seems to be contradicted by the archaeological studies of Graham Connah (on Benin) and J.S. Boston (on Igala).

I haven't read the book, but if he didn't include a caveat that what he was saying in that part was entirely speculative and based on the unconfirmed theory of Thornton (who built on the work of Alan Ryder, another great historian), then I think that was a pretty big slip up.

By the way it is untrue that "the kings of the Igala claimed descent from the Nri of Igbo-Ukwu" as Ehret suggests. There is not a single precolonial or early colonial document or even post colonial document which supports this idea that they actually claimed descent from Nri, even if there might be some post colonial documents or articles from non-Igalas that attempt to make it seem like they actually did claim that descent or which state that they have that descent. In fact, anyone who has read the earliest documents about the Nri and Igala connection will come across numerous publications suggesting or stating outright that the founders of Nri were originally Igala settlers. This does not mean that that is necessarily true (that they were Igala settlers), but it is something which Ehret should have at least mentioned if he was going to talk about the connection. That's another error on his part.

The extent of Benin imperial control/influence in 1550 was probably further west originally than Ehret's map indicates, even before the takeover of Lagos by an army of Oba Orhogbua's. From a few written accounts, an army that Oba Orhogbua sent westward was actually originally sent to exact tribute from a kingdom or town further west than Lagos (a town or kingdom in the modern day Republic of Benin), but settled for setting up a war camp in Lagos when they were unable to reestablish control over that kingdom or town further west. Later on, Benin certainly seems to have had control over or exacted tribute from the small coastal kingdom of Allada (in modern day Dahomey) during the 17th century, although Benin did go through a territorial decline and general weakening in the early 1700s and lost any kind of power it had over Allada later on. Ehret is primarily an African linguistics researcher rather than a researcher on West African history and he probably is unaware of the written evidence for a Benin imperial presence even further westward than his maps suggest.

A good article about the westward extent of Benin is 'Ludewig Ferdinand Römer's "Nachrichten von der Küste Guinea" (Mid-18th Century) as a Source on the Benin Kingdom History and Culture' by Dmitri M. Bondarenko, Peter M. Roese, and Tobias M. L. Roese.

Here's a link to the article: http://www.researchgate.net/publication/220033042_Ludewig_Ferdinand_Rmer%27s_Nachrichten_von_der_Kste_Guinea_%28Mid-18th_Century%29_as_a_Source_on_the_Benin_Kingdom_History_and_Culture

The article goes even further and mentions documents from the past which mention political and cultural connections between certain groups in modern day Ghana (formerly the Gold Coast) and the Benin kingdom.

One of the authors of the article has made it publicly available for free so it can be downloaded on that site (researchgate.net) by clicking on the "view" button on the bottom right hand corner of that website and then clicking download. It comes as a doc file so anyone with Microsoft Word or OpenOffice (which is free) can read the file.

Physics--Christopher Ehret's expertise in central African historical linguistics is pretty unparalleled, but he's also reached some controversial conclusions that are rejected by his peers and even "seniors" like Jan Vansina. Ehret, like John Thornton, is also a West-Central African specialist and I find their conclusions on West Africa and the Gulf of Guinea area generally flawed. I think we've talked about the old Alan Ryder article on Benin before (not sure if that was on this site?) but Thornton's article along the same lines was definitely flawed by his interpretations of directions mentioned in the early sources. I'd agree that this map and Ehret's conclusions are both off the mark.

By the way it is untrue that "the kings of the Igala claimed descent from the Nri of Igbo-Ukwu" as Ehret suggests. There is not a single precolonial or early colonial document or even post colonial document which supports this idea that they actually claimed descent from Nri, even if there might be some post colonial documents or articles from non-Igalas that attempt to make it seem like they actually did claim that descent or which state that they have that descent. In fact, anyone who has read the earliest documents about the Nri and Igala connection will come across numerous publications suggesting or stating outright that the founders of Nri were originally Igala settlers. This does not mean that that is necessarily true (that they were Igala settlers), but it is something which Ehret should have at least mentioned if he was going to talk about the connection. That's another error on his part.

This is one of those Internet rumors I read all the time that remind you of the dangers of not correcting wrong information. There's no reason to believe the Atta of Igala ever claimed descent from Nri (and certainly does not do so today, though that's beside the point) and I'm fairly sure the claim comes from linking Nri to Igbo-Ukwu, which is another inconclusive link presented as fact by ethnically-motivated speculators on the Internet.

On your second point about the extent of Benin's western frontier, I'd be careful about extracting exact imperial boundaries from those early reports. Olfert Dapper reports that Ijebu was tributary to Benin in the late 17th century too but there's no corroboration from the Ijebu side (perhaps not surprisingly). Similarly, Oyo claims it conquered Ijebu around that same period and exacted tribute, but that's not matched by any outside information either. My point is simply that empires and emperors (like most Nigerians) are prone to exaggeration. That's not to discount the claim, since Benin's role on Lagos Island is part of the historical record, but just a suggestion of skepticism.

TerraCotta: Thornton's article along the same lines was definitely flawed by his interpretations of directions mentioned in the early sources.

What is "east" and what is "west" depends on one's orientation and the informants may have been looking at things from a different geographical perspective than the Portuguese they were informing - I think that's the thing that Ryder and Thornton may have missed. Either that, or they considered this possibility, but thought the Portuguese were too skilled at navigation and too competent at figuring out directions to have confused east and west regardless. Maybe Thornton assumes that they would have known to ask what perspective the informants were viewing things from when they mentioned certain cardinal directions. But then again one can also assume that the Portuguese did not bother to do so and assumed their informants were viewing directions from the same orientation as they were.

This is one of those Internet rumors I read all the time that remind you of the dangers of not correcting wrong information. There's no reason to believe the Atta of Igala ever claimed descent from Nri (and certainly does not do so today, though that's beside the point)

Well actually it doesn't merely come from the internet, it's found elaborated in different forms in non-internet publications. I also stumbled across a lecture/article a year ago when I was doing a bit of searching about Nri's history called "The Politics of Igbo Origin and Culture: The Igbo-Ukwu and Nri Factors Reconsidered" by Nwankwo T. Nwaezeigwe, which sheds some light on some of the Nri-Igala connections (not that I wasn't already aware of the basic information, but this has some additional information I couldn't have found out on my own). I think you can find the article from a quick search. The only thing that I know is an error in there is when the author claims that the Attah of Igala dynasty was founded by a Benin prince. In reality, there was a ruling dynasty there before the Benin prince came, then a dynasty of Benin origin after he came, and then a dynasty of Jukun origin later on.

and I'm fairly sure the claim comes from linking Nri to Igbo-Ukwu, which is another inconclusive link presented as fact by ethnically-motivated speculators on the Internet.

It may not have been proven outright yet, but the idea that there's a strong connection isn't due merely to internet speculators and I don't see how it's really all that inconclusive. Now internet speculators may take Thurstan Shaw's theory of the Nri - Igbo-Ukwu link and present it as a given fact, but is there any better explanation for the origin of the art?

If you don't think the Igbo-Ukwu art should be attributed to Nri, then what Igbo kingdom do you think it is attributable to? And what do you make of the mention of the belief that the Eze Nri had control over locusts (and could cause swarms of locusts to ruin the crops of someone who got on his bad side) in some early colonial era publications and the bronze figure of a locust that was found among the Igbo-Ukwu art? Is that a coincidence? And don't you think that the use of bronze items during coronation ceremonies by the Eze Nri as documented in the early 1930s (before the discovery of the art) also makes Nri the best candidate for the makers of the art?

PhysicsQED:

What is "east" and what is "west" depends on one's orientation and the informants may have been looking at things from a different geographical perspective than the Portuguese they were informing - I think that's the thing that Ryder and Thornton may have missed. Either that, or they considered this possibility, but thought the Portuguese were too skilled at navigation and too competent at figuring out directions to have confused east and west regardless. Maybe Thornton assumes that they would have known to ask what perspective the informants were viewing things from when they mentioned certain cardinal directions. But then again one can also assume that the Portuguese did not bother to do so and assumed their informants were viewing directions from the same orientation as they were.

Yes--my sense is that Thornton gave the Portuguese too much credit for transcribing what they were told accurately. North, south, east, west, notions of time and travel ("four moons inland" = four months' travel etc) are likely to have been much less uniform back then than they are now and probably explain discrepancies a little more accurately than his ideas in that paper do. I think the man does amazing work on the Kongo/Angola region though.

Well actually it doesn't merely come from the internet, it's found elaborated in different forms in non-internet publications. I also stumbled across a lecture/article a year ago when I was doing a bit of searching about Nri's history called "The Politics of Igbo Origin and Culture: The Igbo-Ukwu and Nri Factors Reconsidered" by Nwankwo T. Nwaezeigwe, which sheds some light on some of the Nri-Igala connections (not that I wasn't already aware of the basic information, but this has some additional information I couldn't have found out on my own). I think you can find the article from a quick search. The only thing that I know is an error in there is when the author claims that the Attah of Igala dynasty was founded by a Benin prince. In reality, there was a ruling dynasty there before the Benin prince came, then a dynasty of Benin origin after he came, and then a dynasty of Jukun origin later on.

Thanks for the reference. That article is new to me, but as you say, the arguments it presents have been around a while. I also didn't mean to imply that the theories of Nri hegemony etc originate on the internet. As the author points out, Onwuejiogwu and Adiele Afigbo were publishing similar stuff in the '70s. I just meant that the Internet amplifies these fantastic claims and ideas that aren't rooted in anything other than suggestions by the original sources. Thurston Shaw hypothesizes a link to a nearby kingdom, and in thirty-five years, that's turned into unlikely claims of ancient empires and pedigrees. That stuff has to do with modern political considerations (measuring up or surpassing peer ethnic groups) and very little to do with the facts.

It may not have been proven outright yet, but the idea that there's a strong connection isn't due merely to internet speculators and I don't see how it's really all that inconclusive. Now internet speculators may take Thurstan Shaw's theory of the Nri - Igbo-Ukwu link and present it as a given fact, but is there any better explanation for the origin of the art?

If you don't think the Igbo-Ukwu art should be attributed to Nri, then what Igbo kingdom do you think it is attributable to? And what do you make of the mention of the belief that the Eze Nri had control over locusts (and could cause swarms of locusts to ruin the crops of someone who got on his bad side) in some early colonial era publications and the bronze figure of a locust that was found among the Igbo-Ukwu art? Is that a coincidence? And don't you think that the use of bronze items during coronation ceremonies by the Eze Nri as documented in the early 1930s (before the discovery of the art) also makes Nri the best candidate for the makers of the art?

I'd prefer to be careful about speculating on the origins of Igbo-Ukwu bronzeworks since I'm not especially well-informed on the topic and I hate when people present their guesses and hypotheses as fact. The Nri dynasty could well be linked to the Igbo-Ukwu crafters. It makes sense to look for origins in related areas. My issue is that the Nri system (as it exists, anyway) is most likely an offshoot of Igala traditions of royalty as we've established, so deriving Igbo-Ukwu from that lineage suggests an ultimately Igala provenance for the work. Since Igbo-Ukwu's dating is far older than anything we have (again, currently) for the Igala region, and there's also differences in stylistic emphasis and symbolism, I don't think the idea make sense.

Igbo-Ukwu depicts specifically Igbo artefacts and cultural norms so there's no reason to believe it's derived from an outside tradition (unlike the current Nri bronze regalia, which shares symbols and similarities with Igala). Your point about the link with locusts is also interesting, but I'd say it's pretty inconclusive too. If locusts were a particularly virulent pest in the area, it's likely they'd be reflected in the mythology and symbolic art of all traditions whether related or not. As an example: are all depictions of leopards related to some ultimate common source or do they reflect long-standing observations and cultural beliefs about the prowess and killing ability of leopards in similar ecological zones (Dahomey/Benin/Sierra Leone and the Poro society/Eso warriors in Oyo/Hausa boxers and the 'damisa' tradition etc)? The second possibility seems more likely to me.

In my view, Shaw suggested Nri because of its proximity and didn't delve that much deeper into it because his focus was on excavation, cataloging and preservation of the artwork. Historians and cultural anthropologists were supposed to elaborate on the provenance and timeline. In the time since his book came out, those historians/anthropologists with political agendas have virtually sealed the Nri hypothesis as fact and other, possibly more useful, inquiries have withered. I think critical readers should take those recent conclusions with a grain of salt and make sure they're considering other factors if they're looking for a straight answer.

The author of the paper you recommended suggests autochthonous subgroups in the Nri area (umudiana) might be responsible for the art as opposed to the current Nri dynasty. That seems logical and it's new to me. I wasn't aware of those different groups so that's a helpful direction in which to look. Perhaps the Nri Igala/umudiana dichotomy is an issue of dynasty change and there is a longer timeline to be explored there.

From my layman's view though, I'd think that Awka/Oka metalsmithing traditions are the logical place to look deeper for the roots of bronze smithing. He refers to Awka briefly in that paper, but their mythic role as the heaven-sent ironsmith that created dry land (markedly similar to beliefs about Ogun in the Yoruba-Edo-Fon area, too) may point to some more remote truths about the origins and emerging ethnic identity of the Igbo-Ukwu founders. The age and skill of Awka metalworking traditions acknowledged in surrounding traditions gives even more weight to the possibility. When you consider that other (currently)non-Igbo groups like the Ijo and Edo recognize Awka smiths in some of their earliest traditions like the Ozidi saga, it's quite likely that historians/archaeologists etc have overlooked a fruitful area of research. Nancy Neaher's old articles about Awka smiths and their traveling services has already suggested some of these ideas. It's all guesswork and speculation on my part, though; I'm just less inclined to believe the "specifically Nri" claim due to some fairly obvious evidence about its more recent Igala origins.

That's way more than I meant to write!

TerraCotta:
I think the man does amazing work on the Kongo/Angola region though.

Agreed.

And thanks for those comments on Nri and Igala. That's an interesting perspective on Nri and Igbo Ukwu, but I'm not sure how the founder of Nri being of Igala origin would necessitate that the Nri kingdom came much later than currently claimed. It seems like a pretty big assumption to make. It seems as if you're saying that this founder had to have come from the politically centralized Igala kingdom at a later date, rather than just coming from the general uncentralized Igala populace at a much earlier time.

On the Awka smiths, I guess what you're referring to is the mention of them in J.P. Clark's Ozidi saga and also this article about the "Southern Edo" (the Urhobo, Isoko, etc.) and the Awka metal smiths : www.jstor.org/stable/3335053

I've read Neaher's articles on the Awka metal smiths. They are interesting and its true that there might be a connection between the Awka smiths and the Nri bronzes, but I never got the sense that there was any historic kingdom or politically centralized state associated with those Awka smiths (although a 15th century sword and some other metal items were unearthed there). Such a kingdom or state would probably be necessary to sponsor the making of the art and to engage in the long distance trade required for some of the materials found at Igbo-Ukwu. So perhaps there was some now forgotten kingdom (not Nri) that covered the Awka and Igbo Ukwu area that people in the area can no longer recall.

Great and highly educative thread...

Terracotta, you need to post more often, bro... I'm already a big fan...

Anyway, I don't need to tell PhysicsQED how much I admire his posts...

TerraCotta: On your second point about the extent of Benin's western frontier, I'd be careful about extracting exact imperial boundaries from those early reports. Olfert Dapper reports that Ijebu was tributary to Benin in the late 17th century too but there's no corroboration from the Ijebu side (perhaps not surprisingly). Similarly, Oyo claims it conquered Ijebu around that same period and exacted tribute, but that's not matched by any outside information either. My point is simply that empires and emperors (like most Nigerians) are prone to exaggeration. That's not to discount the claim, since Benin's role on Lagos Island is part of the historical record, but just a suggestion of skepticism.

Dapper was a compiler of other people's information. One of the people whose information he relied heavily on was a merchant named Samuel Blommaert who visited Benin in 1602. The information Dapper was relying on for Benin could have been from the early 17th century or the mid 17th century, not necessarily the late the 17th century when Dapper published his book. Around 1602, Benin would have been near the height of its power. The Benin claim is that Ijebu was tributary to Benin during the reign of Oba Ozolua (one of the renowned warrior kings) and also for some time afterward. Oba Ozolua's reign started around the end of the fifteenth century (and ended in the early fifteenth century), only a little more than a century before 1602, when Dapper's informants would have heard the claim from Benin informants. If the claim was told to them at an early time (around 1600) before Benin's decline near the end of that century, then I don't think the claim is really that implausible. Also, the known art connection between Ijebu and Benin may have come about during this period when Ijebu was tributary to or was considered tributary by Benin.

As for Oyo and Benin both claiming Ijebu was tributary, I'm not sure the claims of conquest/tribute are really from around the same time or that there's any contradiction there. The Benin claim is that the conquest and tributary status was from Oba Ozolua's reign to some time afterward, and this period of time afterward when Benin had authority or considered Ijebu as tributary could have been only a century or less. Benin would obviously have lost any kind of influence over Ijebu as Benin's power declined in the late 17th century. So Oyo, which was enjoying a period of greater prominence/power around this same time (late 17th century), could certainly have made Ijebu a tributary kingdom after Benin's loss of influence there. And of course, after Oyo's decline, Ijebu could once again have re-asserted or regained its status as being tributary to nobody.


I definitely agree that empires do exaggerate their territorial extent and power. But several of these claims about the extent of Benin's westward reach are not from Benin informants, but later informants from other groups who were making such claims on their own. In some cases it doesn't come off merely as hankering after prestige, but stating real Benin influence or authority in their areas.

What makes me believe the story about the soldiers that were sent westward originally wanting to exact tribute from a place further away than Lagos (maybe they wanted to use Lagos as a war camp to branch out further west or to regroup) are

a) the Benin colony of Idole near Dahomey/Republic of Benin that the Dahomeans apparently destroyed in the early 1700s (according to that article I posted a link to) and the two settlements, "Ado" and "Ikpokia" (which are mentioned in that same article as well) which were right on the border of Dahomey/Republic of Benin with Nigeria. ("Ikpokia" (or is it "Ipokia"?) was apparently founded by people from a nearby Benin colony, and not directly by people from Benin.)

b) the report from the Portuguese missionaries in Benin in 1538 that the Oba of Benin who ruled at the time was holding the ambassadors of "Labidda" (Labadi, in the Accra area of modern day Ghana) and "Arida" (Allada/Ardra, a coastal kingdom located in the modern day Republic of Benin) as hostages. Hostage exchanges during negotiations were a common practice in some other societies elsewhere in the world in Asia and Europe, but these ambassadors might not have been held hostage merely as some form of insurance during negotiations but as real prisoners from places that the Oba at the time was not on good terms with or viewed as enemies that he planned to attack. Or the king of Benin at that time could have just have been holding them prisoner because he thought they were useful as far as providing knowledge about regions further west. Whatever the reason was, the evidence of contact further west is pretty clear from this alone.

So apart from those two towns in or right next to Dahomey/Republic of Benin mentioned in the paper, the holding of ambassadors from places in Dahomey/Republic of Benin and Ghana as hostages implies that Benin already had westward contact beyond Nigeria before setting up a war camp in Lagos a few decades later. Now that is not in and of itself special, but what is very interesting to me are the claims about far away colonies or tributary states such as those mentioned in that paper.

I'm not saying I actually believe everything that I've read about Römer's account of an early Benin colony in modern day Ghana or the extent of Benin's territory in earlier times (this part is simply unbelievable), but the specifics that he goes into (in the excerpts and summaries of his account that I've read), and the way he presents his claims as being the claims of the inhabitants of the area with no apparent guile, and the fact that there are other, completey different accounts which suggest political contact further west, make me think there was definitely some early Benin presence in the Dahomey/Republic of Benin coastal area, before the Lagos conquest, at the very least. As for Ghana, there are Benin traditions of early migrations to Ghana, such as those mentioned by Egharevba, and the fact that what Egharevba published somewhat matches up with independent information from various other people from before and after his publications makes me suspect that there was a real connection there. But I don't know if there is any knowledge of an actual colony or tributary state in Ghana in Edo traditions that matches up with what Römer was claiming. At least I haven't come across such information.

Also, although one could just assume that the Portuguese would have facilitated contacts between these places or made contact between some of these societies (such as Labadi, Allada, and Benin) easier, the possibility that they made contact themselves, without the Portuguese, is definitely possible. In his main book, Egharevba makes the claim that Oba Ewuare traveled very widely: “Ewuare was a great magician, physician, traveller and warrior. He travelled over every part of Nigeria, Dahomey, Ghana, Guinea and the Congo”

While this is obviously exaggeration, even the most unbelieveable part of it, the part about Oba Ewuare even reaching Congo, is not as implausible as it seems at first. The paper I posted a link to doesn't even mention this, but there is a complaint in a letter sent to the Portuguese king by the king of Kongo from 1526 that "people from Cachen and Benin" were causing trouble in his country (Kongo).

What some Benin people were doing there stirring up trouble in Kongo at such an early date (1526) is something I've wondered about. I assumed they got there through the Portuguese when I read it initially, and I'll probably stick with that assumption, but it may be possible that even though Egharevba was exaggerating, there was a bit of truth in his idea of widespread travel by some royalty. This is mere speculation, but perhaps some people from Benin that Oba Ewuare took with him or informed about his travels might have gone on to do some exploration of their own later on, after his reign, and established contacts to the south or outposts to the west, well before Oba Orhogbua's expedition to Lagos.

I meant to write "started around the end of the fifteenth century (and ended in the early sixteenth century)" above when referring to Oba Ozolua's reign. I don't intend to edit the above post because of the spambot.

Also, the only part of the quote from Egharevba about Oba Ewuare that I referred to as being obvious exaggeration was the part about Oba Ewuare traveling over "every part" of those countries, since it would probably have taken more than half a lifetime to do that back then. I am not saying that any other part of the quote is exaggeration, however.

PhysicsQED:

Agreed.

And thanks for those comments on Nri and Igala. That's an interesting perspective on Nri and Igbo Ukwu, but I'm not sure how the founder of Nri being of Igala origin would necessitate that the Nri kingdom came much later than currently claimed. It seems like a pretty big assumption to make. It seems as if you're saying that this founder had to have come from the politically centralized Igala kingdom at a later date, rather than just coming from the general uncentralized Igala populace at a much earlier time.

I see what you mean. The one constant we know of is that Igbo-Ukwu finds are dated to circa 900 AD-1100 AD. Since we have no corresponding early evidence for cultures in Nri or Igala, I find it less likely that these places can claim parentage. It's true that Eri etc. could have sprung from an early/unknown Igala source and then also made the Igbo-Ukwu bronzes but we've got no evidence to suggest that beyond fanciful kinglists for Nri. We do know that there's been more recent Igala incursion into the Nri area by the Oloja Oboni/Ogboni group, and that type of interaction is more likely to be the origin of the current dynasty.

I never got the sense that there was any historic kingdom or politically centralized state associated with those Awka smiths (although a 15th century sword and some other metal items were unearthed there). Such a kingdom or state would probably be necessary to sponsor the making of the art and to engage in the long distance trade required for some of the materials found at Igbo-Ukwu. So perhaps there was some now forgotten kingdom (not Nri) that covered the Awka and Igbo Ukwu area that people in the area can no longer recall.

The fact that Awka (I think I prefer Oka) is not part of a centralized polity is exactly why I think they're the more likely producers and why I think it would be an interesting project for an enterprising scholar to pursue. Apart from their demonstrated expertise and old traditions of metalworking and claims of autochthonous origin (i.e, they don't have traditions of migration/origin elsewhere), Oka also exhibits the most widespread mode of Igbo political organization, which is decentralized. Earlier writers have concentrated their explanation of the producers on kingdoms, empires etc. in order to match their ideas about societies that produce complex artwork. This has happened elsewhere in Nigeria and Africa to the detriment of later observers. Why does craftsmanship, artistic production or even long-distance trade require centralized polities? Why would African societies--centralized or decentralized--duplicate European-style models of monarchy? Do we have any idea why they assume the Igbo-Ukwu grave is for a king, rather than a wealthy merchant, outstanding artist etc?

[Speculation disclaimer here]I think African societies have more political variety and creativity than they got credit for in the past. Here's an example from Nigeria that's closer to home for me. Ibadan in the 19th century evolved a military republic, which was a pretty revolutionary political change. They got rid of a monarchic tradition and came up with a title system that relied on popular nomination, promotion, and social prestige, rather than birthright, to get to the head position. They also grew into the largest polity of the era. Abeokuta made some similarly revolutionary moves. During the close of the colonial era though, the British promoted their negotiations and treaties with the Alaafin of Oyo based on his prior claims of political supremacy over the area and slowly sidelined the functional republican/federalist systems of Ibadan and Abeokuta for a focus on royalist modes of organization similar to what they were most familiar with. Oyo at the time was a fairly unimportant player in the political system but the Alaafin were invited to sign the treaties etc. to reflect the "proper" prestige of Queen Victoria and the then-current notion of what a government was supposed to look like. Ibadan, Abeokuta etc. had dislodged their older monarchic forms, which hadn't been very effective during the tumult and wars of the period, but were basically retrofitted into an invented hierarchy for the convenience of colonial administration. Yet a few decades later, when the British themselves had evolved a parliamentary government that minimized royal power, they were credited for bringing democracy, republican structures etc to Nigeria and the rest of the Commonwealth! This article ("
Aborted Modernization in West Africa? The Case of Abeokuta" ) offers some ideas along these lines: http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/180370?searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3DAbeokuta%26acc%3Doff%26wc%3Don%26fc%3Doff&Search=yes&searchText=Abeokuta&uid=3739832&uid=2134&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=21101954705413

If you look at Benin's many internal battles between the Oba's lineage and the Uzama or various dukedoms/ogies/enogies etc in that light--as waning and waxing between attempts to centralize authority and arguments to evolve or maintain republican traditions, it opens up a new and richer way of understanding these societies. Add in the considerably complex organization of markets and trade, which in many cases funded royal courts but were controlled by professionals and guilds, and you have a much more complicated picture of precolonial societies than we commonly think about. In Yoruba societies, I think we see these tensions at play in the major "kingdoms", from the Ijebu Osugbo/Ogboni societies and their role in regulating the Awujale to Oyo and the Oyo Mesi, or even the Oba of Lagos is relation to the Idejo titleholders/landowners. I could go on but you get the point. Jan Vansina's "How Societies Are Born" is about West-Central Africa but it really helped me to understand and appreciate these issues. Sorry to reference so many works but I enjoy the discussion and I think you'd like/appreciate some of these ideas. I'm not saying these people agree with my characterization, though; this is all my speculation drawn from the stuff I've read.

ShyM-X:
Great and highly educative thread...

Terracotta, you need to post more often, bro... I'm already a big fan...

Anyway, I don't need to tell PhysicsQED how much I admire his posts...

Thanks. I want to but I've got my issues with this place. I always try to read a good PhysicsQED post though.

Did the Benin actually conquered Lagos, or were they allowed to stay there by request?

Also, I doubt Ijebu paid tributaries to both Oyo and Benin... For Benin - there's no Benin influence in Ijebu culture, like probably Owo(which paid tributaries to Benin)... However, it's the other way around... Benin worship an Ijebu god(olokun)...

And all of maps of Oyo empire that I've seen don't have any part of Ijebu land on it... They Ijebu's had a separate empire... Perhaps, these historians were alluding to the Ijebu's in Ibadan - about 25% of Ibadan people have Ijebu ancestry...

That's my 2cent...

Phsyics--I'm reading through your other post but I won't be able to respond in detail until a little later this evening. You make strong points and I'll explain my skepticism about a) and b) and Egharevba's claims about Ewuare as well.

ShyM-X: the Oba of Lagos is definitely of Benin descent and there is a well-established history of Benin political and military presence/influence. There is quite a fair amount of dispute as to what the 'conquest' consisted of though. The Oba's palace was on Lagos Island and there is no evidence of a mainland presence to my knowledge. The Oba is not traditionally (or currently) believed to "own" land in Lagos, in contrast to the Idejo titleholding families, which I think is quite telling.

The Idejo titleholders, mythological descendants of an "Olofin" (meaning "owner of the law/rules/palace" , claim to be the autochthonous (there's that word again!) residents and recognize themselves as the highest authorities in their areas. Although the colonial authorities supported the Oba's claim on Lagos (Island?) and role in government, even they had to petition the Idejo families--ancestors of modern names like Elegushi and Oniru etc.--for permission and opportunity to settle. If you speak Yoruba, you'll guess that those titles refer to farming lineages--"egushi"/melonseed owners, "iru"/locust bean farmers etc. They likely represent the lineages that settled in that area and grew these crops before a period of political centralization led by a dynasty from Benin. This idea gains even more traction when you look at the name of the Lagos palace--iga iganduran. In Yoruba, it means 'great house (palace?) on the pepper farm", which fits in with the surrounding area. It seems "Eko" was exactly what the traditional interpretation claims--"oko", or a farm with few full-time residents. This is also how its described by the earliest Portuguese records of a Benin garrison found on the island with few people living there. How this fits into the purported Edo interpretation of 'Eko' as war camp may be coincidental, or could be another lens through which to see this. Just my take but I'll go into more detail later.

Alright. I want to respond in detail but I also want to keep this shorter than my other posts so let me know if you think I'm skipping/glossing over points. I had some issues quoting the post so I've had to edit extensively.

As for Oyo and Benin both claiming Ijebu was tributary, I'm not sure the claims of conquest/tribute are really from around the same time or that there's any contradiction there. The Benin claim is that the conquest and tributary status was from Oba Ozolua's reign to some time afterward, and this period of time afterward when Benin had authority or considered Ijebu as tributary could have been only a century or less. Benin would obviously have lost any kind of influence over Ijebu as Benin's power declined in the late 17th century. So Oyo, which was enjoying a period of greater prominence/power around this same time (late 17th century), could certainly have made Ijebu a tributary kingdom after Benin's loss of influence there. And of course, after Oyo's decline, Ijebu could once again have re-asserted or regained its status as being tributary to nobody.

Again, I don't know the certain answers to these issues. If you think the conventional explanations are factual/satisfactory, i dont have a problem with that. Is it possible that great Benin warriors conquered Ijebu, retreated in a period of decline, and were replaced by great Oyo warriors who also skulked off when their military prowess was waning? Yes. It's entirely possible and that's the way various historians present the timeline right now. My position of skepticism is to ask a) what someone has to gain by their claims and b) how are these claims validated by outside/third-party records? Duarte Pacheco Pierera wrote the earliest account of a visit to Ijebu in 1502 and makes no mention of a Benin influence. Ijebu oral traditions do not recongize either group's influence. Compare this with Lagos or Onitsha, re: Benin or Dahomey and Nupe/Borgu re: Oyo. Pierera was accurate in his ethnic catalogue of the area (from Lagos to Urhobo to Ijo etc). Why not mention this issue? Perhaps he missed the reign of Ozolua by a few years (this would fall into the 16th century time frame you propose) or perhaps the Benin court made an exaggerated claim to their Portuguese trading partners to bolster their assumed sphere of influence. The Danish source you quoted already shows signs of this by claiming Benin's limits reach the Gambia. It's not impossible either, but it's unlikely for a number of reasons I won't go into here. However, you can absolutely see the utility of such claims in a trading relationship.

I definitely agree that empires do exaggerate their territorial extent and power. But several of these claims about the extent of Benin's westward reach are not from Benin informants, but later informants from other groups who were making such claims on their own. In some cases it doesn't come off merely as hankering after prestige, but stating real Benin influence or authority in their areas. What makes me believe the story about the soldiers that were sent westward originally wanting to exact tribute from a place further away than Lagos (maybe they wanted to use Lagos as a war camp to branch out further west or to regroup) are

a) the Benin colony of Idole near Dahomey/Republic of Benin that the Dahomeans apparently destroyed in the early 1700s (according to that article I posted a link to) and the two settlements, "Ado" and "Ikpokia" (which are mentioned in that same article as well) which were right on the border of Dahomey/Republic of Benin with Nigeria. ("Ikpokia" (or is it "Ipokia"?) was apparently founded by people from a nearby Benin colony, and not directly by people from Benin.)

This claim cites Robin Law but I'm not aware of any Benin provenance for these two towns. I'd be open to being corrected. The name 'Ado' brings up other issues about the origins of the name Benin/"Ado"/Udo/Edo that are worth discussing in another post as well. Where do these terms come from and what might they tell us with a critical reading?

b) the report from the Portuguese missionaries in Benin in 1538 that the Oba of Benin who ruled at the time was holding the ambassadors of "Labidda" (Labadi, in the Accra area of modern day Ghana) and "Arida" (Allada/Ardra, a coastal kingdom located in the modern day Republic of Benin) as hostages. Hostage exchanges during negotiations were a common practice in some other societies elsewhere in the world in Asia and Europe, but these ambassadors might not have been held hostage merely as some form of insurance during negotiations but as real prisoners from places that the Oba at the time was not on good terms with or viewed as enemies that he planned to attack. Or the king of Benin at that time could have just have been holding them prisoner because he thought they were useful as far as providing knowledge about regions further west. Whatever the reason was, the evidence of contact further west is pretty clear from this alone.

The issue of contact isn't the dispute though. There's already evidence of the akori/aggrey bead trade and shared religious ideology that establish firm cultural relationships from what is now eastern Ghana to Benin and centered on Ife/Ufe (according to most contemporary academics). The problem is the interpretation or inspiration for the link. Other scholars (John Thornton among them in "Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World" ) cite a writer named De Sandoval as evidence that Lucumi (Yoruba) was the court language throughout this region during this period, and that political leaders in places like Allada preferred to speak it to their own language. A creative scholar could extrapolate from these points that Benin conquered all the way to Allada but imposed Yoruba as the language of court all the way down the coast. Is it possible? Absolutely. It's again not too likely in my book. The logical answer would be to consider the source mistaken or misinformed by someone who had some political stake in exaggerating the Yoruba linguistic link. People like Sandra Greene have talked about these broad generalizations and the problem of substantiating them. Ambassadors were detained at courts all the time. If this were proof of dominion over foreign entities though, then we'd have to revise a whole series of histories to reflect this. We'd have to accept that 1970s Iran was an imperial power in America because they held American diplomats hostage there, for instance.

As for Ghana, there are Benin traditions of early migrations to Ghana, such as those mentioned by Egharevba, and the fact that what Egharevba published somewhat matches up with independent information from various other people from before and after his publications makes me suspect that there was a real connection there. But I don't know if there is any knowledge of an actual colony or tributary state in Ghana in Edo traditions that matches up with what Römer was claiming. At least I haven't come across such information.

Again, not the first time a group will claim descent or affiliation with a prestigious neighboring group. The Ewe claim to have come from Ife by way of Ketu. Keep in mind that Ife and Ketu trasitions dont claim any specific dominion or ancestry over the Ewe and the Ewe are obviously an independent language and culture group. So why would they claim this? In my opinion, for the same reasons Christian Nigerians see their roots in Israel and Muslim ones see their roots in Saudi Arabia. A few more years and we may start to unearth cultural links with China, Malaysia and other emerging economic/political powers. In the book "Making The Town" about the history of Accra, there's a long discussion about the Beninois and Lagosian origins of certain quarters in the city (now James Town) that are now 'Ga'. These people were enslaved and brought there by Portuguese merchants. They were called "Alladas" which over the years became 'Alatas'. That's now a common term for Nigerians or anyone from east of Ghana. The descendants of these people would certainly prefer a prestigious origin in Benin than the more ignoble truth. I'm not saying this explains the claims but it's another possibility to be aware of.

In his main book, Egharevba makes the claim that Oba Ewuare traveled very widely: “Ewuare was a great magician, physician, traveller and warrior. He travelled over every part of Nigeria, Dahomey, Ghana, Guinea and the Congo”

While this is obviously exaggeration, even the most unbelieveable part of it, the part about Oba Ewuare even reaching Congo, is not as implausible as it seems at first. The paper I posted a link to doesn't even mention this, but there is a complaint in a letter sent to the Portuguese king by the king of Kongo from 1526 that "people from Cachen and Benin" were causing trouble in his country (Kongo).

What some Benin people were doing there stirring up trouble in Kongo at such an early date (1526) is something I've wondered about. I assumed they got there through the Portuguese when I read it initially, and I'll probably stick with that assumption, but it may be possible that even though Egharevba was exaggerating, there was a bit of truth in his idea of widespread travel by some royalty. This is mere speculation, but perhaps some people from Benin that Oba Ewuare took with him or informed about his travels might have gone on to do some exploration of their own later on, after his reign, and established contacts to the south or outposts to the west, well before Oba Orhogbua's expedition to Lagos.

For me, this is the exact type of imperial exaggeration I wouldn't take seriously. Ewuare almost certainly wouldn't have made it to the Congo.How and why? What contemporary evidence do we have? The letter suggests that people from Benin were making trouble in the Kongo. The letters from Spanish viceroys in Latin America around the same period complain about Jellofes (Wolofs) making trouble in Hispaniola and Mexico. Why? Because they were enslaved under horrific conditions and they were a warrior people prone to military action. I don't think that complaint is substantive proof of a Benin military presence. I think that's a royal complaining about unruly and rebellious foreigners likely sold to him by the Portuguese. Egharevba is prone to these traditional exaggerations; Ewuare conquered "201 towns"; there were 31 Ogisos before the Oba dynasty from Ife (although his original work cited only one mythological Ogiso, Igodo, if I remember correctly--I'd have to check an article on his many versions of "A Short History of Benin" . He struggles with the same issues any native-born scholar does; how to separate your pride in heritage from the truth of history. If we accept all these royalist charters and legends as true without critically parsing them, we're doing ourselves a disservice and making it that much harder for future researchers to separate myths and legends from the true historical timeline.

To explain a little further, the history of societies like Ife/Ufe, Idah, Benin/Udo, etc. are as separate from their governments and elites as the history of Nigeria is separate from the claims of Governor Glover, Balewa, Azikiwe, Obasanjo or Goodluck Jonathan, in my view. Obviously political elites and their decisions have a tremendous impact, but we can't take their official versions of history, diplomacy, warfare and policy as fact. They're likely embellished, exaggerated, massaged or outright fabricated due to political pressures and needs, either ancient or current.

Here's another link to read when you have time (and if you haven't already seen it): http://www.academia.edu/1972119/Ancient_Benin_Where_did_the_First_Monarchs_Come_from

^^^^Apt and very knowledgeable response...

I admire your knowledge of African history and culture(s)...

Stay strong, brother..

Interesting post above Terracotta. However, I see a lot of things embedded in the above post that strike me as not being accurate, so I'll have to respond at even more length tomorrow or the next day. There are so many things in your response that I would have to give detailed responses to that I can already guarantee that my response will be pretty long, and will probably have to be split into parts.

And on the Bondarenko paper, I have already read it - I've read all of his papers that are available online in English, so I won't need to re-read that. It's an interesting paper, although I disagree with several of his conclusions and interpretations and I'll comment on that when I comment on the rest of that same post of yours (I'm assuming you posted it because you wanted my opinion on the contents/conclusions of the authors).

PhysicsQED: Interesting post above Terracotta. However, I see a lot of things embedded in the above post that strike me as not being accurate, so I'll have to respond at even more length tomorrow or the next day. There are so many things in your response that I would have to give detailed responses to that I can already guarantee that my response will be pretty long, and will probably have to be split into parts.

I'd like to see your responses. If it's too detailed to fit in here, let me know and you can email it. I would have elaborated much more on sources and ideas in my post but it wouldn't fit this conversational tone too well.

And on the Bondarenko paper, I have already read it - I've read all of his papers that are available online in English, so I won't need to re-read that. It's an interesting paper, although I disagree with several of his conclusions and interpretations and I'll comment on that when I comment on the rest of that same post of yours (I'm assuming you posted it because you wanted my opinion on the contents/conclusions of the authors).

I thought you would have already seen it, but it cites a variety of sources on the origins and development of Benin that directly contradict the current Oba's preferred narrative (re: Ekaladerhan etc). Some of these sources are collected from older Benin royal sources in the early part of the 20th century who presumably would have known of Oba Akenzua II's version if it were current/believed at that time (I recognize of course that it might have been omitted for other reasons, but I think it's logical to ask about the first time the story became widely known). The archaeological evidence also offers clues and suggestions re: the "phantom capital" called Udo that also don't match current royal myths of origin at Benin. I say all this because I think it's a useful example of the political/'court' manipulation (perhaps 'interpretation' is a less loaded word) of heritage. I am not singling out Benin in this regard, since the current court myths at Ife, Oyo, Ijebu (and to lesser extent Ilesha, Ado, Lagos etc.) show signs of similar distortion and for many of the same likely reasons.

FYI, I made some edits to my previous posts to clarify points that I glossed over earlier.

PhysicsQED: By the way it is untrue that "the kings of the Igala claimed descent from the Nri of Igbo-Ukwu" as Ehret suggests. There is not a single precolonial or early colonial document or even post colonial document which supports this idea that they actually claimed descent from Nri, even if there might be some post colonial documents or articles from non-Igalas that attempt to make it seem like they actually did claim that descent or which state that they have that descent. In fact, anyone who has read the earliest documents about the Nri and Igala connection will come across numerous publications suggesting or stating outright that the founders of Nri were originally Igala settlers. This does not mean that that is necessarily true (that they were Igala settlers), but it is something which Ehret should have at least mentioned if he was going to talk about the connection. That's another error on his part.

These claims may have confused the Igala prime ministers, Asadu/Achadu, who are supposedly of Igbo descent, although I do not know where from.

TerraCotta:

Yes--my sense is that Thornton gave the Portuguese too much credit for transcribing what they were told accurately. North, south, east, west, notions of time and travel ("four moons inland" = four months' travel etc) are likely to have been much less uniform back then than they are now and probably explain discrepancies a little more accurately than his ideas in that paper do. I think the man does amazing work on the Kongo/Angola region though.

Thanks for the reference. That article is new to me, but as you say, the arguments it presents have been around a while. I also didn't mean to imply that the theories of Nri hegemony etc originate on the internet. As the author points out, Onwuejiogwu and Adiele Afigbo were publishing similar stuff in the '70s. I just meant that the Internet amplifies these fantastic claims and ideas that aren't rooted in anything other than suggestions by the original sources. Thurston Shaw hypothesizes a link to a nearby kingdom, and in thirty-five years, that's turned into unlikely claims of ancient empires and pedigrees. That stuff has to do with modern political considerations (measuring up or surpassing peer ethnic groups) and very little to do with the facts.

I'd prefer to be careful about speculating on the origins of Igbo-Ukwu bronzeworks since I'm not especially well-informed on the topic and I hate when people present their guesses and hypotheses as fact. The Nri dynasty could well be linked to the Igbo-Ukwu crafters. It makes sense to look for origins in related areas. My issue is that the Nri system (as it exists, anyway) is most likely an offshoot of Igala traditions of royalty as we've established, so deriving Igbo-Ukwu from that lineage suggests an ultimately Igala provenance for the work. Since Igbo-Ukwu's dating is far older than anything we have (again, currently) for the Igala region, and there's also differences in stylistic emphasis and symbolism, I don't think the idea make sense.

Igbo-Ukwu depicts specifically Igbo artefacts and cultural norms so there's no reason to believe it's derived from an outside tradition (unlike the current Nri bronze regalia, which shares symbols and similarities with Igala). Your point about the link with locusts is also interesting, but I'd say it's pretty inconclusive too. If locusts were a particularly virulent pest in the area, it's likely they'd be reflected in the mythology and symbolic art of all traditions whether related or not. As an example: are all depictions of leopards related to some ultimate common source or do they reflect long-standing observations and cultural beliefs about the prowess and killing ability of leopards in similar ecological zones (Dahomey/Benin/Sierra Leone and the Poro society/Eso warriors in Oyo/Hausa boxers and the 'damisa' tradition etc)? The second possibility seems more likely to me.

In my view, Shaw suggested Nri because of its proximity and didn't delve that much deeper into it because his focus was on excavation, cataloging and preservation of the artwork. Historians and cultural anthropologists were supposed to elaborate on the provenance and timeline. In the time since his book came out, those historians/anthropologists with political agendas have virtually sealed the Nri hypothesis as fact and other, possibly more useful, inquiries have withered. I think critical readers should take those recent conclusions with a grain of salt and make sure they're considering other factors if they're looking for a straight answer.

The author of the paper you recommended suggests autochthonous subgroups in the Nri area (umudiana) might be responsible for the art as opposed to the current Nri dynasty. That seems logical and it's new to me. I wasn't aware of those different groups so that's a helpful direction in which to look. Perhaps the Nri Igala/umudiana dichotomy is an issue of dynasty change and there is a longer timeline to be explored there.

From my layman's view though, I'd think that Awka/Oka metalsmithing traditions are the logical place to look deeper for the roots of bronze smithing. He refers to Awka briefly in that paper, but their mythic role as the heaven-sent ironsmith that created dry land (markedly similar to beliefs about Ogun in the Yoruba-Edo-Fon area, too) may point to some more remote truths about the origins and emerging ethnic identity of the Igbo-Ukwu founders. The age and skill of Awka metalworking traditions acknowledged in surrounding traditions gives even more weight to the possibility. When you consider that other (currently)non-Igbo groups like the Ijo and Edo recognize Awka smiths in some of their earliest traditions like the Ozidi saga, it's quite likely that historians/archaeologists etc have overlooked a fruitful area of research. Nancy Neaher's old articles about Awka smiths and their traveling services has already suggested some of these ideas. It's all guesswork and speculation on my part, though; I'm just less inclined to believe the "specifically Nri" claim due to some fairly obvious evidence about its more recent Igala origins.

That's way more than I meant to write!

TerraCotta:
I see what you mean. The one constant we know of is that Igbo-Ukwu finds are dated to circa 900 AD-1100 AD. Since we have no corresponding early evidence for cultures in Nri or Igala, I find it less likely that these places can claim parentage. It's true that Eri etc. could have sprung from an early/unknown Igala source and then also made the Igbo-Ukwu bronzes but we've got no evidence to suggest that beyond fanciful kinglists for Nri. We do know that there's been more recent Igala incursion into the Nri area by the Oloja Oboni/Ogboni group, and that type of interaction is more likely to be the origin of the current dynasty.

The Nri kingdom is not a dynasty. It is not a hereditary kingship, in fact it's hardly a kingship at all, at least, in the Igala sense. Nri kings are chosen through a ritual process from supposedly random Nri families, the member of such a family would have had to be an Ozo title holder (priest-like member of a council for the Eze Nri, another feature of Nri organisation that is markedly Igbo). This whole process is already completely different from the more centralised Idah kingship which is rotated around four branches of a royal clan. The king of Nri held no military power, it was almost a completely religious role. Completely opposite to Igala kingship. For lack of a better example, the role of Eze Nri is similar to that of the Dalai Llama. The transliteration of 'Eze' along with generalisation of Igbo cultures has led to some misunderstandings. The state religion of Nri was sun veneration, which I do not believe follows Igala historical sociological development. Linguistic terms for religious and political structure also bear faint similarity with the Igala, if we are talking about something similar to the scale of Benin-Ife relationship, then it's a very loose connection because Eri, Nri, Ozo, etc are all easily translatable into modern Igbo, there are no significant Igala words for political/religious things, such as how we know Ikenga/Okega among the Igala.

On to Igbo-Ukwu. It's classification as an Nri cultural site is not as lazily placed as is thought. The artefacts origins hint to Nri culture with much stronger links than just similarity in animal symbolism. Among Igbo-Ukwu animal figures were human figures fashioned with Nri Ichi scarifications on their foreheads, temples, and cheeks; many of these scarifications were used by different Nri clans until the start of the last century as allegiance to the sun cult of Nri and followed precise styles depending on the community.

The image below is a sketch of some of the faces found on the metal works, I do not know the origin of this image, but the faces match the faces of the artefacts from Igbo-Ukwu. You can clearly see sun-imagery in the scarification. They are all similar to scarifications borne by different Umunri communities, particularly the middle figure (e) is most similar to that on photographed Nri people from the early 20th century, below this image is an example.

[img]http://igbocybershrine.files./2011/08/ichi.jpg[/img]



Above image is from here with the source of the drawing: http://ukpuru..com/2012/07/ichi-scarification-is-not-tribal-mark.html

The most telling sign of Nri influence is that the area of the rediscovered burial chamber is on a piece of Igbo Ukwu claimed to have been part of Oraeri at one point, an Umunri clan.

I'm also confused as what modern Nri bronze items are of Igala design.

ezeagu:

The Nri kingdom is not a dynasty. It is not a hereditary kingship, in fact it's hardly a kingship at all, at least, in the Igala sense. Nri kings are chosen through a ritual process from supposedly random Nri families, the member of such a family would have had to be an Ozo title holder (priest-like member of a council for the Eze Nri, another feature of Nri organisation that is markedly Igbo). This whole process is already completely different from the more centralised Idah kingship which is rotated around four branches of a royal clan.

You've made some claims that are wrong or that aren't consistent with historical records.

1) I'm not particularly wedded to the term 'dynasty'--as you should be able to tell from my earlier posts, I'm a skeptic when it comes to royal lineages and claims of ancient genealogies--but the word is consistently used by other observers to describe the Nri political lineage. You can see an essay by Keith Ray in the book "Interpretive Archeology" for several examples, but a Google search would produce many more. I agree that it might be misleading, though.

2) You're wrong in claiming that Nri is not a hereditary kingship and demonstrates differences from the Idah system. Nri rotated its kingship around four noble families, just like the Idah kingship. We are fortunate enough to know this because MDW Jeffreys wrote his account of the Nri system in his article "The Divine Umundri King" in 1935. Jeffreys is an important early writer on Igbo culture. You should try to read this article if you haven't already.

The king of Nri held no military power, it was almost a completely religious role. Completely opposite to Igala kingship. For lack of a better example, the role of Eze Nri is similar to that of the Dalai Llama. The transliteration of 'Eze' along with generalisation of Igbo cultures has led to some misunderstandings. The state religion of Nri was sun veneration, which I do not believe follows Igala historical sociological development. Linguistic terms for religious and political structure also bear faint similarity with the Igala, if we are talking about something similar to the scale of Benin-Ife relationship, then it's a very loose connection because Eri, Nri, Ozo, etc are all easily translatable into modern Igbo, there are no significant Igala words for political/religious things, such as how we know Ikenga/Okega among the Igala.

Since you don't provide any sources or references for this speculation (is this oral history? Website copy? Distilled from Onwuejeogwu's works?), there's no way for me to critically assess them and no real benefit I can see in speculating on how it relates to Igala 'historical sociological development' (I think you mean 'religion' here). "Sun veneration" is general enough to be applicable to many non-Judeo-Christian religions, for obvious reasons. If you're referring to ichi scarification as depicting rays of the sun/anyawu, there's also a suggestion that the scarification represent the hoeing of the earth a farmer does to plant yams. This may well be linked to Eri's role as someone who planted the heads of his children from which the first yams grew, according to the myth I remember. I don't know enough to argue for either interpretation. I'm just pointing them out.

On to Igbo-Ukwu. It's classification as an Nri cultural site is not as lazily placed as is thought. The artefacts origins hint to Nri culture with much stronger links than just similarity in animal symbolism. Among Igbo-Ukwu animal figures were human figures fashioned with Nri Ichi scarifications on their foreheads, temples, and cheeks; many of these scarifications were used by different Nri clans until the start of the last century as allegiance to the sun cult of Nri and followed precise styles depending on the community.

The image below is a sketch of some of the faces found on the metal works, I do not know the origin of this image, but the faces match the faces of the artefacts from Igbo-Ukwu. You can clearly see sun-imagery in the scarification. They are all similar to scarifications borne by different Umunri communities, particularly the middle figure (e) is most similar to that on photographed Nri people from the early 20th century, below this image is an example.

I didn't say the classification of Igbo-Ukwu as part of the Nri culture area was lazy. I don't want to imply it either. You'll see in my post that I say several times that the Igbo-Ukwu bronzes may very well be Nri productions. I'm not a specialist in this field and I'd defer to them (after I've examined the evidence with my own skepticism and sources). The fact that some Nri figures bear scarifications that are currently associated with ichi is interesting but inconclusive. You can't rely solely on contemporary evidence to explain past patterns and behavior. What if the contemporary ichi were adopted to imitate whatever culture/people that created Igbo-Ukwu? What if the ichi cicatrizations have evolved over time to mean something completely different by the time they enter the verifiable historical record? That sort of cross-fertilization has definitely happened in other contexts in Nigeria and beyond. We can't divine answers easily just by looking at the depiction of something today and extrapolating vast histories from a glance. .

I'm familiar with the images you quoted. It is reproduced in the Keith Ray essay I mentioned earlier. You can see it for yourself if you do a Google Books search.

I wrote about ichi/ichie etc in this thread a few years ago (that discussion was one of the reasons I stopped posting, actually): https://www.nairaland.com/59913/what-significance-yoruba-tribal-marks/1#1229362

I think there are some images and links to other information there.

The most telling sign of Nri influence is that the area of the rediscovered burial chamber is on a piece of Igbo Ukwu claimed to have been part of Oraeri at one point, an Umunri clan.

Another interesting but unsourced and uncertified claim. How long was it part of Oraeri? Why isn't it anymore? Etc. etc.

I'm also confused as what modern Nri bronze items are of Igala design.

I'd suggest you read a few art historical essays. There should be some good material in back issues of African Arts, which isn't available for free online any longer unfortunately. I'll provide references when I have some time.

Another word of caution--A lot of the really interesting material on these issues will not be found online or through Google searches. You'll have to buy a ton of books and read a variety of journal articles if you're interested in getting a more rigorous analysis than village myths and old wives' tales.

I've said enough about Igbo-Ukwu and Nri for now though. It's part of the the thread and (to me) it's a logical relative of the other Niger Valley bronze crafting centers (Ife, Benin, Nupe, Ijebu, Igala, the 'Lower Niger Bronze Industry' in the Urhobo/Niger Delta etc) but I didn't post here to focus on it. There are clear common threads to all of these areas, along with differences, like the composition/source of metal, styles, symbolic emphasis etc. Each culture group is distinct and original in its interpretation; for example, Benin and Ife are different in their naturalism, composition, subject matter etc even if we accept a link between the two schools. They developed strikingly different art traditions and cultures despite acknowledged common roots.

What interests me (and hopefully those reading) is their common use of copper alloys to depict the most sacred/important political, ritual, military and possibly economic/diplomatic figures of their times. They also show that inter-ethnic exchange in the Nigerian region probably precedes colonization and enriched each group technically, politically and probably financially. As the Ogboni society says about its brass emblems, brass doesn't corrode or rust, and in many ways it's the most permanent record we have precolonial Nigerian cultures and societies that we would only know through half-remembered myths and fables. Lots more to talk about and it's very hard to write short posts about complicated issues but I'll end it here for now.

Edits: I wrote this in a hurry late yesterday. Should be a little more clear/ cleaned up now.

TerraCotta:
2) You're wrong in claiming that Nri is not a hereditary kingship and demonstrates differences from the Idah system. In fact, Nri rotated its kingship around four noble families, just like the Idah kingship. We are fortunate enough to know this because it was detailed by MDW Jeffreys in his article "The Divine Umundri King" in 1935. Jeffreys is an important writer on Igbo anthropology--he was a forerunner in spelling the ethnonym as 'Igbo', rather than 'Ibo' for example. It's a notable quality that shows his interest in details. You should read this article if you haven't already.

Jeffreys goes on to link Igbo culture with Nile-valley civilisations through similarity in sun-veneration and sun-cults. Relying on an article from the 1930s isn't advisable. There are major errors throughout the writing, Jeffreys claims Chukwu to be a sun-god, Jeffreys claims that the Nri people are responsible for the majority of the Igbo culture, and then there's the claim that the Igala, Edo, Igbo, etc have a uniform culture based on cultural/ritual similarities. Jeffreys is an interesting source and useful for names, but it isn't something to rely on.

The actual "royal families" being referenced in that 1935 article are either the four quarters of Agukwu-Nri, or the communities of Umunri. Since he did not explain or give a name for these "four (or three) royal families" then no one can say for sure what this actually meant. There is also a lack of other sources for these supposed royal families (if this isn't in reference to the Umunri communities), and there are further question like from what Umunri community do these families hail? What is their origin? What is their relation to the rest of the Umunri lineage?

On the other hand you could say the Umunri are the royal lineage and that the various communities are the sources for kingship, but to say "Nri rotated its kingship around four noble families, just like the Idah kingship" is not true, because there's no evidence of this ever happening. Nri kings were solely chosen through the consultation of ancestral spirits, as I'm sure is somewhat the case of Igala kingship, to a lesser extent, but in no way the same. What I meant by 'no hereditary kingship' was that there is no evidence that kingship was passed from father to son in Nri communities, or even close relatives, while that is often the case in Igala society.

TerraCotta:
All conjecture. Since you don't provide any sources or references for this speculation (is this oral history? Website copy? Distilled from Onwuejeogwu's works?), there's no way for me to critically assess them and no real benefit I can see in speculating on how it relates to Igala 'historical sociological development' (I think you mean 'religion' here). "Sun veneration" is general enough to be applicable to many non-Judeo-Christian religions, for obvious reasons. If you're referring to ichi scarification as depicting rays of the sun/anyawu, there's also a historical understanding that the scarification represent the hoeing of the earth a farmer does to plant yams. This may well be linked to Eri's role as someone who planted the heads of his children from which the first yams grew, according to the myth I remember. I don't have time to pull out the sources right now but I'll dig them out if there's enough interest in this ater.

'Historical sociological development' is referring to the fact that there is no major sun-cult among the Igala. Most of the information in that paragraph is introductory information on Nri. Jeffreys himself wrote an article in 1951 on Ichi (in which Chukwu turned from a sun-god in his 1935 article to a sky-being) and noted the names for the sections of the scarifications which included the Igbo names onwa and anwu, 'moon' and 'sun'. According to him, the scarification represented the bearing of the moon and the sun on initiated Umunri mburuichi's heads, and then what followed was more Nile-valley propaganda. bla bla.

TerraCotta:
I didn't say the classification of Igbo-Ukwu as part of the Nri culture area was lazy. I don't want to imply it either. You'll see in my post that I say several times that the Igbo-Ukwu bronzes may very well be Nri productions. I'm not a specialist in this field and I'd defer to them (after I've examined the evidence with customary skepticism and my own sources of reference). The fact that some Nri figures bear scarifications that are currently associated with ichi is interesting but inconclusive. You can't rely solely on contemporary evidence to explain past patterns and behavior. What if the contemporary ichi were adopted to imitate whatever culture/people that created Igbo-Ukwu? What if the ichi cicatrizations have evolved over time to mean something completely different by the time they enter the verifiable historical record? We can't divine answers easily just by looking at the depiction of something today and extrapolating vast histories from a glance. Otherwise, we'd all know that Jesus was a blonde, Louisiana was settled by English-speaking immigrants and Nigerians have always eaten Jollof rice as their national dish.

I'm familiar with the images you quoted. You said you didn't know the source, but its actually reproduced in the Keith Ray essay I mentioned earlier. You can see it for yourself if you do a Google Books search. The funny thing is that I'd spent some time several years ago on Nairaland talking to some people about the existence and meaning of ichi marks. I also reproduced some old photographs and an essay about a titled ozo who'd recently died, if I remember rightly. I'll look for the post later but it should be findable in my (short) post history.

This can be applied to any history. It's just speculation. What we have now is evidence, and the evidence points to Nri or a pre-Nri people.

I had a feeling this might turn into an Nri-focused discussion. I don't have anything else to add on this so I'll be moving on to other topics if/when Physics is available. This side conversation about Nri is speculative. I thought that was clear but maybe you missed it. I've said several times that if you're happy with the current popular beliefs about Nri, I think that's fine. I'm not an Nri specialist and I don't claim any secret knowledge about its history. Physics posted an excellent paper earlier in the thread by a Professor Nwankwo Nwaezeigwe of UNN. I'd never heard of the article before but it raises many of the same points I'm making here in explaining why there are problems with the Nri = Igbo-Ukwu theory. Have you read this paper?

ezeagu:

Jeffreys goes on to link Igbo culture with Nile-valley civilisations through similarity in sun-veneration and sun-cults. Relying on an article from the 1930s isn't advisable. There are major errors throughout the writing, Jeffreys claims Chukwu to be a sun-god, Jeffreys claims that the Nri people are responsible for the majority of the Igbo culture, and then there's the claim that the Igala, Edo, Igbo, etc have a uniform culture based on cultural/ritual similarities. Jeffreys is an interesting source and useful for names, but it isn't something to rely on.

Another point I thought I'd made several times: We have to be careful about sources and over-relying on any of them until they've been rigorously tested and vetted by trained historians and anthropologists. I've written enough on here about my distrust of people who link every culture in West Africa to Egypt, so obviously I'd disagree with Jeffreys on that interpretation. As an eyewitness/first person source on Nri traditions in the 1930s on the other hand, I'd say Jeffreys is more accurate than not. However you choose to interprete him, he clearly says there are four royal families (reduced to three) that produce the Nri titleholder.

The actual "royal families" being referenced in that 1935 article are either the four quarters of Agukwu-Nri, or the communities of Umunri. Since he did not explain or give a name for these "four (or three) royal families" then no one can say for sure what this actually meant.

It seems clear enough to me. Four royal families, now reduced to three.

There is also a lack of other sources for these supposed royal families (if this isn't in reference to the Umunri communities), and there are further question like from what Umunri community do these families hail? What is their origin? What is their relation to the rest of the Umunri lineage?

Yes. There are lots of questions. It's why this is difficult but rewarding to think about and a rich topic for speculation.

On the other hand you could say the Umunri are the royal lineage and that the various communities are the sources for kingship, but to say "Nri rotated its kingship around four noble families, just like the Idah kingship" is not true, because there's no evidence of this ever happening.

That's an argument you should have with the original source. I wasn't there, you weren't there but Jeffrey's was. You say he's mistaken and that's fine if you have some proof--perhaps contrary evidence from another observer during that same time period, or evidence that he lied, deliberately manipulated what he was told etc. Do you? If not, I'd go with his own words about what he saw in the early 1930s in Nri. Rotational 'kingships' are hereditary, even though they don't pass directly from father to son. It's a common system in West Africa. The heir is chosen through divination in many (I'd guess a majority) of West African 'monarchies'. Primogeniture or first-son inheritance as in Benin and perhaps Oyo and Dahomey is rarer and innovative where it's found.

Nri kings were solely chosen through the consultation of ancestral spirits, as I'm sure is somewhat the case of Igala kingship, to a lesser extent, but in no way the same. What I meant by 'no hereditary kingship' was that there is no evidence that kingship was passed from father to son in Nri communities, or even close relatives, while that is often the case in Igala society.

See above.

'Historical sociological development' is referring to the fact that there is no major sun-cult among the Igala. Most of the information in that paragraph is introductory information on Nri. Jeffreys himself wrote an article in 1951 on Ichi (in which Chukwu turned from a sun-god in his 1935 article to a sky-being) and noted the names for the sections of the scarifications which included the Igbo names onwa and anwu, 'moon' and 'sun'. According to him, the scarification represented the bearing of the moon and the sun on initiated Umunri mburuichi's heads, and then what followed was more Nile-valley propaganda. bla bla.

See above on my above of the Nile Valley stuff. I already noted the solar interpretation of ichi. Keith Ray mentions the agriculture-inspired interpretation in the essay I mentioned earlier: http://books.google.com/books?id=Pv48AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA76&lpg=PA76&dq=ichi+marks+agriculture+eri&source=bl&ots=t9aAmkbfCI&sig=G09swCrXEY0Uo0tqTacPJJXrWhI&hl=en&sa=X&ei=tz-AUfuUGMiJiwL0g4CQBA&ved=0CDcQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=ichi%20marks%20agriculture%20eri&f=false

He quotes a missionary's interview with a native-born Nri woman who says the marks are also called "ogba ubi" (farming furrows) and then elaborates on the story about Eri planting the heads of his first-born children to grow the first yams, as mentioned above. Just an example of how a common belief or interpretation can have alternative explanations.

This can be applied to any history. It's just speculation. What we have now is evidence, and the evidence points to Nri or a pre-Nri people.

That's true. You've got me there. it should be clear now that I am speculating--that's how the discussion with Physics got started in the first place. The point is that you can't look at the Igbo-Ukwu markings, compare them to later/current Nri markings and call it a day. Some Oyo body markings are probably from Nupe and Borgu; if you know about the history of intermixture/conquest in that region, it makes perfect sense. The Nupe currently say they adopted some markings (the ' cat's whiskers' marks on some Ife and Benin artworks) from Yagba, their Yoruba-speaking neighbors. Also a logical conclusion if you understand their history. Marks are very helpful for tracing genealogies but they also have a history of development and change--they're worn by people, so they're not static. When Nigerians lived in Ghana in the 1960s, some of them gave their children Ghanaian marks as a sign of social integration in their new community. Hope the gist is clear.

Posting here can be a pain when you're not using a keyboard. I've said all i have to say on this issue though. On to something else.