The transatlantic slave trade profoundly influenced the social and economic structures of the Niger Delta from the fifteenth to the nineteenth centuries. Among its key hubs were Old Calabar (in present-day Cross River State) and Bonny (in Rivers State), both of which became central to European trade in enslaved Africans.
Old Calabar, home to the Efik people, and Bonny, predominantly Ijaw with strong Igbo connections, established commercial networks that linked the interior of West Africa to the Atlantic world. The earliest European contacts were with the Portuguese in the late fifteenth century, followed by the Dutch, French, and British.
Captured people from regions such as Igboland, Ibibio, and parts of the Cross River Basin were transported through Calabar and Bonny to the Americas. These ports formed the Bight of Biafra, one of the most active slave export regions during the eighteenth century.
Key Events and Figures
The expansion of the slave trade in both Calabar and Bonny was tied to strong political organisation and advantageous geography.
In Calabar, three major Efik towns, Duke Town, Creek Town, and Henshaw Town, dominated commerce. Influential rulers such as Duke Ephraim and Eyo Honesty II played pivotal roles in regulating trade, acting as intermediaries between European merchants and hinterland suppliers. Their leadership maintained a delicate balance between competition and cooperation with foreign traders.
Bonny, on the other hand, emerged as a powerful Ijaw kingdom strategically positioned along the Bonny River. From the late seventeenth century, it became one of West Africa’s busiest ports for the export of enslaved Africans. The ruling houses, notably the Pepple and Manilla families, controlled commerce and diplomacy. By the late eighteenth century, Bonny surpassed Calabar as the primary slave port in the Bight of Biafra, exporting thousands of enslaved people annually.
Prominent local figures such as King Pepple I and later Jaja of Opobo (who broke away from Bonny in the 1860s to establish his own trading state) symbolised the blend of African agency and commercial adaptation in an era dominated by European imperial trade.
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Economic and Social Changes
The economic foundations of Calabar and Bonny rested on the slave trade. The prosperity it generated reshaped class structures and local economies. Wealth accumulated through trading houses, often known as Ekpe societies among the Efik and war canoe houses in Bonny. These entities were not merely commercial but political institutions that managed trade relations and internal order.
The Ekpe society, for instance, functioned as both a regulatory guild and judicial authority in Calabar. It enforced trade agreements, settled disputes, and provided a means of governance among merchant elites.
Socially, the trade widened inequality. The upper classes gained access to European goods, firearms, and political influence, while the enslaved and lower classes suffered displacement, servitude, or sale to European traders. The practice of pawnship, where individuals were pledged as security for debts, intensified as the slave economy deepened.
Economically, European imports such as textiles, alcohol, and guns displaced local industries. Yet, wealth from the trade financed urban expansion, new architecture, and, later, educational and religious institutions. By the nineteenth century, the same networks that had facilitated the slave trade became instrumental in the transition to the palm oil economy, which replaced slavery as the region’s principal export after abolition.
Colonial Influence and Abolition
European involvement in the Niger Delta was primarily commercial until the nineteenth century. The Royal African Company, established by the British in 1672, monopolised trade along the West African coast, including Calabar and Bonny.
By the late eighteenth century, however, Britain’s domestic and international stance on slavery shifted. The British Slave Trade Act of 1807 outlawed participation in the transatlantic trade, and the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 ended slavery throughout the British Empire.
These changes directly affected Calabar and Bonny. British naval patrols targeted slave ships along the coast, enforcing anti-slavery treaties. In Calabar, the Efik chiefs, under growing missionary influence, formally agreed to end the slave trade in 1841 following visits by British envoys. The Church of Scotland Mission established a base there, promoting legitimate trade in palm oil and introducing Western education.
Bonny’s path was more turbulent. Factional struggles between pro- and anti-abolition groups erupted, culminating in the Bonny Civil War (1869) between rival houses led by Jumbo and Manilla Pepple. The war weakened Bonny’s influence and led to British arbitration, paving the way for greater colonial control.
By 1884, both Calabar and Bonny were absorbed into the British Oil Rivers Protectorate, later renamed the Niger Coast Protectorate, marking the end of indigenous political autonomy and the beginning of formal colonial rule.
Legacy Today
The impact of the slave trade in Calabar and Bonny remains visible in the cultural, linguistic, and architectural heritage of the Niger Delta. The descendants of merchant elites continue to hold prominent social positions, while historical landmarks such as the Duke Town Cemetery, Mission Hill, and the Slave History Museum in Calabar preserve collective memory.
The transition to the palm oil economy reshaped the region’s trade orientation, linking it to industrial Britain and early global capitalism. Calabar became a centre of missionary and educational advancement, while Bonny remained a vital export port well into the twentieth century.
Cultural legacies also persist. The Efik language incorporates Portuguese and English loanwords, evidence of centuries of contact with Europe. Traditional societies such as Ekpe continue to play ceremonial roles, bridging precolonial governance and modern identity.
The historical experience of Calabar and Bonny thus encapsulates the paradox of African agency during the Atlantic slave trade, active participation in global commerce that simultaneously facilitated subjugation and colonial domination.
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Conclusion
The slave trade in Calabar and Bonny stands as one of the most significant chapters in Nigeria’s encounter with the Atlantic world. Rooted in indigenous political sophistication and shaped by European economic demands, it redefined the social, economic, and political contours of the Niger Delta.
Understanding this history is essential to grasp the origins of modern Nigeria’s engagement with the global economy and the enduring scars left by the slave trade. Both Calabar and Bonny represent not merely sites of suffering but also of adaptation, resilience, and transformation.
Author’s Note
This article presents an account of the slave trade in Calabar and Bonny, drawing on credible academic research and archival records. It draws attention to how these two port cities shaped Nigeria’s early integration into global trade networks and how their legacies continue to influence contemporary society and identity.
References
- Lovejoy, Paul E. Transformations in Slavery: A History of Slavery in Africa. Cambridge University Press, 2011.
- Dike, K. O. Trade and Politics in the Niger Delta, 1830–1885: An Introduction to the Economic and Political History of Nigeria. Oxford University Press, 1956.
- Alagoa, E. J. A History of the Niger Delta: An Historical Interpretation of Ijo Oral Tradition. Ibadan University Press, 1972.
