History Of The Niger Delta
Language studies, archaeological digs, and oral histories all add up to a lot of information about early Niger Delta history. This information lasts until the global slave trade started in the 1600s, when written records start to show up.
According to oral histories, the people of the Niger Delta lived off of the resources in the area until population growth drove them to move to other areas of the region. There were a lot of chances and resources for growth and trade in the delta’s different biological zones.
Most of the western and central deltas were made up of freshwater swamps. A lot of farming could be done along the sides of rivers that would flood during certain times of the year. People in the eastern delta mangroves, sea, and swamps lived off of fishing as their main source of income.
The first people who lived in the Niger Delta made some things out of iron and metal. They also made a lot of pottery for everyday use, for industry, for rituals, and for fun. They also made terracotta figurines, masks, and smoking pipes.
These actions already point to people living in the surrounding areas, from whom at least the metal would have had to be brought in. Along the mangrove belt, people lived off of fishing, hunting, and making salt, which they traded with people in the countryside. But people in the Niger Delta grew plantains, bananas, water yams, and cocoa yams to trade with goods from the rest of the country, mostly yams and animals.
Cassava goods, which were important foods in many parts of the Niger Delta, came from Brazil after the slave trade in the Atlantic in the 1600s. They were first brought to the western delta. At this time, tobacco also came into use, but smoking pipes found in the eastern delta show that people were smoking other things before tobacco.
People in the Niger Delta and the surrounding areas used big boats to trade with each other. Oral histories and the fact that the word for “canoe” in these languages is very old both support this. However, migration from the freshwater delta to the mangrove swamp regions of the eastern delta was a contributing factor in the trade itself.
These communities used to depend on farming and fishing, but now they depend on fishing and making salt. Eventually, they started trading food and animals with other ecological areas and the hinterland. Over time, these small fishing communities turned into market communities that built up systems for long-distance trade.
As new people joined because of the slave trade and the coming of Europeans, the societies grew bigger and more complicated. Also, the fact that a few leaders had a lot of money and power played a big role in the formation of the “city-states” of Nembe, Kalabari, Bonny, and Okrika in the eastern delta.
The slave trade in the 1600s increased trade within the continent, which made it possible for the well-known war-canoe “houses,” or trading companies, to form in these city-states. It is said that the Portuguese officially got in touch with the Oba of Benin in 1486 (Ryder, 1969).
This means they probably started doing business in the western delta on the Benin, Escravos, and Forcados Rivers before 1480. Early trade took place in the eastern delta at Bonny and maybe at Elem Kalabari on the Bonny and New Calabar rivers. The Portuguese named the area where these two rivers meet as Rio Real, which means “Royal River.”
In fact, the names of the rivers that flow into the Atlantic show that the Portuguese came to the Niger Delta early on. They even started working as missionaries in Ode Itshekiri, a state in the western delta. Oral histories talk about how they affected the area early on and give all subsequent white guests a name that is linked to the Portuguese.
Because of the slave trade, the delta states were in charge of connecting people from the coast with people who lived in the interior. So, slaves from almost every ethnic group in Nigeria made their way to the New World through ports in the Niger Delta.
Oral histories talk about what happened when slaves were integrated into local communities and how some delta towns were even forced to keep slaves. But it was only recently found out that some people from the Niger Delta were also sent to the Americas.
Researchers have looked at the Berbice Dutch Creole of Guyana and found that it has words from many villages in the eastern Niger Delta, but mostly from Kalabari, Lbani (Bonny), and Nembe (Smith, Robertson, and Williamson, 1987). This backs up what people who have been to the Niger Delta and heard stories about it say about pirates and other forms of violence within the region. The trade of slaves between Nigeria and other nations is to blame for a lot of these issues.
In fact, these were some of the things that made it easier for the Delta States’ trading and fighting corporations to form. These corporations used slavery and had to keep the peace along their trade routes, in their own communities, and in the markets in the countryside. The slave trade left behind the trade of food crops between the Niger Delta and the Americas, as well as a few organizations that are still in place today.
Also Read: History of Yorubaland: The Great History of Ife, Oyo, Yoruba Kingship and Art
