"...My great-grandfather, Nwaubani Ogogo Oriaku, was what I prefer to call a businessman, from the Igbo ethnic group of south-eastern Nigeria. He dealt in a number of goods, including tobacco and palm produce. He also sold human beings. "He had agents who captured slaves from different places and brought them to him," my father told me. Nwaubani Ogogo's slaves were sold through the ports of Calabar and Bonny in the south of what is today known as Nigeria. People from ethnic groups along the coast, such as the Efik and Ijaw, usually acted as stevedores for the white merchants and as middlemen for Igbo traders like my great-grandfather. They loaded and offloaded ships and supplied the foreigners with food and other provisions. They negotiated prices for slaves from the hinterlands, then collected royalties from both the sellers and buyers.
About 1.5 million Igbo slaves were shipped across the Atlantic Ocean between the 15th and 19th Centuries. More than 1.5 million Africans were shipped to what was then called the New World - the Americas - through the Calabar port, in the Bight of Bonny, making it one of the largest points of exit during the transatlantic trade.
The only life they knew
...It would be unfair to judge a 19th Century man by 21st Century principles. Assessing the people of Africa's past by today's standards would compel us to cast the majority of our heroes as villains, denying us the right to fully celebrate anyone who was not influenced by Western ideology. Igbo slave traders like my great-grandfather did not suffer any crisis of social acceptance or legality. They did not need any religious or scientific justifications for their actions. They were simply living the life into which they were raised. That was all they knew."
Slave trade in the 20th Century
...Acclaimed Igbo historian Adiele Afigbo described the slave trade in south-eastern Nigeria which lasted until the late 1940s and early 1950s as one of the best kept secrets of the British colonial administration.
Working with the British
...My great-grandfather was renowned for his business prowess, outstanding boldness, strong leadership, vast influence, immense contributions to society, and advancement of Christianity. The Igbo do not have a culture of erecting monuments to their heroes - otherwise one dedicated to him might have stood somewhere in the Umuahia region today.
"He was respected by everyone around," my father said. "Even the white people respected him."
For the full article,
Source 1: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-53444752
Reddit post by Gigamon2014
"...Slavery was a massively contentious issue throughout West Africa. There was no ideological consistency with slavery as some kingdoms and tribes willingly sold slaves whilst others strongly advocated, fought and died pushing against it.
There is also the fact that the form on indentured servitude of slavery in the region differed massively from the form of chattel slavery practised in the Americas.
Even more on the unique nature of chattel slavery, from National Museums Liverpool.
Very typically British, still trying to somehow make out as if they were somehow unique in their disapproval of slavery beyond the abolition when, in reality, many kingdoms took major issue with the practice during the height of the transatlantic trade. Its even lamer when one learns that it could be argued abolition here had large strategic benefits, much like positive sentiment towards Lincoln's emancipation efforts are tempered by the fact he considered it a move to prevent direct contention with southern states and had intended to have slaves summarily shipped abroad to either Liberia or Australia. I can't exactly say I'm stunned. Never ceases to amaze me how dishonest we have become as a country. Her ancestors were skeezebags, they were considered that then are considered that now. Nigeria has dealt with the same problem for years, selfish assholes with no concept of integrity conspiring with foreign powers to fuck over their neighbours. There is nothing spiritual or traditional about it. Its just typical greed and short sighted human stupidity.
Further reading:
http://ldhi.library.cofc.edu/exhibi...natlanticworld/african_participation_and_resi"
Source 2: https://www.reddit.com/r/unitedkingdom/comments/hzydoh/my_nigerian_greatgrandfather_sold_slaves/
Bonus: My Great-Grandfather, the Nigerian Slave-Trader by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani on The New Yorker
About 1.5 million Igbo slaves were shipped across the Atlantic Ocean between the 15th and 19th Centuries. More than 1.5 million Africans were shipped to what was then called the New World - the Americas - through the Calabar port, in the Bight of Bonny, making it one of the largest points of exit during the transatlantic trade.
The only life they knew
...It would be unfair to judge a 19th Century man by 21st Century principles. Assessing the people of Africa's past by today's standards would compel us to cast the majority of our heroes as villains, denying us the right to fully celebrate anyone who was not influenced by Western ideology. Igbo slave traders like my great-grandfather did not suffer any crisis of social acceptance or legality. They did not need any religious or scientific justifications for their actions. They were simply living the life into which they were raised. That was all they knew."
Slave trade in the 20th Century
...Acclaimed Igbo historian Adiele Afigbo described the slave trade in south-eastern Nigeria which lasted until the late 1940s and early 1950s as one of the best kept secrets of the British colonial administration.
Working with the British
...My great-grandfather was renowned for his business prowess, outstanding boldness, strong leadership, vast influence, immense contributions to society, and advancement of Christianity. The Igbo do not have a culture of erecting monuments to their heroes - otherwise one dedicated to him might have stood somewhere in the Umuahia region today.
"He was respected by everyone around," my father said. "Even the white people respected him."
For the full article,
Source 1: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-53444752
Reddit post by Gigamon2014
"...Slavery was a massively contentious issue throughout West Africa. There was no ideological consistency with slavery as some kingdoms and tribes willingly sold slaves whilst others strongly advocated, fought and died pushing against it.
There is also the fact that the form on indentured servitude of slavery in the region differed massively from the form of chattel slavery practised in the Americas.
Even more on the unique nature of chattel slavery, from National Museums Liverpool.
Very typically British, still trying to somehow make out as if they were somehow unique in their disapproval of slavery beyond the abolition when, in reality, many kingdoms took major issue with the practice during the height of the transatlantic trade. Its even lamer when one learns that it could be argued abolition here had large strategic benefits, much like positive sentiment towards Lincoln's emancipation efforts are tempered by the fact he considered it a move to prevent direct contention with southern states and had intended to have slaves summarily shipped abroad to either Liberia or Australia. I can't exactly say I'm stunned. Never ceases to amaze me how dishonest we have become as a country. Her ancestors were skeezebags, they were considered that then are considered that now. Nigeria has dealt with the same problem for years, selfish assholes with no concept of integrity conspiring with foreign powers to fuck over their neighbours. There is nothing spiritual or traditional about it. Its just typical greed and short sighted human stupidity.
Further reading:
http://ldhi.library.cofc.edu/exhibi...natlanticworld/african_participation_and_resi"
Source 2: https://www.reddit.com/r/unitedkingdom/comments/hzydoh/my_nigerian_greatgrandfather_sold_slaves/
Bonus: My Great-Grandfather, the Nigerian Slave-Trader by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani on The New Yorker
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