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Integrating Arochukwu into the Regional Chronological Structure

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 May 2014

A. O. Nwauwa
A. O. Nwauwa*
Affiliation:
Dalhousie University
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Extract

The Niger-Benue Valley regional chronology is expanding. This is satisfying. Dates from the early city states and chiefdoms in the lower Cross river valley have been suggested and integrated into the larger regional chronological structure. Arochukwu was one such chiefdom. Utilizing the available genealogies from within Arochukwu and its satellite settlements, and guided by the existing methodology of chronology, I have calculated what I believe to be fairly reliable dates which locate the foundation of the chiefdom, ca. 1690/1720. These dates have been interrelated with the importation of the first guns into Calabar, since firearms were said to have been used in the war which ultimately resulted in the foundation of the Aro chiefdom (Arochukwu). They appear firm. Aro influence was evident in the whole of the Niger Benue-Cross river area, especially during the period when the Atlantic slave trade climaxed. Hence it seems appropriate to situate the foundation generation in the wider framework.

Arochukwu was not merely the product of the Atlantic trade, but also a response to events in the interior of the Bight of Biafra as far north as the Benue valley. The chiefdom was an offshoot of the Igbo movement into the tropical rain forest, accelerated by the southward expansion of ironsmelting and smithing, and correlated with the foundation of the Efik towns of Calabar. It was founded as a response to the shift in power centers from the upper Benue valley, which had been linked to the Rio del Rey trade route, down the river to concentrate on the Niger. It was significant that the Kwararafan takeover in Idah occurred in exactly the same generation when Arochukwu was founded.

Type
Research Article
Information
History in Africa , Volume 18 , 1991 , pp. 297 - 310
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1991

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References

Notes

1. Nwauwa, , “The Dating of the Aro Chiefdom: A Synthesis of Correlated Genealogies,” HA, 17 (1990), 220–47.Google Scholar

2. Sargent, Robert A., “Politics and Economics in the Benue Basin ca. 1300-1700” (Ph.D., Dalhousie University, 1984), 145.Google Scholar

3. Northrup, David, Trade Without Rulers (Oxford, 1978), 45.Google Scholar

4. See Latham, A. J. H., Old Calabar 1600-1891 (Oxford, 1973), 18Google Scholar; Nair, Kannan K., Politics and Society in South Eastern Nigeria, 1841-1906 (London, 1972), 3–4.Google Scholar In ca. 1668, an English trader was murdered in Calabar estuary. This shows that the Calabar trade had just begun during this period.

5. Njoku, O. N., “A History of Iron Technology in Igboland, ca. 1542-1900” (Ph.D. Dalhousie University, 1986), 88Google Scholar; Northrup, , Trade, 41Google Scholar; Erim, E. O., The Idoma Nationality, 1600-1900: Problems of Studying the Origin and Development of Ethnicity (Enugu, 1981), 16.Google Scholar

6. Webster, J. B., “The Three Phases of Kwararafa: A Peripatetic State,” Benue Valley Research Papers, no. 49, Killam Library, Dalhousie University, 1981, 80Google Scholar; Miller, John E., “The Biu Plateau: Establishing a Chronology and the Linkages Between Bur-Babur and Kwararafa” (M.A., Dalhousie, 1984), 49.Google Scholar

7. Njoku, , “History,” 115–17, 127–28.Google Scholar Iron bars were not the only metal imported. Copper and brass were imported as well. Igbo smiths used the iron bars almost exclusively while copper and brass went to Benin and Igala for art works.

8. Northrup, , Trade, 41Google Scholar; Njoku, , “History,” 293–94.Google Scholar

9. Northrup, , Trade, 42Google Scholar, who cautioned against the dangers of reducing the complex events of Aro foundation to simple economic reflexes without due regard to the social and political circumstances.

10. Meek, C. K., A Sudanese Kingdom (London, 1931), 15.Google Scholar The Jukun compound word for “men” or “people” is Apa-Juku. The Jukun of Wukari refer to themselves as Wapa and not Jukun. In the Gold Coast there is a “tribe” known as Apa. See Meek, ibid., 16. Refer to Webster, “Three Phases,” 71, for the different variants of the word “Akpa.” It is really difficult to reduce the word to a stereotype.

11. Forde, Daryll and Jones, G.I., The Ibo and Ibibio-Speaking Peoples of South-Eastern Nigeria (London, 1950), 90.Google Scholar

12. Latham, , Old Calabar, 10–12.Google Scholar

13. Ibid., 9; Leonard, A. G., The Lower Niger and Its Tribes (London, 1906), 21.Google Scholar They fished the Cross river estuary and sold their catch at the upriver markets.

14. Latham, , Old Calabar, 9.Google Scholar

15. Okoho bore illegitimate twins to an Efut man, which was customarily an abomination and the secret society condemned them to death. Okoho fled to Nsutana, an island in the Cross river where the boys grew up and were said to have founded Atakpa (Duke Town).

16. Nair, , Politics and Society, 5.Google Scholar Nair contends that “Atakpa” was an exclamation, “Main River!” made by Okoh's twins when they came across the Calabar estuary while they were fishing. In other words, Nair does not seem to attach any significance to the word. Another variant of Atakpa is Akwa-Akpa as in Leonard, , Lower Niger, 21.Google Scholar

17. Latham, , Old Calabar, 11.Google Scholar

18. Hallett, Robin, ed., Records of the African Association, 1788-1831 (London, 1964), 199Google Scholar, as culled from Latham, , Old Calabar, 12.Google Scholar

19. Njoku, , “History,” 268–373.Google Scholar

20. Ibid., 48.

21. Isichei, Elizabeth, A History of the Igbo People, 9Google Scholar; Njoku, , “History,” 65–66.Google Scholar

22. Webster, J. B., “Periodization in African History c. 1050-1840,” Journal of General Studies, (Kano), 4/1 (1983), 6–8.Google Scholar See also Lovejoy, Paul and Baier, Stephen, “The Desertside Economy of the Central Sudan,” IJAHS, 8 (1975), 551–81.Google Scholar Lovejoy and Baier argue that severe droughts were likely to affect areas far beyond where they actually occurred. Refer also to Njoku, , “History,” 110–12Google Scholar; Sargent, , “Politics and Economics,” 238Google Scholar; and Shankland, , “Intelligence Report on the Aro Clan, Arochukwu District, Calabar Province,” National Archives, Enugu, ARODIV 20/1/15, 1933, p. 8.Google Scholar

23. Njoku, , “History,” 94.Google Scholar

24. Ibid., 293.

25. Miller, , “Biu Plateau,” 42–47.Google Scholar See as well Webster, “Kwararafa,” and Sargent, “Politics and Economics,”

26. Webster, , “Kwararafa,” 85Google Scholar; Sargent, , “Politics and Economics,” 237Google Scholar; Miller, 43. The Koro and Gwari peoples of southern Zaria are some of these groups.

27. Erim, , Idoma Nationality, 16.Google ScholarAfigbo, A. E., “Pre-Colonial Trade Links Between Southeastern Nigeria and Benue Valley,” Journal of African Studies (1977), 123Google Scholar, has observed that there was probably increased contact between the eastern half of southeastern Nigeria and the Jukun region of the Benue valley.

28. Webster, , “Kwararafa,” 93.Google Scholar

29. Ibid.

30. Ibid., 94.

31. Erim, Idoma Nationality, 17; Sargent, , “Politics and Economics,” 266.Google Scholar

32. Orkar, J. N., “A Pre-Colonial History of the Tiv in Central Nigeria, c. 1500-1850” (Ph.D., Dalhousie University, 1979), 197–212Google Scholar; Webster, , “Kwararafa,” 71.Google Scholar

33. Webster, , “Kwararafa,” 98.Google Scholar

34. Shankland, , “Intelligence Report,” 9Google Scholar; Isichei, , History, 58Google Scholar; Mathews, H. F., “Discussion of Aro origin and the Basis of the Widespread ‘Aro Influence,’” Intelligence Report, National Archives, Enugu, M.P. no. 24/1927/25, ARODIV. 20/1/5, 1927, p. 3.Google ScholarLatham, , Old Calabar, 9Google Scholar; Jones, G. I., “Who Are the Aro?” Nigerian Field, 8 (1939), 100.Google Scholar

35. Nair, , Politics and Society, 5Google Scholar; Latham, , Old Calabar, 9.Google Scholar

36. Sargent, , “Politics and Economics,” 220–21.Google Scholar See as well Webster, , “Kwararafa,” 98Google Scholar, and Miller, , “Biu Plateau,” 43.Google Scholar

37. Alagoa, E. J., The Small Brave City-State: A History of Nembe-Brass in the Niger Delta (Ibadan, 1964), 61Google Scholar; Dike, K. O., Trade and Politics in the Niger Delta, 1830-1885 (Oxford, 1956), 41–64.Google Scholar