The Great Kingdom of NRI Igboland Biafra, West Africa

The Kingdom of Nri (Igbo: 'Ọ̀ràézè Ǹrì') (948–1911) was the West African medieval state of the Nri-Igbo, a subgroup of the Igbo people.

he Kingdom of Nri was unusual in the history of world government in that its leader exercised no military power over his subjects. The kingdom existed as a sphere of religious and political influence over a third of Igboland, and was administered by a priest-king called as an eze Nri. The eze Nri managed trade and diplomacy on behalf of the Igbo people, and possessed divine authority in religious matters.

The kingdom was a safe haven for all those who had been rejected in their communities and also a place where slaves were set free from their bondage. Nri expanded through converts gaining neighboring communities' allegiance, not by force.

Nri's royal founder, Eri, is said to be a 'sky being' that came down to earth and then established civilization. One of the better-known remnants of the Nri civilization is its art, as manifested in the Igbo Ukwu bronze items.

Nri's culture had permanently influenced the Northern and Western Igbo, especially through religion and taboos. British colonialism, the Atlantic slave trade and the rise of Bini and Igala kingdoms, contributed to the decline of the Nri Kingdom.

History
The Nri kingdom is considered to be a center of Igbo culture. Nri and Aguleri, where the Umueri-Igbo creation myth originates, are in the territory of the Umeuri clan, who trace their lineages back to the patriarchal king-figure, Eri. Eri's origins are unclear, though he has been described as a "sky being"sent by Chukwu (God). He is credited with first giving societal order to the people of Anambra. Nri history may be divided into six main periods: the pre-Eri period (before 948 CE), the Eri period (948—1041 CE), migration and unification (1042—1252 CE), the heyday of Nri hegemony (1253—1679 CE), hegemony decline and collapse (1677—1936 CE) and the Socio-culture Revival (1974—Present).

Zenith and fall
Colonization and expansion of the kingdom of Nri was achieved by sending mbùríchi, or converts, to other settlements. Allegiance to the eze Nri was obtained not by military force but through ritual oath. Religious authority was vested in the local king, and ties were maintained by traveling mbùríchi. By the 14th century, Nri influence extended well beyond the nuclear northern Igbo region to Igbo settlements on the west bank of the Niger and communities affected by the Benin Empire. There is strong evidence to indicate Nri influence well beyond the Igbo region to Benin and Southern Igala areas like Idah. At its height, the kingdom of Nri had influence over roughly a third of Igboland and beyond. It reached its furthest extent between 1100 and 1400.

Nri's hegemony over much of Igboland lasted from the reigns of the fourth eze Nri to that of the ninth. After that, patterns of conflict emerged that existed from the tenth to the fourteenth reigns, which probably reflected the monetary importance of the slave trade. Outside-world influence was not going to be halted by native religious doctrine in the face of the slave trade's economic opportunities. Nri hegemony declined after the start of the 18th century. Still, it survived in a much-reduced, and weakened form until 1911. In 1911, British troops forced the reigning eze Nri to renounce the ritual power of the religion known as the ìkénga, ending the kingdom of Nri as a political power.

Eze Nri
The eze Nri was the title of the ruler of Nri with ritual and mystic (but not military) power. He was a ritual figure rather than a king in the traditional sense. The eze Nri was chosen after an interregnum period while the electors waited for supernatural powers to manifest in the new eze Nri. He was installed after a symbolic journey to Aguleri on the Anambra River. There, he would supposedly use magical powers to collect stones from under the water, undergo a symbolic burial and exhumation, then finally be anointed with white clay, a symbol of purity. Upon his death, he was buried seated in a wood-lined chamber. The eze Nri was in all aspects a divine ruler.

List of rulers of Nri

(1) Nri – Ifikuanịm 1043 – 1158

(2) Nri – Namoke (from Diodo) 1090 – 1158

(3) Nri – Buife (From Obeagụ Unified Ọfọ N’alọ Agukwu and Diodo) 1159 – 1259

(4) Nri – Ọmalọ (Uruọji) 1260 – 1299

(5) Nri – Jiọfọ 1 (Agbadana) 1300 – 1390

(6) Nri – Ọmalonyeso (Obeagu) 1391 –1464

(7) Nri – Anyamata (Uruọji) 1465 – 1511

(8) Nri – Fenenu (Agbadana) 1512 – 1582

(9) Nri – Agụ (Obeagu) 1583 – 1676

(10) Nri – Apia and Nri – Alike (both from Uruọji died the same day) 1677 – 1700

(11) Nri – Ezimilo (Agbadana) 1701 – 1723

(12) Nri – Enwenetem (Agbadana) 1724 – 1794

(13) Nri – Enwelana 1 (Obeagu) 1795 – 1886

(14) Nri – Ọbalike (Uruọji) 1889 – 1936

(15) Nri – Jiofọ II Taabansi Udene (Agbadana) 1937 – 1987

(16) Nri – Enwelana II Obidiegwu Onyeso (MFR) (Obeagu) 1988 - Present


https://youtu.be/kK4fwPgma6A



Ìkénga
While the eze Nri lived relatively secluded from his followers, he employed a group of Jesuit-like officials called ndi Nri. These were ritual specialists, easily identifiable by facial scarifications or ichi, who traveled with ritual staffs of peace in order to purify the earth from human crimes. The ndi Nri exercised authority over wide areas of Igboland and had the power to install the next eze Nri.

Areas under Nri influence, called Odinani Nri, were open to Ndi Nri traveling within them to perform rituals and ensure bountiful harvest or restore harmony in local affairs. Local men within the odinani Nri could represent the eze Nri and share his moral authority by purchasing a series of ranked titles called Ozo and Nze. Men with these titles were known as mbùríchi and became an extension of the Nri's religio-political system. They controlled the means for agriculture and determined guilt or innocence in disputes.

Both the Ndi Nri priests and mbùríchi nobility belonged to the Ikénga, the right hand. The Ìkénga god was one dedicated to achievement and power, both of which were associated with the right hand.

Tradition
Nri tradition was based on the concept of peace, truth and harmony. It spread this ideology through the ritualistic Ozo traders who maintained Nri influence by traveling and spreading Nri practices such as the "Ikenga" to other communities. These men were identified through the ritual facial scarifications they had undergone. Nri believed in cleansing and purifying the earth (a supernatural force to Nri called Ana and Ajana) of human abominations and crimes.

Year counting ceremony - Igu Aro
The Igu Aro festival (counting of the year) was a royal festival the eze Nri used to maintain his influence over the communities under his authority. Each of these communities sent representatives to pay tribute during the ceremony to show their loyalty. At the end the Eze Nri would give the representatives a yam medicine and a blessing of fertility for their communities.

The festival was seen as a day of peace and certain activities were prohibited such as the planting of crops before the day of the ceremony, the splitting of wood and unnecessary noise. Igu Aro was a regular event that gave an opportunity for the eze to speak directly to all the communities under him.

The Nri calendar is made up of thirteen (13) Lunar months namely:

(1) Ọnwa Mbụ (1st moon) starts from 3rd week in February each year.

(2) Ọnwa Abụa (2nd moon) March to April, (clearing and farming).

(3) Ọnwa Ife Eke (3rd moon) April to May (Ụganị or hunger period)

(4) Ọnwa Ana (4th moon) May to June (planting seed yams).

(5) Ọnwa Agwụ (5th moon) Ịgọchi and mmanwụ (Adult Masquerades) June-July.

(6) Ọnwa Ifejiọkụ (6th moon) Yam Ritual (Ifejiọkụ) July –August.

(7) Ọnwa Alọm Chi (7th moon) Yam Harvest (For Alụsị only) comes up August to early September.

(8 Ọnwa Ilo Mmụọ (8th moon) Ọnwa Asatọ festival (September ending).

(9) Ọnwa Ana (9th moon) Ana Ritual comes up in October.

(10) Ọnwa Okike (10th moon) Okike ritual takes place in early November.

(11) Ọnwa Ajana (11th moon) Okike ritual takes place in November ending.

(12) Ọnwa Ede Ajana (12th moon) comes up in ending of November to early December.

(13) Ọnwa Ụzọ Alụsị (13th moon) offering to Alụsị (early January to early February).




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Igboland Virginia

Greater Igbo Nation: A Search For The Lost Igbo Tribes In America

Kinship And family tie is sacrosanct to the igbo society it remains a taboo for us if we fail to forge a reunion with our brothers and sisters taken away during the Atlantic slave trade. Until the Igbos reunite under a GREATER IGBO NATION that shall extend as an empire from the omambala rivers in Aguleri including our Iduu brothers in Igala land to the shores of the Atlantic oceans in the shore of Ikwerre land across the ocean to the America's- Ifeduba ThankGod Tochukwu( July 1st 2015).

The Igbo in the Atlantic slave trade became one of the main ethnic groups enslaved in the era lasting between the 16th and late 19th century. Located near indigenous Igbo territory, the Bight of Biafra (also known as the Bight of Bonny) became the principal area in obtaining Igbo slaves. The Bights major slave trading ports were located in Bonny and Calabar; a large number of these slaves Igbo. Slaves, kidnapped or bought from fellow Africans, were taken to Europe and the Americas by European slave traders. An estimated 14.6% of slaves were taken from the Bight of Biafra between 1650 and 1900, the third greatest percentage in the era of the transatlantic slave trade.
Ethnic groups were fairly saturated in certain parts of the Americas because of planters preferences in certain African peoples.The Igbo where dispersed to colonies such as Jamaica, Cuba, Hispaniola, Barbados United States, Belize,Trinidad and Tobago among others. Elements of Igbo culture can still be found in these places. In the United States the Igbo were found common in the state of Maryland and Virginia.
Igbo people in Jamaica were shipped by Europeans onto the island between the 18th and 19th as forced labour on plantations. Igbo people constituted a large portion of the African population in slave-importing Jamaica. Some slave censuses detailed the large number of Igbo slaves on various plantations throughout the island on different dates throughout the 18th century.Their presence was a large part in forming Jamaican culture as their cultural influence remains in language, dance, music, folklore, cuisine, religion and mannerisms. Many words in Jamaican Patois have been traced to the Igbo language. In Jamaica the Igbo were referred to as either Eboe, or Ibo.
Among Igbo cultural items in Jamaica were the Eboe, or Ibo drums popular throughout all of Jamaican music. Food was also influenced, for example the Igbo word "mba ji" meaning "yam root" was used to describe a type of yam in Jamaica called "himba". Igbo and Akan slaves affected drinking culture among the black population in Jamaica, using alcohol in ritual and libation. In Igboland as well as on the Gold Coast, palm wine was used on these occasions and had to be substituted by rum in Jamaica because of the absence of palm wine.Jonkonnu, a parade that is held in many West Indian nations, has been attributed to the Njoku Ji "yam-spirit cult", Okonko and Ekpe of the Igbo, and several masquerades of the Kalabari and Igbo have similar appearance to those of Jonkonnu maskers.
Much of Jamaican mannerisms and gestures themselves have a wider African origin and an Igbo origin. Some examples of such behaviours are evident in the influences of the Igbo language in patois with actions such as "sucking-teeth" coming from the Igbo "ima osu" or "imu oso" and "cutting-eye" from Igbo "iro anya". There was also a suggestion of the Igbo introducing communication through eye movements.
Where Cuba's slaves were taken from in Africa varied over time. There were four major ethnic groups that accounted for most of the Africans brought to Cuba: Bantu, Yoruba, Ibo/Ibibio/Ijaw, and Ewe/Fon. The numbers of these peoples introduced to Cuba were:

Group Number of Africans landed in Cuba during slave trade
Bantu 400,000
Yoruba 275,000
Ibo/Ibibio/Ijaw 240,000
Ewe/Fon 200,000
Others 185,000

Ibo, Ibibio, and Ijaw: These three related groups were from southeastern Nigeria. The began arriving in Cuba around 1762. A subgroup of the Ibibio called the Efik carried over to Cuba the only African secret society to survive the passage - the Abakua secret society (which is not a religion per se.

Most black Dominicans descend from West Africans and Central Africans (almost the half of them were Kongo, with other important ethnicities being the Mandingo, the Igbo people from the regions of Calabar and Biafra, and people captured near the São Jorge da Mina castle), who arrived from the sixteenth to the early nineteenth century as a result of slavery, while many others descend from immigrants who came from the United States during the 19th century or from the Lesser Antilles during the 20th century.
The most common ethnic groups of the enslaved Africans in Trinidad and Tobago were Igbo, Kongo and Malinke people. All of these groups, among others, were heavily affected by the Atlantic slave trade. The population census of 1813 shows that among African-born slaves the Igbo were the most numerous.
According to local research, the Belizean Creoles descended from polyglot buccaneers and European settlers who developed the logwood trade in the 17th century, along with African slaves they imported to help cut and ship the logwood. The National Kriol Council of Belize says that black slaves had been established on the Central American coast from the 16th century and earlier and were working for the Spanish further down the coast. By 1724, the British too were acquiring slaves from Jamaica and elsewhere to cut logwood and later mahogany
Most slaves, even if they were brought through West Indian markets, were born in Africa, probably from Ghana (Ga, Ewe, Ashanti - Fante around the Bight of Benin and Bight of Biafra, Nigeria (Yoruba, Igbo,Efik[, the Congo, and Angola—the principal sources of British slaves in the late 18th century-. Also arrived Wolof, Fulas, Hausas and Kongos. The Igbo (known as Eboe or Ibo) seem to have been particularly numerous; one section of Belize Town was known as Eboe Town in the first half of the 19th century.

Identified Igbo slaves were often described by the ethnonyms Ibo and Ebo(e), a colonial American rendering of the word 'Igbo'. Some Igbo slaves were also referred to as 'bites', denoting their Bight of Biafra origin, and other names were used in reference to their home lands in Africa. Their presence in the United States was met with mixed feelings by American plantation owners because of their 'rebellious' attitudes to enslavement. Much of the enslaved Igbo people in the United States were concentrated in Virginia's lower Tidewater region and at some points in the 18th century they constituted over 30% of the enslaved black population. Igbo culture contributed to the creolised African American culture and is perhaps evident in such cultural vestiges as the Jonkonnu parades of North Carolina. Igbo Americans introduced the Igbo word okra into the English language.

Since the turn of the 21st century genealogy tracing by means of DNA testing is in part revealing the Igbo ancestry of African Americans, some notable celebrities including Blair Underwood and Quincy Jones.

The Igbo were affected heavily by the Atlantic slave trade in the 18th century. Igbo slaves were known for being rebellious and having a high count of suicide in defiance of slavery.In the United States the Igbo were most numerous in the states of Maryland (coincidentally where there is a predominant population of recent Igbo immigrants) and Virginia, so much so that some historians have denominated colonial Virginia as “Igbo land.
With a total of 37,000 Africans that arrived in Virginia from Calabar in the 18th century, 30,000 were Igbo according to Douglas B. Chambers. The Frontier Culture Museum of Virginia estimates around 38% of captives taken to Virginia were from the Bight of Biafra. Igbo peoples constituted the majority of enslaved Africans in Maryland. Chambers has been quoted saying "My research suggests that perhaps 60 percent of black Americans have at least one Igbo ancestor.
Virginia was the colony that took in the largest percentage of Igbo slaves. Researchers such as David Eltis estimate between 30—45% of the 'imported' slaves were from the Bight of Biafra, of these slaves 80% were likely Igbo. A so-called conservative estimate of the amount of Igbo taken into Virginia between 1698 and 1778 is placed at 25,000. The Igbo concentration was especially high in the Tidewater and Piedmont regions of the Virginia interior.
Some possible Igbo names were also found among slave records in Virginia. Names found in records such as Anica, or Anakey, Breechy and Juba may originate respectively from the Igbo names Nneka, meaning the mother is superior, andmburichi, male members of the Kingdom of Nri and Jiugba, meaning yam barn. Some had their ethnicity added to their names such as Eboe Sarah and plainEbo.

IFEDUBA THANKGOD TOCHUKWU ( A POLITICAL HISTORIAN WRITES IN FROM ANAMBRA STATE , NIGERIA)

http://ifedubatochukwu.blogspot.com/2015/07/greater-igbo-nation-search-for-lost.html

Conversation Reparations sign petition African Reparations Movement

"We the People" demand that the United Nations address the issue of reparations as it pertains to those of African descent. This mandate is embedded in both national and international law. Reparations are for the national governments allowing slavery and the racist, discriminatory practices up until the present time. The U.S. government still allows highly racists acts to be perpetuated against people of color. African Americans are at the forefront of this movement because we shouldered the brunt of these actions.

We were the ones torn from our homes and placed in the positions of chattel slavery with the express permission and backing of the laws of this government. “We the People” had nothing to do with the body of laws which, today, govern our lives. “We the People” were not permitted to participate in any legal development in our country. "We the People" are the only race of people that have been denied their rights to reparations despite the many crimes committed against humanity by the following countries and the Catholic Church: America, Israel, Spain, Portugal, Britain, Germany, Greece, Dutch, Netherlands, France, Belgian, Denmark and Rome. The laws of these countries have refused us any access to capital and/or wealth-building despite over 500 years of free labor; this means today we are trillions of dollars behind where we should be.

“We the People” deserve to be compensated and contend that the financial and psychological damage performed on African Americans by the United States in current time by not providing reparations to us, but providing it to many other groups in America: is a human rights violation.


http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/we-the-people-african-reparation-movement/sign.html

Jackson Ward(Harlem of the South) Black Wall St, Boley

jacksonward aka the Harlem he south ,Black Wall st also Known as the Black Mecca of commerce of trade this historic part of richmond virginia was one of the most prolific black economic independent part of a town in the u.s. at the time tjis area had over a period of 1888 to 1930 five black owned Banks one by William Browne , Maggie L Walker, also it was the place of entertainment and wralth clubs,grocery stores,insurance companies, barber shops, residents didnt have to leave this district four resources all black district of former slaves and free blacks...

ifa the spiritual and scientific empowerment of S.E.L.F. -Haki Kweli Shakur

" Gang Up" On oppression youth and street orgs -Haki Kweli Shakur

Vodou(Voodoo) The Misunderstanding of the universal system(Spirituality) Haki Kweli Shakur