The Ijaw of Edo State and the Oba of Benin:
A Historical Examination of Authority, Contact, and Early European Records
For centuries, debates have surrounded the ancient relationships between the Benin Kingdom and neighboring peoples of the Niger Delta — particularly the Ijaw.
One question often asked is whether historical records (including early Portuguese and other European sources) affirm that the Oba of Benin held traditional or cultural authority over the Ijaw communities of the lower Benin and Warri river systems.
This examination synthesizes primary European accounts, historical scholarship, and local evidence to show what the records do — and do not — support.
1. The Kingdom of Benin: Power and Reach
The Kingdom of Benin (not to be confused with the modern Republic of Benin) was one of West Africa’s most durable pre-colonial states, centered in today’s Edo State of Nigeria. By the 15th century it had formed a centralized monarchy under strong rulers like Oba Ewuare the Great (reigned c. 1440–1473), who expanded the kingdom’s territory and consolidated power in the region. Portuguese contact began in earnest around 1485, and a long trading relationship developed — focused mainly on goods like pepper, ivory, and slaves in exchange for Portuguese metalwork and firearms.
Some later summaries of Benin history assert that Benin “ruled over the tribes of the Niger Delta including the Ijaw”, but this specific claim is debated and not supported by early European sources.
2. Earliest European Mention of the Ijaw (c. 1485)
The earliest written European description of the Gulf of Guinea comes from Portuguese explorer Duarte Pacheco Pereira in his Esmeraldo de Situ Orbis (late 15th century). Pereira described coastal and riverine peoples encountered by Portuguese ships, including “Jos” or Ijo (Ijaw) communities living along the Escravos and Benin river mouths engaged in fishing, trade, and canoe navigation.
These early accounts speak to Ijaw presence and activity before or during the earliest Portuguese incursions. They depict Ijaw groups as established, autonomous riverine communities — not in any form mentioned as subjects of the Oba of Benin.
According to some modern interpretations of Pereira’s text:
Ijaw were the dominant inhabitants of the Escravos, Benin river and nearby waterways at the time of Portuguese contact.
These settlements already had trading networks with Europeans before the rise of a centralized Itsekiri kingdom under the Olu or before any documented Benin political claims.
While Pereira’s text was written from a European geographic perspective rather than a political history, it does not in anyway validate sovereign rule by Benin over Ijaw lands.
3. Later European Records: Dutch Trade and Recognition
In the 17th and early 18th centuries, Europe’s Dutch West India Company maintained trading posts in the Niger Delta and left written accounts of the region’s political dynamics.
One such record from 1716 describes an encounter between Dutch company vessels and Ijaw war canoes near Ughoton, suggesting that Ijaw polities operated independently in these waterways.
The Dutch commanders reportedly negotiated directly with Ijaw leaders, with Dutch officials admitting that “there was little or nothing the Oba of Benin could do” regarding these interactions.
This indicates direct recognition of Ijaw agency by a major European commercial power — without intermediaries such as Benin or Itsekiri authority.
4. British Colonial Documentation
British colonial intelligence reports from the early 20th century regularly identified Ijaw communities along the Escravos, Forcados, and Benin rivers as established and politically distinct groups with long patterns of settlement. These colonial records sometimes noted:
Ijaw clans in Ogbe-Ijoh, Egbama, Okomu and Gbaramatu and more as longstanding occupants of riverine areas,
Local authorities operating independently of Benin political structures.
Such descriptions — while filtered through British administrative perspectives — reinforce the idea that Ijaw political organization predated late colonial structuring and was not simply subsumed under Benin authority.
Scholarship and Local Narratives,
Modern historical commentators and stakeholders highlight that:
Ijaw settlements existed alongside but independently of Itsekiri and Benin centers.
Later royal narratives that foreground Benin’s expansive authority — including some claims about control over “the Niger Delta” — reflect post-contact political retrojections rather than documented pre-colonial hierarchies.
This means that while Benin exerted influence in many trade networks and occasionally in local politics, clear documentary proof of sovereign control over Ijaw people or land is not found in early European sources.
5. Aboriginal Occupancy vs. Political Authority
It’s crucial to distinguish between aboriginal occupancy and political overlordship:
Evidence from early records indicates that Ijaw communities were long-established inhabitants of the lower riverine regions, with active social and economic systems well before sustained European contact.
Federal boundary and ownership claims are modern legal and political issues, often relying on interpretations of historical settlement and occupancy, not necessarily on formal pre-colonial political structures.
Assertions that Ijaw were “tenants” or “subject peoples” under Benin authority are not supported by the earliest European written evidence.
Conclusion
Early European sources — especially Portuguese and Dutch records from the 15th through early 18th centuries — offer valuable insights into the ethnic makeup and settlement patterns of the Niger Delta region. These accounts consistently show:
Ijaw peoples as established coastal and riverine communities interacting directly with Europeans before or alongside other groups.
No explicit Portuguese or Dutch record affirming that the Oba of Benin held traditional or cultural authority over Ijaw peoples in the lower Benin and Warri river systems.
Ijaw groups were autonomous actors in trade and defense, recognized by Europeans on their own terms.
In short, the historical evidence does not confirm that the Oba of Benin had sovereign traditional rights over the Ijaw peoples based on early European inscriptions or corporate records.
Instead, the records show independent Ijaw settlements engaging in regional commerce and political life long before external powers attempted to define political hierarchies.
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