BRIEF HISTORY.

The OBOLO (Andoni ) people are a distinct tribe Living in the Niger Delta region of Rivers (Andoni L.G.A) & Akwa Ibom State (Eastern Obolo & Ibeno L.G.As)

Prior to the British Colonial Era the Obolo's were among the first to come in contact with the Europeans and traded mainly with the Portuguese.

They Worshipped a national diety (god) called Yok-Obolo , Who is the founder /Spiritual head of the Obolo people elevated to a god upon death.

Christianity was already Accepted in Obolo land long before 1699 ( As recorded when John Barbot visited Dony Town (Andoni) in 1699, he observed that the King of Dony Town accepted Christianity and Priests were regularly sent in from Sao Tome and Brazil, to minister to him, The king of Dony town also spoke Portuguese )

Despite Christainity The Yok-Obolo was still feared among neighbouring tribes (Bonny, Opobo, Ibibio/Efiks, Ogonis e.t.c ) Which made them to spread terrifying news about the Obolo people to the British Colonial masters.

In 1869 King Jaja had to enter an oath of Allegiance with the Yok-Obolo before he was allowed to establish his new town opobo (1970) in the Andoni territory .This was against the wish of Bishop Ajayi Crowther who lamented that King Jaja was entering the “Heart of Darkness” when he came to Obolo (Andoni) is 1869 for a treaty with the Obolos

When the ugly stories against the Obolo (Andoni) were so much the British Colonial Authorities decided to send a Punitive Expedition against them in 1904, Which was led by Captain A.A Whitehouse with the sole aim of destroying Obolo ( Andoni) as a political entity and reducing there influence among neighbouring tribes in the Niger Delta.

On arrival A.A Whitehouse and his military team went straight to Alabie Town (Agwut-Obolo), burnt and destroyed the high altar of deity of the Obolo Monarchy, (Yok-obolo) and the site of the House of Skulls with over 2,000 skulls of Obolo (Andoni) Enemies killed in wars.

The British destroyed the House of Skulls and the Shrine of Yok-Obolo in 1904, and split Andoni into six parts, each attached to one of the six Native Courts in the Niger Delta with the aim of destroying Obolo Politically.

Some of the Bronze Arts & Crafts Collected by the British from Andoni (Obolo) during this Expedition are currently on display in the British Museum.

Bronze image of Obolo

Bronze image of Obolo King

British Museum number Af1905,0413.69
Description stool; carved of wood; stool with round wooden base, central pillar made of bark, round wooden top; twenty goat skulls tied around outside of pillar with braided vegetable fibfre; painted with mud

British Museum number Af1905,0413.63
Description Obolo bell (cast) made of bronze.

British Museum number Af1905,0413.2
Description
Obolo Andoni artefact (armlet-like, spiral, with flared ends) made of copper, pigment.

Museum number Af1905,0413.58-59
Description
Sword made of bronze, wire (copper), pigment.

Museum number Af1905,0413.61
Description Cast bronze sculpture of a leopard skull.

Museum number
Af1905,0413.62

Description
Leopard skull made of bronze.

' Museum number Af1905,0413.19 Description
Manilla currency. Roughly horse-shoe shaped, made of open circle of bronze with slightly wide ends at opening.

Photographic Image of some religious objects removed from Yok-Obolo Shrine in Andoni 1904

Manillas (Local Currency)

Museum number Af1905,0413.50
Description
Religious staff (with two skulls and two manillas attached) , made of skull (leopard), rattan, wood, bronze.

Traditional boats used in Obolo (Andoni) 1880

Not to derail your thread, OboloMan, but I've always found it interesting how Obolo could have such a collection of bronze and brass works, without any casting traditions. The Lower Niger Bronze/Brass industry must have been a very lucrative one.

One question, if you don't mind my asking: Was there a cast image for/of Yok-Obolo?

To my non-expert eyes, the face of the 'Bronze Image of an Obolo King' looks very much like how they would make it in precolonial Benin.

I wonder if there was a connection between both schools of bronze/brass art - the Bini School and the Lower Niger School.

ChinenyeN:
Not to derail your thread, OboloMan, but I've always found it interesting how Obolo could have such a collection of bronze and brass works, without any casting traditions. The Lower Niger Bronze/Brass industry must have been a very lucrative one.

One question, if you don't mind my asking: Was there a cast image for/of Yok-Obolo?

Oral tradition portrays the Art of casting as Sacred which was reserved for a selected few.

Bronze Artifacts, manila s and other cast works was a requirement from the god (Yok-Obolo) during burial rituals and other traditional rites in obolo.

It is on record that around the 17th century , the town of Obolo was a principle suppliers of copper alloy cast bracelets, manilas and other bronze works in the Niger delta region.

There's a saying among the ibibio's of akwa ibom that "If you want to get rich quickly go to Obolo (Andoni) burial grounds. This is likely due to the large amount of Manilas and bronze Artifacts present there.

Here's a cast image collected from the shrine.

Radoillo:
To my non-expert eyes, the face of the 'Bronze Image of an Obolo King' looks very much like how they would make it in precolonial Benin.

I wonder if there was a connection between both schools of bronze/brass art - the Bini School and the Lower Niger School.

Most likely there's a connection between the two schools (Benin bronzes and lower niger bronzes)

My take Benin empire was a large one and most likely many other Lower niger tribes may have interacted with them and learnt the art of casting.

LEOPARD SKULL BRONZE

OboloMan, I appreciate the response. There is still a disconnect in all of this. Though we cannot reject outright the possibility of Obolo producing bronze/brass objects, we can't deny that there is a paradox at work here. Much of the Lower Niger region lacks the ore deposits necessary for even modest metalworking. We can also add to that the fact that Lower Niger communities more often than not seem to have no active (or late) metalworking traditions. It's a strange paradox that communities with apparently no observable metalworking traditions would trade so heavily in bronze and brass works. Even Ejituwu didn't shy away from noting this paradox in his book on Obolo.

But when you posted the bronze image of the Obolo King, it made me want to ask if an image exists for Yok-Obolo. I figured if one existed, then as a consequence, there would be Obolo traditions which would attest to how the image came to be (who was commissioned to make it, where it was made, or how it was imported, etc.). I was hoping that would somehow shed some amount of light on the issue.

Radoillo:
To my non-expert eyes, the face of the 'Bronze Image of an Obolo King' looks very much like how they would make it in precolonial Benin.
I wonder if there was a connection between both schools of bronze/brass art - the Bini School and the Lower Niger School.

Apparently, the consensus among anthropologists is that only a small fraction of Lower Niger bronze/brass works can be attributed to or bear any stylistic resemblance to those of precolonial Benin. So, a connection between the two schools would hardly be representative of the whole.

Thanks, OboloMan, ChinenyeN.

I have another question. Or number of questions. I haven't read much about the Lower Niger Bronze Industry. I want to know, do we have a date for the beginning of bronze working in Obolo and the rest of the Lower Niger Area?

Does it predate the late 15th century? If it doesn't, isn't it plausible then that the copper and brass that went into the artifacts came from European traders who visited the region from the end of the 15th century (effectively answering the question about the sources of the metals)?

Also, since it appears that the Obolo and some other groups in the Niger Delta with a similar bronze works heritage have no traditions of working metals and metal alloys, and since the Abiriba smiths and the Nkwerre smiths, and (to a lesser extent) the Awka smiths have traditions of having been active in the eastern fringe of the Eastern Niger Delta (where Obolo lies) as far east as the Cross River Valley, could it be that these smiths from the hinterland were commissioned to execute the works?

Some sources want to group the Igbo ethnographic region as part of the Lower Niger. If we entertain the grouping, then that effectively places the date for bronze working in the area as early as the ninth or tenth century, thanks to the Igbo-Ukwu findings. So, it was a well-developed practice long before the Portuguese arrived. That's if we accept that the Igbo ethnographic region is part of the Lower Niger. If not, then based on the little I've managed to piece together with Google Books, the dating for the industry is effectively between the 15th and 19th centuries.

I didn't manage to get anything about where the alloy supposedly came from though. That'll probably require digging deeper.

As for which communities to credit with the bronze works, we certainly can't really rule anything out, since (according to sources) the Lower Niger bronzes show so much diversity. That's part of the reason why the academia has yet to localize them. So, definitely, it's possible that hinterland smiths had some role in producing and/or disseminating bronze works in the area. After all, even the coastal communities within the Lower Niger region have traditions which specifically recognize some of these hinterland smith groups. The Ohafia and Obolo, for example, mention each other in their traditions.

those are beautiful works of art right there

I want to know, are Obolo ethnically(includes History nd Language) Ijo or just politically?

macof:
I want to know, are Obolo ethnically(includes History nd Language) Ijo or just politically?

Obolo is only politically Ijaw today.

The language is Ibibiod with little Igbo and Ijaw words.

ChinenyeN:
Some sources want to group the Igbo ethnographic region as part of the Lower Niger. If we entertain the grouping, then that effectively places the date for bronze working in the area as early as the ninth or tenth century, thanks to the Igbo-Ukwu findings. So, it was a well-developed practice long before the Portuguese arrived. That's if we accept that the Igbo ethnographic region is part of the Lower Niger. If not, then based on the little I've managed to piece together with Google Books, the dating for the industry is effectively between the 15th and 19th centuries.

I didn't manage to get anything about where the alloy supposedly came from though. That'll probably require digging deeper.

As for which communities to credit with the bronze works, we certainly can't really rule anything out, since (according to sources) the Lower Niger bronzes show so much diversity. That's part of the reason why the academia has yet to localize them. So, definitely, it's possible that hinterland smiths had some role in producing and/or disseminating bronze works in the area. After all, even the coastal communities within the Lower Niger region have traditions which specifically recognize some of these hinterland smith groups. The Ohafia and Obolo, for example, mention each other in their traditions.

The source of the lower Niger bronzes still remains a mystery.
Most of those bronzes were attributed to deities thus there sources concealed from the general public.
You'll hear oral tradition like the bronze work came from the gods, came out of water e.t.c

Although I won't rule out the possibilities of most of the bronzes coming from neighbouring igbo blacksmiths
(Abriba , Nkwerre , Awka )

The manillas actually came from the Portuguese .

Ohafia and Aro's found in present day igbo land actually originated from Obolo (Andoni)

You may find this link also useful for the sources of lower niger bronzes

www.naulibrary.org/dglibrary/admin/book_directory/fine_Applied_Arts/9789.pdf

pazienza:


Obolo is only politically Ijaw today.

The language is Ibibiod with little Igbo and Ijaw words.

Obolo is a distinct Ethnic group under Ijaw Nation.

Ijo is a language while ," IJAW" is a Nation made up of various ethnic nationalities which OBOLO (Andoni) is one of them.

We all share similar history and cultural values.

Obolo is not and was never Ibibio.

macof:
I want to know, are Obolo ethnically(includes History nd Language) Ijo or just politically?

OboloMAN:



Obolo is a distinct Ethnic group under Ijaw Nation.

Ijo is a language while ," IJAW" is a Nation made up of various ethnic nationalities which OBOLO (Andoni) is one of them.

We all share similar history and cultural values.

Obolo is not and was never Ibibio.

The Obolo language is "Ibibiod" with little Igbo and few Ijaw words. That's the truth.

pazienza:


The Obolo language is "Ibibiod" with little Igbo and few Ijaw words. That's the truth.

Obolo is distinct from Ibibio , the little traces of igbo & ibibio found in obolo language came in through Igbo & Ibibio slaves who were allowed to settle in obolo after slave trade was abolished.

The core central obolo spoken within Ngo axis of Andoni L.G.A rivers state is well defined. You find majority of ibibio influence in the one spoken in Ibeno axis of akwa ibom.

Obolo , ibibio , efik are never the same thing

The Igbo's and Efiks were traditional farmers.

While the Obolo's and other ijaw ethnic groups were sea faring Fishermen. That's the major reason the Ijaws occupy the entire coastline of the niger delta.

It seems the igbo superstitious smear campaign against Ijawland as spear-headed by Pazienza has been bursted again? it seems in their twisted mentality, we ijaws are the only ethnic group with "political affiliates" in the entire planet earth!