The History and Culture of the Kalabari People

Kalabari attire

The Kalabaris occupy 33 towns and communi­ties on 23 islands in the coastal part of Riv­ers State. The major towns are Buguma (or Bukuma), Abonnema and Bakana. They are also said to have been the first group to interact with the Europe­ans, Indians and so many foreign tribes, and this can be seen in the way the society is organised into Houses or Group of Houses along the European and Asian method of the 14th and 15th centuries.
In this story, we have tried to avoid the many different opinions about which particular version of the History is acceptable. We sim­ply try to look at the general his­tory, and the culture of this very interesting people. We invite peo­ple to provide more information and we are pleased to publish it on one website (or on the pages of this newspaper if it is paid for).
As we researched this story, and read up on what living in these parts of Nigeria was like in the preceding centuries, it became evident that the history of this country has been so interwoven and interconnected for centuries, making recent calls for separation not only shameful but a realisa­tion that as a people, we forgot our history too soon.
We invite you to enjoy this piece.
Brief History of the Kalabari Kingdom
The Kalabaris are said to be Ijaw-speaking people comprising three Local Govern­ment Areas of Asari- Toru, Akuku-Toru and Degema with Abonema as its traditional capital in Rivers State. They live on 23 islands in the Niger Delta of Southern Nigeria. Their traditional economy is based on fishing and trade.
History has it that from the 15th century onward, Kalabari traders were middlemen between Africa and the West, exchanging slaves, ivory, spices and palm oil for guns, gunpowder, brassware and Western luxury goods. In the course of trade, they absorbed many immigrants who rose to positions of power but could not approach traditional an­cestral shrines.
Amachree I, who died around 1800, was the founder of the dy­nasty that bears his name. Most of the major trading houses expanded during his reign.
The Kingdom is currently ruled by King Amachree XI (Professor Theophilus Princewill CFR), along with his Council of Chiefs, most of whom, are royal princes. Together, they make up the traditional Kala­bari government, similar to a royal court.
In the 19th century, the Kalabari Kingdom was in the center of a power struggle in the east of the delta. Elem Kalabari fought against the Nembe Kingdom to the west, the Kingdom of Bonny to the southeast and Okrika to the north­east.
The main rival was Okrika, which had the potential to block Kala­bari’s access to the interior. The Kalabari brought their goods down to Elem Ifoko, at the mouth of the New Calabar river, but refused to go the seven more miles to Bonny for the convenience of the Euro­pean traders. In July 1863, the feud with the Nembe people of Brass flared up, with the Nembe the de­cisive victors. By December 1865 the Okrika had started ambush­ing Kalabari trading canoes, and Bonny was threatening to join in since Kalabari was blocking their passage through Kalabari territory. The British consul had to intervene to prevent further hostilities.
When Jubo Jubogha (“Ja-Ja”) moved from Bonny in 1869 and established the separate state of Opobo, he became an ally of Ka­labari. Bonny now began a more serious push into Kalabari territory to recover from loss of trade to Op­obo. In 1873 a perpetual treaty of peace was signed between Kalabari and Bonny on the same day that a treaty was signed between two rival factions within Kalabari.
Neither of these treaties was ob­served. In July 1882 the British consul had to intervene again in the struggle with Bonny. From 1882 to 1884 two factions of the royal family continued to struggle for control. The Amachree faction succeeeded, while the Barboy or Will Braide group moved to the new settlement of Bakana. Soon af­ter, the victors also evacuated Elem Kalabari, moving to the new capital of Buguma and to Abonnema, both further inland.
“They migrated from several places precisely from the Ijaw clan and the Calabar group, they were of seven wards before King Amachree the first. These seven wards were semi-independent” – these were the words of Chief Omoni Eli.
Abonnema, second largest Kalabari town (Nyemoni with original name as (Isiowu ama) dispersed from Elem Kalabari and settled in its present site in 1881. Chief Isiowu Oruwari (Young Briggs or Ebu) first came with the entire Akiala group and settled there in 1881. In 1882, the houses of Owukori, Iju(Jack) and Otaji joined him.
Whereas Buguma (Asari) and Obuama dispersed from Elem Ka­labari and settled in their present respective sites in 1884. It was King Abbi Amachree IV with his able men – Chief Goerge Amachree , Ikiri Johnbull and Omekwe Hors­fall who brought the remaining groups of kalabari houses to Asari.
King Amachree IV thought it wise that if they should remain at the Degema consulate there will be a day his people will clash and he then instructed them to look for a more suitable area until they came to Ikiri and founded the Asari (present Buguma) named after a water Goddess called Asari Owu. A ritual followed afterwards to ask for permission to settle on the land which has become present day KA­LABARI KINGDOM.
The mystery behind the name…’War Houses’

The Kalabari people in fear of the realization of the great Mao Zedong thought that, “An army without culture is a dull-witted army, and a dull-witted army cannot defeat the enemy” developed traditional kin-based lineages into large corpora­tions known as Houses, each with an elected Head and a war canoe team that controlled commerce and warfare.
In Kalabari societies, wealth is mea­sured by how many people a man has in his House, and this is defined both as a place of residence and as family, including living relatives, ancestors, adopted members and, previously, domestic slaves. Every powerful House had a war canoe as well as paddlers and pilots to navi­gate the Niger delta, the inland riv­ers and the estuaries along the At­lantic coast. Both the boat and the house in this headdress are symbols of wealth.
Differentiating a Kalabari from an Okirikan!
For those who don’t know, you may actually mistake someone from Kalabari land with another of Okrika descent. However, even though there are a lot of similiari­ties, there are also some differences between the two ethnic tribes. So How do you differentiate one from the other?

• The language: A Kalabari man will say Ibote, Ibosa, or Iboa while the Okirikans will say Ibuosa but generally they both say Alua.
• Their talking drums: Every community has its own pecu­liar style of playing the talking drum playing. These styles are unique and they can tell you the difference between the two ethnic groups.

SOURCE: ph-microscope