Ozikoro“The ‘Comey’ System: Understanding the customs duties paid by European ships to Efik chiefs.”
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…