OzikoroThe Middleman Advantage: How the Efik Controlled the Cross River Estuary and Dominated Trade with European Vessels
The Efik people of southeastern Nigeria developed a remarkable position of economic power and influence by controlling access to the Cross River estuary and managing trade between inland producers and European vessels anchored offshore. From the seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries, Efik traders established Old Calabar as one of the most important ports in…