IGALA COLONISATION OF NORTHERN IGBO STATES* (1450–18th century). Michael Achile Umameh The Igala mega state attained the height of its fame during the mid-17th century. The rise of the Igala mega state disrupted and contributed to the shift of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade from the Bight of Benin to the Bight of Biafra and the decline of the Benin Empire between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The Idah-Benin war (1515-1516) was a war of mutual independence. The Igala state reached its political and commercial supremacy afterwards, when it became a leading exporter of choral beads, horses, medicine, skills and of course, slaves to the coastal region. Its growing power, nevertheless, changed the dynamics of the earlier complex relationships with several northern Igbo communities. Joseph Hawkins in 1797 already captured the relentless raiding of the extreme northern Igboland by the Igalas. In his “A History of a Voyage to the Coast of Africa” he noted the growing conflicts between the 'Ebo Country' and 'Galla'. By the late 17th century, the Igalas conquered and held socio-economic, political and religious control of the indigenous northern Igbo mini-states. From Opi, Nsukka, Nsugbe, several Igbo communities on the Anambra river, the lower Niger, through Okpanam to Asaba the Igala held sway. Trading out post with Onitsha and the Ijo middlemen were fully established. The mythical Omeppa, Inenyi Ogugu set up garrison at Opi and several Igala warlords played their part in the build up of the Igala colonial take over of these northern Igbo states. But no other individual played a greater role in shaping Igala-Igbo colonisation during the 18th century than Onoja Oboni, the legendary Igala warrior and slave trader. Onoja Oboni’s personality and heritage has been shrouded in mythical imagery over time. Ranging from being the Son of Eri, the grandson of Aganapoje to being a descendant of one of the Idah royal families; the priestly sub-clan of Obajeadaka in Okete-ochai-attah. The key areas of consensus are; he was a master strategist, slave raider and trader, conqueror, coloniser and imperialist. Added to these were his diplomacy, expansionist traits and the acculturation of conquered territories. He built himself a walled city in Ogurugu and recent archaeological findings of the remnant of the ruins of his fort on the grounds of the University of Nsukka confirm this. The Igala soldiers built forts and fortifications that stretched from Ete down to Opi and then to Anambra. Oboni’s rise to power affected the history of the North-western Nsukka and the Igbo communities on the Anambra River and the Lower Niger during the Igala commercial and socio-cultural ascendancy and domination. This was the reinforcing of the golden age of Igala imperial expansion. In this way, Igala mega state took control and allegiance were paid. Until the decline of Igala power, the Ezes of Enugu Ezike, Akpugo, Nkpologu, Ibagwa Ani and Opi continued to receive their titles from Idah; investiture, installation and confirmation of their office was only by the royal blessing of Attah Igala in Idah. The Eze were only validated when the returned home with Igala choral beads ‘aka’, staff of office believed to be imbued with protective charms to ensure longevity and security of the Eze as well as prestige animal (horse) to bolster up their ego. There were also periodic royal visits to the Atta Igala to pay tributes and as well intended to strengthen diplomatic ties and inter-group relations, renew allegiance, and assured insurance from slave raids.

In terms of indigenous technologies, the Igala soldiers built factories (forges) for manufacturing Dane-guns, ironworks, carving, introduced arrowheads with tip-poison from sting ray; cloth knitting, terracing of Nsukka hillsides and brought in a well developed political and social hierarchies. At this time Igala empire had become a cultural exchange hub for other merging states; the influence was felt as far north as the Nok civilisation and down east to Igbo-Ukwu civilisation. Till date many of the Igala-Nsukka borderland remain bilingual. On the religious level, the Igala installed their own priests- the Attama- as the custodian of the dangerous ‘alusi’ shrine, took control as mediators between the spirit and the Igbo communities, presided over divinations and fashioned ‘Ikenga’, ‘Okwute’ (ritual staffs) that combined both Igala and Igbo religious elements. The Attama thus became the major agents of Igala socio-cultural control. Several efforts to keep the Attama lineage Igala failed, eventually the priestly office have been greatly igbonized, even though the nominal Igala identification is still predominant. Many of the northern Igbo state settlements have lineages with Igala names, cultural practices with marked Igala modification and adaptations. The use of Igala circular basket in contrast to the Igbo rectangular types persists till this day. By the turn of the 19th century, the Igala empire was too large for any reliable and robust central control. Internal decay and implosion set in. The Fulani jihadists started contracting the Igala imperial power, conquered territories in the north switched tributes, forced or/and seceded from the Igala empire. The Bassa war added more pressure to the war-weary empire. The abolition of slave trade brought in untold economic recession. In 1914 the British burnt down Ibagwa and Obukpa as a punitive measure. By the 1920s, Igala empire was a spent force and a limping shadow, the British easily took over control of both Nsukka and the Igala territories.


https://www.researchgate.net/publication/319687582_IGALA_COLONISATION_OF_NORTHERN_IGBO_STATES_1450-18th_century

Ok

E dey our blood...As an IGALA, i am un-conquerable

Igala created Ikenga, Ojukwu's title, and the Eze's were crowned in present day Kogi State. They ruled over Igbos for close to 4 centuries. Damn yo

The Fulanis literally saved the Igbos from continued domination by the powerful Igalas. I am shocked

Kayfra,pls pardon the Igbos until they start their usual stupidity again.I have known,after reading their history,that the intelligent ones amongst them are the Igalas who have metamorphosed into Igbo just like the Yorubas in IMO state who migrated from Ile Ife but are now Igbos.Vanguard carried some stories about them recently.

What we need now is to come together and sieve out the stones in our rice threatening to break our teeth.

Ritchiee:
Kayfra,pls pardon the Igbos until they start their usual stupidity again.I have known,after reading their history,that the intelligent ones amongst them are the Igalas who have metamorphosed into Igbo just like the Yorubas in IMO state who migrated from Ile Ife but are now Igbos.Vanguard carried some stories about them recently.

What we need now is to come together and sieve out the stones in our rice threatening to break our teeth.

I'll chill after this post. But let me give everybody ammunition to deal with them when they start misbehaving. In addition, a lot of them don't even know their recorded history and this gives them a hint of what is yet to come

kayfra:


I'll chill after this post. But let me give everybody ammunition to deal with them when they start misbehaving. In addition, a lot of them don't even know their recorded history and this gives them a hint of what is yet to come

Alright..

Igbos have ran away from this thread

Please op is ijaw and not ijo. Only some parts of ijaw are called ijo. Thats why some ijaws speak ijo. Hope you get. Finally as an ijaw man,i dont think your story is true. Just another trash from a yoruba muslim. Who even hear about igalla in ss/se. U can prove these your trash right by goin to conquer then these feb

Ndi Igbo amaka

technicallyrich:
Please op is ijaw and not ijo.
Only some parts of ijaw are called ijo.
Thats why some ijaws speak ijo.
Hope you get.
Finally as an ijaw man,i dont think your story is true.
Just another trash from a yoruba muslim.
Who even hear about igalla in ss/se.
U can prove these your trash right by goin to conquer then these feb

Comprehension is not your strong subject.

kayfra:


Comprehension is not your strong subject.

i have read all you wrote and i have said they are trash.
We have igallas in east,just like we ijaws are in the west.
We ijaws can even defeat and conquer the yaribanza as they are streghntless and weak.
But you dont see us make noise about it.
Hope you know igallas are also in bayelsa.so we you say they conquered ijaws.which is not even possible as ijaws are the strongest,bravest,richest and most blessed black people on earth.
Igallas are our minority brothers,a small biafran tribe mostly found in ss,se and some middle belt part of biafra.
You can never cause problem for us.

technicallyrich:

i have read all you wrote and i have said they are trash.
We have igallas in east,just like we ijaws are in the west.
We ijaws can even defeat and conquer the yaribanza as they are streghntless and weak.
But you dont see us make noise about it.
Hope you know igallas are also in bayelsa.so we you say they conquered ijaws.which is not even possible as ijaws are the strongest,bravest,richest and most blessed black people on earth.
Igallas are our minority brothers,a small biafran tribe mostly found in ss,se and some middle belt part of biafra.
You can never cause problem for us.

There lies your problem. Willfully obtuse

You don't know the difference between a research paper based on documented history and an opinion

Does it matter? The US was once a colony of the UK. They fought and got their independence in 1776. Now the US dominates the UK in everything and they UK does everything to please them. The Igbos are superior to them today

ibos were a conquered people under the Igala empire. students of history already knew this.

ucheicon:
Does it matter? The US was once a colony of the UK. They fought and got their independence in 1776. Now the US dominates the UK in everything and they UK does everything to please them. The Igbos are superior to them today

It matters especially when 99% of you folks don't know your history and it also matters since it's the Igalas of Anambra and Enugu still dominating Igbos even though they've embraced the same identity

The Ibos should be very grateful for the British intervention because had they not come in,....it is possible that most of them would have by now been speaking Yoruba and Igalla. I mean the IMO are from Yoruba, northern ibos were slaves of Igallas and southern ibos were sold by the Ijaws...also onisha and agbor were under the Benin kingdom. No group of people can be more thankful to Nigeria coming together than the ibos.

kayfra:


It matters especially when 99% of you folks don't know your history and it also matters since it's the Igalas of Anambra and Enugu still dominating Igbos even though they've embraced the same identity

Just like the fulanis adopting hausa in order to dominate them....till date.

In other words, Igala are the true owners of Anambra and Enugu States.

I was reading hoping to find sense! But at the end it was a post from a kid

coolitempa:
The Ibos should be very grateful for the British intervention because had they not come in,....it is possible that most of them would have by now been speaking Yoruba and Igalla. I mean the IMO are from Yoruba, northern ibos were slaves of Igallas and southern ibos were sold by the Ijaws...also onisha and agbor were under the Benin kingdom. No group of people can be more thankful to Nigeria coming together than the ibos.

Exactly. They owe their existence and continued survival to Nigeria. I don't know why they are not grateful

onyepapa:
I was reading hoping to find sense! But at the end it was a post from a kid

A kid like Chinua Achebe who's work was referenced abi?

This is not a post for babies. Join the training wheel thread somewhere else

kayfra:


It matters especially when 99% of you folks don't know your history and it also matters since it's the Igalas of Anambra and Enugu still dominating Igbos even though they've embraced the same identity

Lets even pretend that the gibberish you fabricated is even true, yet you backward Igala ppl don't have a state of your own.
You ppl have been repeatedly trounced and defeated politically by the Ebira people in all indices with regards Kogi State.
You people are now playing second fiddle to a state you people once claimed you dominate , shame.
Don't bring the great Igbo people into your stupidity, you people sit in your little huts lazying about in your uncivilized scanty fetish villages while your wifes are bread winners.
Don't go typing rubbish because you are priviledged amongst your backward ppl to own a phone and access to the internet.
Get more education, lazy youth.

T9ksy:



Now you can see why i call them, clones. Even when you place horse shit under their nostrils, they will still be saying "it's a bed of roses, they smell".

I tell you, their mischievous lying elders did a "good number" on them conditioning them with utter fallacies in order to cover up their failures.

They are insufferable I swear. But I'll keep exposing till they finally receive sense

Ochendo1:


Lets even pretend that the gibberish you fabricated is even true, yet you backward Igala ppl don't have a state of your own.
You ppl have been repeatedly trounced and defeated politically by the Ebira people in all indices with regards Kogi State.
You people are now playing second fiddle to a state you people once claimed you dominate , shame.
Don't bring the great Igbo people into your stupidity, you people sit in your little huts lazying about in your uncivilized scanty fetish villages while your wifes are bread winners.
Don't go typing rubbish because you are priviledged amongst your backward ppl to own a phone and access to the internet.
Get more education, lazy youth.

One of ours, Willy Obiano the Igala illustrious son, is doing our bidding

And please this is serious work. Achebe was quoted amongst other international scholars. You can't wish your history away

kayfra:


Exactly. They owe their existence and continued survival to Nigeria. I don't know why they are not grateful

True but history is a continuum.....and the colonisation of the ibos continue till today. A lot of them have left their villages and have adopted the culture of their masters. These are some of the reasons they remain embittered.

coolitempa:



True but history is a continuum.....and the colonisation of the ibos continue till today. A lot of them have left their villages and have adopted the culture of their masters. These are some of the reasons they remain embittered.

Why are they embittered when they've never been free born at the least for the longest stretch of their existence. It's a grouping of hamlets of escapee Benin, Igala, Arochukwu and Benue slaves. That's why from North to south as you transverse the region, you can clearly see that their's really no homogeneity. They don't have the same origins and the only semblance of governance comes from Benin influence (Obi of Onitsha) and Nri (Eri is from Igala)

T9ksy:



Good luck with the bolded above but hey, a snowball will freezes in hell first before you attain your objective.

However, i applaud your optimism. Honestly i do.

It's pro bono work so I won't be mad if I fail

If Igala colonized the Igbo, we would have had the Ilorin situation in Igboland.