^ Indeed. I wouldn't say I'm over-generalizing. But I think postulating what isn't observable or demonstrable is over-assuming.

Radoillo: ^ Indeed. I wouldn't say I'm over-generalizing. But I think postulating what isn't observable or demonstrable is over-assuming.

First I would like to emphasize on the importance of afa nna in the wider Igbo community sense and the reason for oing this is explained in the second paragraph. I may have over-assumed by saying many families had fixed last names but I need us to understand something here though. It is known that in oldtime Igboland that some people were named after their mothers especially in polygamous family settings of plenty wives and numerous children for fathers to easily identify which wife a child belonged to. However, in the wider community sense in situations like when a child got lost or wandered off somewhere and was found by men or women of the village, they would ask him instead, i bu onye? onye bu nna gi? kee afa nna gi? His father's name would be asked immediately and not his mother's name to pinpoint which compound he came from. The father's name still took precedence in that setting. Olaudah, being a small boy must have understood very well the naming system of his people even at his age and he mentioned severally in his book after being kidnapped about wanting to return to his father's compound and not his mother's mkpuke. Mother's names may have been well used by our ancestors in the times of yore but in more serious identification settings, Afa nna was used instead. Afa nna, or father's name, as we all know, became more popularly used and hence Igbo last name naming system fixed after the introduction of christianity.

Now, Olaudah wrote his memoir in the land of the white man, and not in africa, where he must have gotten accustomed to the first name and last name(father's name) naming system of the white man(the naming system of which Igbos were to adopt couple of decades later) such that when he decided to write his last name(afa nna) in his memoir he wrote 'equiano', leading us to assume that 'equiano' must have been his father's name which he used as his last name. The same adoption modern-day Ekwealuo family might have taken after the white man came to their land, imposed the foreign last name-surname system and asked for their last name which they translated loosely to as 'father's name' and 'Ekwealuo' came up. Mind you that he might have been named after his mother, say Ogboli or Nando for example(Olaudah Ogboli), but given the contextual time and sense Olaudah wrote his memoir at a much mature age and mind, he must have been exposed to the last name naming system of the white man which he adopted when writing his memoir.

If Olaudah qdopted his father's name as his last name at the time of his writing(late 1700s maybe) and couple of decades later the Ekwealuo family adopted their, maybe, grandfather's name at the time of the coming of the white man, does this, in some way, tender some explanation for why the 'Ekwealuo' family last name managed to survive till today? You did raise a thoughtful question though.

bigfrancis21: If Olaudah qdopted his father's name as his last name at the time of his writing(late 1700s maybe) and couple of decades later the Ekwealuo family adopted their, maybe, grandfather's name at the time of the coming of the white man, does this, in some way, tender some explanation for why the 'Ekwealuo' family last name managed to survive till today? You did raise a thoughtful question though.

I don't think it could tender a sufficient explanation, because it really would require that we make a number of special assumptions. Radoillo has already gone over some of these special assumptions. The simple point of all the assumptions is that between Vassa's father's life and colonial rule is more than just a couple of decades. It's practically 200 years. Considering all we know about the naming culture, there is just no explanation that will reasonably and satisfactorily reconcile that 200 year gap.

ChinenyeN:

I don't think it could tender a sufficient explanation, because it really would require that we make a number of special assumptions. Radoillo has already gone over some of these special assumptions. The simple point of all the assumptions is that between Vassa's father's life and colonial rule is more than just a couple of decades. It's practically 200 years. Considering all we know about the naming culture, there is just no explanation that will reasonably and satisfactorily reconcile that 200 year gap.

@bold...be careful of wrong information you disseminate on the internet like this. That's totally untrue. Olaudah was born in 1745 and Christianity was introduced in Igboland in 1857. He wrote his autobiography in 1789, mere 68 years before the introduction of christianity to Igboland. The time difference between his birth(1745) and 1857 being 102 years is roughly 2 or 3 generations after Olaudah's father. Not much of a gap as you over assumed.

@bold 2...what makes you so sure about that? On what basis of assumption do you make that statement?

bigfrancis21:

He wrote his autobiography in 1789, mere 68 years before the introduction of christianity to Igboland. The time difference between his birth(1745) and 1857 being 102 years is roughly 2 or 3 generations after Olaudah's father. Not much of a gap as you over assumed.

OK. So I think the dates you used in your analysis are interesting. There are a couple of things I want to say.

First, going by your belief that a pre-colonial Igbo family name could possibly persist for generations, then we can't even say for sure that Equiano was Olaudah's dad's name. It could then very well be the name of an ancestor born half a century before Olaudah's dad, in 1640 or maybe even earlier. So that by the time the missionaries established in Onitsha in 1857, the name could then have been in the family for over 217 years. Strange.

Second, you using 1857 in your calculations is...well...misleading. Isseke is in the hinterland. Nowhere near Onitsha. So I can assure you that among the converts the missionaries may have made in Onitsha in 1857, even up to the last decade of the 19th century (and the converts were pitifully few according to missionary records) none of them came from Isseke. At most, a few converts were trickling in from nearby towns like Obosi and Ogidi by the 1880s and 1890s. The hinterland where Isseke was tucked away was largely untouched.

Interestingly, even for Onitsha families, the Azikiwes for instance, who had early contacts with Western Education, and thus adopted the European surname system early, the last name only goes back to an ancestor born close to the mid-19th century. Zik's genealogy can be found in his autobiography. You can check it out.

Missionaries arrived the neighbourhood around Isseke only in the 1900s.

But let's even agree with your dates and what they seem to imply, and say that Equiano was Olaudah's father's name, and that by some twist of fate an Isseke man was among the converts made at Onitsha in 1857 and that from 1857 to date, the descendants of that Isseke man have used the European last name system and been known as Ekwealuo. The 102-year gap between Olaudah's birth and our hypothetical Isseke man who accepted Jesus and education at Onitsha in 1857 is more than enough time for last names to change.

bigfrancis21: What's more sad to learn from Catherine's research is that poor little Olauda may not have been kidnapped ordinarily out of the blues but was rather sold off into slavery by his own father because his father thought of him to be effeminate and less manly like his elder brothers, and always followed his mother around even along with her into seclusion during her monthly cycle, which was considered a taboo. Olauda, who was 11 years old at that time, was soon to be initiated into the mgburichi group like his elder brothers in a few years time and the initiation event was costly. His father did not feel willing to waste money on a son who was more of a woman than a man, so his kidnap into slavery was orchestrated and Olaudah was sold. Such a betrayal coming from his own father.
I feel rather
What a sad twist to this powerful story.

I feel so sad for Olaudah's sister,there is no existing record of her.

bigfrancis21: @bold...be careful of wrong information you disseminate on the internet like this. That's totally untrue. Olaudah was born in 1745 and Christianity was introduced in Igboland in 1857. He wrote his autobiography in 1789, mere 68 years before the introduction of christianity to Igboland. The time difference between his birth(1745) and 1857 being 102 years is roughly 2 or 3 generations after Olaudah's father. Not much of a gap as you over assumed.

@bold 2...what makes you so sure about that? On what basis of assumption do you make that statement?

Nothing I said was incorrect, and I didn't make any unnecessary assumptions. We just aren't talking about the same thing. I'm talking about the time period between Vassa's father's life and colonial rule, while you're talking about the time period between Vassa's birth and the introduction of Christianity. There's no way we'd be able to continue this discussion until we come to an understanding on time frame. So, for the sake of the discussion, I'll leave my time frame alone and we'll focus on the one you presented.

The first thing I want to say is that I get your logic, and it's interesting. However, the general rule, when stating assumptions for anything intellectual, is to be as conservative as possible. If we can convincingly satisfy conservative constraints, then an optimistic claim could potentially look reasonable. To that end, I believe you're being a little too optimistic with your time frame.

To begin with, the most conservative measure for a fixed last-name culture would be colonial rule. The introduction of Christianity into Igboland was not an all-encompassing thing. It was blotchy and spread unevenly throughout the region. As a case in point, Onitsha saw Christianity late 1850s, while the the Ngwa body, which is much closer to the coast, pretty much remained unchristianized even up to the 1910s. The introduction of Christianity is a shaky foundation for the claim of a fixed last-name culture in Igboland. At best, you can assert that certain communities may have likely adopted the fixed last-name culture a little while after the introduction of Christianity, but more remote regions maybe wouldn't have experienced such a development until after the turn of the century. If we are to take Vassa's memoir and Acholonu's research seriously, then we would definitely have to count Isseke as being among one of those more remote communities. It's possible that shortly before the turn of the century Isseke may have begun to experience the development of a fixed last-name culture. However, we can definitely be sure of such a system being cemented during the period of colonial rule.

From the period of colonial rule (which will now be our conservative estimate) to Vassa's birth is approximately 155 years. On average, we can say for humans that a single generation is about 25 - 30 years apart (so we'll go with 30 for the conservative estimate). This will give us 5.1 generations within those 155 years. In simple terms, that's possibly five (5) generations after Vassa's father's generation.

Now, it's time to find out what we need to reconcile within that five-generation period, but before that, let's clarify our special assumption.

Special Assumption: We have to assume the current Ekwealuo family in Isseke (because we assume Essaka to be Isseke and Equiano to be Ekwealuo¹), that their last name refers specifically to the same man that was Vassa's father.

Special Assumption: If we take Vassa's memoir and Acholonu's research seriously, then we assume that Isseke is among the more remote communities that likely did not see much interaction with Westerners until the colonial era.

These are our special assumptions. Whatever explanation we provide has to both validate these assumptions and also reconcile the time difference between Vassa's birth and our conservative colonial rule estimate. Whether or not the explanation will look reasonable is a different story altogether.

Now, let's see what we need to reconcile within that five-generation period. Stay with me as I walk us through this..

Since this is about a fixed last-name culture, we will use British occupation of the region as a benchmark, because we can definitely be sure that British occupation correlates with a fixed last-name culture. Now, had the British occupied the region during Vassa's childhood (so rather than him getting shipped off at the age of 11, he would be in Isseke experiencing colonial rule), then Vassa would have been answering the name of his grandfather (whomever fathered Ekwealuo), because that is the name Ekwealuo himself would give the British as a last name. Going further into time, had the British occupied the region in Vassa's adult life (let's say the age he may have been when he wrote his memoir), Vassa would most likely be answering his father's name Ekwealuo as we can comfortably assume that his father may not be alive at that point. This effectively means that Vassa's children will also be answering Ekwealuo.

If we go further in time and have the British occupy the region during the adult life of one of Vassa's children, then we can reasonably assume that the lineage will take on the last name Olaudah instead of Ekwealuo. This immediately invalidates our special assumption, meaning that we have to go back and assume British occupation from the time of Vassa's adult life. This further means we have now knocked off just one generation out of a total possible number of five. So, the time period that we need to effectively reconcile is the period between Vassa's children life and colonial rule (approx. between 1775 [1745+30years] to 1900]. That is approximately 125 years.

Now, in order to ensure that Ekwealuo survives as a last name in Vassa's grandchildren's generation, one of Ekwealuo's children (may not be Vassa himself, but at least one of his siblings) would have to still be alive during Vassa's children's adult life. That's not so far fetched. Members from three consecutive generations, alive during the same period of time is an observable phenomenon. So now, within that 125-year period, we've accounted for two generations (Vassa's children and grandchildren, assuming one of Ekwealuo's children survives to grandparenthood). As we move further into the future though, the chances of one of Ekwealuo's children surviving to "great, grandparenthood" drops significantly, and it's not a negligible drop. The probability of reaching "great, grandparenthood" drops real low, real fast. Although, it's not as if it's unheard of. It may be uncommon, but we can cite examples of great grandparenthood fairly quickly. So let's go ahead and stretch it a bit, since it is something we can refer to as readily observable.

So, though the chances are low, we assume that Vassa youngest sibling survived long enough to make it as a great grandparent. This means we fall short of one generation, before the period of colonial rule in Nigeria. Had colonial rule started in 1850, then it might be likely that the name Ekwealuo could survive into the fixed last-name culture, because as the eldest living member of that lineage, he would have the pleasure of giving the British his own father's name [Ekwealuo]. Unfortunately, it did not happen that way and colonial rule began 50 years later. At that point, we can be sure that neither Vassa nor any of Ekwealuo's children survived to see that era. So, the chances of someone giving the British "Ekwealuo" as the father's name are pretty much none.

I hope we haven't gotten lost in this dissertation and forgotten the reason for our discussion. I felt that this write-up was necessary in order for some to fully grasp the effects of this time disparity. In simple terms, the only explanation to reconcile the time disparity is that Vassa or any of his siblings will have to survive for five consecutive generations in order to give the British the name "Ekwealuo", because it really cannot happen any other way. I don't know about anyone else, but for me, it's just outright unreasonable to postulate a person surviving for five consecutive generations. Blatantly put, there is simply no way the Ekwealuo lineage in Isseke is Vassa's family and no way that the Ekwealuo name refers to Vassa's father who lived nearly 200 years beforehand.

Footnotes
1. Underneath the special assumption, we have to assume that "Equiano" actually transcribes as "Ekwealuo" and [on top of that] assume also that "Ekwealuo" was indeed Vassa's father's name. Honestly, both of these assumptions are not assumptions that I am inclined to make, simply because I have yet to come across an instance in which Vassa explained the name "Equiano" and why he chose it (unless I missed something in my readings). For the sake of the discussion though, I'll lay aside my hesitance and we'll go ahead and state this special assumption... "Equiano" transcribes as "Ekwealuo" and "Ekwealuo" was Vassa's father.

Radoillo: I don't know if Isseke has/had such an alternative name. I do know however that they sometimes use the phrase 'Ise-na-Isseke' to describe themselves,and they have a tradition that the 'ise' in that phrase derives from the Five major Eke deities in Isseke from which the town derives it's name.

So peeling off 20th century orthography (and even un-updated and earlier European spellings), Isseke is Ìsé-èké (ee-SAY-ay-KAY), I don't see why Vassa would write Ìsé-èké as Essaka, especially without seeing the modern spelling (this is directed to everyone in general).

Rationally, Ìsé-èké, using Vassa's transliteration, would be E-say-kay. Why would he completely distort this Igbo word only when the others he wrote are clearly legible. This Essaka = Isseke thing to me has always been weak, I think it relies too heavily on modern spellings without looking into morphology and Vassa's efforts in transliterating.

And if he was sold, why was his sister sold as well? And how did people get this knowledge and his 'over protective' mother didn't?

And the age of this village needs to be known because this must be a very old village for it to have been continually populated since the early 18th century.

Glad I found this.

wordsbase: I really would appreciate having the link to the pdf download. I read about his book some time ago, and I've searched for the book without any results. Awaiting your response. Thanks

I couldn't find the Pdf download but here is another link to read it online or copy and past to Microsoft word


https://archive.org/stream/theinterestingna15399gut/15399.txt

ezeagu:

So peeling off 20th century orthography (and even un-updated and earlier European spellings), Isseke is Ìsé-èké (ee-SAY-ay-KAY), I don't see why Vassa would write Ìsé-èké as Essaka, especially without seeing the modern spelling (this is directed to everyone in general).

Rationally, Ìsé-èké, using Vassa's transliteration, would be E-say-kay. Why would he completely distort this Igbo word only when the others he wrote are clearly legible. This Essaka = Isseke thing to me has always been weak, I think it relies too heavily on modern spellings without looking into morphology and Vassa's efforts in transliterating.

And if he was sold, why was his sister sold as well? And how did people get this knowledge and his 'over protective' mother didn't?

And the age of this village needs to be known because this must be a very old village for it to have been continually populated since the early 18th century.

"Our vegetables are
mostly plantains, eadas, yams,....,,"
What could you suggest he was refering to as eadas if not ede (cocoyam) in the line?
It will interest you to note that this spelling logic was followed throught the bookWhenever the a as in "take" precedes a consonant it was written as "ea" and each time it was written after consonant(s) it takes the form of" a"

Well, to be fair, cocyams were already called 'eddos' or 'eddas' in the New World before Olaudah's time, brought there probably by Igbo or Akan slaves who preceded Olaudah. 'Eadas' could be Olaudah's rendition of a word that was already popular in the New World. That would explain why he didn't explain it the way he explained other Igbo words in the book.

The way we're going about this orthography thing is like we assume Olaudah was a linguist or a grammarian or something, and he rigorously applied the rules governing spelling in the English language to the non-English words in the text. Olaudah's education was basic. Better educated people even today come up with all kinds of weird spellings for words they've never encountered in print.

@ Ezeagu, given what historians now suspect to be the age of the younger settlements in the north-central Igbo area (younger settlements like the Aro colonies in Ndi Eni and the Aro Ndizuogu area), it's a little strange that you think Isseke would be very old if it existed in the early 18th century.

Radoillo:
@ Ezeagu, given what historians now suspect to be the age of the younger settlements in the north-central Igbo area (younger settlements like the Aro colonies in Ndi Eni and the Aro Ndizuogu area), it's a little strange that you think Isseke would be very old if it existed in the early 18th century.

I don't believe most Igbo villages including in Anambra are as old as the 18th century, or better yet were as populated and as well established as Essaka in the early 18th century.

It's also word that Gustavus would live in Anambra and know about Benin but wouldn't have heard about the massive river dividing them, although this could be possible.

ezeagu:

I don't believe most Igbo villages including in Anambra are as old as the 18th century, or better yet were as populated and as well established as Essaka in the early 18th century.

It's also word that Gustavus would live in Anambra and know about Benin but wouldn't have heard about the massive river dividing them, although this could be possible.

Stories about 'Idu-na-Oba' were told deep in the Igbo hinterland.So, yea, he could have heard stories about Benin in his village. He wouldn't have known it by that name though ('Benin'). Which is why I believe (as some historians also do) that the Benin-reference bit was influenced by travellers' accounts that he probably read.

Why do you think most towns in Anambra or Igboland cannot be older than the 18th century, though? That one statement appears to dismiss everything I've come to accept as being correct about pre-colonial Igboland. If we place MOST Igbo towns at a time later than the 18th century (which would basically be the 19th century), where do we place the newer, latter-day towns like Onitsha, Ugwuta and the Aro colonies (which have been traditionally dated to between 1600 and 1750; though some Aro colonies came later than that)? The early 20th century? Onitsha had already been around for a while before the Europeans showed up there in the 1800s, if there kinglist is to be believed. And all their neighbours, including the |Onitsha people themselves, accept that they are relatively newcomers in that region.

Olaudah never said anything about how 'populated' or how 'established' Essaka was.

Radoillo:

Stories about 'Idu-na-Oba' were told deep in the Igbo hinterland.So, yea, he could have heard stories about Benin in his village. He wouldn't have known it by that name though ('Benin'). Which is why I believe (as some historians also do) that the Benin-reference bit was influenced by travellers' accounts that he probably read.

Why do you think most towns in Anambra or Igboland cannot be older than the 18th century, though? That one statement appears to dismiss everything I've come to accept as being correct about pre-colonial Igboland. If we place MOST Igbo towns at a time later than the 18th century (which would basically be the 19th century), where do we place the newer, latter-day towns like Onitsha, Ugwuta and the Aro colonies (which have been traditionally dated to between 1600 and 1750; though some Aro colonies came later than that)? The early 20th century? Onitsha had already been around for a while before the Europeans showed up there in the 1800s, if there kinglist is to be believed. And all their neighbours, including the |Onitsha people themselves, accept that they are relatively newcomers in that region.

Olaudah never said anything about how 'populated' or how 'established' Essaka was.

Gustavus made reference to Essaka being a "province" and a "district" of Benin (although Benin here could mean the geographical term instead of the political).

This means Essaka would have been quite larger than a hamlet or a small and recently established settlement.

I'm talking about villages and village groups not lineages and precolonial towns. Many villages are exogamous in Igboland and many of them were created during or after the 18th century from what I can see, which is why I doubt whether Vassa's village or town exists in the same way it would have in his time.

The fact that he called Essaka a province and district makes me think even more that his town was probably quite close to Benin. The Nri-Oka influence reaches Agbor and there is so much diversity and so much time between now and 1740's that there could easily be a town in Western Igboland that had similar rites to the Nri-Oka. Owa (near Agbor), Igbuzor, Ogwashi Ukwu (Ogwa Nri Ukwu) were mostly founded by Nri settlers.

ezeagu:

Gustavus made reference to Essaka being a "province" and a "district" of Benin (although Benin here could mean the geographical term instead of the political).

This means Essaka would have been quite larger than a hamlet or a small and recently established settlement.

I'm talking about villages and village groups not lineages and precolonial towns. Many villages are exogamous in Igboland and many of them were created during or after the 18th century from what I can see, which is why I doubt whether Vassa's village or town exists in the same way it would have in his time.

The fact that he called Essaka a province and district makes me think even more that his town was probably quite close to Benin. The Nri-Oka influence reaches Agbor and there is so much diversity and so much time between now and 1740's that there could easily be a town in Western Igboland that had similar rites to the Nri-Oka. Owa (near Agbor), Igbuzor, Ogwashi Ukwu (Ogwa Nri Ukwu) were mostly founded by Nri settlers.

Olaudah didn't call Essaka a province or district. His exact words are: "This kingdom [Benin] is divided into many provinces or districts: in one of the most remote and fertile of which, called Eboe, I was born, in the year 1745, in a charming fruitful vale, named Essaka. The distance of this province from the capital of Benin and the sea coast must be very considerable...."

Eboe was the province. One of the most remote [from Benin, I guess], he said. Essaka was somewhere in the 'province/district' of Eboe, not the province itself.. Nowhere did he hint at the size of Essaka. He only stated it was a 'vale'. There's no reason why whatever town/village Essaka was can't date back to (or even before) the 18th century and still exist today.

How the 'exogamousness' of Igbo villages point to a not-earlier-than-the-18th-century origin is still not clear to me. Isseke is not a village, by the way. It's a village-group. What one would today call a 'town'.

In earlier comments we talked about the possibilty that some of the 'facts' that ended up in Olaudah's story came from people, Igbo and non-Igbo, that he encountered in the New World and in Europe. I agreed with that. And I would imagine that most of what he had to say about the political geography of his region of Africa outside of his own 'vale', as he called it, would certainly qualify as something he picked up outside of Africa. There's no way he heard the word 'Benin' in Africa, for example. The Bini of his time did not use that word, and their Igbo neighbours certainly did not.

He also talked about Abyssinia being a kingdom on the border with Benin. No way did he hear that while in Africa either. Explorers before Equiano had speculated, on the basis of certain signs said to be associated with the Bini monarchy, that the Bini had contact with Prester John, a legendary Christian King of Abysinia or somewhere in Asia. Equiano probably learnt about this speculation in the West, and it ended up in the political description of his part of Africa.

This is the main reason why I think building a hypothesis based on what he said about Benin, its extent and distance, it's hegemony and districts etc etc, is seriously flawed. He was almost certainly using other people's material there. These are things an 11-year old in 18th century Africa would be clueless about.

We stand on firmer ground when we come to what he said was going on INSIDE his own village, 'Essaka'. These are things that there are a chance he could have witnessed with his own eyes. Not misty kingdoms on the distant horizon like Benin and 'Abyssinia'.

Radoillo:

Olaudah didn't call Essaka a province or district. His exact words are: "This kingdom [Benin] is divided into many provinces or districts: in one of the most remote and fertile of which, called Eboe, I was born, in the year 1745, in a charming fruitful vale, named Essaka. The distance of this province from the capital of Benin and the sea coast must be very considerable...."

Eboe was the province. One of the most remote [from Benin, I guess], he said. Essaka was somewhere in the 'province/district' of Eboe, not the province itself.. Nowhere did he hint at the size of Essaka. He only stated it was a 'vale'. There's no reason why whatever town/village Essaka was can't date back to (or even before) the 18th century and still exist today.

How the 'exogamousness' of Igbo villages point to a not-earlier-than-the-18th-century origin is still not clear to me. Isseke is not a village, by the way. It's a village-group. What one would today call a 'town'.

That must be a later edition, I'm looking at the 1794 edition which is the second edition and he says the province is named Essaka. To be fair I don't know who added "called Eboe" since Vassa died three years later. Maybe he changed the province to Eboe, maybe it was taken from one of the letters that called his province Eboe and later editors went with that.

So Isseke is a village group? Why would he identify with a village group as opposed to a village? And why would he call it a "fruitful Vale" if it was a group of villages? He would know that the "vale" was spilt into villages, no?

Radoillo: In earlier comments we talked about the possibilty that some of the 'facts' that ended up in Olaudah's story came from people, Igbo and non-Igbo, that he encountered in the New World and in Europe. I agreed with that. And I would imagine that most of what he had to say about the political geography of his region of Africa outside of his own 'vale', as he called it, would certainly qualify as something he picked up outside of Africa. There's no way he heard the word 'Benin' in Africa, for example. The Bini of his time did not use that word, and their Igbo neighbours certainly did not.

He also talked about Abyssinia being a kingdom on the border with Benin. No way did he hear that while in Africa either. Explorers before Equiano had speculated, on the basis of certain signs said to be associated with the Bini monarchy, that the Bini had contact with Prester John, a legendary Christian King of Abysinia or somewhere in Asia. Equiano probably learnt about this speculation in the West, and it ended up in the political description of his part of Africa.

This is the main reason why I think building a hypothesis based on what he said about Benin, its extent and distance, it's hegemony and districts etc etc, is seriously flawed. He was almost certainly using other people's material there. These are things an 11-year old in 18th century Africa would be clueless about.

We stand on firmer ground when we come to what he said was going on INSIDE his own village, 'Essaka'. These are things that there are a chance he could have witnessed with his own eyes. Not misty kingdoms on the distant horizon like Benin and 'Abyssinia'.

He was quite clear about Essaka being under Benin, if we believe what he says about 'Essaka', then we are going with his descriptions of Benin. He also mentions the "considerable" distance between Essaka and Benin and the sea coast, again, no mention of a massive river.

It's also interesting to note that in Ika (Agbor) foreigner or white man is Ebo or Onye-Ebo. And he also makes reference to neighbouring chiefs who were 'incited to war', and he talks about Essaka's "enemy's Chief". These could easily be Obi, since chiefs do not exist in that fashion around Isseke.

zendy:


I couldn't find the Pdf download but here is another link to read it online or copy and past to Microsoft word


https://archive.org/stream/theinterestingna15399gut/15399.txt

thanks a bunch.

ezeagu:

He was quite clear about Essaka being under Benin, if we believe what he says about 'Essaka', then we are going with his descriptions of Benin. He also mentions the "considerable" distance between Essaka and Benin and the sea coast, again, no mention of a massive river.

It's also interesting to note that in Ika (Agbor) foreigner or white man is Ebo or Onye-Ebo. And he also makes reference to neighbouring chiefs who were 'incited to war', and he talks about Essaka's "enemy's Chief". These could easily be Obi, since chiefs do not exist in that fashion around Isseke.

There have always been chiefs in the igbo land east of the Niger prior to the advent of western imperlialiasm in Nigeria.
There have been the "Nze na Ozo" chieoftaincy system which conferred chieftancy status to deserviing members of the society.

The people and way of life of life descibed by Olaudah is clearly Igbo. No doubt about that though Christianity and Western education over the years have had their effects. Without discription of the surviving and unique aspects of our Igbo language, culture and tradition, how would it have been possible for Olaudah to pass as an Igbo? Let us not allow our tradition and language to die. Those alone are the identity of any people.

Have you by any chance seen the flag of biafra. Or heard about the revered nature of the house snakes he described. Anyone who knows ibo land. Will know he described I gbo land fully. The palm wine all that information and it's not clear? Ok.

ifyalways:
What is the relationship between Eboe [/b]and [b]Igbo 

. . . and Oh he said his people believed god lived in the sun and smoked pipe,have we Igbos at any time shared same sentiments?

Do you guys know that Madam Acholonu got pictures from the Ekwealuo family in Iseke, Ihiala and they so resembled Olaudah? Although, Gustavus had two dissimilar pix but most people go with the one where he wore an afro. The receding hairline was also seen in the Ekwealuos. No one can be certain which village he came from but he's Igbo origin is undisputed. For me, that's all that matters. Some Europeans doubt he was born in Africa but that does not take away the numerous apt description of things in the average Igbo customs and tradition. By and large, let's celebrate one of our own and appreciate the effort he made to see to the abolition of slave trade.
I doff my hat for the great Equiano. Ndeewo Da Gustavus.

ooo ok

oyibo bankwetee

kingston277:

This is amazing. Always wondered why there were so few first hand African accounts of those times(i'm sure nsibidi records might help us out aswell if they physically survived the test of time). I wonder if Benin, Oyo or any other urbanized kingdom has honest first hand accounts like this.

First hand account of early Benin are mostly by visiting or resident Europeans. They described the city, culture , people, the king, the architecture and administration.

AndreUweh:

Eboe was the way slave masters and early Europeans spelt Igbo.
Apart from the context you quoted, there were similarities in his books with the Igbo of 400 years ago and the Igbo of today.

This was an interesting read. It has been said that Igbo derived from the word Hebrew, as being the original tribe of Isreal, what do you think?

Bluemetal:
This is possibly the first published book by a Nigerian in the world, and by an Igbo Man!

NIGERIA ................EAT YOUR HEART OUT!

Igbo Kwenu!

You are very wrong.. When the book was written there was no Nigeria.. His identity at the time he wrote the book was; Igbo by tribe and Benin by nationality..
Long live Benin kingdom!!

In earlier comments we talked about the possibilty that some of the 'facts' that ended up in Olaudah's story came from people, Igbo and non-Igbo, that he encountered in the New World and in Europe. I agreed with that. And I would imagine that most of what he had to say about the political geography of his region of Africa outside of his own 'vale', as he called it, would certainly qualify as something he picked up outside of Africa. There's no way he heard the word 'Benin' in Africa, for example. The Bini of his time did not use that word, and their Igbo neighbours certainly did not.

He also talked about Abyssinia being a kingdom on the border with Benin. No way did he hear that while in Africa either. Explorers before Equiano had speculated, on the basis of certain signs said to be associated with the Bini monarchy, that the Bini had contact with Prester John, a legendary Christian King of Abysinia or somewhere in Asia. Equiano probably learnt about this speculation in the West, and it ended up in the political description of his part of Africa.

This is the main reason why I think building a hypothesis based on what he said about Benin, its extent and distance, it's hegemony and districts etc etc, is seriously flawed. He was almost certainly using other people's material there. These are things an 11-year old in 18th century Africa would be clueless about.

We stand on firmer ground when we come to what he said was going on INSIDE his own village, 'Essaka'. These are things that there are a chance he could have witnessed with his own eyes. Not misty kingdoms on the distant horizon like Benin and 'Abyssinia'.

Your analysis is very wrong and I believe written out of bias..
Equiano wrote his book in the 1700s which means he was born in that century..
Benin was already known as Benin in the 1700s.. Oranmiyan names the land Ile ibinu around the 12th century or earlier than that.
Benin influence was known to extend as far Ghana and Congo in both directions. We didn’t know that from Equiano.. Benin influence is still felt till today in most of these areas.
Early Europeans described Benin as a highly advanced society and Equiano describes it same too.
If he got all these from other people’s work like u say then he would have mentioned Oyo empire or Fulani.. but he focused only on Benin because that was the only kingdom/nation he knew and was born in..
An 11yr old is wise enough to understand and know the society and names around him.. He could have heard it sitting with his father or elders when they are talking..

mandarin:
Thanks all for your beautiful arguments.

I said that the nativity of this man was between Northern Edo and Northern Delta and some of his cultural descriptions can be seen in 3-cultures in Southern Nigeria of todRadoillo and Bigfrancis2 thanks for your wealth of knowlege and matured argument and that means we can move further.

I had said earlier that the boy Olaudah came from a metropolitan Kingdom and at eleven years with highly traumatic experience, you wont be wrong to catch some errors. I however believe his personal account about himself would be largely accurate and those that little African children should know at that age. If you grew up in the village you will understand what I mean in an African world of myths and hiding lots from children.

He was from Essaka that would be right in every sense but may not even be certain about the name of the province and how the kingdom was being governed but I believe he was right about being under Benin empire or may be it was his reconstruction afterall he must trace his root for the whites to know he had a root.
To be factual, his description was a combination of Igboid, Edoid and Yoruboid culture, names and locations.more later

This what he was saying a nation with governor or emperor. Just because Benin are little now every tribe of it has forget their root do not mean igbo and Yoruba should take their legacy and rewrite their history.