Nigeria was part of the slave trade, correct or incorrect?

Somaliland:

Nigeria was part of the slave trade, correct or incorrect?

Correct.

Which west african country wasn't affect brother? Difficult question as there were no borders at the time, everything was split into tribes correct? And each tribe had a area?

Benin was not a slave port. Itsekiri and Ijaw traders who operated in the periphery of the Benin empire can hardly qualify Benin itself (Benin proper) for the title of a slave port. Slavery was mostly irrelevant to the pre-colonial Benin economy and trade.

Olusegun Mobee
http://www.freemaninstitute.com/nigeria.htm

Nigeria - The Slave Trade
Gwatto, the port of Benin, became the depot to handle the , of all slaves sent across the Atlantic came from Nigeria. Over the period of the whole trade ,
countrystudies.us/nigeria/7.htm
http://countrystudies.us/nigeria/7.htm

THEMOOR:



Olusegun Mobee
http://www.freemaninstitute.com/nigeria.htm

Nigeria - The Slave Trade
Gwatto, the port of Benin, became the depot to handle the ,  of all slaves sent across the Atlantic came from Nigeria. Over the period of the whole trade ,
countrystudies.us/nigeria/7.htm
http://countrystudies.us/nigeria/7.htm

The first link you gave only mentions the Republic of Benin (Republic du Benin), which is not Benin, Nigeria, but actually the country formerly known as Dahomey.

The second link you posted states:

"By 1471 Portuguese ships had reconnoitered the West African coast south as far as the Niger Delta, although they did not know that it was the delta, and in 1481 emissaries from the king of Portugal visited the court of the oba of Benin. For a time, Portugal and Benin maintained close relations. Portuguese soldiers aided Benin in its wars; Portuguese even came to be spoken at the oba's court. Gwatto, the port of Benin, became the depot to handle the peppers, ivory, and increasing numbers of slaves offered by the oba in exchange for coral beads; textile imports from India; European-manufactured articles, including tools and weapons; and manillas (brass and bronze bracelets that were used as currency and also were melted down for objets d'art). Portugal also may have been the first European power to import cowrie shells, which were the currency of the far interior.

Benin profited from its close ties with the Portuguese and exploited the firearms bought from them to tighten its hold on the lower Niger area. Two factors checked the spread of Portuguese influence and the continued expansion of Benin, however. First, Portugal stopped buying pepper because of the availability of other spices in the Indian Ocean region. Second, Benin placed an embargo on the export of slaves, thereby isolating itself from the growth of what was to become the major export from the Nigerian coast for 300 years. Benin continued to capture slaves and to employ them in its domestic economy, but the Edo state remained unique among Nigerian polities in refusing to participate in the transatlantic trade. In the long run, Benin remained relatively isolated from the major changes along the Nigerian coast."



The trade in slaves at "Gwatto" did not even last up to 30 years and it's not even clear that the slaves obtained there were actually captured or sold by the Binis themselves given that there is no evidence or mention of Benin's central army engaging in direct slave raiding. However, even if this were actually so, the amount of slaves estimated as being sold from this time is extremely modest. Part of the confusion arises because early European explorers referred to large parts of the entire Guinea coast as being "Benin" and attributing captives sold to the great power in the region. In reality some of the slaves leaving this region were Urhobos sold to Europeans by Itsekiri and Ijaw traders.

"As slave ownership became more common in Europe, enterprising Portuguese began to send their slaves back to Africa as sailors and orderlies. Not only were these African mariners better able to live and work in the coastal climate, but the Portuguese owners kept their salaries as profit. In 1533 the ship Miseracordia left San Tome, an island colonized by the Portuguese about 320 kilometers south of the Niger Delta, with eighty newly taken slaves bound for Mina on the Gold Coast. Its crew was predominantly African. The African mariners killed the captain and sailed the ship to the Kingdom of Benin, where the Oba took charge of its European cannons. This event explains the founding of the Iwoki in Benin City, "a ward whose members had, among other functions, that of looking after the Oba's guns and cannons. The Iwoki date their foundations to Esigie's reign, " (Bradbury 1973:35). Ryder reports that although the Portuguese refused to supply firearms to rulers who had not accepted the Christian conversion of their people, gunpowder was listed as part of a ship's cargo bound for Benin in 1535 (1969:68), two years after the Miseracordia's armament was seized.”

"Obas' Portraits in Benin"
Author(s): Barbara Winston Blackmun
Source: African Arts, Vol. 23, No. 3, Special Issue: Portraiture in Africa, Part I (Jul., 1990),pp. 61-69+102-104

http://www.edoworld.net/Edo_Warrior_Kingdom_Opposed_Atlantic_Slave_Trade.html

^^^

Mentions the interesting story of Willem Hogg.

PhysicsMHD:

but the Edo state remained unique among Nigerian polities in refusing to participate in the transatlantic trade.

How many Nigerian polities did this person research before writing this?

ezeagu:

How many Nigerian polities did this person research before writing this?

lol, clearly not very many

There are several other Nigerian "polities" (states) I can think of that did not engage in the transatlantic slave trade.

ezeagu:

How many Nigerian polities did this person research before writing this?

The point is that of the major pre-colonial Nigerian polities. Benin kingdom did not participate.

bokohalal:

The point is that of the major pre-colonial Nigerian polities. Benin kingdom did not participate.

That would have been understood if the person actually wrote that. What about major spheres of influences that were uninvolved with the trade? The person should have read harder.