The Bishop Anyogu—Auctrice Regina Pacis: A Historical Biography

By Marie Otigba

as my New Years resolution, I want to serve God all my life. I want to be a priest. Can a black man be a priest? asked Jacob his father. Why not? asked Shanahan, the Roman Catholic Prefect of the Holy Ghost Fathers at Onitsha in 1910. Has a black man not got a soul?

.the obstacles, trials and challenges began for the twelve-year-old native born in the late 19th century Victorian colony of Nigeria - the defining period when the Anyogu family legacy became embedded in the Archivum Secretum Apostolicum Vaticanum in Rome.

With century old journals and newspapers put into perspective, this biography reveals a towering figure and one of, if not the most influential personality ever in Nigerian history. And so, I present to you, The BISHOP JOHN CROSS ANYOGU.

www.bishopanyogu.com

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Sep 15, 2017
• ISBN: 9781532010507

Marie Otigba

Marie is a direct descendant and a great niece of Bishop John of the Cross Anyogu. Born in Newcastle upon Tyne, she studied at Newcastle College, Northumbria University, and Middlesex University. Marie pursued her fascination with John Cross Anyogu at the National Archives in Richmond, the British Library at Euston Road, London, the Prefecture of the Vatican Secret Archives in Rome, the Spiritan Archives in Chevilly in Paris, France, and with the Holy Ghost Fathers in Kimmage and Scotland. Marie works in finance and lives in London.

Book preview

A Historical Biography

THE BISHOP ANYOGU

AUCTRICE REGINA PACIS

MARIE OTIGBA

56288.png

THE BISHOP ANYOGU AUCTRICE REGINA PACIS

A HISTORICAL BIOGRAPHY

Copyright © 2017 Marie Otigba.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

iUniverse

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.iuniverse.com

1-800-Authors (1-800-288-4677)

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-5320-1049-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5320-1050-7 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016919389

iUniverse rev. date: 09/14/2017

I dedicate this book to my friend,

Justice Oby Regina Nwodo (1958-2013)

- this one’s for you

CONTENTS

Principal Dates

List Of Illustrations And Photographs

Acknowledgements

Preface

Prologue

Part I — Anyogu’s Historical Identification

Chapter 1   Anyogu’s Cultural History And Ancestry

Chapter 2   19Th Century Expeditions Up The River Niger

Chapter 3   19Th Century Onitsha

Chapter 4   Profiteering Evangelists Of 19Th Century Onitsha

Chapter 5   The People Of Onitsha

Part II — The Holy Ghost Fathers

Chapter 6   Arrival Of The Latecomers – The Spiritans

Chapter 7   Violence, Atrocities And Punitive Expeditions

Chapter 8   Anyogu Family In The 19Th Century

Chapter 9   Joseph Shanahan The Great

Chapter 10   Anyogu The Cognomen Of Roman Catholic

Chapter 11   1913 – The Anyogu Boys In Castlehead – The First World War

Chapter 12   1920 – Back In Nigeria To Trials And Challenges

Part III — A Seasoned Alter Christus

Chapter 13   1930 – Anyogu Ordained Priest In Persona Christi

Chapter 14   Insight Into Anyogu’s Distinctive Personality

Chapter 15   The First African Vicar General - Auctrice Regina Pacis

Chapter 16   Honoured With An Obe By Hrh Queen Elizabeth II

Chapter 17   Prince Of His People – Consecration As Bishop

Chapter 18   A New Nigerian Diocese – Enuguius 1962

Chapter 19   Visionary, Leadership And Influence

Part IV — Et Verum Dicetur - In Omnibus Caritas

Chapter 20   Negotiations And Dialogues

Chapter 21   The Strength And Courage Of The People

Chapter 22   Caritas – The Audacious Relief Arm Of The Vatican

Chapter 23   The Attractive Face Of Catholicism

Chapter 24   Siege, Storm, Starve And Annihilate

Chapter 25   The John Cross Anyogu Foundation

Sources

PRINCIPAL DATES

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS AND PHOTOGRAPHS

Part I

☐ Anyogu’s Coat of Arms and motto; Auctrice Regina Pacis

☐ 1850 Map of Nigeria

☐ Atrocities on the Niger – 19th century newspaper article about Onitsha

☐ The Anyogu boys pose for a portrait at their family home – No. 9 Anyogu-Cole Street, Onitsha – possibly en-route to England. John Cross first on the left, seated.

☐ 1918, at school in England, during the junior seminarian years. Two brothers pose here, John Cross is standing, and Charles Anyogu is sitting in the front row, second from right.

Part II

☐ Father John Anyogu, first right, front row, setting off to Adazi, 1930. Junior seminarian Tansi (who was not yet canonised a saint) is standing at the back. Bishop Joseph Shanahan middle and Charles Heerey first row, seated.

☐ Anyogu with Shanahan and Father Heerey. Father John Anyogu is on the first left, front row, seated.

☐ Father Anyogu with Bishop Joseph Shanahan and seminarians.

Part III

☐ The Eastern Outlook - The Royal Visit Edition 7 February 1956

☐ Bishop Anyogu Family 1963: Consecrated Bishop in Enugu. Mother Maria Bernadette Anyogu sits beside her father-Christmas looking brother, Jacob Anyogu. Charles Anyogu is absent but his wife, Maureen, is seated between the Bishop’s nephew, Sebastian Otigba, and Mother Maria Bernadette. Directly behind Maureen is another niece, Felicia Iworah (née Felicia Otigba).

☐ Letter- Confirmation from Clarence House

☐ Letter- Ordination invitation

☐ Letter- Felicitations handwritten on ordination

☐ Letter- Humility on celebrations

Part IV

☐ Anyogu with Ramsey. Newspaper obituary stated to be most likely one of the last photographs of Anyogu.

☐ Anyogu with Pope Saint John XXIII, 1962, Second Vatican, Council of Rome

☐ Letter- Directions on Poverty and the Poor

☐ Leave of absence letter due to illness

☐ Letter- Cardinal Arinze’s contribution to the Anyogu story

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The production of this book has been made possible by the willing and generous help of a vast number of people.

In gathering information, I have troubled several distinguished people and my starting point was the Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood, St James’s Palace, London and the office of Charles, HRH the Prince of Wales, before approaching Cardinal Arinze in Rome - how can I express my gratitude to Cardinal Arinze? He has done me a very kind favour.

The Holy Ghost Fathers then provided the titbits of a school diary and photographs of Bishop Anyogu aged fourteen as a junior seminary student in 1918, setting the ball rolling. Without exception, they responded with alacrity to my request for their recollections of Bishop Anyogu. Their accounts, as well as the passages shown in italicised text, provide the core of this book and its originality. Father Allan Collins CSSp kindly put me in touch with the Holy Ghost Fathers in Chevilly and Dublin. I have been in enjoyable communication with all of them. Many thanks to Father Allan, who provided the most unselfish research despite being busy with his monumental works and visits to the hospital for his illness.

At the British Library, Euston Road in the heart of London, I was exposed to a priceless window of medieval Nigeria. Here, I was to read up on spell bounding publications capturing lives of a by gone age that had not seen the light of day for years. My heartfelt thanks are due to the staff at the Library, who were so kind and unfailing in their ability to trace practically out-of-print documents and maps in their own spare time on my behalf, in particular John Webster. I was not accosted with the perfunctory library cough when my mobile phone rang out in the newsroom – instead I got, Hey, about your great-uncle – I’ve found some more hot stuff for the book. John willingly and rapidly researched data in his own time – all of which provided me with such motivation. The staff were a tower of strength. By some sort of providence or good fortune, everyone I spoke to was supportive and excited about this project.

Leicester Library directed me to the new owners of Castlehead, where I obtained a history of Anyogu’s former secondary school.

I am also indebted to the Irish Archives for allowing me to quote from their documents about the Bishop.

I thank the various people who provided oral reminiscence and astonishing eyewitness narratives. Their responses brought about my quest to research further and took the late Bishop Anyogu out of the context of being just another bishop and turned him into a man relevant to the lives of many. I have relied heavily on published documentary evidence of the period to confirm the reliability of the oral evidence and to trace how it all came about in shaping Anyogu as the ultimate Alter Christus. Long-distance calls were made, mostly to Ireland, the United States, Nigeria and Tanzania. All of these made it possible for me to accurately record the direct thoughts and recollections of surviving family friends and family members and set them in a historical context. Most of the oral evidence came from the Bishop’s nephews and nieces: Zephyrinus Chukwuemeka Anyogu (the legal practitioner), Maureen Nosike (née Anyogu) and Odilia Ifeyinwa Nwando, Ada Zion Nwora, (née Otigbah) Retired Midwife.

I also had sterling support and information in particular from Regina Offiah, a family friend, who exclaimed, What do you mean just a bishop? Don’t you know that ‘Anyogu’ is the Nigerian cognomen for Roman Catholics? The mere mention of the name conjures up the doctrines and principles of the Roman Catholic church… Those were thought-provoking sentiments that triggered twice-weekly visits to the British Library and The National Archives (TNA) for over two years.

My gratitude also to the following:

Mr Peter O’Mahony, Spiritan Provincialate, Dublin 6.

Staff at The National Archives (TNA) Kew, Richmond, particularly Hugh Alexander.

Dr John Cardwell, Cambridge University Library.

Father Gérard Vieira of the Holy Ghost Fathers at Chevilly.

Sister Zita at Killeshandra, a small town in County Cavan, Ireland.

Dott. Marco Grilli, Segretario della Prefettura: Archivum Secretum Apostolicum Vaticanum at the Vatican Library.

Father Omenka, Professor of Church History at Abia State University, Uturu, Nigeria – we communicated regularly via email.

Sophia Chebet at the Tangaza University College Library in Kenya.

The Library of Congress, Washington, DC, the largest library in the world and the main research arm of the United States of America.

The esteemed anthropologist, Richard N. Henderson. We communicated mostly via email. There are many others I cannot name in this book – they were all so encouraging and helpful.

Father Andrew Connick at Westminster Cathedral must have a mention, as should Father Mark Anwyll, my local priest at Our Lady of Muswell.

I cannot leave out Cardinal Keith Michael Patrick O’Brien, the former Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh – you greatly inspired me.

Very special thanks are also due to my nephew Joshua for nitpicking at my grammar and designing the book cover and my son Edward, who typed while I dictated and vice versa, and put up with the four-year devotion with his customary good cheer – and for always managing to make me laugh.

PREFACE

My most vivid memory of my great uncle, Bishop Anyogu – not a visual one, as I do not recall the various family visits – was of seeing my relations weeping and crying over continuous radio announcements which blared out the news of his death and funeral arrangements. When we got home, it was the same news on television as the weeping, crying and clanking sounds of Rosary beads continued. That was it. I knew I had a member of the clergy as a relative but I had not realised the implications of that heritage.

This project, the product of three years of intensive research, started with just a paragraph because the numerous citations about him were repetitions with slight nuances. There were no compact biographies, diaries or memoirs. Research into various writers’ works directed me to further research, then newspapers and physical letters, interviews and photographs, all of which provided the depth of this work. Using the various bits and pieces, I rearranged all the research data into a timeline and then began to put it all together.

I have greatly relied on newspaper reports and research materials from the British Library, Euston Road, London and The National Archives (TNA) in Richmond on precolonial Nigeria and the arrival of Christianity in the country. Here, I was given access to archived documents not seen for years. As such, events as they unfolded go as far back as 1837, capturing the essence of my great uncle’s grandparents and the community they lived in. I then ran parallel reports on the mother country about events that happened in the same period on both sides of the world in order to put the timeline into perspective.

This historical biography traces Anyogu’s ancestral background and historical identity in order to shed light on how these may have contributed in his quest to becoming a Roman Catholic priest - the decisions made by Father Shanahan, the head of the Onitsha mission, the Mother House in France and the Vatican in early 20th century Nigeria.

In attempting to delve into the Bishop’s mind without his memoirs in sight, I found and used letters written by and to him.

Anyogu was a very private, reserved person who stayed away from the glare of the media. As such, this biography aims to overcome much of the limitations of there being no biographies about Anyogu. And as every piece of research material replicated further materials, I had to stop somewhere while I worked to piece together the story, and I do believe that I have put factual and accurate historical records in place to serve as a direction for other writers or researchers as a basis for their study.

No sooner had I started on his teenage years than I hit a dead end. In the search for some sort of academic record from his secondary school at Castlehead, Lancashire, I discovered that the school had since closed and had been sold off. It was then that I began to think I would be lucky to write a five-page pamphlet. However, trying to trace what became of the school set the ball rolling. I then tried to get in touch with his most likely colleagues, all of whom had died, but I was directed to the Mother House at Kimmage in Ireland. Their reaction was, You are trying to write a biography about our very own son, we are so delighted! What do you need?

During my research, I asked the contributors for anything at all – photographs, thoughts, recollections, conversations and habits - about Bishop Anyogu. I was overwhelmed by the interest and richness of the feedback and humbled by the sentiments, passion and time that people have taken to give me a faithful picture of the Bishop. All of them, without exception, knew him more closely than I had the opportunity to - I was only eight years old when my great uncle died.

From their accounts and oral history, in addition to Irish and British press reports of the past decades, other themes emerged. The Irish people loved him, and after his death, they showed it by helping his people, the Ibos of Eastern Nigeria.

Following a strict chronological order was not quite possible because some events happened concurrently or needed to be explained by events in the past. I obtained extensive materials from the prefecture of the Vatican library in Rome, the Spiritan Archives in Chevilly, Paris and the Holy Ghost Fathers in Ireland and England.

For readers not acquainted with Nigeria, particularly Onitsha, I have given a brief history of the kingdom to enable them to appreciate the cultural undercurrents of the people and the period. Many people may not like where they come from or how their ancestors behaved in the past and, despite spending a lot of time and effort trying to escape the past, and as the events unfolded, I realised that there is no escaping the influence that history has on whom and what their descendants are today. Readers would also recognise villages, towns and family names from history, which directly impact the Anyogu story and which may hopefully provide them as well with a valuable historical heritage.

I also tried to minimise the use of adages – when I complained to a relation that The National Archives (TNA) had put a Closed For 100 years access conditions notice on the Queen’s dinner menu at Enugu during her 1957 visit, she exclaimed, "Biko kwa-unu, kedu ife udene shorbba na nke baba?", translated as, please, why would a bald vulture be visiting a barber’s salon? or more simply, Mari, you are such a nosey parker!

In order to put the reader in connection with Anyogu’s identity, I began with a brief historical background and the various events that happened in his environment, which proved to have a very important impact on his life’s story. I have tried to produce in-depth descriptions of Anyogu’s life and to conceptualise historical events in order to understand the logic of his history and society and the Church, all interlinked for the reader to understand Anyogu’s personality within his social context and cultural background. Drawing together the different cultural and life experiences helped me to shape and construct not only Anyogu’s story but the stories of other families whose descendants may be alive today, and may help those whose lives have also been shaped by the social circumstances of the Anyogu story to reveal a snapshot of their own individual family story.

I have used an almost voice-over style to explain or interpret various texts. Narrative theories provided the conceptual framework for this study, all of which helped to make sense of his cultural identity, and I did try to steer clear as much as possible from the highly exaggerated sentiments of family and friends towards the Bishop by backing up their contributions with press reports and publications. Verbatim transcriptions of recorded interview footage were used in order to capture factual statements exactly the way they were spoken.

The self-contained bibliography at the end of the book gives factual references, as nothing was taken out of context, although I have felt bound to give my own theories on various nuanced versions of events.

I enjoyed writing this book and still delight in being able to draw aesthetic patterns and conclusions from the works of Lord Gordon George Byron, 6th Baron Byron – the celebrated 19th century poet - and George RR Martin - the American novelist of the science fiction genre noted for Game of Thrones - to introduce and illustrate some of the historical facts.

I have tried to present a clear and probing portrait of the invisible person behind the myth and recount Anyogu’s life with detail and accuracy, presenting a comprehensive account of the religious educational and historical conditions,that enabled him to become the greatest iconic figure of peace in Nigeria. The reader will engage with Anyogu, his quiet dignity and his great strength of character, qualities which no longer belong to us but to the ages. I hope to bring an empathetic touch, making the tales immediate and moving. I want this biography to be more than just dry recitations of facts and memories; I hope it will reach out and grab the reader by the heart. Against this backdrop, the quest for a life-inspiring biography emerged.

With a historical background from seven deities, lived through seven popes, with citations from seven time zones to fulfil his Roman Catholic ambitions of the seven sacraments, I have managed to uncover why Anyogu was given the accolade ‘prince of his people’ and reveal how much we owe Anyogu today, how much he might have achieved if not for his untimely death and how he unwittingly left his ultimate legacy which manifested within days of his death – Caritas for all.

In order to understand this colossal figure, his humility and how much of his identity was inherited, I thought it best to first examine the place from which his ancestors had gradually evolved over the generations. I then managed to piece all the fragmented data together to bring the knowledge and person to a modern audience, the most prolific character in the history of Nigeria, a most remarkable man who did so much to advance the course of education and consequently the development of the nation than anyone before or since which sets him apart and present to you – the Bishop John Cross Anyogu.

PROLOGUE

…as my New Year’s resolution, I want to serve God all my life. I want to be a priest. When Anyogu’s father, a devout Catholic and native cotton merchant, heard his son say this, he hurried to ask Father Shanahan, the new head of the Onitsha mission, if a black man could be a priest. Why not? asked Shanahan. Has a black man not got a soul? Those words inspired the destiny of a twelve-year-old native African born in the late 18th century Victorian colony of Nigeria and became a life time dedication.

Anyogu was a prince of the blood in his own right and his cultural background can be examined by looking at his historical background, which includes seven clearly defined and absolutely revered deities from different parts of Nigeria. Most Ibo people claim descent from at least one of these. Anyogu descended from seven.

Both wealthy and impoverished Onitsha natives still identify collectively with their historical clans, pedigree, rank, power and position of traditional nobility. This natural consequence of their lineage gives the impression of arrogance, and they are generally considered a tribe of arrogant people, merely because they seem not to crave social acceptability. I am not describing a superior race but, unlike the various tribes of West Africa, most Onitsha people identify with over six hundred years of history, culture, lineage and nobility. The very mention of Anyogu’s ancestry clan brings instant recognition - the distinctively landowning ruling classes of the kingdom of Onitsha, Umu-Eze-Aroli.

The mid-19th century saw the arrival of traders and missionaries at Onitsha, particularly the early Irish missionaries who were called the ‘latecomers’ to Nigeria because other Christian denominations had already settled some twenty years earlier. Most of the many challenges encountered by the Roman Catholics of the Holy Ghost Fathers, the other Christian evangelists and the various European traders along the Niger River were very slow to be overcome as setback after setback interfered with evangelising work.

Renowned anthropologist Richard N. Henderson, author of The King in Every Man, further explained:

As the picture emerges, the reader will feel the subject matter through the factual statements by witnesses which bring the book alive, such as the internal court of the Igalla deity, typical of the courts of other deities of the period and the historical era.

Although latecomers to Nigeria, the Roman Catholic faith soon became so widely accepted that the other Christian faiths had many concerns about the south eastern regions of Nigeria and, in fact, most of the region soon became almost absolutely Roman Catholic. When Anyogu declared at the age of twelve that he wanted to learn priest, Shanahan immediately wrote to the Mother House in Kimmage for advice: Anyogu family who belong to the Ibo tribe were among the first to adopt Christianity, and we in the Holy Ghost Order are proud of him, he wrote. He interviewed young Anyogu, and the following year, Anyogu and his three younger brothers, Jacob, Luke and Charles, were sent to a junior seminary at Castlehead in Lancashire, England for their secondary school education in 1913.

Anyogu’s early life was high-spirited and typical of a child from well-heeled but extremely humble parents. He lost his taste for this worldly life at the early age of twelve. Although he was born into a tribe of seven deities and was the first son of his parents, he was expected to take over the family cotton trading business, look after his thirteen siblings and start his own family, not to mention the tribal duties for which he was expected to participate and direct.

His cultural background is an important way to define his identity. From his birth, Anyogu grew up living in a household of various Irish and French missionaries in the family home at Onitsha and after spending his teenage years in the United Kingdom, Anyogu became aware of the essence of social integration, which was particularly useful during his various missionary postings. He clearly understood his own cultural background in addition to the values and customs naturally passed down from his parents at that early age. He also acquired more from personal experiences growing up in England and Ireland in 1913. At that early age, he had already built relationships with people from different cultures and diverse communities and mastered three European languages fluently.

Shanahan’s missionary work brought about a high conversion rate to the true faith, and by the time Anyogu became ordained, the south-eastern part of Nigeria had begun to be known as ‘Little Ireland.’ When the Nigerian Civil War broke out, the contributions of the Irish, particularly RTÉ - Ireland’s national television - and the Vatican, are detailed and countered the siege, storm, starve and annihilation strategy against the then Biafra Ibo people.

Anyogu was to face many tests and trials to confirm and prove his intentions for his vocation. His determination and exemplary missionary work were demonstrated repeatedly and his transatlantic influence also contributed to the Irish being active rather than passive towards the plight of his people during the Biafran War, all of which culminated in Anyogu’s ultimate strategy – Caritas for All.

Part I

Image%201.2%20%20Anyogu%20Coat%20of%20Arms--.jpg

Anyogu’s Coat of Arms and motto; Auctrice Regina Pacis

49410.png

1850 Map of Nigeria

49487.png

Atrocities on the Niger – 19th century newspaper article about Onitsha

Image%201.5%20Anyogu%20%20Boys.jpg

The Anyogu boys pose for a portrait at their family home – No. 9 Anyogu-Cole Street, Onitsha – possibly en-route to England. John Cross first on the left, seated.

49469.png

1918, at school in England, during the junior seminarian years. Two brothers pose here, John Cross is standing, and Charles Anyogu is sitting in the front row, second from right.

PART I

ANYOGU’S HISTORICAL IDENTIFICATION

Ship off the Holy Three to Senegal… And ask them how they like to be in thrall? Don Juan XIV.83.657-660 - Lord Gordon George Byron, 1807

CHAPTER 1

Anyogu’s Cultural History and Ancestry

Most Ibo-speaking people claim to have originated from one deity. The Onitsha people claim at least five deity origins, whilst Anyogu’s clan, the Umu-Eze-Aroli of Onitsha, claims to have stemmed from seven deities, with inferences of nobility and traceable lineage.

Arochukwu, the First Deity

There are several versions of how the Onitsha people descended from this deity. The author Omabala Aguleri contends in his Igbo History Hebrew Exiles of Eri that the people of Onitsha originated from the Arochukwu environs – much in the interior of Ibo land and of early Jewish Hebrew decent. This Arochukwu history is much less documented and is based only on oral tradition. He continued that the name Arochukwu may be translated as ‘the arrow of God,’ or ‘the children of God’ or even ‘the priests of God.’ Whichever translation one decides to adopt, the term ‘Chukwu’ means God.

As the centuries rolled on, the people ended up with their ‘aro oracle,’ a very fearsome oracle which was sited where they claim their descendants fell from the heavens. Around the 11th century, the people themselves took advantage of the oracle and were known to wreak havoc in the environs – pillaging and sacking villages to carve in more lands to terrorise and control from their formidable territory – and one of the powerful warlords is most likely an ancestor of a later deity, Chima.

A 19th century account of the Aro-Chukwu tribe is provided by the Anglican missionary, Ajayi Crowther:

The historic claims are that a powerful warlord from Arochukwu led his people in search of land and crossed the river Niger to the Benin kingdom.

Another version of how they got to Benin does not include the tribe Arochukwu but all agree that they immigrated to the Benin kingdom and the leader later married a Benin princess, the daughter of a deity, which provided him with the additional implicit claim to the status of deity.

Ife and Benin- the Second and Third Deities

One anthropological study claims that originally the people of Benin had come from the Ife deity some one hundred and fifty miles west of present-day Benin. It was stated that as far back as the 12th century, Benin was an annexe of this great kingdom of Ife – at that time, there were no kings or ‘obas’ in Benin. This caused distance problems for communication and court affairs. The people of Benin decided to send an emissary to the then Oni of Ife to provide them with a prince from his land to rule them. One of his sons, Eweka, arrived in Benin and this established the Eweka dynasty of the Benin Empire – the first king and most revered deity of Benin.

By the 14th century, Portugal had dominated world trade for nearly two hundred years while the Black Death decimated the rest of Europe. England at this time was in the Tudor period and was also engulfed with the Black Death and subsequent agricultural depression, while the Portuguese already had technological and cultural advantage because of their contact with the Arabs. Their navigational prowess helped them negotiate trade, which led them down the coast of West Africa, where they engaged with three successive significant kings of Benin and established their strategic first, second and third stages of the ‘triangular’ slave trade which Britain was later to become dominant. The first stage of the triangular trade involved bringing manufactured goods from Europe to Africa – cloth, spirits, tobacco, beads, cowrie shells, metal goods and guns, all of which were used to barter for captured Africans. The second stage of the triangular trade (the middle passage) involved shipping the captives to the newly-discovered Americas for enslavement. The third and final stage of the triangular trade involved the return to Europe of the production of the slave-labour plantations, particularly cotton to Manchester and Lancaster, in addition to sugar, tobacco, molasses and rum. When the Portuguese arrived, Benin had two regular currencies for trade in place: manila, which were different sizes of gold rings of metal worn around the arms or wrists, and cowries (seashells).

For two hundred years, from 1440 to 1640, known as the reigns of the ‘three obas,’ Portugal had a monopoly of African slaves and trading with the Benin kingdom made the kings (obas) excessively wealthy and powerful, notably:

☐ Oba Ewuare the Great, 1440-1473

☐ Oba Ozolua, 1483-1514 (another source states 1481-1504)

☐ Oba Esigie, 1504-1550

The seafaring, Portuguese Ruy de Sequeira was known to have explored the coastal regions along West Africa from Cape Verde to Gabon around 1472. However, another explorer, John Alfonso d’Aveiro, was acclaimed in citations by R.E. Bradbury, Chronological Problems in the Study of Benin History - Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria, as the first European to have visited Benin in 1486.

Oba Ozolua readily received John Alfonso d’Aveiro and allowed the Portuguese to trade in slaves and other products that interested them. Alfonso d’Aveiro introduced guns and coconuts to the kingdom and he even travelled back to Portugal with an ambassador of the Oba of Benin. His diaries also help with dating and give confirmation that by the end of the 15th century, the Benin kingdom was at its peak, wielding power through conquest by terror of the neighbouring tribes. He further confirmed that Oba Esigie’s centralised system of monarchical government made it easy to wield control and to profit from trade around and beyond his kingdom. According to Alfonso d’Aveiro,

He may have made a second visit and possibly died in the area, although the date of his death is not known.

Benin exploited its central and interior geographical advantage and, apart from slaves and the spoils of its military expeditions and conquests, none of its traded goods were manufactured locally. They did not have a weaving tradition and their soil was no good