THE NIGER DELTA CITY STATES

The city states of the Niger Delta, were inhabited by hardworking and enterprising people. These people included the Opobo, the Kalabari, the Itsekiri, the Ijaw and the Ibeno. The Ibos had also infiltrated the area.

The delta people came into contact with Europeans from the late 15th and early 16th Century. They participated in the slave trade activity and derived a lot health from it.

The wealth brought about the emergency of states, which were especially urban in nature. The states were independent political units.

The states consisted of a heterogeneous population ie people different ethnic groups. Each consisted of a busy commercial centre, inhabited by very wealthy, self-made citizens,

The leaders were not hereditary and not necessarily of noble birth. Any body successful in business could become a leader and some slaves worked their way to the top and became kings of city-states.

By 1800, the Niger Delta was dominated by five city states - the Itsekiri kingdom of the West, the kingdoms of Brass, Etom, Kalabari and Grand Bonny to the East, then the state of Calabar at the mouths of the cross and Calabar rivers.

Each city consisted of three parts namely the capital, situated in the Mangrove swamps; the colonies of neighbouring satellite, villages along the Greeks and waterways to the interior and tiding empire in the palm oil belt of the interior.

In the trading empire, citizens of the city-states enjoyed a monopoly trade, and hundreds of them lived there during the buying seasons.

The city-states on the other hand, gave credit to the people of the trading empire, and there was intermarriage between them.

The most outstanding city-states were: Grand Bonny, which was located in an advantageous position from trade because:

It was located nearer to the palm belt than any other Delta state except Calabar.

It had a good river transport system, which passed through the densely populated Igbo area.

It was able to acquire wealth through trade because it had developed a partnership with , the Aro, who had created a trading system over much of the territory of the Igbo and Ibibio. As a result, it was the largest Delta exporter of slaves in 1800 and palm oil by 1850.

Elem Karabari was the second city of the Niger Delta. Its trading empire was along the Sombrelio River.

The kingdom of Brass had its capital at Nembe with a port at Twon, and had a trading partnership with the-Igbo kingdom of Aboh. The Itsekiri kingdom, had its capital at Warri and ports on Benin river

Political Organisation of The City States.

The house' system formed the basis of the social - political organisation of the city' states.

Formerly, the system was based on lineage. In order to organise their trade more effectively, the House system developed.

The House was a large business corporation consisting of both free men and slaves.

Each House had a head, which once elected became an absolute ruler with the power which once elected became an absolute ruler with the power of life and death over the members of the House. He also looked after their property and finances.

Under the head, were ranked sub - chiefs, freemen and slaves.

There was opportunity for the ambitious and enterprising member to advance to the very top.

The heads of the various "House" in each city together formed a kind of city council under the direction of a king, usually the most successful and influential head of a house.

Rivalry and competition between houses was common.

The weak sometimes became bankrupt and were absorbed by the strong ones.

Sometimes the rivalry resulted into civil wars.

A house was judged by the size and quality of its fleet of trade and war canoe.

Each house had at least on war canoe mounted with cannon (guns) manned by about 50 peddlers and with-80 -140 soldiers.

The war fleet was an important asset, because for many years, the waterways because loss of the waterways could not cut off the capital from its empire and bring immediate failure.

The war fleet brought in slaves and took trade goods into the hinterland.

Wealthy houses used some of their slaves as private armies.

After the abolition of slave trade the houses quickly adjusted themselves to the situation and developed substitutes, cultivating large palm oil plantations with stave labour. Even the forests of the Delta and Ibo hinterland were exploited for timber.

The houses used to break apart from time to time. This could come about either, because of mismanagement, poor leadership, political quarrels, and financial problems

Successful houses often became heads of house - groups. Either through alliances or by paying off the debts of weaker house and thus getting control over them.

Some houses purchased slaves to increase the population of the house. Slaves were important in case of war or to act as trading agents.

Sometimes slaves outnumbered the free born population for example in Elem Kalahari in the region of King Amalikir.

In the commercial competition of the 18th and 19th century the houses chose the best or collapsed- As a result, capable and energetic businessmen among the slaves became leaders.

However, the city - states also had royal families for example in Bonny. There were the people of the royal family. The king ruled through a state council of House heads -he held diplomatic relations with the Europeans collected the customs dues and settled inter - divine. He performed rituals to the God who protected the state.

The population of the house was organised into layers namely: the royal prince, Freeborn or commoners and Slaves - could be sold in times of financial difficulties.

By the 19th century freeborn commoners and slaves were becoming House heads and by the mid - 19th century they were king makers.

Organisation of trade

Trade formed the basis of power in the house system. There was commercial rivalry, not only between system, but also between Europeans merchants. -Africans and European middlemen as well.

The principal commodity after the slave trade was palm oil. The greatest palm oil markets were Brass, New Calabar, Bonny and Opobo.

Companies represented by European merchants brought the oil from the ports, mostly from Liverpool in England.

Middlemen of the Delta monopolized the trade. European were not allowed to buy the oil direct from the interior except from the middlemen.

The middlemen obtained credit from the Europeans, in the form of goods like cloth, guns beads and copper rods.

The middlemen bartered those goods for oil and made very big profits. So did the European merchants who brought very cheap goods for exchange with oil.

The merchants were in most cases ruffians and displayed all tricks to the Africans.

All along - the African chiefs of the Delta wanted to control the oil trade but met with problems.

They made their own regulations and sometimes combined to impose uniform regulations on the entire Delta Coast.

European merchants who ignored the regulations could be banned from trade.

In Bonny, there was even a court of equity whereby cases between Europeans and African traders were settled. The court used the boycott of offending parties as the principal weapon of enforcing its decisions.

There was rivalry among African houses, between city states as they overlapped each other's trading empires, also between African houses and European firms and between the European firms themselves.

To promote conditions conducive to the development of British trade, consuls were appointed to the Delta - and these facilitated gradual establishment of a British authority in the Niger Delta and southern Nigeria.