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Constructing a Precolonial Owan Chronology and Dating Framework1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 May 2014

Onaiwu W. Ogbomo
Onaiwu W. Ogbomo*
Affiliation:
University of Rochester
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Extract

Oral tradition has been recognized by historians as a vital source for historical reconstruction of non-literate societies. However, one of its “deficienc[ies] is an inability to establish and maintain an accurate assessment of the duration of the past [it] seeks to reconstruct.” As a result of its time-lessness it has been declared ahistorical. In the same vein R.A. Sargent argues that

[c]hronology is the framework for the reconstruction of the past, and is vital to the correlation of evidence, assessment of data, and the analysis of historical sources. Any construction of history [which] fails to consider or employ dating and the matrix of time to examine the order and nature of events in human experience can probably be labelled ahistorical.

Basically, the concern of critics of oral tradition is that, while they are veritable sources of history, the researcher “must work and rework them with an increasing sophistication and critical sense.” Because dating is very pivotal to the historian's craft, different techniques have been adopted alone or in combination to create a relative chronology. In precolonial African history, the most commonly used have been genealogical data which include dynastic generations, genealogical generations (father-to-son succession) and the age-set generation. Also systematically charted comets, solar eclipses, and droughts have been employed by historians in dating historical events, or in calculating the various generational lengths.

A dynastic generation is determined by “the time elapsing between the accession of the first member of a given generation to hold office and the accession of the first representative of the next.”

Type
Research Article
Information
History in Africa , Volume 21 , 1994 , pp. 219 - 249
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1994

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Footnotes

1.

Today the Owan people inhabit two local government areas of Edo State, Nigeria. These comprise eleven discrete communities, as noted in the text. The Owan people speak different dialects of the Edo language but, while colonialism and the post-colonial period have fostered a pan-Owan feeling, the communities cannot be classified as having ‘national’ sentiments. Most of the communities trace their origins to migrations of founder heroes frm Benin.

References

Notes

2. Henige, David, The Chronology of Oral Tradition: Quest for a Chimera (Oxford, 1974), 2.Google Scholar

3. See Finley, M.I., “Myth, Memory, and History,” History and Theory 4 (1965), 285–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

4. Sargent, R.A., “Chronology” in Webster, J.B. and Sargent, R.A., eds., The Theory and Practice Methodology: A Practical Handbook, in preparation.Google Scholar

5. Henige, , Chronology, 3.Google Scholar

6. Schove, D.J., “Eclipse, Comets, and the Spectrum of Time in Africa,” Journal of the British Astronomical Association 78 (1968), 91–98Google Scholar; Gray, Richard, “Eclipse Maps,” Journal of African History 6 (1965), 251–62CrossRefGoogle Scholar; idem, “Annular Eclipse Maps,” Journal of African History 9 (1968), 147-57; Webster, J.B., “Noi! Noi! Famines as an Aid to Interlacustrine Chronology,” 1–37Google Scholar, and Herring, R.S., “Hydrology and Chronology: The Rodah Nilometer as an Aid in Dating Interlacustrine History,” 39–86Google Scholar, in Webster, J.B. ed., Chronology, Migration, and Drought in Interlacustrine Africa (New York, 1979).Google Scholar

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12. Sargent, , “Chronology,” 67.Google Scholar

13. Ibid.

14. Henige, , Chronology, 123.Google Scholar

15. R.A. Sargent, “Dating” in Webster/Sargent, Theory and Practice.

16. The great family account is enhanced because everyone in the community is expected to revere the same three totems—the boa, beads, and beans.

17. Sargent, R.A., “A Benue Basin Regional Chronology,” Journal of General Studies (Kano) 5/6 (1984/1985), 1–38.Google Scholar

18. Egharevba, J.U., A Short History of Benin (Ibadan, 1968), 85.Google Scholar

19. O.H.T [=Owan Historical Texts] #94, Interview with Pa. Akharumen Amaize, Uokha, 8 November 8,1990; O.H.T #95, Interview with Ogbeide J. Jegede, Uoklia, 8 November 1990.

20. O. H. T. #109, Interview with J. Ohiomolomo Ajayi, S. Ohiolei Idika, Igue-Sale, 30 November 1990.

21. Egharevba, , Short History, 15.Google Scholar

22. Ibid., 13.

23. Ibid., 26.

24. Oyakhire, G.B.L, The First History of Emai Clan (Ibadan, 1965), 45–46.Google Scholar

25. Orhewere, E.T.O., A History of Ora_ (Benin City, 1988), 108.Google Scholar

26. O.H.T. #38, Interview with chief J. Jegede Agbebaku, Uhonmora, 26 October 1990.

27. See Enahoro, Omo.A.J., The Groundwork of luleha History (Ifon, 1965), 31.Google Scholar

28. Ibid.

29. Bradbury, R.E., The Benin Kingdom and the Edo-Speaking Peoples of South-Western Nigeria (London, 1964), 87Google Scholar; H.F. Marshall, “Intelligence Report on the Ivbiosakon Clans in Ishan and Kukuruku Divisions, Benin Province, 1937.,” part IX, 4.

30. O.H.T. #222, Interview with Alhaji Momoh Obokhuai, Ihievbe, 10 December 1990; O.H.T. #220, Interview with Chief Jamah A.J. Imonikhe, Ihievbe, 6 December 1990.

31. Oyakhire, , First History, 11Google Scholar

32. Military Governor's Office Benin City, Investigation into the Roles of Chiefs in the Mid-Western State: Divisional Report in Respect of the Owan Division (Benin, 1971), 49.Google Scholar

33. Although the three versions were recorded earlier by other research reports, I discovered in the field that informants still recall all the versions; each informant recalls the ver-sion which had been handed down to him. It had nothing to do with their status in Ozalla or their ideological beliefs.

34. Amu, J.W., The Ora History Book (Lagos, 1934), 6.Google Scholar

35. Marshall, “Intelligence Report,” part VI, 3.

36. Ikpekhia, V.E.A., The Historical Background and Cultural Heritage of Ozalla (Igarra, 1990), 2.Google Scholar If Ozolua's son was the one involved, then the name of the prince could not have been “Okpame,” as Ikpekhia wants us to believe, since this was the nickname of Ozolua.

37. Investigation, 101-02.

38. See Marshall, “Intelligence Report,” part VI, 3-4.

39. Ibid., part IX, 4. Marshall in his report asserted thus: “Although these clans [Ivbi-Ada-Obi] are of similar origin and have similar custom to the other Ivbiosakon clans, they themselves are further united by worship of a common juju, the Ada-Obi juju.”

40. Egharevba, , Short History, 9.Google Scholar

41. Sargent, R.A., “Politics and Economics in the Benue Basin, c.1300-1700” (PhD., Dalhousie University, 1984), 184.Google Scholar

42. Egharevba, , Short History, 15–16.Google Scholar

43. Marshall, “Intelligence Report,” part III, 2-3.

44. Enahoro, , Groundwork, 7.Google Scholar

45. Amu, , Ora History Book, 12.Google Scholar

46. See Marshall, “Intelligence Report,” part III, 3; Enahoro, , Groundwork, 7.Google Scholar

47. All informants in Iuleha point to Irimo as its founder.

48. Enahbro, , Groundwork, 30.Google Scholar Enahoro repeated this in an interview with him (O.H.T. #151, Interview with Omo. A.J. Enahoro, Uzebba, 28 February 1991).

49. Ibid.

50. O.H.T. #160, Interview with Chief Oghuan Aitalegbe, and Ideho Omage, Avbioghola-Okpuje, 8 April 1991; O.H.T. #155, Interview with Chief Eduke Ogedengbe, Avbiosi, 18 March 1991.

51. Marshall, “Intelligence Report,” part VII, 3.

52. Ibid., part VII, 4.

53. Ibid., 5.

54. Ibid., 3.

55. Ibid.

56. O.H.T #127, Interview with Edgars Ohiomoje Ikhiboya, Afuze 26 March 1991; O.H.T #129, Interview with Pa. Iboi Omoruanzoje, Arokho, 28 March 1991.

57. Marshall, “Intelligence Report,” part VII, 4.

58. Ibid., part VIII. 3. and O. H. T. #172, Interview with Chief Ilaebor Ikhiafe and Chief T. Udue Ekhenerua, Oluma-Otuo, 15 Febuary 1991. O. H. T. #176, Interview with Chief S. Uadia Unuekhai, Iyeu-Otuo, 17 Febuary 1991.

59. Lawani, S.I. (Rev. Imevbore Edeki), A History of Otuo (Ibadan, 1947).Google Scholar

60. Marshall, “Intelligence Report,” part VIII, 3-4.

61. Darling, P.J., Archaelogy and History in Southern Nigeria: The Ancient Linear Earthworks of Benin and Ishan (Cambridge, 1984), 112.Google Scholar

62. Ibid., 37.