The British end Nri’s power

Overview

Nri had no army; its power was ritual. Its agents cleansed abominations, crowned titled men and could isolate a town by ritual siege, and towns across Igboland were bound to Nri by codes of taboo. When the British took over the administration of the Igbo in 1907, officials and Christian missionaries saw this ritual system as a barrier to colonial rule and to the gospel, and set out to break it. They forced the Eze Nri, Òbalíke, against an ancient prohibition, to leave Nri and appear at the native court at Awka, threatening mass killing of Igbo people if he refused; he went to save innocent lives. He was made to annul the codes of taboo and abomination that still bound the towns to Nri. In 1911, with the warrant chief system, the British forced the chiefs and town leaders to denounce the Eze Nri, and he renounced the ritual power of the ìkénga. That ended Nri as a political power. Its ritual influence shrank to the nearest relations of the kingship; the title went on as a traditional throne.^[1],[2],[3]Medium confidence

Who took part

• British colonial administration· Colonial force
• Christian missions· Came by sea
• Eze Nri Òbalíke· Defended

What happened

1. 1907 · Agukwu Nri

   The British take over

   The British extend their administration over the Igbo. Officials and missionaries see Nri’s ritual rule, and its sanctions over towns far from Nri, as the obstacle to their own.^[1]Medium confidence

2. c. 1910 · Awka

   The Eze Nri at Awka

   Under threat of mass killing, Òbalíke breaks the ancient rule that kept the Eze Nri at Nri and goes to the native court at Awka. The government anthropologist Northcote Thomas records that when he appeared, the whole assembly rose and prepared to flee: no one there had seen an Eze Nri in person.^[1]Medium confidence

3. Before 1911 · Agukwu Nri

   The taboo codes annulled

   Òbalíke is made to annul all the codes of taboo and abomination that still bind the towns to Nri: the ritual threads that held Nri’s reach together.^[1]Medium confidence

4. 1911 · Agukwu Nri

   Denounced under the warrant chiefs

   The British bring in warrant chiefs and force the chiefs and leaders of the towns to denounce the Eze Nri. He renounces the ritual power of the ìkénga, and Nri ends as a political power.^[1],[2]Medium confidence

5. 1911–1936 · Agukwu Nri

   A throne, not a power

   Nri’s ritual influence shrinks to the nearest relations of the kingship. Òbalíke reigns on until 1936; Jiọfọ II follows from 1937. The Odinani Museum opens at Nri in 1972, and a cultural revival begins in 1974.^[1],[2],[3]Medium confidence

Kingdoms involved

• Nri

Sources

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

1. Wikipedia contributors. Òbalíke (15th recorded Eze Nri, 1889–1936): forced out of Nri to the Awka native court, made to annul the taboo codes, denounced under the warrant chiefs (1911)
2. Wikipedia contributors. Kingdom of Nri
3. Onwuejeogwu, M. Angulu. (1981). An Igbo Civilization: Nri Kingdom and Hegemony. Ethnographica, London (cited elsewhere, not yet checked directly)