₦airaland Forum

There is no unity in any south, only understanding under circumstances. . . . the north will drop war, the south west will have positioned themselves in a way they won't be affected, and the east is the naturally most hated! Guess who is and who isn't having a war?!!

People read history to learn from it! That's all.

[quote author=A.Chigozie link=topic=636061.msg8176051#msg8176051 date=1303405668]You are misinformed I know for a fact that my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather was forcibly put on an enslaved ship in 1710.  That is 40 years before 1750.  From information that I have come across, the earliest date of people being kidnapped from and sold into enslavement from Bight of Biafara was in 1656, that is almost a 100 years before your date of 1750. 

Here is the information: Voyage 21995, Rappahanock (1656) 
I encourage you to go to http://www.slavevoyages.org/tast/index.faces. to learn more.   

I read Equiano's narrative when I was a teenager, perhaps I should re-read it, however, I have come to questioned just how much he actually wrote, and how much was true, and not him or some editor making stuff up. 

Whether you agree with me or not, the continent is curse IMO, I say that with a heavy heart, I don't wish ill will toward my ancestral homeland.  But I do believe Africa, is being punished for the sins of your ancestors who sold their fellow Africans.[/quote]I've visited that site many times, use it now and you will see my number of 200 years in the Bight of Biafra wasn't far off. In 1601-1625, 2,921 people were recorded to be enslaved, although they are humans, the point is the number could have been the same as the death rate of people dying from an illness, then in 1626-1650 30,000+ were taken rising to 300,000+ people in 1776-1800, then 2 people recorded in 1851-1866. So the slave trade happened significantly between 1650-1850, 200 year.

And there were many kingdoms in Africa that not only did not practice slavery, but were against it as well.

[quote author=ndu_chucks link=topic=651724.msg8175936#msg8175936 date=1303404342]@OP. The Igbos cannot leave the North and return to the East. There are more Igbos in the North than are in all of SE. Returning will results to instantaneous civil war in the East because the resources available will not be enough to sustain the population. Its that simple.[/quote]You don't know what you're talking about.

Gera1980:
Hello everyone,

I am looking for a translation of "Happy birthday my friend" into Igbo.

It does not mean my boyfriend. It is a (male) friend of my husband-to-be who within the last year also became a good friend to me.

Thanks, Geraldine

There's no general way for saying 'Happy birthday' in Igbo and it can sound funny depending on the way the saying is said. This is because 'birthday' is not present in the Igbo language or culture so a sentence would have to be said, the same reason why it varies and why I'm explaining it to you.

One Igbo version for 'birthday' (when talking about someone else) is:

'Ubochi ha muru gi'

Which translates to 'The day they gave birth to you'

Another would be:

'Omumu gi'

Which translates to 'Your birth', which can be confusing, especially to a man

The last is:

'Hapi Batde'

But that's not what you want is it.

What I would say is:

'Riwe ubochi ha muru gi, enyim'.

'Enjoy (directly translates to 'eat') the day 'they' gave birth to you, my friend'.

[quote author=A.Chigozie link=topic=636061.msg8174264#msg8174264 date=1303347299]I do have plenty to say about the people who committed those horrendous acts of cruelty, during and after enslavement.  For the most part AAs were very forgiving people, after the Civil War, they just wanted to find their families and create a fulfilling life.  But the evil white supremacists and the cowardly white people who didn't stand up to the evil whites, but gladly benefited from the continue social and economic oppression and exploitation of AAs. 

The trans-atlantic enslavement trade went on for more than 200 years, it went on for 4 centuries, that is 400 years.  The enslavement of human beings should not have been "lessen", it should have never happen in the first place!  What kind of people sell other human beings to strangers?  What kind of people think selling another human being is even o.k.?  When I was in college, I took a African History course, and the texts and the professor argue that enslavement in Africa, wasn't like the chattel enslavement Africans and their descendants experienced in the Americas.  He said enslavement in Africa was more akin to servant or apprentice.  I questioned how accurate that portrayal is.  Anyway, in case you haven't I strongly encourage you to read Walter Rodney's "How Europe Underdeveloped Africa", you will see how Africa being complicit in the enslavement of fellow Africans, sowed the seeds of its continued woes. 

Being that the enslavement trade went on for 4 centuries, I'm inclined to think that must have created an atmosphere where people lived in constant fear of being kidnapped or having their love ones kidnapped, if possible could you please recommend any books on that subject? Thank-You.[/quote]I didn't say the slave trade should have been "lessen", I said it would have been lessened with unification. The slave trade became significant in the Bight of Biafra in a period that lasted around 200 years (something like around 1750—1850) which is more like 100 years. Africans know that the dealings with Europe has made Africa the poorest continent, but it cannot be because it is cursed because the children of who actually did the torturing aren't feeling anything. You need to read Olaudah Equiano's narrative to understand the slave trade in Igboland better.

This is the linguistic map of Nigeria:

[center]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e2/Nigeria_Benin_Cameroon_languages.png/650px-Nigeria_Benin_Cameroon_languages.png[/center]

(Did someone just quote becomrich )

[quote author=A.Chigozie link=topic=636061.msg8173366#msg8173366 date=1303319233]My comment to that is that Africans didn't sell their "own" people, I may be wrong and please correct me if I am, but it is my understanding that only in rare cases, did Africans "sell their own", meaning they sold people outside of their communities and families.  So an Aro-Igbo wouldn't have any qualms about selling Igbos from different areas.  But they wouldn't necessarily sell Aro-Igbos, Is that assumption correct?[/quote]The assumption is correct as it is for most other parts of Africa as well, and it also extended to who were made human sacrifices. I hear some people (white or black) actually believe that an African, for example, saw a mirror and decided to sell their daughter for it. The only instance I know where Igbo people sold their own, or the people they saw as their own were in civil wars (e.g in villages) and when there was an abominable crime as mentioned before, but even then the motives of the war would never be for profit for slavery and the civil wars lead to people being executed because whatever led to an actual civil war actually happening would have been very serious. Again, people have to remember that those who were sold had families left behind and the trade wouldn't have lasted 200 years, well Africans wouldn't have lasted 200 years if they were so open to selling their family members in such a profitable thing. Even in Things Fall Apart, you could see how the villages were about to go to war because of the murder of one of the villages women and the offended were open to sacrificing the other villages members, I wish there had been some sort of unification among the people that would have lessened the impact of slavery.

[quote author=A.Chigozie link=topic=636061.msg8173366#msg8173366 date=1303319233]
I appreciate you being more clear in your word usage.  The white supremacist society of the US, has always tried to classified AAs as criminals or anything not worthy of respect.  They would have us believe that Africans were and are savages and that they (white people) did our ancestors a favor by enslaving them. [/quote]And as you can see, even your ancestor was still holding onto his Igbo identity, which means he saw nothing in the new world that was supposed to have 'saved' him.

By the way, how can you say Africa is cursed, but say nothing about the people who were actually abusing the slaves?

odumchi:
People say that Igbo can't be spoken without a little English but is it true? No.
Here are a few ways to eliminate English. We can try elimination words like:

But with Kama
And with Yana
Because with Makka.

Example of Igbo with English "But nsiyaa e metuukwa inhohu aka because it will fall"
Example of Igbo without English "Kama nsiyaa e metuukwa inhohu aka maka o'ma ada"

It doesn't matter, there are many leading languages that cannot be spoken with out the help of another language, example? English. (Check the origin of the underlined words)

Saw the future or saw the obvious that had already been proven since the 60s?

Aboh people were said to be as aggressive as the Aro, and they even held Hausa slaves, but they are less popular, maybe because their kingdom didn't last to the very end of the time Africans were free, like Aro did and of course because of Ibin Ukpabi.

ChinenyeN:
Wait, what do you mean by the bolded, if you don't mind me asking?

Everybody rushing for states and finding out where their influence reaches.

What I would say is that I would change 'criminals' to 'war captives', I mixed up criminals with war criminals. So anyone captured in wars were sold as slaves (this was different to raiding because those were captured on the battle field along with some families). These were the majority of the slaves shipped out to the Americas, enriching other people lands.

ZnO:
What is OPC fretting about? I thought Swners are safe in the North? Why do SWners speak from both sides of their mouths, always?

It's a lie, Igbo people are asking them for help, remember?

This dotti Nigeria.

The Aro weren't the only ones dealing with slaves, and as you can see from [url=http://www.google.com/search?q=igbo+slaves+criminals&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a#sclient=psy&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US%3Aofficial&tbm=bks&source=hp&q=%22Equiano%27s+father+owned+slaves+himself+and+was+involved+in+the+enslavement+of+criminals.%22&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&pbx=1&fp=b91140e7cc47e4f6]here[/url], even Olaudah Equiano's father enslaved criminals all the way on the other side of the Niger. The communities that paid tribute to Aro didn't give them their brothers and sisters because that would not have lasted the 200 years or so it did, it's obvious they were given them criminals and other war captives. Other major slave trading towns were around Nkwerre, around what is now Enugu, in Aboh, and around Onicha.

PhysicsMHD:
I have to ask though, what are you going to do about the fact that the people of Bonny are widely regarded and described as a sub-group of the Ijaw rather than acknowledged as a mix? Or are you fine with that? (from this thread, it's clear that some other people aren't)

The Bonny people are seen as an Ijaw group that have Igbo influence, especially when the language of the island is Igbo, and 'Bonny' is even the name of an Igbo dialect. What people were trying to do here is uncover who is the diala (son of the soil, aborigine) of Bonny, as in who founded it (maybe because of the unstable time).

THE AMAKA:
uhm. . . sorry for the interruption. . . but does it really take 63 pages for this topic alone? 
I guess Igbos really are confused. haha

The Amaka feels left out.

[quote author=A.Chigozie link=topic=636061.msg8165350#msg8165350 date=1303234457]This is a horrible lie that too many Africans have "convinced" themselves of, I understand why people would embrace such lies, it helps one justified the treachery committed by one's ancestors. I don't have any animosity towards the current generation of Africans, I only have animosity towards the people that participated in the raids and kidnappings of my ancestors. I curse those individuals who did such acts, for they through their wickedness and greed bought the wrath of God onto to their descendants. This is why the continent has suffered wars, famine, poverty, corruption, colonialism, etc. for centuries. Not until ALL current day Africans, STOP promoting such LIES that the people who were sold into enslavement were criminals or thought to be criminals will the curse be lifted.

The enslavers purchased children as young as five years old, how could those babies possibly be criminals? The enslavers bought men and women in their prime, they did not purchased the elderly of infants (unless the enslaved women were already pregnant), you mean to tell me the millions of Africans were all criminals? Please stop with the distortions of history, you only continue the curse.[/quote]That's why I say 'most' and 'seen'. The children weren't sold by a community like the majority were, they were captured by individuals like in the famous case of Olaudah Equiano (even his father apparently enslaved criminals and owned slaves), but the majority of those that were made slaves came through communities that sold them because they were war or general criminals. Whether these people are seen as criminals now or not is a different thing because a crime could be as little as killing a sacred animal then. The Igbo area did not have as much raids as those around them and the slave trade picked up when the Aro confederacy rose up. Among the Aro they had the Ibin Ukpabi shrine where many Igbo people went to settle court cases, the loser was to be killed, but the priests of the shrine began to sell them into slavery instead. The priests were said to later falsify some of the judgements because of the profit from the slave trade, or they'd capture all the people who came and sell them whole. On the other side, the Aro were a dominating force, you can compare them to the Old Vikings, and they demanded tributes from neighbouring communities, the communities then gave them people who committed abominations and war criminals officially, other individuals kidnapped people in secret. The whole thing is a mess, but you have to understand that it is not sensible to be bitter at old generations of Africans because they lost family members as well and some of them were slaves who never left Africa.

That was a good post. I now have a better understanding. Thanks.

bokohalal:
@Ezeagu, @ChinenyeN, @EzeUche, please help me out here.An Igbo colleague of mine told me that over 90% of Igbo slaves in the new world were Osus.Is this true?

Osu's are servants of a god, they can't be sold because they are dedicated to that god. Some communities are even scared to be in the same living space with them. Most Igbo slaves were people who were seen as criminals.

Yoruba, if you want to go, why don't you go NOW?

Ystranger:
Just continue to invest in the SW OK. When we are ready, we will 'Odualize' them all, and depending on your attitude post-odualization of your investments, we may compensate you for hard work, nothing more than  £20 for each Diamond bank-like structure though

I just hope you realise how armed the people you want to "Odualize" are, anyway it's just for mouth.

Ystranger:
Thats what they are good for. That is, when they are not busy kidnapping or doing 419 or using their wives for money charm. They are good at taking instructions from their more wealthy neighbor, the Great Yoruba Race of SWestern Nigeria

Great race, just leave your land open, that's all.

cap28:
^^^^
you think its funny - dont worry very soon you will start feeling the pinch when jonathan starts implementing austerity measures under instructions from his bosses in washington and london, just wait - these are all the things you should be looking forward to.

So London and Washington put Jonathan into power, okay, who was the real winner then?

htajz:
well just take away the yoruba,hausa and fulani and ngeria will be just fine, i would have included the igbos another troublesome group  but we will need them  to champion economic growth of the new nation besides i think we just developed a new love for them.

Oo oh, so you want the Igbo to work for you as slave. Go and create your own country, take dem way!

cap28:
well libya for a start, thats why they are currently under attack.

zimbabwe also managed to free itself from neo colonial control - the rest of africa is run by neo colonial agents and that includes nigeria.

Make Nigeria like Zimbabwe and Libya now, go and find a good dictator.

Tell me something in Africa that isn't neocolonial.

[quote author=tpiah! link=topic=649507.msg8160038#msg8160038 date=1303177987]you're not really presenting yourself in a good light here.

nuff said.[/quote]Sorry oh. I'll mourn for Africa's tyrants later.

MzDarkSkin:





[color=#0066ff]I am of African American and Jamaican descent. Both sides have a significant amount of Igbo roots however we cannot forget about Senegal, Ghana, the Kongo, Benin, Togo, Ivory Coast, Cameroon and Angola who have all contributed to the slave trade.  I have all of the above in my blood  or heritage.

You are right that Nigeria contributed the most however the reason we reach out to and invest in/move to Ghana is because they are the most inviting. Ghana, apart from the 'first world countries' and Panama/Costa Rica, has the highest number of Jamaican nationals/descendants who have settled abroad living outside of Jamaica there, Rita Marley being one of them. Even in Jamaica where we are CLEARLY a mix of Igbo (a little Yoruba), Ashanti and various Congolese tribes each contributing to the culture (Igbo and Akan/Ashanti being the two biggest influences) we still have more of a sense of connection with our Ghanaian roots. The way we are taught is like Nigeria was much more ruthless and cold in regards to sending us away so there is a lot of resentment as far as Nigeria goes despite the fact that most of our heritage began with a walk from the N. Delta to Badagry. There doesn't seem to be an interest in us when it comes to Nigerians which is why we avoid Nigeria on a larger scale. [/color]

Where did they get this from? Nigeria, well, eastern Nigeria doesn't even have any slave castles.

The reason why many Jamaicans feel more connected to the Ghanians is not necessarily because of culture, or Nigerian evilness, but because of the living culture of the Maroons which they can still see and hear today, unlike Igbo culture which is hidden inside overall Jamaican culture. The other reason for the connection is because most Jamaicans think that they are mostly from Ghana because of 1. the popularity of the Maroons 2. because of the exaggeration of Ghanaians in European books and 3. because of Jamaican ignorance to the rest of the continent of Africa. An average Jamaican does not know that unu is a Igbo word, or obeah is Igbo spirituality or that akara is a Nigerian snack. Jamaicans even shout 'awoh', which just shows how ridiculous it is to feel more connected to Ghana, I mean, many Jamaicans look exactly like eastern Nigerians.

I'm not even understanding you people, who was the actual first person who was said to have founded Bonny, is it not Alagbrie, or whatever the spelling is, where was he from, or, where does his name come from and what does it mean?