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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 May 2014
The Esan who presently inhabit four local government areas of Edo State, Nigeria, share an exclusive feeling of being one people. In language and custom they are akin to the Edo people of Benin. The name “Esan” is an Edo word meaning “jump” or “flee,” which explains the manner in which they departed the Benin kingdom. The Esan region is divided roughly into the plateau—about one-third the total area but containing three-fifths of the people—and the lowlands. The plateau chiefdoms, originally seven of them, have been classed as Esan ‘A’ and include Irrua, Ekpoma, Uromi, Ewu, Ubiaja, Udo, and Ugboha. The lowland chief doms, originally eight, are known as Esan ‘B’ and consist of Ewohimi (Orikhimi), Ohordua, Emu, Ebelle, Okalo, Amahor, Ezen, and Okaigun.
According to Esan traditions all the ancestors of the people, royal and commoner alike, came from Benin, the first groups being escapees and pioneers, the royal groups coming into the region later, during the reign of Ewuare, ca. 1455-82. Closer interviewing of clans, neither royal nor holding titles, demonstrates that many do not hold to this popular tradition, claiming either to be indigenous or to have migrated from elsewhere. Even in the intelligence report on the Esan, a significant number of clans reported origins other than in Benin. It seems that Esan ‘A’ chiefdoms on the plateau were the earliest established, and paid tribute to Benin through the Onojie (chief) of Irrua, who was therefore roughly the paramount of the Esan province of Benin. As the chiefdoms grew in numbers and spread on to the lowlands, he remained their overlord or governor. However, by the early nineteenth century the Oba of Benin installed the chief of Ewohimi as paramount over the lowland or Esan ‘B’ chiefdoms. By the advent of the British in the 1890s the earliest fifteen chiefdoms had grown to thirty.
1. See Okojie, C.G., Ishan Native Laws and Customs (Yaba, Okwesa, 1960), 22.Google Scholar
2. Ibid.
3. See National Archives of Nigeria, Intelligence Reports on Ishan Division of Benin Province (Ibadan, 1982).Google Scholar
4. See foreword by Biobaku, S.O. to Okojie, , Ishan Native Laws, 5.Google Scholar
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8. Relying on a number of sources, F.B. Ataba has constructed a relative chronology for precolonial Benin history. See Ataba, F.B., “Recent Developments in the Use of Non-Documentary Evidence in African Historiography, with Special Reference to Totemism and Regional Chronology” (M.A., Dalhousie University, 1976).Google Scholar Based on Ataba's study and extensive research into the history of neighbouring groups, R A. Sargent was able to construct a regional chronology for the Benue basin. See Sargent, R.A., “A Benue Basin Regional Chronology,” The Journal of General Studies (Bayero University, Kano), 5/6 (1984/1985), 1–38.Google Scholar
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10. Okojie, , Ishan Native Laws, 295.Google Scholar
11. Ibid., 292.
12. Ibid.
13. The dating of Benin history which is employed here is based on Ataba, “Recent Developments.”
14. Ruy de Squeira visited Ewuare in 1472. Catholic missionaries accompanied Esigie, who ruled after Ozolua, on a military expedition against Idah in 1515-16.
15. There was a rebellion in the Esan chiefdom of Uromi against Benin overrule in ca. 1503 during the reign of Ozolua, who was murdered by his own soldiers after the victory over Uromi. João Afonso d'Aveiro visited Ozolua in 1485-86. See Egharevba, , Short History, 25–26.Google Scholar
16. For the lists for see Okojie, , Ishan Native Laws, 162Google Scholar (Ekpoma), 170 (Egoro), 177 (Opoji), 239 (Ugboha), 315 (Ogwa).
17. Later in this paper I postulate that there is almost perfect correlation between three Ikimi chiefdoms, dated at 33 years per generation, and Benin, dated at 27 years per generation.
18. For the traditions of Ugboha see Okojie, , Ishan Native Laws, 231–49.Google Scholar
19. Dahomey and Buganda being exceptions.
20. For the Ekpoma sub-settlements see Okojie, , Ishan Native Laws, 156–60.Google Scholar
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22. Research experience reveals that the royals are not permitted by opposition factions to omit their kingly ancestors entirely. However, it is common—and apparently permitted by the opposition—for usurpers and competing houses or lineages to be fitted into the royal genealogy so that it appears to be one broken royal lineage. A frequent tactic is to claim that a king whose descendants did not rule was impotent. The researcher should be careful to check whether there are not well-known channels by which the impotence of any man is disguised.
23. Okojie, , Ishan Native Laws, 164–65.Google Scholar
24. Western-educated informants point out as proof that they have more kings in their list than a neighbor. On the other hand, no elder claimed to know or cared how many kings were in the lists of neighboring polities.
25. Okojie, , Ishan Native Laws, 333.Google Scholar
26. This is guesswork; presumably this is Okojie's mistake.
27. It is very difficult to decide this issue since taking the young children of rebellious sub-chiefs to central court for acculturation was a widespread practice firmly documented in Benin, Buganda, and Bunyoro, among others.
28. Okojie, , Ishan Native Laws, 163–64.Google Scholar
29. Researching on the history of the chiefless Owan people of Nigeria, I showed that the history of acephalous societies could be dated entirely from commoner genealogies: see Ogbomo, O. W., “Constructing a Precolonial Owan Chronology and Dating Framework,” HA, 21 (1994), 219–49.Google Scholar
30. For the traditions of Ogwa see Okojie, , Ishan Native Laws, 313–16.Google Scholar
31. Ibid., 316.
32. Okojie, , Ishan Native Laws, 173–79.Google Scholar
33. Ibid., p. 171.
34. According to Okojie, , Ishan Native Laws, 8Google Scholar, One elder said to Okojie: “You see, we saw hell from this type of work by enquiring administrative officers years ago and at the end places were grouped with their traditional enemies; who knows if I told you we came from Benin, at the end and as a result of your book we might find ourselves paying perishing homage to the Oba of Benin as of old!”.
35. Ibid.
36. Acholi Historical Text no. 69, Adilang 24 September 1970.
37. The Ewohimi traditions, 280-88; Ewossa, 289-93; and Ewatto, 294-95, in Okojie, Ishan Native Laws. These chiefdoms were all Esan ‘B,’ located in the lowlands.
38. See Ogot, B.A., History of the Southern Luo: Migration and Settlement, 1500-1900 (Nairobi, 1967).Google Scholar
39. E.g., Packard, R.M., review of Webster, J.B., ed., Chronology, Migration, and Drought in Interlacustrine Africa (New York, 1978)Google Scholar, Canadian Journal of African Studies, 16 (1982), 203–04.Google Scholar