Nigerian History & Culture

Slave Trade

• 1400’s – 1807

• Africans sell other Africans

• Trade for alcohol, weapons & goods

• Many Igbo get rich

Strategy Change

• Slave trade abolished in 1807

• Europeans change strategy

• Use Africa for natural resources

• Carve continent up into colonies– The Berlin Conference

Strategy Change

• Great Britain claims area around Niger River

“Civilizing” Africa

• Many Europeans see “civilizing” the Africans as a duty

• Claim they are bringing religion and the modern way to justify the greed

3-Prong Attack

• Missionaries– Convert outcasts (osu)– Convert women

• Trade– British trade palm oil in exchange for goods

• Government– Bring in District Commissioners– Set up own police and courts

Igbo Culture

• Agricultural community– Yams = men

– Cassava, beans, other crops = women

• Family Units– Multiple wives

– Each family has own compound

• Patriarchal Society– Men have power & women are

property

– Wife-beating is common

• Democratic Government– Ruled by elders (ndichie) and men

chosen to receive titles– Decisions made by clansmen

• Gods– Animist: recognize a number of gods

that embody the forces of nature– Oracles: priestesses whose job it is to

speak for a god

• Ancestors– Though dead, they have voices

– Egwugwu: men disguised by mask and costumes that embody the spirits of the ancestors