Ugbodu Community - Yoruba settlements in Aniocha North LGA.

ABOUT UGBODU TOWN


HRH Ayo Isinyemeze, The Oloza (King) of Ugbodu community.

Ugbodu Town lies at a latitude of 6.379 and longitude of 6.458 and it has an elevation of 241 meters above sea level. It is a Yoruba speaking community based deep in the heart of Igbo speaking communities. The village is one of six villages which trace their origin to Owo Town in Ondo State of Nigeria. Ugbodu consists of four villages namely, Igwisi, Idumu-Agba, Ogoza and Idumu Ogwa.
The people through interaction and centuries of living in their present location speak both Olukumi and Igbo languages. Olukumi is the Yoruba language spoken by Owo people in present day Ondo State in Nigeria. Collectively, the six Olukumi speaking towns make up what is known as Odiani clan.

Ugbodu is the place where the East of Nigeria "meets" the West of Nigeria as this town and its other Olukumi speaking communities of Aniocha North, Delta State of Nigeria is the only place in the whole of Nigeria which speaks both the Igbo and Yoruba languages fluently as a people. It is also one of the most deprived communities in Nigeria today.
Despite this, the town boasts of many graduates in various fields. It has produced lawyers, doctors, engineers, agriculturists, scientists, and a national beauty pageant amongst others. It also boasts of a nursery school, two primary schools, one secondary school, a hospital, a post office, several churches etc.

Culled from the Ugbodu Development Union (U.D.U)
http://uduuk.com/Town.html

On a courtesy visit to the area, the following was gathered from King Ayo and Prince Adebowale Ochei of the Royal house:

“We are a Yoruba speaking community and the name of our language is Olokumi,”. Finally the king, H.R.M. Ayo Isinyemeze, the Oloza (Obi) of Ugbodu, met the desire of the writer. The youthful looking, handsome royal father explained. According to the monarch who is also the chairman of the Traditional Rulers Council in Aniocha North, the Ugbodu Oluku mi speaking people migrated from Owo/Akure axis in the current day Ondo State between 9th and 11th Century AD to settle down in Benin during the reign of King Ogiso of Benin. They, however, had to leave Benin for their current abode after a particular incident which rendered them unsafe. “The language, Oluku mi is a dialect of the Yoruba. Interestingly, we are not the only speakers of the language. It is spoken even as far as far away Cuba, part of Southern America. Our history dated far back, very far back to the time of Ogiso’s in the Benin Kingdom.

He continued: “Centuries later and interestingly, we would always claim that we were the first to settle in this neighbourhood which is why we have a name for practically all the communities around us as they refer to us simply as Ugbodu. “Sometime in the mid 90’s, the Ife monarch traveled to Cuba and then it was reported that he met a group of persons who were speaking an ancient, according to them, form of Yoruba that was called Oloku Mi.” What exactly does the name Ugbodu connote, the monarch disclosed “Ugbodu simply means, we have found solace in this land”. “We began to acculturate and over time we had adopted largely the way of life of our neighbours. We now bear Igbo names. Me, for instance, my name is Isieyemeze but that’s not Olokumi name, that’s an Igbo name. It is a tribute as it were to my family because, I bear an Olokumi name as a first name. My children all bear Olukumi names. I think there is renaissance, an effort of going back to our roots.

So, most of the children being born these days are named Olokumi names. “Outside from that, our dance, dress and food we have basically adopted our neighbour’s lifestyle in those regards. Interestingly, practically everybody here speaks Igbo but only as our second language. Our primary tongue is Olokumi and everybody born here speaks that language.

Traditionally, the area was divided into a number of societies, Some of which include The following:

Awo - This is the group of society called HERBALISTS IN UGBODU KINGDOM. They consult oracles and prepare herbal medicines for both the sick and injured for the young and old.
http://ugbodu.net/content/awo-group-society-native-doctor-ndi-dibia

Egwungwun - This is a group of society which was originated from Essan (Ishan) in Edo State of Nigeria in the 1390s till date. It is a societal group that enforces Laws, Rules and Regulations in the community. It is equally needed for traditional entertainments. It is believed to be a masquerade or groups of masquerades representing our ancestors, as the name implies the unbearable sound of the hooting alone, it is highly disorganizing whereby, all non-members keep to running,
PS: As a Yoruba person I know that Egungun is a Yoruba cultural phenomena passed down to the Olukumi as descendants.
http://ugbodu.net/content/egwungwun-arinmi

Ighare - Elders above 70
Ogun - Society of Blacksmiths
Olotu - Community of Chiefs
Inwene - Female version of ogun group
Etc

According to Ugbodu.net the community's online website, there have been two dynasties of Obas and Olozas (Probably culled from the Yoruba and Benin terms: Olaja, Olareja, Onoja, Onogie Etc) who have ruled the communities at different points in history.

Traditionally, the Yorubas organized themselves into networks of related villages, towns and kingdoms segmentally, with most of them headed by an OBA, (KING) or bale, (a nobleman or mayor). The main Yoruba cities and towns are Ile-ife, Ibadan, Lagos, Ijebu-Ode, Abeokuta, Akure, Osogbo, Ilorin, Ikorodu, Owo, Ondo, Ilesha, Ilobu, Ede, Ado etc. There are other Yoruba cities and towns, such as Ketu, Sabe, Dassa and others in the Republic of Benin and beyond.

Miss Ugbodu 2015 (middle) flanked by 1st and 2nd runners up.

There are other towns and cities with historical affiliation with the Yoruba people because they share one or more similarities together. Some of these cities and towns are Benin-City, Warri, Auchi, Okene, etc.
The Yoruba is the main ethnic group in the States of Ekiti, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Kwara, Osun and Oyo as well as Edo and DELTA STATE, which UGBODU KINGDOM is one of them. Undoubtedly, this is a clearer evidence of why the first set of OLOZAS were continually indigenes of Yorubas from OWO town in ONDO STATE which their tenure of offices lasted for Two-hundred and forty years (240yrs) with effect from 1150 to 1390 from the available records which stands thus: -

Kings and Dynasties of Ugbodu
The Yoruba Dynasty Of Kings - 240 Years


http://ugbodu.net//content/yoruba-leadership-tenure-office

The Edo Dynasty Of Kings of Ugbodu
Eleven Olozas
http://ugbodu.net//content/benin-leadership-tenure-office

Discuss .....

"There are other towns and cities with
historical affiliation with the Yoruba
people because they share one or
more similarities together. Some of
these cities and towns are Benin-
City, Warri, Auchi, Okene, etc.
The Yoruba is the main ethnic group in
the States of Ekiti, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo,
Kwara, Osun and Oyo as well as Edo
and DELTA STATE, which UGBODU
KINGDOM is one of them".

This is the erroneous part of the write up.
Yoruba is not an ethnic group in Edo State at all let alone it being a major one. The only Yoruba settlement that used to be in Edo State is a village called Imeri in Akoko-Edo, and it has since been carved into Ondo State to join its kit and kins during the 1991 states creation.
No town or village has Yoruba as its mother tongue in Edo state. People only learn Yoruba in the parts that share boundary with Ondo for easy across-the-boundary-commercial-activities communication with the Ishua people of Ondo who as well learn the Languages of their neighbour Edo state villages for same commercial purpose. That does not make Ishua people to become Edos automatically.
Likewise people who inhabit Edo State villages located close to Edo-Kogi boundary learn and speak Kogi Languages as fluently as their Kogi counterparts across the boundary learn and speak their own languages too all for trade communication. That does not mean one people have automatically become same as the other. Even in the extreme North East of Oshimili-North LGA of Delta State resides a village called Ebu whose people are purely Igala migrants across River Niger from the present Kogi state. They speak Igala and no other language, yet they are in the Igbo-speaking part of Delta. I don't think that automatically makes them Igbos. They are only Deltans but not Igbos.

^^ Oh god
He said those towns have "Historical affiliation" to Yorubas, He never said they were Yoruba. That includes Benin itself.
Insecure much?

You obviously missed where he wrote thus; "The Yoruba is the main ethnic group in the States of Ekiti, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Kwara, Osun and Oyo as well as Edo and DELTA STATE, which UGBODU KINGDOM is one of them".

scholes0:
^^ Oh god
He said those towns have "Historical affiliation" to Yorubas, He never said they were Yoruba. That includes Benin itself.
Insecure much?

how far happy new year. Why do u chose to insecure much

Deadlytruth:
You obviously missed where he wrote thus;
"The Yoruba is the main ethnic group in
the States of Ekiti, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo,
Kwara, Osun and Oyo as well as Edo
and DELTA STATE, which UGBODU
KINGDOM is one of them".

some people who do not know much about edo/delta always tow such line

OLUKWUMI PEOPLE
The Olukwumi people occupy an Anioma clan and are called "Odiani". The reason for this I am not really sure but the clan consists of 6 towns namely Ugbodu, Ukwu Nzu and Ubulubu (Olukwumi speaking) and Ogodor, Ugboba and Idumuogo (mainly Igbo speaking). Ugbodu is actually the traditional headquarters of the Olukwumi people but because of a serious Ekumeku battle staged at Ukwu Nzu in 1904, the colonialists decided to move the Native Authority headquarters to Ukwu Nzu leading to the false claims by some Ukwu Nzu people that they are "the clan head".

The name Ugbodu comes from "Igbo Odun" or sweet forest in Yoruba. They were from Akure and settled in Benin during the reign of the last Ogiso called OWODO. The Ogiso was allegded to have used his only son for sacrifice in order to have more sons and for this reason, the Ugbodu people (who were apprehensive that they being non-Edos could also be victims) led by one Adeola moved eastwards in a site which they felt was secured (hence the name " sweet forests".). This from genealogy occurred in about 1200 AD.

About three or four generations later, one Agbe a relative of the founders of Usen near Benin (they came from Ile Ife) moved eastwards and settled near Ugbodu people. He was attracted to a chalk site and he settled there. Gradually, the Ukwu Nzu people began to earn revenue from those chalk mines and they for this reason were called a people settled on a camp for chalk mining. This is Eko Afun is Olukwumi language. Gradually the Igbo version Ukwu Nzu replaced the original name.

Ubulubu was founded in about 1800 by some Ugbodu people and they were soon joined by people from Ukwu Nzu. This is one reason they don't have hereditary monarchy. Another migration occurred in the late 16th century to Ugbodu. It was an Owo (in Ondo State) war general named Ologun (or Balogun) who was in the Benin army. He founded one of the qtrs in Ugbodu now called OLOGHOSA.

The ruler of Ugbodu goes by the title of "Oloza'' derived from Oloja (a Yoruba title ) while Ukwu Nzu and Ubulubu are governed by Obis or Okpalabisis which are Igbo titles. There are also two Olukwumi dialects. One which is considered purer is spoken in Ugbodu while another massively saturated with Igbo words is spoken in Ubulubu and Ukwu Nzu. Apart from language, the Olukwumi speakers are identical with other Anioma people in customs.

The other three Odiani towns ie Ugboba, Idumuogo and Ogodor are mainly a blend of people who came from the three originally Olukwumi communities, Igbo speaking communities mainly from the Ezechime clan and a few families from the Esan area of Edo state. It is because of their rather mixed origins that led to the displacement of the Olukwumi language in those towns.

http://www.nigerianbestforum.com/index.php?topic=22509.525

In summary, the Olukwumi people in Delta state are also known as Odiani people or Ndi Odiani. The origin of the name is still uncertain but my best guess would be from 'oduani' probably corrupted to 'odiani' (meaning tail end of the land) or from Odiani (meaning located at the bottom) as a result of its strategic location in the Anioma area at the fringes or extreme end of Anioma, and bordering neighbouring tribes such as Eshan. As a matter of fact, once you begin to cross the Ohe stream in Ugbodu and get to the other end of it, you are no longer in Anioma land but in Eshan land.

The Odiani people, who all originally spoke Olukwumi, are today spread out into 6 villages: Ugbodu, Ukwu Nzu, Ubulubu, Ogodor, Ugboba and Idumuogo. The Olukwumi people have undergone extensive acculturation since decades of their arrival and today, traces of the Olukumi language can be found in mainly 3 of the 6 Odiani villages: Ukwunzu, Ubulubu and Ugbodu. These 3 villages are regarded as the main Olukwumi speaking areas, with the purer form of Olukwumi being spoken in Ugbodu, and another dialect of it heavily influenced by Igbo language spoken in Ubulubu and Ukwunzu. It may not come surprising that the purer or least Igbo-diluted form of Olukwumi is spoken in Ugbodu today, most likely due to its location on the extreme flank of the Anioma area compared to other Odiani villages and its extreme distance from the Anioma heartland/Nri ensured that it experienced the least acculturation compared to other villages. The other 3 Odiani villages, Ugboba, Idumuogo and Ogodo are mainly Igbo speaking today, and the displacement of Olukwumi in those villages attributed to the influx of different other peoples from east of the Niger, Ezechime areas, Eshan land etc. into the villages.

Asides language, the Olukwumi people are identical to other Anioma Igbo people in customs and traditions. The 3 Olukwumi-speaking villages are fluently bilingual in Olukwumi and Igbo languages. According to the Obi of Ugbodu, everyone speaks Igbo in the village. However, it is noticed that it is mostly spoken by the elderly ones of the village and the younger ones have been largely acculturated into the greater Anioma Igbo culture and language.

Redoil:
some people who do not know much about edo/delta always tow such line

Well, it was the Oloza and his family that called themselves Yoruba people, hence justifying their presence there.

Ugbodu is a very interesting town. a border town to my town/village in Esan (not Eshan please). Being a border with so much diversity has surprisingly helped them to retain the Olukunmi language. Nice one @bigfrancis21

there is an Esan village (Ekpon) that speaks both Esan and Ika/Anioma. Would be interesting to read a history of them too.

monex:
Ugbodu is a very interesting town. a border town to my town/village in Esan (not Eshan please). Being a border with so much diversity has surprisingly helped them to retain the Olukunmi language. Nice one @bigfrancis21

there is an Esan village (Ekpon) that speaks both Esan and Ika/Anioma. Would be interesting to read a history of them too.

Cultural Influences
The socio political status of Ekpon people is one that is rooted in Esan culture. This is a society of people whose origin is traceable to Ekpon in Esan west local government area of Edo State while they live in Esan South – East Local Government Area of the same Edo State but linguistically they belong to Ika dialect of Igbo language and live at the linguistic boundary between Ika (Igbo) and Esan languages. Their traditional institution is rooted in Esan culture. They have no Obiship or Eze system of leadership like Igbos but an Onogie who is appointed or approved by the Oba of Benin. To rule with the Onogiie are Chiefs Ehinze – Ogele, Ihiami etc who help the Onogie to carry out his royal functions and tributes to the Oba who made all of them who they are in the land. The mode of obtaining chieftaincy titles in Ekpon is synonymous with Esan ways. Every festival taking place in Ekpon is according to Esan tradition. For instance, ceremonies like marriage, child naming are in no way similar to Ika culture. The burial ceremony for example which runs for seven days in Ekpon is what obtains in Esan land contrary to four days burial activities in Ika/Igbo culture. This shows that apart from language, the Ekpon life style is similar to that of Esan.

Language contact phenomenon has a lot of implications among which are bilingualism, multilingualism, borrowing code – switching, pidgin and so on. Such incident between Igbo and Esan languages has not only linguistic but cultural, and socio-political implications. From the study of the influence of Esan language on Igbo due to their contact, it was discovered in the first place that the speech community at the language boundary between Igbo and Esan – which is Ekpon could neither identify themselves as Ika nor Esan speakers but Ekpon speakers. However, from the linguistic point of view they belong to Ika dialect speakers of Igbo language. It was discovered also that there are a lot of variations between the Ika dialect speakers and that of the other speakers of Ika that are residing in Agbor and its environs. For instance, there are changes in words like “Okele” for Ekele (greeting), “Onwole” for “Onweni” (nothing). There is change in syntax e.g. “Me ri Agbor ebeni” for “Agbor ebeni kemri (I live in Agbor). Culturally, there is little or no relationship with the Igbos (Ikas) as their culture is in consonance with Esan culture. The various festivals and rituals running from the beginning to the end of the year are synonymous with Esan culture. Politically, they are affiliated to Esan style of traditional leadership. Another important aspect of the Ekpon people is that the bilingual phenomenon is gradually dying away. The older generation of folks speak Ika and Esan languages while the younger generation does not understand nor speak Esan language. The older ones claim that they find it difficult to speak Esan and that those who speak it struggle to do that. On the other hand, the immediate neighbours like Ewosa who speak Esan language do not understand the Ika spoken by their Ekpon neighbours. This is why some Ekpon people try to speak Esan to their Esan neighbours but switch to English when the interlocution becomes unintelligible.

Morphology and Syntax
There are few instances of variations in sentence constructions and production of words as evident in the following examples: 1. Enyi a nu we ebuo (Ika)
enyi a nu welebuo (ekpon)
We do understand the two (languages). The difference here is the “L” insertion in the word “welebuo”.
2. Me ri Agbor eben (Ekpon)
‘I live Agbor here’
‘Agbo ebeni ke mbi’ (Ika)
‘Agbor here I live’
I live in Agbor.
The first person pronoun “M” (I) does not appear in initial position with “Me” form but “M” form and in some cases “Mme” form. The “Me” form in Ekpon is borrowed from the Esan language. For instance the above sentence in Esan will read; Agborme yie Agbo Iive (I live in Agbor)
3. Onye Ekpon ya me wu (Ekpon)
I Ekpon that I am
Onye Ekpon ke m wu (Ika)
I Ekpon that I am I am from Ekpon or native of Ekpon. The “ya” and “ke” are variants as they have the same meaning. The pronoun changes form in Ika due to position in the sentence viz a viz initial, middle or final but it remains Constant in form at whatever position in Ekpon which is a characteristic of Esan for e.g. will read – “Ovwie Ekpon me khin” from (Native) Ekpon I am.

http://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.linguisticsafrikana.com/pdf/Ehinze%2520paper%2520JILL%25203.pdf&sa=U&ved=0ahUKEwi8t_n7lo7KAhVEPCYKHQ46BOEQFggOMAE&usg=AFQjCNGouzeYsXsgpyYisTDuxdkZ1pKB6A

Finally! My mom is from ugbodu and i always claim her side,its just a pity that my yoruba dad went to pluck a deltan flower from her fathers' compound..

My olukumi is on point!

Don't make that mistake to go there and call em Yoruba ...they will Lynch u

They have been igbonized

ivyT:
Finally! My mom is from ugbodu and i always claim her side,its just a pity that my yoruba dad went to pluck a deltan flower from her fathers' compound..

My olukumi is on point!

You speak ugbodu igbo as well? Did your mom give you olukwumi and igbo names?

Lukumi is the name of traditions of Yoruba origin in Cuba

bigfrancis21:


You speak ugbodu igbo as well? Did your mom give you olukwumi and igbo names?

its just d olukumi/owo part we speak and yes,i hv a traditional name.

tonychristopher:
Don't make that mistake to go there and call em Yoruba ...they will Lynch u

They have been igbonized

And why would they lynch someone for calling them Yoruba
Na so iIgbo people hate Yoruba reach?

scholes0:


And why would they lynch someone for calling them Yoruba
Na so iIgbo people hate Yoruba reach?

But why would u call ugbodo Yoruba.does that sound Yoruba to u..they don't bear Yoruba names their culture and names igbo

Just go call them your ba and see

Just few days ago ...femi was telling me how he wish he is igbo

tonychristopher:


But why would u call ugbodo Yoruba.does that sound Yoruba to u..they don't bear Yoruba names their culture and names igbo

Just go call them your ba and see

Just few days ago ...femi was telling me how he wish he is igbo

Who is Femi? A random person?
And what about Ugbodu does not sound Yoruba? Did you even read that writeup?, smh.

scholes0:


Who is Femi? A random person?
And what about Ugbodu does not sound Yoruba? Did you even read that writeup?, smh.

There have been several 'theories' about the origin of Ugbodu, some saying from 'igbo odun', and others saying from 'ugbodunmila'. To the best of my knowledge, these are just guesses at best. The fact remains that these Olukumi towns in Delta North have settled in the Igbo area for so many decades and their town names are purely Igbo names, albeit ancient Igbo names. Ugbodu does not sound Yoruba in any way. Ugbodu has several meanings in Igbo.

ivyT:


its just d olukumi/owo part we speak and yes,i hv a traditional name.

Your mom speaks Aniocha Igbo?

Also, looks like you speak or at least understand Igbo. How did you learn it?

By the way, here is a video about a traditional dance, Uzo Ayo, by the Ugbodu people. Interestingly, the language being spoken was Igbo and all the children were singing in Igbo.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zFTCeA1O-E

Igwisi Dance Group performed by Igwisi children


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-JEVUq2Myw

More couple of videos and they seem to be singing in Igbo.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TX82ktg3wyY

However, this video seems to be in Olukumi and I could hear Igbo here and there. Despite being Ugbodu, the Olukumi of Ugbodu can, at best, be said to be a mixture with Igbo. In the video, it can be seen that it is mostly the elderly ones that are singing in the language.

Ugbodumila means the forest or this land saved me and I prospered in Yoruba. The people are people of Yorubid origin in Delta just like the Itsekiri and the Ebu. Personally I believe all Anioma people were originally Olukunmi on all their lands before they were gradually assimilated by Igbos. It must be noted that Olukunmi was the lingua franca of the Benin empire and if your ancestor was a chief or traditional ruler in Asaba, Ussele Ukwu, Agbor, Obiafu, Obrikom, Benin, Onitsha, Ikwerre and other realms of the defunct Benin empire, then your ancestor's language was Olukunmi and you adopted Igbo fairly recently because of trade and the influx of new people. Going much further back, Igbo ancestors and Yoruba ancestors were thesame. The Igbo seem to have a higher incidence of light skin than the Yoruba which is an indication of a recent mixture with new people, going by the proportion of fair skinned Igbos, it appears that the new people could have been up to two fifths of their population when they mixed. Implication is that a proportion of 3 proto Igbo mixed with 2 new people that came from somewhere else to give birth to the new population. For a foreign component to be that high, it shows that what is now Igbo started off as a very small offshoot of proto Yoruba, probably outlaws or rebels who crossed the river to live in the bush, where they mixed with new people of population similar to theirs and then multiplied rapidly at a time when pestilence ravaged Yoruba cities. Hence their big population. It appears obvious that Anambra was occupied by proto Yoruba/Igala and not urban shy Igbos who lived in villages. The Igbo Ukwu bronze works are testimony to this fact. Those works were made by highly organised civilizations of Ife people not Nri Igbos who lived in villages and had no complex political organisation that could have led to such art works.

So the Ugbodu people I believe are a testimony to what all of Anioma was in the past, they have history going back 800 years while Benin emerged as a power in the 15th century, only 500 years ago, so they did not get there via Benin just like Itsekiri was not established by Benin originally. They are settlements that predated the rise of Benin.

When the first Oloja of Ugbodu was ruling, Benin was a minor Kingdom under Ife and the ruler would have been referred to as Olu Ibini.

Yes, the Igbo are too retárded to have produced the Igbo-Ukwu bronze works. It must have been the Yoruba.

The son of the retárded iron- and bronzesmiths of Awka greets you, Lawani.

Radoillo:
Yes, the Igbo are too retárded to have produced the Igbo-Ukwu bronze works. It must have been the Yoruba.

The son of the retárded iron- and bronzesmiths of Awka greets you, Lawani.

The Nri was a religious organisation from the onset. They don't collect taxes to build an organisation that can produce artists that could have made those bronze works. Those bronze works were made by people who did such as an occupation and who worked for the royalty, not by the Nri. The Nri's organisation was subtle, their duty was to appeal to people and persuade them to do things and it worked for a long time but Nri never ruled cities, their villages were only a few thousands in population and they were thus limited. Not re tarded and not that they could not have changed and done such but the Nri is a study opportunity on how an empire can still exist without political organisation headed by an all powerful emperor. Those bronze works of Igbo Ukwu were made in cities containing proffessional artists who were state funded. That will be an ancient Ife not Nri. The kind of precolonial Nri Igbo organisation that existed could not have produced such works, hence my position.

Ancient Ife people were not Yoruba, they were proto Yoruba. Their language would be different from what we speak today. The belief by Yoruba is that the most ancient Ife gave birth to all humans. A more recent Ife gave birth to Yorubas and Igbos while Igbos forgot about that Ife and Yoruba remembered, a more ancient one gave birth to Hausas, further back Fulanis and so on and so forth up to the Chinese, Europeans, Red Indians and the Australoids. That is the Yoruba belief.

Ifes are recognised by excellence, and there have been relocations from one Ife to found another. By the old system, Lagos would be the new Ife for the Yoruba if we were still properly following the traditions. All the historians and custodians of tradition will pass everything to Lagos the new capital and most prosperous state to keep on the tradition.

lawani:

The Nri was a religious organisation from the onset. They don't collect taxes to build an organisation that can produce artists that could have made those bronze works. Those bronze works were made by people who did such as an occupation and who worked for the royalty, not by the Nri. The Nri's organisation was subtle, their duty was to appeal to people and persuade them to do things and it worked for a long time but Nri never ruled cities, their villages were only a few thousands in population and they were thus limited. Not re tarded and not that they could not have changed and done such but the Nri is a study opportunity on how an empire can still exist without political organisation headed by an all powerful emperor. Those bronze works of Igbo Ukwu were made in cities containing proffessional artists who were state funded. That will be an ancient Ife not Nri. The kind of precolonial Nri Igbo organisation that existed could not have produced such works, hence my position.

Where to begin.

First of all, the idea that a centrally-organised state system must be in existence before artisans and craftsmen can be mobilised to create bronze works and other artefacts, such as the ones unearthed at Igbo-Ukwu is an outdated one. Similar feats have been achieved by people whose political systems were not very centralised or even downright non-centralised.

Second, you do not seem to know much about Nri and how it was organised. You clearly are unaware that in Nri there were equivalents of a taxation system, which placed at the disposal of the King, the resources with which to mobilise craftsmen and musicians and courtiers of all kind. For example, there was a tribute system, by which all the neighbouring towns who acknowledged the spiritual superiority of Nri sent annual tributes to the Eze Nri. The tributes consisted of game, livestock, farm produce and money; to give you an idea of how far this tribute-paying network extended, it included the Nsukka communities on the northern border of Igboland. Also, the ritual agents of the Eze Nri who journeyed all over the northern and western Igbo areas performing an assortment of religious and political duties (and getting paid for them) were required to pay a percentage of whatever they earned to the Eze Nri on their yearly return. That sounds very much like what we would call taxation in the 21st century.

With all these revenue flowing into the court, the Eze Nri could, and did, organise and support a 'palace staff' consisting of:

1. Pages (the so-called 'Adama boys')
2. Court Officials (the so-called 'Adama/Umudiana chiefs') and Court Dwarfs
3. A Palace Priest/Chaplain (who performed all religious offices at the palace, especially those involving blood sacrifice - as it was forbidden for the Eze Nri himself to shed blood.)
4. Palace Musicians, the most important of who was the Ufie drummer
5. And, yes, the iron and bronze-workers.

The anthropologist, M A Onwuejeogwu specifically mentioned in his works that the Eze Nri maintained a staff of smiths and wood carvers who manufactured the iron, bronze and wooden objects associated with the Eze Nri's office. So, you could not have been more wrong when you said: "They don't collect taxes to build an organisation that can produce artists that could have made those bronze works."


Even if we make the claim that these bronze works were not produced by Agukwu-Nri and Oraeri indigenes themselves, but by a non-Nri caste of smiths in the 'employ' of the Nri, I still do not understand why one would propose that the smiths came all the way from Yorubaland, when Igboland itself was littered with towns renowned even beyond the frontiers of the Igbo-speaking territories for their metallurgical skill :towns such as Awka (just a few short miles away from Nri), Nkwerre, and Abiriba, not to mention the unsung metalworkers of Agbaja in Enugu. These people have practiced this art for several centuries, and archaeological records have demonstrated that metal has been worked in Igboland since c.800 BC.

It would be unnecessary for me to go into details about how these Igbo smiths extended their tentacles into Edoid areas in the west, Ijaw and Ogoni areas in the south and Ibibio-Annang-Efik plus other Cross River groups and related folk in the east. It would equally be unnecessary to go into details about the early European visitors who remarked on the sophistication and high quality of the works produced by these Igbo smiths, especially the Awka and the Abiriba. The point of this paragraph is that Igboland had its own crop of professional metalworkers who produced work of sophistication, and it is more than a little absurd (not to mention insulting) to suggest that they couldn't have been responsible for the bronze sculptures discovered at Igbo-Ukwu. It is like Great Zimbabwe all over again, with the Europeans thinking the Africans were not organised enough to have built it, but instead assigning it to Phoenicians and Arabs and Whoever-but-the-Africans.

Even the traditions of the Nri people affirm that there was a special and close relationship between the Nri people and the smiths of Awka. Nri traditions say that all metal objects of ritual significance associated with the Nri and their activities were manufactured by the Awka smiths. Were you aware of these traditions? Given this piece of information, who would you say was more likely to have produced the Igbo-Ukwu bronzes - Yoruba (or 'proto-Yoruba', as you say) smiths from Ife or Igbo smiths from Awka?

Perhaps you should also know that art historians have studied the Igbo-Ukwu bronzes and the Ife 'bronzes'; and their analysis of the style, the material, the techniques used by the makers, the motifs, the age, etc have demonstrated clearly that both schools of art (the Ife school and the Igbo-Ukwu school) are very distinct in almost everything. Implication: Their makers were not only different culture-groups, they were also probably unaware of each other. I suggest you look up some papers written by people who have done these analyses. Paul T. Craddock would a good place to start.

Radoillo:


Where to begin.

First of all, the idea that a centrally-organised state system must be in existence before artisans and craftsmen can be mobilised to create bronze works and other artefacts, such as the ones unearthed at Igbo-Ukwu is an outdated one. Similar feats have been achieved by people whose political systems were not very centralised or even downright non-centralised.

Second, you do not seem to know much about Nri and how it was organised. You clearly are unaware that in Nri there were equivalents of a taxation system, which placed at the disposal of the King, the resources with which to mobilise craftsmen and musicians and courtiers of all kind. For example, there was a tribute system, by which all the neighbouring towns who acknowledged the spiritual superiority of Nri sent annual tributes to the Eze Nri. The tributes consisted of game, livestock, farm produce and money; to give you an idea of how far this tribute-paying network extended, it included the Nsukka communities on the northern border of Igboland. Also, the ritual agents of the Eze Nri who journeyed all over the northern and western Igbo areas performing an assortment of religious and political duties (and getting paid for them) were required to pay a percentage of whatever they earned to the Eze Nri on their yearly return. That sounds very much like what we would call taxation in the 21st century.

With all these revenue flowing into the court, the Eze Nri could, and did, organise and support a 'palace staff' consisting of:

1. Pages (the so-called 'Adama boys')
2. Court Officials (the so-called 'Adama/Umudiana chiefs') and Court Dwarfs
3. A Palace Priest/Chaplain (who performed all religious offices at the palace, especially those involving blood sacrifice - as it was forbidden for the Eze Nri himself to shed blood.)
4. Palace Musicians, the most important of who was the Ufie drummer
5. And, yes, the iron and bronze-workers.

The anthropologist, M A Onwuejeogwu specifically mentioned in his works that the Eze Nri maintained a staff of smiths and wood carvers who manufactured the iron, bronze and wooden objects associated with the Eze Nri's office. So, you could not have been more wrong when you said: "They don't collect taxes to build an organisation that can produce artists that could have made those bronze works."


Even if we make the claim that these bronze works were not produced by Agukwu-Nri and Oraeri indigenes themselves, but by a non-Nri caste of smiths in the 'employ' of the Nri, I still do not understand why one would propose that the smiths came all the way from Yorubaland, when Igboland itself was littered with towns renowned even beyond the frontiers of the Igbo-speaking territories for their metallurgical skill :towns such as Awka (just a few short miles away from Nri), Nkwerre, and Abiriba, not to mention the unsung metalworkers of Agbaja in Enugu. These people have practiced this art for several centuries, and archaeological records have demonstrated that metal has been worked in Igboland since c.800 BC.

It would be unnecessary for me to go into details about how these Igbo smiths extended their tentacles into Edoid areas in the west, Ijaw and Ogoni areas in the south and Ibibio-Annang-Efik plus other Cross River groups and related folk in the east. It would equally be unnecessary to go into details about the early European visitors who remarked on the sophistication and high quality of the works produced by these Igbo smiths, especially the Awka and the Abiriba. The point of this paragraph is that Igboland had its own crop of professional metalworkers who produced work of sophistication, and it is more than a little absurd (not to mention insulting) to suggest that they couldn't have been responsible for the bronze sculptures discovered at Igbo-Ukwu. It is like Great Zimbabwe all over again, with the Europeans thinking the Africans were not organised enough to have built it, but instead assigning it to Phoenicians and Arabs and Whoever-but-the-Africans.

Even the traditions of the Nri people affirm that there was a special and close relationship between the Nri people and the smiths of Awka. Nri traditions say that all metal objects of ritual significance associated with the Nri and their activities were manufactured by the Awka smiths. Were you aware of these traditions? Given this piece of information, who would you say was more likely to have produced the Igbo-Ukwu bronzes - Yoruba (or 'proto-Yoruba', as you say) smiths from Ife or Igbo smiths from Awka?

Perhaps you should also know that art historians have studied the Igbo-Ukwu bronzes and the Ife 'bronzes'; and their analysis of the style, the material, the techniques used by the makers, the motifs, the age, etc have demonstrated clearly that both schools of art (the Ife school and the Igbo-Ukwu school) are very distinct in almost everything. Implication: Their makers were not only different culture-groups, they were also probably unaware of each other. I suggest you look up some papers written by people who have done these analyses. Paul T. Craddock would a good place to start.

I have read a lot of published materials about those Igbo Ukwu bronze. The materials also came from Eastern mines as well but the fact remains that the Nri was a loose confederation of independent villages of maybe around 3 thousand population each, when the population rises, they divide and some form a new village, they were urban shy people. The villagers farmed and did other things but no chance of developing a caste of highly skilled bronze artists that could have made such works.

The people who made the bronze works were Igbo ancestors who lived in cities but they were not Nri who lived in villages. Igbos will never accept they and the Yoruba share common ancestors despite all the evidence.

lawani:

I have read a lot of published materials about those Igbo Ukwu bronze. The materials also came from Eastern mines as well but the fact remains that the Nri was a loose confederation of independent villages of maybe around 3 thousand population each, when the population rises, they divide and some form a new village, they were urban shy people. The villagers farmed and did other things but no chance of developing a caste of highly skilled bronze artists that could have made such works.

The falseness of the idea that 'farming villagers' cannot develop a caste of highly skilled craftsmen in bronze or any other medium is what I've been trying to demonstrate to you, but you are clearly not going to budge from your "impressive development only occurs in large urban communities" position.

The people who made the bronze works were Igbo ancestors who lived in cities but they were not Nri who lived in villages. Igbos will never accept they and the Yoruba share common ancestors despite all the evidence.

Informed Igbos know of a shared ancestry with the Yorubas. But since splitting off from our parent stock many thousands of years ago, we've pretty much gone our separate ways; ergo, bringing the Yoruba into an Igbo artistic tradition that is only a little over one thousand years old (Igbo-Ukwu) is anachronistic.

Read: Ife (any of the Ifes), Yoruba, or Proto-Yoruba had nothing to do with Igbo-Ukwu; and people did not necessarily have to live in cities before they could produce highly sophisticated work such as the Igbo-Ukwu bronzes were.

lawani:
Ugbodumila means the forest or this land saved me and I prospered in Yoruba. The people are people of Yorubid origin in Delta just like the Itsekiri and the Ebu. Personally I believe all Anioma people were originally Olukunmi on all their lands before they were gradually assimilated by Igbos. It must be noted that Olukunmi was the lingua franca of the Benin empire and if your ancestor was a chief or traditional ruler in Asaba, Ussele Ukwu, Agbor, Obiafu, Obrikom, Benin, Onitsha, Ikwerre and other realms of the defunct Benin empire, then your ancestor's language was Olukunmi and you adopted Igbo fairly recently because of trade and the influx of new people. Going much further back, Igbo ancestors and Yoruba ancestors were thesame. The Igbo seem to have a higher incidence of light skin than the Yoruba which is an indication of a recent mixture with new people, going by the proportion of fair skinned Igbos, it appears that the new people could have been up to two fifths of their population when they mixed. Implication is that a proportion of 3 proto Igbo mixed with 2 new people that came from somewhere else to give birth to the new population. For a foreign component to be that high, it shows that what is now Igbo started off as a very small offshoot of proto Yoruba, probably outlaws or rebels who crossed the river to live in the bush, where they mixed with new people of population similar to theirs and then multiplied rapidly at a time when pestilence ravaged Yoruba cities. Hence their big population. It appears obvious that Anambra was occupied by proto Yoruba/Igala and not urban shy Igbos who lived in villages. The Igbo Ukwu bronze works are testimony to this fact. Those works were made by highly organised civilizations of Ife people not Nri Igbos who lived in villages and had no complex political organisation that could have led to such art works.

So the Ugbodu people I believe are a testimony to what all of Anioma was in the past, they have history going back 800 years while Benin emerged as a power in the 15th century, only 500 years ago, so they did not get there via Benin just like Itsekiri was not established by Benin originally. They are settlements that predated the rise of Benin.

When the first Oloja of Ugbodu was ruling, Benin was a minor Kingdom under Ife and the ruler would have been referred to as Olu Ibini.

Are you high on something or what?

Radoillo:


The falseness of the idea that 'farming villagers' cannot develop a caste of highly skilled craftsmen in bronze or any other medium is what I've been trying to demonstrate to you, but you are clearly not going to budge from your "impressive development only occurs in large urban communities" position.



Informed Igbos know of a shared ancestry with the Yorubas. But since splitting off from our parent stock many thousands of years ago, we've pretty much gone our separate ways; ergo, bringing the Yoruba into an Igbo artistic tradition that is only a little over one thousand years old (Igbo-Ukwu) is anachronistic.

Read: Ife (any of the Ifes), Yoruba, or Proto-Yoruba had nothing to do with Igbo-Ukwu; and people did not necessarily have to live in cities before they could produce highly sophisticated work such as the Igbo-Ukwu bronzes were.

You may well be right but you miss my point which is that finding those bronzes buried there does not mean the Nri made it and it is highly unlikely they did. The bronzes are a surprise to everybody including the Nri. They never saw anything like it, while art works like that are in Ife. That they are connected to Ife is obvious. Benin bronze works are different from Ife's but it is acknowledged it originated from Ife and such bronze expertise is found only in this place, not in any other place in the world, it can not be denied that it is the property of Ife. If you found such works in Tiv land today, it would be out of place as the Igbo Ukwu bronzes are out of place on Nri land. It would still have to be explained with Ife, the custodian of the art which is why I arrived at that conclusion. I don't believe the Nri controlled up to 200 villages at any time even 100 and never more than religious matters and some discussions, most Igbos do not acknowledge ever paying tax to Nri, some who were Nri paid tax to the Attah Igala, while some paid to the Oba of Benin. In reality, Nri had no Kings and the Eze Nri was a priest. The pre colonial Igbos were organised into small independent villages that were really independent, though some of them were partially incorporated under the Benin or the Igala. If you say the Eze Nri subjected even one hundred thousand people to taxation, that would be a misrepresentation of History, what they got were donations, not taxes and it could not have financed such bronze expertise.

The man buried at Igbo Ukwu was a monarch, a real one that knew the world, not an Nri priest. The thing is a puzzle but it seems obvious that the bronzes were not made by socio-political ancestors of the Nri.

lawani:


You may well be right but you miss my point which is that finding those bronzes buried there does not mean the Nri made it and it is highly unlikely they did. The bronzes are a surprise to everybody including the Nri. They never saw anything like it, while art works like that are in Ife.

The artefacts had been buried for a thousand years, and their memory largely erased; so of course their discovery would come as a bit of surprise. But the interesting thing here is that when the anthropologist, Onwuejeogwu, showed pictures of these bronzes to illiterate elders at Agukwu, they were able to identify 90% of them and also told the anthropologists the uses of 85% of them. They wouldn't have been able to do that if the works were not of the same cultural paradigm as the historic Nri. If I took the same pictures to Ife and showed it to Ife elders, would they be able to tell me what 85% of them were used for in a ritual context?

If you say the Igbo couldn't have produced the works because the present-day Igbo were unaware they were there before they were dug up, did Ife know they were there, then? If they didn't, too, then what's your point really?

That they are connected to Ife is obvious.

No, sir, the connection IS NOT obvious. Art historians have written over and over these past decades about how distinct and apparently unconnected the art of both places are. The two people used different types of alloys. The two people used different techniques in producing their work. Some of the techniques used in Ife were unknown at Igbo-Ukwu; some of the techniques used at Igbo-Ukwu were unknown at Ife. You should read the work of experts more rather than sitting in your room and making things up.

Benin bronze works are different from Ife's but it is acknowledged it originated from Ife

At least in this regard there are traditions in support of an Ife-Benin diffusion. Where are the traditions in support of an Ife-IgboUkwu diffusion? Non-existent. In any case, the Bini did make their own brass works, not the Ife - even if they originally may have learnt from Ife smiths. What you are saying here is that Ife smiths did the actual execution of the Igbo-Ukwu bronzes. Your Bini analogy therefore fails.

and such bronze expertise is found only in this place, not in any other place in the world, it can not be denied that it is the property of Ife. If you found such works in Tiv land today, it would be out of place as the Igbo Ukwu bronzes are out of place on Nri land. It would still have to be explained with Ife, the custodian of the art which is why I arrived at that conclusion.

Hahahahaha!Such obsolete, ethnocentric line of reasoning. Thinly-veiled tribalistic nonsense. Comparing Tiv level of social organization with the level of organisation in the Nri area shows how unread and ill-informed you actually are. The only part of Igboland that had the same level of fragmentary and dispersed settlement pattern and political organisation as the Tiv was the northeastern Igbo area. Read more.

I don't believe the Nri controlled up to 200 villages at any time even 100 and never more than religious matters and some discussions, most Igbos do not acknowledge ever paying tax to Nri, some who were Nri paid tax to the Attah Igala, while some paid to the Oba of Benin.

You are embarrassing yourself. Tribute came to Nri from all over Anambra State and Enugu State (I won't speak of the Western Igbo area, as I do not know the details of their involvement with Nri). There are easily several hundreds of towns and villages in the two aforementioned states from which tribute reached Nri.

The 'most' who did not send tribute to Nri were the southern and eastern Igbo who did not acknowledge Nri's spiritual pre-eminence. There were easily more Igbo villages who paid tribute to Nri than the ones who paid tribute to the Attah-Igala and the Oba of Benin combined. Only the fringe communities in Nsukka acknowledged the Attah-Igala. And the Igbo-speaking areas from which Oba got any form of recognition that would include tribute-paying did not even extend as far as Ibusa in Delta State, not to say anything about the southeast proper.

In reality, Nri had no Kings and the Eze Nri was a priest

If the Eze Nri is not a king, but a mere priest, then the Ooni of Ife is a mere priest and no king. That's all I'm saying on this.

The pre colonial Igbos were organised into small independent villages that were really independent, though some of them were partially incorporated under the Benin or the Igala. If you say the Eze Nri subjected even one hundred thousand people to taxation, that would be a misrepresentation of History, what they got were donations, not taxes and it could not have financed such bronze expertise.

Igbos were not organised in small independent villages. Villages (ebos) combined with other villages to form quarters (onuku); onuku combined with other onuku to form the town, or what anthropologists called a village group. Such towns or village-groups could in precolonial times have a population of between 5,000 and well over 18,000. Arochukwu was reckoned in the 19th century to have up to 50,000 souls. After the Anglo-Aro war in the early 20th century, the population was put by the British at over 25,000.

Your underestimation of Igbo community sizes is no doubt based on material that make general statements about the Igbo based on prevailing stereotypes of tiny villages with no visible rulers.

The man buried at Igbo Ukwu was a monarch, a real one that knew the world, not an Nri priest. The thing is a puzzle but it seems obvious that the bronzes were not made by socio-political ancestors of the Nri.

It seems obvious only to you, my friend.