Subject
9 records filed under this subject
Slave trade from Africa to America from 1650 to 1860. Photo credit; University of Richmond blogs. Between 1650 and 1850, the Bight of Biafra emerged as one of the Atlantic world’s most significant export zones for enslaved Africans. The region comprising the eastern Niger Delta and the densely populated Igbo hinterland supplied millions of…
The mid-nineteenth century marked a pivotal “structural transformation” in the economic history of Southeastern Nigeria. For nearly two centuries, the Aro Confederacy had maintained a formidable hegemony over the hinterland by acting as the primary agents of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. However, as Great Britain enforced the abolition of the slave trade and the…
Women have long played central roles in the economic, social, and political life of the Igbo people of southeastern Nigeria. Among the most remarkable figures in this tradition was Chief Mary Nzimiro (née Mgbojikwe), an influential merchant, political leader, and philanthropist whose life embodied the commercial strength and community leadership of Igbo trading women. Her…
The reign of Olu Erejuwa I in the 18th century represents one of the most economically significant eras in the history of the Warri Kingdom. The period marked an expansion of commercial networks, deeper integration into the Niger Delta’s maritime economy, and the consolidation of Warri’s influence as a key intermediary in regional and…
The Efik of Old Calabar developed one of West Africa’s most sophisticated socio-economic institutions: the “House system,” known in Efik as Ufok. Far more than a domestic family unit, the Efik House evolved into a political, commercial, and judicial structure that shaped the region’s economy for centuries. During the height of Atlantic trade, particularly from…
For more than four centuries, Calabar has stood as one of West Africa’s most influential seaports, serving as a gateway between the Cross River hinterlands and the Atlantic world. Located at the confluence of the Calabar and Cross Rivers, the port became a strategic commercial center for European traders from the fifteenth century onward. From…
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…
The comey system was a key feature of commerce in Old Calabar, the main trading center of the Efik people along the Cross River in southeastern Nigeria. From the seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries, European ships trading in slaves and later palm oil paid a customs duty known locally as “comey” to Efik chiefs as…
Where the historical record is thin or debated, Sir Mathias Ugochukwu occupies a notable place in Nigeria’s post-independence economic history as one of the early indigenous businessmen who expanded African participation in large-scale commerce and industry. Emerging during a period when economic power was still largely dominated by expatriate firms, Ugochukwu represented a generation…
Ozikoro