₦airaland Forum

Going through mruknaijaboy's posts, it seems pretty clear that he's not shymmex. I don't think this is a london2lasgidi situation. They're not even the same ethnicity and they write quite differently when not doing the UK Jamaican slang stuff.

SmoothCrim: How about working on becoming a powerful state!!

I would not hesitate in joining Ivory Coast to Ghana. Go follow Sudan to see how they are suffering over there.

Well basically all of the languages and cultures that are found in Ivory Coast are also found in Ghana. So what difference would it make? It would be like a significantly larger version of Ghana.

In Nigeria, you have groups competing against each other politically on a regional/sectional basis just as much as they're working together. The number of groups forming and breaking alliances in order to share in the "spoils" of political victory/ruling the country from the center makes this too complex in my opinion and leads to political instability.

If the North finds oil, I don't think they would suffer. I think that by splitting they would have less people to feed with that oil revenue. They could focus it on their development alone.

^^

That pic in your signature is funny. What's it from?

I have a comment that's kind of tangentially related.

I recently found out about a man named Candido da Fonseca Galvao, a grandson of an Alaafin of Oyo, who was a prominent figure in Brazil in the 19th century. His story was interesting to me. This link gives some info on him: http://books.google.com/books?id=owVmcTlC-oIC&pg=PA76

I don't hate Nigeria at all.

It's just that I think that all sections of the country have been held back somewhat by the current system.

I just think the benefits probably outweigh the losses.

^^^^
I wouldn't propose Hausa as a national language.

I'd split the country. Nothing against the Hausa speakers, just that I think that a simpler/less complex country can progress a bit faster.

bright007: I just went back to see d pics.

The word "n'ome" as used here is used to denote the pronoun "who"
If u brake this word into its parts,it should be "nor+me".
When translated to english means "who plaits".

Thanks. Now that I know what "me" means there, that's much clearer.

bright007: "Ome eto"is still d same as "ometo" but broken into its component parts.But when pronounced,they are pronounced in d same way.the difference lies in writing and pronouncing.

Right. Thanks for telling me what plait is. Well I thought the "e" in "me" would be eliminated (after you told me what it was) when put with eto to form "meto." I wanted to know why it was retained in this instance after you told me about the word.

bright007: well my emphasis is not centred on whether å school was bulit or not but that some benin sons ŵėřē taught to read $ write.Now if they ŵėřē taught to read and write,on what platform?
Building å school doesn't have to be all about d physical structure.
Even if it was under å tree near d palace or something
Of dat sort,the most important thing is that there was å medium of passing knowledge to d learners.

I never objected to any claims about who was taught to read and write Portuguese.

But understand that if one were to claim that an actual school - not a religious institution like a church - was established there but was not maintained or was abandoned, some people would need to see proof to support such a claim.

bright007: According to u,they are assumptions $ conjectures.Well,I must respect ur opinion because they are irrelevant as far as history is concerned.
One thing remains,d truth must be told.

Why is it so important to you to believe that a whole school was built, and not only that, built right in the palace even with no evidence? Why are you clinging onto that belief?

~Royal~:
Are Nigerians(sw&b) Known to Have the Widest Noses in Africa?...


The reason why i asked is because, when you look at the ancient art ....

The Sw nigerian art/benin has the most exaggerated noses and most wide nostrils of all the different African countries and their ancient art work

The wide nose thing is only in Benin art. Rest of Nigerian art doesn't seem to have it (outside of wooden sculptures).

bright007: You are wrong!
The word for plait "me" with vowel "e" pronounced as in 'hey'.Though this is å combined pronunciation because it is actually "moi + eto" (eto means hair).So wen in usage,d "e" pronounced as in "hey" usually is pronounced with d "oi" sound in "moi" becoming silent.
If u say 'ome',it means 'she/he plait'
The 'o' pronounced as in "or" is used as å pronoun in edo language.

Dude, I know what 'o' is and 'eto' and every other word there except for the word for plait which you just told me. But when looking at "n'ome", if if you translate that literally alone it reads like ome might be a single word in itself. Shouldn't it read "ometo" instead of "ome eto" from what you just said? Why "ome eto" instead of "ometo" in that instance?

My interest in and my annoyance with your comments has nothing to do with who was or was not the first to become Christian in Nigeria or who was the first to learn Portuguese. My problem is the false claims and assumptions in your earlier posts. Just don't present unsupported conjectures as if they were necessarily factual or supported by Benin tradition or by written documents and we'll have no problems.

bokohalal: The Ugbor priest with four hair plaits.

Doesn't eto just mean "hair"?

What's the exact word for a single plait/braid in Edo?

Is "ome" the word for plait? If not, can you tell me what it means. Thanks.

"Relations at Benin followed a similar pattern, though Europeans there were even more subordinate since the powerful kingdom did not permit them to erect any outposts on its territory. For their part, Europeans were impressed with Benin not just because of the commercial possibilities of the kingdom's pepper (Piper guineense), its cotton textiles, and its ivory, but also because of its striking capital city, its large palace complex, and its artisans' great skill. Many sixteenth- and seventeenth-century visitors commented extensively on Benin's capital city, which was surrounded by a massive earthen wall five or six miles in circumference and pierced at intervals by large gates fashioned from the trunk of a single tree. From the gates, broad streets ran in straight lines across the city, intersecting at right angles. Dutch accounts deemed the thirty main streets to be as wide as the great avenues of Amsterdam, Within the city, houses of ordinary citizens had earthen walls and thatched roofs, which European observers considered airy and very pleasant. Their walls and floors were polished "as smooth and as even as any plastered wall in Holland and as shining as a looking-glass." 13
The city's notables lived within the palace complex, which was a veritable city in itself, said by the Dutch to be easily as big as the town of Haarlem. A German account of 1603 estimated the palace precincts were as large as the entire city of Tübingen and compared the size and ceremony of the oba's annual public procession on horseback through the city to a papal appearance in Rome in a jubilee year. The palace complex was enclosed by a second set of earthen walls. Between the many structures inside ran "beautiful long galleries about as big as the Exchange at Amsterdam." The pillars of the galleries were covered with bronze castings of scenes from the kingdom's history. A Spanish account judged the representations of men, animals, and birds on the brass plaques to be as finely worked as if they had been made with an engraving tool by a Spanish silversmith. Today, examples of these plaques, removed during the British expedition of 1897, are prized collections of the Metropolitan Museum, the British Museum, and other collections. 14
In addition to their praise of Benin's city planning, architecture, and bronze casting, European visitors commented favorably on the quality of Benin's cotton textiles (blue or blue with white stripes), stone beads, woven baskets and mats, as well as pottery. A late sixteenth-century English account lauded the skill of Benin's ivory carvers, who made spoons adorned with depictions of fowl and wild animals. In addition, the kingdom's armorers made swords, spears, arrowheads, shields, and bows. Some Europeans brought examples of these objects back home as curiosities, along with souvenirs of Benin's musical instruments (horns, drums, and flutes). Nor were the skills of Benin's farmers confined to the cotton they grew for the local textile industry and the peppercorns they grew for export. Benin's farmers also raised yams, oranges, plantains, and bananas (which, an English account explained, resembled cucumbers), along with hot peppers, palm oil, and palm wine. 15" - David Northrup, "The Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic World", from The Atlantic World and Virginia, 1550-1624 (edited by Peter C. Mancall), pp. 177-178

Footnotes:

13. Newly translated from the Dutch account of Olfert Dapper (1668) in Thomas Hodgkin, ed., Nigerian Perspectives: An Historical Anthology, 2d ed. (Oxford, 1975), 159-61
14. Andreas Joshua Ultzheimer, translated in Basil Davidson, African Civilization Revisited: From Antiquity to Modern Times (Trenton, N.J., 1991), 235-236; Alonso de Sandoval De instauranda Aethiopum salute: El mundo de la esclavitud de negra en America (Bogota, 1956), 78-79, a reissue of Sandoval's 1627 work.
15. James Welch, "A Voyage to Benin beyond the Countrey of Guinea . . .in the Yeere 1588," in Richard Hakluyt, ed., The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques, and Discoveries of the English Nation . . ., 8 vols. (London, 1927), IV, 295-297; D.R., "A Description and Historical Declaration of the Golden Kingdom of Guinea . . .," in Samuel Purchas, comp., Purchas His Pilgrimage . . . , 4th ed. (London, 1626), 716.

kengis: We should have african languages as official but then again we would have to use "latin" letters (alphabet)

The Latin alphabet is just a corrupt version of the Phoenician alphabet, which itself was from the Proto-Sinaitic/Proto-Canaanite script, which is itself a corruption of Egyptian hieroglyphics. I don't see what the big deal would be about having to use Latin letters really.

Maybe some people would try and use Nsibidi characters though. I wonder how that would work out.

https://img825.imageshack.us/img825/4212/beninwarriorwarchiefork.jpg

Benin warrior, war chief, or king. Held in a museum in Germany right now.

https://imgc.allpostersimages.com/images/P-473-488-90/14/1421/KE3R000Z/posters/a-benin-bronze-plaque-with-two-relief-figures-circa-1600.jpg

A Benin Bronze Plaque with Two Relief Figures, circa 1600

(I might have already posted this, not sure)

https://img607.imageshack.us/img607/5608/benintestacommemorativa.jpg


Not quite sure what that is on top of the head. Any suggestions/ideas are welcome.

https://img96.imageshack.us/img96/4061/portugueseriflemanedope.jpg

Portuguese rifleman, Edo peoples, Benin kingdom, Nigeria, 16th century copper alloy


Note that in the Benin bronzes, almost all figures are barefoot (including some, but not all of the European figures), regardless of whether they would actually have been barefoot.

On soldiers:

"Invariably, or almost so, the West African soldier went barefoot, which increased his power of silent movement - as was subsequently noted in colonial wars" [Smith also cites a source that makes note of this] - Robert S. Smith, Warfare and Diplomacy in Pre-Colonial West Africa, p. 58

This makes it hard to know who was barefoot and who wasn't but it seems to be an always adhered to artistic choice or convention. I would assume that most were barefoot though (although the Oba was supposed to have had coral beaded shoes to go with the rest of his coral attire).

https://img15.imageshack.us/img15/9817/geschnitzterelefantenst.jpg

A close up of part of the tusk:

https://img502.imageshack.us/img502/9817/geschnitzterelefantenst.jpg

https://img820.imageshack.us/img820/9756/beninplaccaconduecaccia.jpg

Brass plaque showing the king's leopard hunters.

https://img818.imageshack.us/img818/863/beninacquamanileaformad.jpg

Water holder in the shape of a leopard.

Blyss: The fact of the matter is this, many African cultures are not only ghetto or Shanty if you prefer, but they are are also corrupt, and it is for this reason that the nation in which were produced and are run by these cultures/people DON'T WORK. That's simple fact.

Dude, Italy is corrupt as hell and has been for a long time (since the Borgias and the de Medicis up to the present), but they're "ballin" and their recent troubles are some of the only really great troubles they've had since becoming a nation. Chinese corruption is also very significant and widespread and yet they're working and soon to be "ballin" and really rich(er) as a nation. I'm not going to debate on the so called "ghettoness" of killing gays and deliberately drowning babies that (non-African) Westerners can't seem to stop doing vs. the so called "ghettoness" of certain African cultures. It's pointless because we're both biased.