[center]/////Everything below is ficiton/////[/center]

It's Onicha and its the 1850s, Britain has established the Royal Niger Company only after the Obi of Onicha and other heads of surrounding communities sign a treaty limiting the amount of foreign personnel allowed inland. Missionaries are strictly forbidden and the lands after Onitsha and other coastal/riverside settlements are largely untouched by foreigners. The territorial restriction is enforced by the promise of instant death if the borders are breached, which is now at an area known as Otu Onicha. The Royal Niger Company grows only to include more native leadership and Onicha gradually opens up the rest of the lower Niger to Western technology. Many of the employees are members of prominent families with powerful titles, this makes them less likely to want to do away with traditional culture and religion in preference of Christianity.

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Guards at Otu Onicha[/center]

1870s
Britain tries to force open the borders, but are defeated after Onicha successfully runs propaganda throughout the lower Niger about Britain's plan to destroy all traditional rulership to replace with British heads. The whole regions backs Onicha, and there is a 5 month stand off, mostly guerrilla, that leads to Britain's exhaustion, especially with the lack of troops and a base in the region.

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British personnel are released after being captured by
Onicha and allies in the 5 month stand off[/center]

1880s
The Aro state, which continues slave trading and is in control of a powerful regional oracle, is threatened by the British now based in Calabar. The Aro heads decide to move towards incorporating all slaves into the Aro military and cancels all slave raiding, violent activities, and unnecessary trading in response to the threat of the British.

Mid 1890s
Through Onicha, Arochukwu acquires modern British technology, studies them and replicates them, although cheaply, using the imported materials brought from Aboh, Onicha, and Calabar. The surrounding communities of Arochukwu which were once enemies of the confederacy are no longer faced with the threat of invasion or slave raiding, but instead, economical dominance. This leads to the backing of the British by many prominent communities around the Imo, most notably the Ngwa state. Britain has since learnt about Aro's technological leap, and decides to sponsor the marginalised communities by providing them with even newer technology, and financial support. This leads to tension between the Ngwa state and supporting communities and the Aro. Meanwhile, the county-states in the middle of Igboland are recovering from the past slave raiding, they do not become entangled in the tension between the Ngwa and Aro, and are moving towards trade through Onicha with the West.

1900
Since the British have managed to establish a base into Ngwa territory, they soon find a suitable land for a port near an Ikwere community, Diobu. By now, the Igbo region is very familiar with laws and treaties. They decide that they will give Britain a portion of the land, and keep a boundary on their communities in a similar style to Onicha. By now, Britain has established good base in the region, and they force their way into the land, and establish a port which they named Port Victoria after the recently deceased queen. The Ngwa state and related regions are now under the British, although with many major revolts. The British decide to split the region into a Ungualand, with the capital at Aba, a Bendeland with capital in Ibaeku, and a Ikwerriland with the capital at Port Victoria.

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Treaty of Ibaekuland[/center]

Mid 1900s
There are two halves of Igboland, the part under the British, and the part breathing through Onicha. The British see Onicha's importance and close all contact with the outside world by barricading the Niger's Atlantic outlets, which they are now under control. Onicha struggles, as well as the rest of the Igbo communities, the regions between Agbor and Ahaba have already been unofficially incorporated by the British into the new Beninland stretching from Ahaba to French Dahomey.

1910
Onicha and Aro are no longer booming as before because of the cut off from other regions and the West. The British slowly enter the region, until the British have a much more important issue facing them, in fact an emergency. WWI.

The rest after. . . .

nice. next, the british convert to Igbo Traditional Religion. Igbo Religious missionaries are sent to europe.

Very interesting, Ezeagu. It was so convincing that I found myself believing it at times. However, I must say it's a shame that the Ngwa and Aro couldn't cooperate.

Nice post from Ezeagu.
The Igbo resisted the British more than any group in West Africa. The fiercest resistant came from Bendeland as those communities took to arms from one village to another. Afara, Ubakala, Oborro, Uzuakoli, Olokoro and Item. Also were Ovim, Nonya, Ozara all now in Isikuato.
Even what culminated into the Aba women's riot of 1929 started from Bendeland, Olokoro to be precise.

and their shameless descendants today follow colonial religion. what a shame.

Now this is interesting; awaiting continuation.

odumchi:

Very interesting, Ezeagu. It was so convincing that I found myself believing it at times.

The most believable lies are fashioned in half-truths. There are strong elements of truth in the write-up. So of course it'll be very agreeable and even very believable.

odumchi:

However, I must say it's a shame that the Ngwa and Aro couldn't cooperate.

This alone would make an interesting story.

odumchi:

Very interesting, Ezeagu. It was so convincing that I found myself believing it at times. However, I must say it's a shame that the Ngwa and Aro couldn't cooperate.

It would have been more shameful to cooperate with Aros at the time, going by their nefarious activities.

mbatuku2:

It would have been more shameful to cooperate with Aros at the time, going by their nefarious activities.

I'm guessing you must be Ngwa. So how were the Aros "nefarious"? And if so, what was shameful about it?

With WWI, Britain had to drop all engagements in the region which was already starting to strain the empire. The barrier of the Nun and Forcados was loosened up as a result, and Onicha gradually began to recover. With the capital at Onicha, several states in the region merged to form Ohazuru, or better known as Iboe state. Iboe was unrecognised by most European states, although trade was still established. The Aro state was also on it's own with some related groups, and also largely unrecognised. The oracle in Arochukwu had also declined, and the religion became fragmented.

The leaders of Ungualand, Bendeland, and Ikwerriland saw this time as an opportunity to request sovereignty, and in 1916, the leaders met with the British to negotiate troops for the freedom of the states. The British agreed to sign a treaty promising the sovereignty of the three lands after each were to provide 500 soldiers each to help in the campaign against the Ottoman empire in North Africa. The treaty was also modified to ensure that Britain had an established base in the regions and that the countries would be part of the Commonwealth. The leaders agreed, and in 1919, Ungualand, Ikwerriland, and Bendeland became sovereign states in the region.

[center]
Port Victoria, 1918[/center]

1920
In Arochukwu, the earlier barricade had lead to the collapse of the Aro confederacy and Western missionaries had already started to reach the surrounding communities. But by now, the Aro people felt a deep resentment against Westerners and their ideas which lead to the collapse of their once prosperous empire. The missionaries efforts at conversion weren't very successful, although Western eduction began to rise in the region along with Onicha. With Western education, Arochukwu became even more modernised which was both a positive and negative. The positive was industrialisation, and the negative were the powerful organised crime groups that arose to replace the traditional lords of the land of old. The once powerful oracle was used by the crime families to intimidate the majority. A quarter of the Aro state had now become industrialised and Arochukwu grew from its traditional village structure to a booming city drawing immigrants from around the region to reach a population of 550,000. Onicha's monarchial structure was more intact than that of Arochukwu, but industrialisation was also present.

[center]
Onicha port, 1917[/center]

With WWI over the three states in the southern part of the region were sovereign nations in the Commonwealth. For economic reasons, the three states decide to form one sovereign state, with each state having its own parliament and capital. This became known as Biafra, after the Bight of Biafra which it was a part of. The Industrialisation witnessed by other regions was also present in these states, and a railway was created to link the regions major towns to Port Victoria. The oil palm trade in Onicha had declined after Ahaba in the British Beninland had taken up all the business. This was a major set back until the discovery of coal was made in the northern region of Iboe by expatriates working for the British. The area where this coal reserve was discovered was in an area known as Ngwo, and became the town of Enugwu after the village which the coal was discovered. The coal was exported through the Niger at first, but negotiations were made with Biafra to export through Port Victoria and so the railway, built with the help of the British, was extended to Enugu. As a result Enugu grew and the importance of Onicha was lessened.

odumchi:

I'm guessing you must be Ngwa. So how were the Aros "nefarious"? And if so, what was shameful about it?

Slave raiding with their cohorts is not a honorable act.

@mbatuku; you're speaking with hindsight. The lack of cooperation had more to do with trade/commercial interests, and little to nothing to do with the morality and honorability of the slave raids/trade era.

Interesting thread.

ChinenyeN:

@mbatuku; you're speaking with hindsight. The lack of cooperation had more to do with trade/commercial interests, and little to nothing to do with the morality and honorability of the slave raids/trade era.

Chinenye, I'm not calling anyone out. I am simply stating the most most likely relationship we could have at that time since the two parties involved were opponents.

How could we have cooperated with a people who come into our communities to raid our kinsmen to unknown destinations of no return? It's near impossible to have such a cooperation, except we become their cohorts, which was not a honourable act.

But today? Sure, we can cooperate. Which is even the case anyway.

I believe he(odumchi) understands what I driving at by now.

Oh alright then. My mistake then.

mbatuku2:

Chinenye, I'm not calling anyone out. I am simply stating the most most likely relationship we could have at that time since the two parties involved were opponents.

How could we have cooperated with a people who come into our communities to raid our kinsmen to unknown destinations of no return? It's near impossible to have such a cooperation, except we become their cohorts, which was not a honourable act.

But today? Sure, we can cooperate. Which is even the case anyway.

I believe he(odumchi) understands what I driving at by now.

Slave trading was not morally a wrong thing to do at that time. It's not as if the Aro sold Ngwa slaves out of hatred for the Ngwa. Slave trading is slave trading despite the parties involved. The main reason Aros sold people was because they were not diplomatically aligned with them. So, by this I mean that diplomatic relations between the Ngwa and the Aro were not at strong in the first place. Had the two been friendlier from the start, the map of Nigeria would have looked different, or atleast there would have been a different story behind the colonization of the Igbos. Digressingly, if you noticed, the Aro didn't bother their allies in places like Afikpo, Ohafia, and etc.

I do understand what your saying. I just wanted to clarify that "slave trading" wasn't as looked down upon as it is seems, especially when it was a lucrative business.

You're trying to create some form of justification, I guess. It's all good then.

See talk o. Slave raiding, trading was not a morally wrong thing to do at that time. How Is it that it was viewed as morally right then or was it that people didn't care?
What the hell are you trying to say?

The part about Arochukwu blossoming into a bustling city resembles the story of Aba
Anyway, Ezeagu come and finish what you started. We demand you write everything from then to the present.

ezeagu:

With WWI, Britain had to drop all engagements in the region which was already starting to strain the empire. The barrier of the Nun and Forcados was loosened up as a result, and Onicha gradually began to recover. With the capital at Onicha, several states in the region merged to form Ohazuru, or better known as Iboe state. Iboe was unrecognised by most European states, although trade was still established. The Aro state was also on it's own with some related groups, and also largely unrecognised. The oracle in Arochukwu had also declined, and the religion became fragmented.

The leaders of Ungualand, Bendeland, and Ikwerriland saw this time as an opportunity to request sovereignty, and in 1916, the leaders met with the British to negotiate troops for the freedom of the states. The British agreed to sign a treaty promising the sovereignty of the three lands after each were to provide 500 soldiers each to help in the campaign against the Ottoman empire in North Africa. The treaty was also modified to ensure that Britain had an established base in the regions and that the countries would be part of the Commonwealth. The leaders agreed, and in 1919, Ungualand, Ikwerriland, and Bendeland became sovereign states in the region.

[center]
Port Victoria, 1918[/center]

1920
In Arochukwu, the earlier barricade had lead to the collapse of the Aro confederacy and Western missionaries had already started to reach the surrounding communities. But by now, the Aro people felt a deep resentment against Westerners and their ideas which lead to the collapse of their once prosperous empire. The missionaries efforts at conversion weren't very successful, although Western eduction began to rise in the region along with Onicha. With Western education, Arochukwu became even more modernised which was both a positive and negative. The positive was industrialisation, and the negative were the powerful organised crime groups that arose to replace the traditional lords of the land of old. The once powerful oracle was used by the crime families to intimidate the majority. A quarter of the Aro state had now become industrialised and Arochukwu grew from its traditional village structure to a booming city drawing immigrants from around the region to reach a population of 550,000. Onicha's monarchial structure was more intact than that of Arochukwu, but industrialisation was also present.

[center]
Onicha port, 1917[/center]

With WWI over the three states in the southern part of the region were sovereign nations in the Commonwealth. For economic reasons, the three states decide to form one sovereign state, with each state having its own parliament and capital. This became known as Biafra, after the Bight of Biafra which it was a part of. The Industrialisation witnessed by other regions was also present in these states, and a railway was created to link the regions major towns to Port Victoria. The oil palm trade in Onicha had declined after Ahaba in the British Beninland had taken up all the business. This was a major set back until the discovery of coal was made in the northern region of Iboe by expatriates working for the British. The area where this coal reserve was discovered was in an area known as Ngwo, and became the town of Enugwu after the village which the coal was discovered. The coal was exported through the Niger at first, but negotiations were made with Biafra to export through Port Victoria and so the railway, built with the help of the British, was extended to Enugu. As a result Enugu grew and the importance of Onicha was lessened.

odumchi:

Slave trading was not morally a wrong thing to do at that time. It's not as if the Aro sold Ngwa slaves out of hatred for the Ngwa. Slave trading is slave trading despite the parties involved. The main reason Aros sold people was because they were not diplomatically aligned with them. So, by this I mean that diplomatic relations between the Ngwa and the Aro were not at strong in the first place. Had the two been friendlier from the start, the map of Nigeria would have looked different, or atleast there would have been a different story behind the colonization of the Igbos. Digressingly, if you noticed, the Aro didn't bother their allies in places like Afikpo, Ohafia, and etc.

I do understand what your saying. I just wanted to clarify that "slave trading" wasn't as looked down upon as it is seems, especially when it was a lucrative business.

There where times when diplomatic reletionship between ngwa and aros where strong it was withing this period that aro use ngwa land for there trade rout to the riverian area e.g present day rivers state and aros where also giving a place stay wthing ngwa land .e.g for trading inwhich some aros who live wthing the place given to them by ngwas where assemiliated into ngwa family unit,cultuer and tradition and they are know today as aro ngwa's.But in some years later the diplomatic reletion break down becuse by this time ngwa people where against slave trading then you shold know what it means to be at the opposing side aros will declar you there enemy this led hostality between ngwa and aros, you shold know that all this happen before the colonization of ala igbo.

Interesting!
So Biafra had existed before that of 1967 Biafra?

ubani o ce:

   There where times when diplomatic reletionship between  ngwa and aros where strong it was withing this period that aro use ngwa land for there trade rout to the riverian area e.g present day rivers state and aros where also giving a place stay wthing ngwa land .e.g for trading inwhich some aros who live wthing the place given to them by ngwas where assemiliated into ngwa family unit,cultuer and tradition and they are know today as aro ngwa's.But in some years later the diplomatic reletion break down becuse by this time ngwa people where against slave trading then you shold know what it means to be at the opposing side aros will declar you there enemy this led hostality between ngwa and aros, you shold know that all this happen before the colonization of ala igbo.

I suppose so. But since I'm in the vicinity of Ngwa folk, I' like to ask: Is there a central figure of authority for all Ngwa people? I know that today the Ngwa aren't politically united under one "ruler", so then how did they, at that time, collaborate with each other to agree on certain issues?

Based on what you said, I'd expect them to split into factions based on their views on slavery unless there was something about slavery that all Ngwa people were united against. So if there was something that they detested about slave trading, what was it?

odumchi:

I suppose so. But since I'm in the vicinity of Ngwa folk, I' like to ask: Is there a central figure of authority for all Ngwa people? I know that today the Ngwa aren't politically united under one "ruler", so then how did they, at that time, collaborate with each other to agree on certain issues?

Nkpe; the constitution.

odumchi:

Based on what you said, I'd expect them to split into factions based on their views on slavery unless there was something about slavery that all Ngwa people were united against. So if there was something that they detested about slave trading, what was it?

This is only going to get more complex as we go into it, because it's not as simple as asking "what did they detest about slave trading?".

There were no 'diplomatic relations' with Aro until the palm oil era (19th/20th centuries), but the diplomatic relations didn't last long. They broke down early 20th century. Before then though, before the palm oil era [before the diplomatic relations], there was hostility between Ngwa and the Aro, and that hostility was present simply because earlier on, we were at war with the confederacy. War stopped because the confederacy couldn't keep the raids going in the area, like they did up in the northern and central regions. Continuing the raids proved increasingly costly, not to even mention the overall ineffectiveness of it all. So, they stopped and consequently, war stopped. Some time later on, they introduced Okonko (locally called Ekpe Aro) and established commercial/trade ties with various traders in Ngwaland. This built up serious tension and generated hostilities I mentioned earlier, but as Okonko began to spread, growing more popular and influential, the hostilities began to fade, until eventually diplomacy set in. Aro representatives were allowed (and in many cases even invited) within our communities, just like Ubani said. In fact, to the best of my knowledge, from what I've been told, the Aro were the only ohuhu we actually allowed to live with us, within our communities, and acculturate. We even have a saying that attested to such; Someone who an Aro stays with, something good has happened for that person, but like I previously stated, all that changed early 20th century.

As you can see, it's a long story, and I'm sure you notice the changes in attitude toward the Aro within the span of 300 years.

Anyway, we should just let Ezeagu continue with his topic. This issue of relations and attitudes is a different topic altogether.

Ok. Thanks for the explanation.

Finished Onicha, Arochukwu acquires recent Nation engineering, studies them and replicates them, although chintzily, using the imported materials brought from Aboh, Onicha, and Calabar. The close communities of Arochukwu which were formerly enemies of the circle are no someone featured with the danger of entrance or enthralled raiding, but instead, stinting status. This leads to the approval of the Island by galore salient communities around the Imo, most notably the Ngwa say. Kingdom has since learnt roughly Aro's bailiwick change, and decides to benefactor the marginalised communities by providing them with change newer technology, and financial operation. This leads to tensity between the Ngwa commonwealth and supporting communities and the Aro. Meantime, the county-states in the region of Igboland are sick from the early work raiding, they do not become entangled in the status between the Ngwa and Aro, and are active.



pillow
memory foam

I luv speculative fiction. I hope u continue dis story o! Jisi ike nwanne m.

PAGAN 9JA:
and their shameless descendants today follow colonial religion. what a shame.

u said this? U must be a bastard! I know that u must be a muslim.you forgot that the arabs dat brought islam to hausaland killed ur grandparents becos they refused to believe in islam and then take up small children and started to teach them islam from childhood but u cows now accepted the religion that nearly wiped away ur anscestors! Wat a shame

Dear brother ezeagu.
It is possibly one of the best historical items presented in this forum.
Please accept my most sincere congratulations to both the material presented, for the seriousness and respect.
Thank you very much!

@ antivirus92.
Excuse me my speech. But if you give your point of view, and makes a clarification, and fulfilled the mission. Do not think it necessary to include certain offenses, which definitely read them all.
I know you are an intelligent person, so you've shown to expose the other side of the story. But the insult was not necessary.
Please accept my warm greetings you all!

Antivirus92: u said this? U must be a bastard! I know that u must be a muslim.you forgot that the arabs dat brought islam to hausaland killed ur grandparents becos they refused to believe in islam and then take up small children and started to teach them islam from childhood but u cows now accepted the religion that nearly wiped away ur anscestors! Wat a shame

I am a full-blooded MAguzawa Haussa and a traditionalist Pagan unlike YOU COWARDLY man-worshipping TRAITORS!

dont worry and thank you Ptolemus. its ok i can handle usueless insults..

1930-1950

The inevitable rise of Western missionaries in Aro country had hit the already demoralised population and had added to the pressures brought on by the British and the West. By now, around 1/5 of Arochukwu had become Christian which brought up tension between the traditionalists and the newly converted. Aro had already lost all it's economic advantage because of the blockade that happened decades ago, and now there was a new elite which was mostly filled with Westerners and the Christian educated. Even though there were many indigenous Aro who had made innovative technologies, it was no match to what was coming from the West, including cinema, modern cars, radios, and so on. The elite, however had not overshadowed the gangs who had since moved on from intimidation using oracles, but had now formed into large and highly effective criminal organisations.

The gangs that had formed in Aro had predictably spilled into the very prosperous Biafra whose borders with Aro had become blurrier and blurrier as the years went past and as Aro's power steadily deflated. Biafra's links with Britain meant that it could develop with a model and with help from the British which insured that many citizens were living with a high standard of living, with a national health service, and with other froms of help and support for citizens. Again, Biafra had had some kind of allegiance to the British empire, but by now the war and the rebuilding effort that followed in Britain had increased the indigenous power of Biafra since British interest in the area had dropped. The powerful Aro gangs, known as ndi ndo, or singular onyendo, which literally means 'shade givers' or 'givers of the shade' had shifted most of their operations to Port Victoria, which had grown to be the biggest city in the whole of the Igbo cultural area, and also the most prosperous. The gangs had included many non-Aro members by now and had adapted to other cultures in and out of Biafra, but the main recognised families were still of Aro descent.



Picture of some 'onyendo's' taken in Port Victoria after a trial at the high court. Onyendo were publicly known as 'high traders', but they were never publicly labelled as criminals

Ohazuru, or the Iboe state had already lost any advantage it had through technology trade in Onicha in the early parts of the century. The capital had since been moved to Enuguwu where the coal trade was booming. With migrations from all over West Africa, Enugwu became city number two in the whole region after Port Victoria. In addition, the Iboe state had become a major point for the export of traditional West African art, much of this business was handled by Europeans. The blurring of the border had also impacted the Iboe state, but instead of receiving gangsters, the Iboe state had received even more westerners and missionaries due to the safer climate. Although there was much Western influence on Ohazuru, much of the traditional titled noblemen had retained their status, but had found ways to integrate into the modernised state through forming powerful cliques and oligarchies. This created a class ridden state with many extremes of wealthy and suffering masses, who were concentrated out of the Enugwu region. Mumbles of a revolution started arising in Ohazuru, this was influenced primarily by a major event on the global scene: the rise of communism.

The rest after.

Ezeagu nwanne! This is an interesting piece I must say. Imagination, assumptions and real history well integrated.
Pls, do come and finish this write up for we are expectant.

Brother Ezeagu. write a book on it and publish it.

Not only will it sell well and earn you income, but it will also further our cause for Igbos to realise that mistakes can be righted. They must abandon foreign bad influence and religion.