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Migration · c. 1700–1850

The Aro go out: settlements across Igboland

Arochukwu is three kindreds living across nineteen villages: Oke Nnachi, Ibom Isii, and Eze Agwu na Okwara Agwu.

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Overview

Arochukwu is three kindreds living across nineteen villages: Oke Nnachi, Ibom Isii, and Eze Agwu na Okwara Agwu. From the early 1700s, families and single traders from these villages went out along the trade routes and founded more than 150 Aro towns, wards and compounds across the old Eastern Region. Some settlements were won by force with Abam and Ohafia fighters, like Arondizuogu. Others were wards granted inside older towns, or merchant compounds beside a market. Each remembers the Arochukwu village its founder came from, and each was tied into the trade, much of it in enslaved people, that the Ibini Ukpabi oracle protected.[6],[4],[5],[7],[8]Medium confidence

Only settlements with a named founder, a date or a known role are drawn. The list of Aro towns on Wikipedia names about seventy more, in Abia, Imo, Anambra, Enugu, Ebonyi, Akwa Ibom and Benue. Points come from GRID3 settlement names.

Who took part

What happened

  1. From about 1700 · Arochukwu

    Out from the nineteen villages

    Each diaspora town was founded by a person or a group from one of the nineteen villages, and each was sited on a trade route or a farm. Nwokeji counts about 150 such communities. Some were large towns won by conquest, like Arondizuogu and part of the Ndi-eni cluster. Others were wards founded peacefully inside older towns, or small merchant compounds in a host community.[6],[5],[7]

  2. 1701–1750 · Ndikelionwu

    Ndikelionwu

    Ikelionwu Ufere comes from Ibom village in Arochukwu to set up a trading base outside the homeland, and later wins autonomy from Amaokpala and Omogho. In the 19th century Ndikelionwu is a kingdom whose kings’ influence reaches from the Ndi-eni towns to the Niger at Onitsha.[1]Medium confidence

  3. First half of the 18th century · Ndiokolo

    Okoromesi, later Ndiokolo

    Mazi Okoromesi, a merchant from Atani village, founds the town that bears his name. About 1895 it is renamed Aro Ndiokolo. Its four villages are Uhuana, Anumkpu, Obinetiti and Obinikpa.[1]Medium confidence

  4. c. 1750 · Ajalli

    Ajalli (Ujari)

    Oji Oti Eni Mgboro and his companions come from Ujari village and name the new town after it. Its four villages are Obinikpa, Umueve, Umuabiama and Amagu. With Arondizuogu and Bende, Ajalli becomes one of the strongest Aro states after Arochukwu. Nearby, Ndiowu, Ndiokpalaeke, Ndiokpalaeze and Ndiukwuenu make Orumba North an Aro country.[2],[4],[5]Medium confidence

  5. Mid-18th century · Arondizuogu

    Arondizuogu, the largest Aro settlement

    Mazi Izuogu Mgbokpo and his brothers take the land of Ikpa Ora by force, with Iheme, Izuogu’s chief servant. The town grows to twenty villages in two communities, the Izuogu and the Iheme. Early in the 19th century the warrior-trader Okoro Idozuka pushes its borders further. Today it spans Ideato North, Okigwe and Onuimo.[3],[4]Medium confidence

  6. 18th–19th century · Bende

    Bende and Uzuakoli

    Bende is the great fair of the Aro trade and one of the strongest Aro states. In the 19th century Uzuakoli rises as a rival fair and the last stop for Aro traders heading west.[4]Medium confidence

  7. 18th century · Ozizza

    Ozizza

    Aro soldiers found at least three villages at Ozizza. Afikpo and Amasiri also take in many Aro migrants.[4]Medium confidence

Kingdoms involved

Sources

Every claim carries a confidence level: high (well attested), medium (one source or approximate) or disputed (sources disagree).

  1. Brief history of Ndiokolo community. Aro News Online
  2. A Brief Profile of Ndieni Asa Communities: Ajalli. Aro News Online (cited elsewhere, not yet checked directly)
  3. Wikipedia contributors. Arondizuogu
  4. Wikipedia contributors. Aro Confederacy
  5. Wikipedia contributors. Aro people (table of Aro settlements)
  6. Unity in Diversity: A Great Gain for Arochukwu Kingdom (quoting J. K. Oji, The Kingdom of Arochukwu, on the three kindreds and nineteen villages). Aro News Online
  7. G. Ugo Nwokeji. (2010). The Slave Trade and Culture in the Bight of Biafra: An African Society in the Atlantic World. Cambridge University Press (cited elsewhere, not yet checked directly)
  8. Dike, K. Onwuka; Ekejiuba, Felicia. (1990). The Aro of South-eastern Nigeria, 1650–1980. University Press, Ibadan (cited elsewhere, not yet checked directly)