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UCLA UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Governance and Ritual Sovereignty at the Niger-Benue Confluence: A Political and Cultural History of Nigeria's Igala, Northern Yoruba and Nupoid-Speaking Peoples to 1900 CE Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/99c4w9qn Author Weise, Constanze Publication Date 2013 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Governance and Ritual Sovereignty at the Niger–Benue Confluence: A Political and Cultural History of Nigeria’s Igala, Northern Yoruba and Nupoid-Speaking Peoples to 1900 CE A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in History by Constanze Weise 2013 © Copyright by Constanze Weise 2013 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Governance and Ritual Sovereignty at the Niger–Benue Confluence: A Political and Cultural History of Nigeria’s Igala, Northern Yoruba and Nupoid-Speaking Peoples to 1900 CE By Constanze Weise Doctor of Philosophy in History University of California, Los Angeles, 2013 Professor Christopher Ehret, Committee Co-Chair Professor Andrew Apter, Committee Co-Chair This dissertation provides a political, cultural, and social history of central Nigeria. The time frame spans from the initial arrival of hunting, farming and fishing communities in the fourth millennium BCE until the nineteenth century CE. This work differs from other histories in that it marks the first exploration of religious and political power dynamics of the early history of the Niger-Benue confluence region over the longue durée. The engagement of Nupe, Northern Yoruba and Igala polities with regional and global historical processes—involving the political, economic, and social transformations caused by the Trans-Saharan trade, Atlantic economy, and expansion of Islam—is of central concern. Particular attention is given to the post-1500 effects on the Nigerian hinterland brought about by West Africa’s integration into the Atlantic world system and their imprint on the production and transmission of knowledge through oral traditions, rituals and festivals. ii The dissertation revisits debates on state formation and religious legitimization of power. These findings posit a new approach towards understanding the roles that religious institutions and rituals played in early African history as well as their relationship to an agriculturally defined material basis. It demonstrates that the Niger-Benue states were long characterized by a political order that valued ownership and control over rituals as a source of power and a sign of legitimacy. The expressions of sovereignty changed throughout time in response to local and regional power shifts. Ritually based authorities, as well as the relations between them and the governing institutions, constituted the critical context for political change while at the same time preserved an archive of past knowledge, which was transmitted into the present and invoked in rituals and oral traditions in two forms: as latent knowledge with hidden meanings, and as present-oriented knowledge that is reshaped according to the heterodox discourses of contemporary political- religious factors. The dissertation engages these political-religious histories from a regional and comparative perspective with the recognition that ritual authority often extended beyond certain polities’ jurisdictions. This political-religious fluidity drove historical change in the polities of the Niger-Benue confluence region until the establishment of the nation-state in the twentieth century. iii The dissertation of Constanze Weise is approved. Edward A. Alpers Ghislaine Lydon Michael Morony Michael R. Marlo Russell G. Schuh Andrew H. Apter (Committee Co-Chair) Christopher Ehret (Committee Co-Chair) iv To my grandmother, Maria Weise, and to Dr. Ade Obayemi and Dr. Aliyu A. Idrees, two Nigerian scholars, who have been pioneers in the study of the Niger-Benue confluence regions v TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION II LIST OF FIGURES IX LIST OF MAPS X LIST OF PICTURES XI ACKNOWLEDGEMENT XII VITA XXIII 1 RITUAL AND POLITICS IN THE NIGER-BENUE CONFLUENCE OVER THE LONGUE DURÉE 1 1.1 The Study Area: A Major Geographic Region in World History 1 1.2 Ritual and Politics: Driving Forces of History in the Confluence 5 1.3 Methodology and Data Collection 9 1.4 Chapter Organization 25 2 APPROACHING THE NIGER-BENUE CONFLUENCE 28 2.1 Introduction 28 2.2 Atlantic World Connections 30 2.3 Prelude to Colonialism: Explorers, Missionaries, Travelers 35 2.4 Colonial Epistemologies 42 2.5 Postcolonial Historiography 58 3 PEOPLES AND WORDS: THE ANCIENT CULTURAL WORLD AT THE CONFLUENCE 71 3.1 Introduction 71 3.2 Methodological Considerations 79 3.3 The Ancient Cultural World of the Igala-, Yoruba- and Nupoid- Peoples 110 3.4 Correlating the Linguistic Findings with Archaeological, Ethnographic and Oral Data 112 vi 4 RITUAL SOVEREIGNTY AND GOVERNANCE: RELIGION AND STATE TO 1600 142 4.1 Transformations at the Niger-Benue Confluence 142 4.2 Unfolding the Historical Palimpsest 148 4.3 The Emergence of States at the Confluence 168 4.4 Ritual Sovereignty and the State 178 4.4. The Nupe- and Nupoid-Speaking Religio-Political Complex 185 4.6 The Northern Yoruba Religio-Political Complex 201 4.7. The Igala-Igbo Religio-Political Complex 211 5 CROSSROADS OF POWER I: RITUAL, KINGSHIP AND TRADE IN THE MIDDLE ATLANTIC PERIOD (1600-1800) 235 5.1 Introduction 235 5.3 Atlantic Societies in Dialogue: Pre-colonial Niger-Benue Regional Contact Zones in Flux 242 5.4 Nupe and Nupoid-Speaking Areas: Shifting Imperial Centers and Peripheries 256 5.5 Northern Yoruba: City States, Shifting Currents and Zones of Transition 264 5.6 Igala: Commercial Activities, Opportunities and Challenges 274 6 CROSSROADS OF POWER II: COMMERCE, POLITICS AND RITUAL IN THE LATE ATLANTIC PERIOD C. 1800 – 1900 280 6.1 Introduction 280 6.2 Nupe: Expansion of Commercial Activities along the Niger River 286 6.3 Northern Yoruba: Zones of Contested Power and Culture Contact 311 6.4 Igala: European Encounter and the Transformation of the Igala State 318 6.5 Repercussions and Prelude to a New Era 339 CONCLUSION 344 APPENDICES 351 vii Appendix I 351 Kingslists and Chronicles 379 Appendix II 381 Comparative Method Evidence: Lexical and Phonological Innovations 401 Cultural Lexical Data 405 REFERENCES 410 I. List of Interviews 410 II. Archival Sources 414 III. Bibliography 419 viii List of Figures FIGURE 1: CROWLEYS' TABLE OF LINGUISTICS DISTANCE RELATIONSHIP ................................ 85 FIGURE 2: YORUBA-ITSEKIRI STRATIGRAPHY ........................................................................................... 96 FIGURE 3: NUPOID CLASSIFICATION ACCORDING TO BLENCH ......................................................... 98 FIGURE 4: COGNATION COUNTS OF NUPOID ........................................................................................... 100 FIGURE 5: NUPOID LANGUAGE TREE ........................................................................................................... 101 FIGURE 6: OUTLINE OF NEW NUPOID LANGUAGE CLASSFICATION ............................................. 103 FIGURE 7: NUPOID STRATIGRAPHY ............................................................................................................. 127 ix List of Maps MAP 1: THE NIGER-BENUE CONFLUENCE (© FOWLER MUSEUM) 78 MAP 2: GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF NUPOID LANGUAGE GROUPS 109 MAP 3: YORUBA SUBGROUPS 316 x List of Pictures PICTURE 1: THE EMBLEM OF TSOEDE (PHOTO C. WEISE) 192 PICTURE 2 THE NDADUMA FLAG OF THE MOVEMENT FOR A NUPE STATE WITH TSOEDE EMBLEM (PHOTO C. WEISE) 192 PICTURE 3: THE CHAIN OF TSOEDE DEMONSTRATED BY THE ETSU ZUGURMA, KING OF THE NUPE SUCCESSOR DYNASTY OF THE GWAGBAZHI (PHOTO C. WEISE) 193 PICTURE 4: ETSU NUPE PATIGI, KING OF THE YISSAZHI SUCCESSOR DYNASTY WITH PALACE GUARD (PHOTO C. WEISE) 194 PICTURE 5: THE CREEKS NEAR LEAMFA KUSA WHERE TSOEDE'S BOAT SUPPOSED TO HAVE SUNK (PHOTO C. WEISE) 198 PICTURE 6: ETSU NYANKPA, CHIEF OF LEAMFA KUSO WITH TSOEDE'S ROYAL PARAPHERNALIA (PHOTO C. WEISE) 199 PICTURE 7: TSOEDE'S SACRED HARPOON (PHOTO C. WEISE) 200 PICTURE 8: TSOEDE'S BRONZE RING (PHOTO C. WEISE) 200 PICTURE 9: EGUNGUN ELEWE DURING THE EGUNGUN FESTIVAL IN ILA-ORANGUN 271 (PHOTO C. WEISE) PICTURE 10: ELEWE DURING FINAL PERFORMANCE (PHOTO C. WEISE) 272 PICTURE 11: CHIEFS OF ILA ORANGUN DURING THE EGUNGUN FESTIVAL (PHOTO C. WEISE) 273 PICTURE 12: THE ORANGUN OF ILA WITH TWO OF HIS WIVES (PHOTO C. WEISE) 272 PICTURE 13: LILLE OF MOKWA ON THE LEFT WITH UNKNOWN MAN AS PAINTED BY CARL ARIENS (© FROBENIUS INSTITUTE FRANKFURT) 290 PICTURE 14: ELO MASK GREETING LILLE OF MOKWA (PHOTO C. WEISE) 291 PICTURE 15: MAJIYA'S TOMB NEAR ZUGURMA, (PHOTO C. WEISE) 295 PICTURE 16: MAIYAKI OF ZUGURMA, TOMB GUARD OF MAJIYA'S TOMB, 295 (PHOTO C. WEISE) xi Acknowledgement This dissertation marks both the end and the beginning of a journey. Many people, whom I have met along the way, have helped in its completion. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to those individuals for their support and assistance. My interest in Africa and its history began in 1988 in the dark basements of the spinning mill in Flöha, in the German Democratic Republic, where I was working twelve-hour night shifts on the weekends during my training for a dual degree in textile technology and the German Abitur. It was there where I met my friends and colleagues from Mozambique and Angola, who had been sent to