Ancient & Pre-Colonial Nigeria
Histories of Nigerian kingdoms, empires, trade routes, and cultures before colonial rule, including Nok, Benin, Oyo, Sokoto, and Kanem-Bornu.
Origins of the Itsekiri People
The early history of the Itsekiri people is closely tied to the waterways of the western Niger Delta and to the emergence of Warri...
Onwa Asaa in Ugwuoba, The Masquerades That Open the New Yam Season
They arrive as a declaration rather than an invitation. Raffia fibres sway, skirts brush the ground, carved faces remain still while bodies move beneath...
Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ́ Masks and Yoruba Social Life
Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ́ is often described as a mask tradition, but it functions first as a public performance where carving, costume, music, and spoken expression operate...
Inside the Sàngó Shrine of the Timi of Ede
Ede is one of the long established towns of the Yoruba people in what is now Osun State, southwestern Nigeria. Governed by a traditional...
A Thousand Years on the Throne, The Enduring Monarchy of Kanem and Borno
For centuries, the Lake Chad region has been shaped by one of Africa’s longest surviving royal traditions. Long before modern borders, before colonial rule,...
Calabar and the Atlantic Slave Trade, How Old Calabar Became a Major Export Hub
Old Calabar, linked today to the city of Calabar in southeastern Nigeria, was historically not a single town. It was a cluster of Efik...
Slavery in the Oyo Empire, Power, War Captives, and the Atlantic Connection
The Oyo Empire, centred on Oyo Ile in present day south western Nigeria, emerged as one of the most powerful inland states in West...
Eko to Lagos, A Coastal Polity Shaped by Trade, Power, and Enslavement
Lagos began with water. Long before modern streets and skylines, the island and creeks at the edge of the lagoon system offered fish, canoe...
The Efik Fattening Room Tradition, Meaning, Practices, and Modern Life in Calabar
Among the Efik people of Calabar in Cross River State, the fattening room tradition, widely known as Mbopo, remains one of the most recognised...
The Market Days After Ikeji, When Arondizuogu’s Masquerades Take the Road
In Arondizuogu, Ikeji is not marked by a single date, it is marked by a rhythm. The festival unfolds across four Igbo market days,...