The introduction from the book Igbo land slavery and the drums of Heroism . John N Oriji Igbo land is among the areas of west Africa that experienced the most intensive slave trading activities during the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries . Although the total number of Africans enslaved remains unknown , available estimate suggest that about 637 500 Igbo slaves , amounting to 75% of the total shipments from the Biafra hinterland ,landed in the Americas between 1640 and 1800 Furthermore ,ex slaves of Igbo ancestory constitute a majority of the population in bonny , Okirika and many other eastern delta states that served as depots and exchange centers for European Merchants . Much is already known about how the slave trade was organized in Igbo hinterland and its impact on local communities . But the growing literature on the slave trade provides little insight into the responses it elicited in the hinterland and. My research uses oral traditions and other sources to examine how individuals ,families ,and communities responded to the slave trade and enslavement . Igbo responses differ from one area to the other sources, and it is necessary to distinguish between the various ecological zone of the area and explain the degree to which they were either involved in slave trading or subjected to slave raids and the other forms of social violence they engendered . The major ecological zone relevant to this study are Western Igbo communities which offer us some of the earliest evidence of slavery in Igbo land . Northern Igbo land including Okigwe the earliest Enugu Nsukka area and the Awka Onisha axis ,which experienced the most intensive raids and provided the most diverse forms of resistant Riverine and coastal towns whose middle men sold captives to European traders . Southeastern Igbo communities including the homeland of the Aro slave traders and their Abam warrior who were the main slave dealers in the hinterland Southern Igbo communities of Owerri Mbaise Ngwa Asa Ndokka Ikwere Etche and other places which were occasionally raided by Abam Warriors .
Posted on: Tue, 04 Jun 2013 12:29:28 +0000
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