Igala Kingdom

The Igala Kingdom, also known as the Kingdom of Idah, Anẹ-Ìgàlá, is a pre-colonial West African state, Middle Belt, North Central Nigeria. The kingdom was founded by the Igala people,The Attah as their King, Father and Spiritual head, with its capital at Idah.Although Igala people migrated to other lands, it is believed that most if not all Igala people settled or came from Idah which is the spiritual Capital of the Igala Kingdom. The Igala Kingdom influenced and has been influenced by the Yoruba, Edo and Jukun and is likely made up of groups of descendants of these groups who settled and mixed with the native Igala populations.

Igala linguistics

( Abo-Igala= people ) (Culture=ÌCHÒLÒ/ÙCHÒLÒ ) (Ichi Igala=Igala language)

Now as for The naming of the igala it can be broken down as Iga which means a partition, blockade, a dividing wall and which Ala means “Sheep” Iga-ala became igala As for the reasons why Igala people identify themselves and their nation as this it is currently beyond known scholarly knowledge maybe due to do The idea of the people being the sheep and the state being the wall or partition that protects them.

Religion

Animism is the traditional belief of the Igala and is still practiced by many. This system of belief is predicated on an ancestral spirit system. Many communities, families, and individuals have shrines serving to worship deities and spirits. Custodians serve as medicinal practitioners, and are versed in oral traditional history and the use of herbs and plants to cure ailments. Islam is practiced by the Igala. The religion was introduced through trade with the Sokoto, Kaduna, Kano, and all the emirates and sultanates of northern Nigeria. Trade in northern Nigeria influenced many aspects of culture in Igala land with the introduction of Ajami Arabic texts. Christianity is practiced by the Igala people as a direct result of trade with Portuguese merchants through the Benin Kingdom and was expedited by the colonization of the region. Protestantism, Catholicism, Anglicanism, Baptism, as well as Methodism are amongst the forms of Christianity practiced.

Political structure

Àtá's court is known as the Ogbede with its head being known as the Ogbe or president of court the Amedibo are the Royal servants and the Amonoji are Àtá's eunuchs The symbols of power are the Royal objects oka (beads) okwu (neck-let) robe (olawoni) red-cap (olumada) and otihi (flywhisk).[1]) Ejubejuailo (The Ata's pectoral Mask) 2) Onunu-Ere (Royal Crown) 3) Unyiale Ata (Royal Umbrella) 4) Odechi / Okakachi (Royal Band) 5) Oka kpai Okwu (Royal Beads) 6) Akpa-Ayegba (The Stool)

Àtá Igala in-charge of the major Igala sacred objects, shrines and festivals

Ach'adu Chief executive Oko-Ata (Ata's traditional husband or the Prime Minister=Ach'adu)

DISTRICT OFFICERS (ONU) provincial Chiefs (Am'onu) were also in custody of their various shrines, grooves, sacred objects and festivals in their own domains. District-heads (Am'onu-ane).

CLAN HEADS (GAGO)

VILLAGE HEADS (OMADACHI)

YOUTH LEADER (OCHIOKOLOBIA)[2]

Among the Igalas The Titles of Ata and Achadu are held by only two people at the same time while The titles of Onu, Achema, Akoji, Makoji, Eje, Onoja are used by multiple people these titles may also be used as names in cases many of these titles largely relate to occupations as opposed to being just titles that are held also such as Gago which is clan leader or Onoja being head of the market even the names also used as titles such as Akoji being a representative and Makoji being a representation and substitute for the Ata or King such names are given in hopes that the child will gain that title it should also be noted that titles are rarely ever given just because of someone's wealth but more so on merit

Igala Subdivisions

Igala land has nine traditional ruling councils including the capital Idah. The nine councils each has a chief(Onuh who is appointed by religious rite through a complex system of traditional rite and proceedings supervised by the head of the council the Attah Igala in Idah.The nine councils are referred to as Igala-Mela. The nine councils are: Ibaji, Ankpa, Ajaka, Ugwolawo, Bassa, Anyigba, Dekina, Omalla, Olamaboro.

Historically, each council had varying   degrees of traditional administration which was based on tax collection from land holders, fishermen and market trade

Ata

The first "Ata", the title given to the ruler of the kingdom, was Ebulejonu, a woman; she was succeeded by her brother Aganapoje, the father of Idoko. Idoko would later succeed him as Ata, and had two children Atiyele and Ayegba om'Idoko (Ayegba son of Idoko), Atiyele the first son of Idoko migrated eastward of the kingdom to establish Ankpa kingdom while Ayegba the second son of Idoko succeeded his father as Ata'IGala. He led a war against the Jukun, which resulted in victory. HRH Idakwo Micheal was appointed as the new Ata of Igala in December 2012.[3] The position of Ata Igala rotates among four branches of the royal clan. The Igala kingdom was founded by Abutu- Eje in the 16th century. The kingdom was ruled by nine high officials called the Igala Mela who are custodians of the sacred Earth shrine, The Throne of the Ata is currently rotated among the clans of Aju Akogwu, Aju Ameachor, Aju Akwu, Aju Ocholi, Aju is meant to signify who the clan came from as being a grandfather of the clan

List of rulers
  • Abutu Eje

Independence Era Ata

  • Ebulejonu Om Abutu(f)
  • Agana poje Om Abutu
  • Idoko Om Agana poje
  • Ayegba Om Idoko
  • Akumabi Om Ayegba (Onu)
  • Akogwu Om Ayegba
  • Ocholi Om Ayegba (Ohiemi Obogo)
  • Agada Elame Om Ayegba
  • Amacho Om Akumabi
  • Itodo Aduga Om Akumabi
  • Ogala Om Akogwu
  • Idoko Adegbe Om Ocholi
  • Onuche Om Amacho
  • 1835 Ekalaga Om Ogala
  • 1835–1856 Amocheje Om Itodo
  • 1856–1870 Odiba Om Idoko
  • 1870–1876 Okoliko Om Onuche
  • 1876–1900 Amaga Om Ekalaga

British occupation era Ata

  • 1900–1903 Ocheje Onokpa Om Amocheje
  • 1905–1911 Ame Oboni Om Odiba
  • 1911–1919 Oguche Akpa om Okoliko
  • 1919–1926 Atabo Om Amaga
  • 1926–1945 Obaje Om Ocheje
  • 1945 – 23 June 1956 Umaru Ame Akpoli Om Oboni

Independent Nigeria Ata

  • 20 October 1956 – 16 July 2012 Aliyu Om Obaje
  • December 2012 Idakwo Michael Ameh Om Oboni

*f is for female

oma shortened as "om" means "child of" in igala

Names with m may have the m pronounced with a nasal nma sound but it is not frequently used in modern Igala names

History

Igala colonisation of northern Igbo states (1450 – 18th century)

The Igala mega state attained the height of its fame during the mid-17th century. The rise of the Igala mega state disrupted and contributed to the shift of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade from the Bight of Bini the decline of the Bini Empire between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The Idah-Bini war (1515–1516) was a war of mutual independence. The Igala state reached its political and commercial supremacy afterwards, when it became a leading exporter of choral beads, horses, medicine, skills and of course, slaves to the coastal region. Its growing power, nevertheless, changed the dynamics of the earlier complex relationships with several northern Igbo communities. Joseph Hawkins in 1797 already captured the relentless raiding of the extreme northern Igboland by the Igalas. In his A History of a Voyage to the Coast of Africa he noted the growing conflicts between the "Ebo Country" and "Galla". By the late 17th century, the Igalas conquered and held socio-economic, political and religious control of the northern Ibo mini-states. From Opi (archaeological site), Nsụka, Nsugbe, several Ibo communities on the [[Ọmambara River]], the lower Niger, through Okpanam to Ahaba the Igala held sway. Trading out post with Ọnicha and the Ijọ middlemen were fully established. The mythical Omeppa, Inenyi Ogugu set up garrison at Opi (archaeological site) and several Igala warlords played their part in the buildup of the Igala colonial take over of these northern Igbo states. But no other individual played a greater role in shaping Igala-Igbo colonisation during the 18th century than Onoja Oboni, the legendary Igala warrior and slave trader. Onoja Oboni's personality and heritage has been shrouded in mythical imagery over time. Ranging from being the Son of Eri, the grandson of Aganapoje to being a descendant of one of the Idah royal families; the priestly sub-clan of Obajeadaka in Okete-ochai-attah. The key areas of consensus are; he was a master strategist, slave raider and trader, conqueror, coloniser and imperialist. Added to these were his diplomacy, expansionist traits and the acculturation of conquered territories. He built himself a walled city in Ogurugu and recent archaeological findings of the remnant of the ruins of his fort on the grounds of the University of Nigeria Nsụka confirm this. The Igala soldiers built forts and fortifications that stretched from Ete down to Opi (archaeological site) and then to Anambra. Oboni's rise to power affected the history of the North-western Nsụka and the Ibo communities on the Ọmambara River and the Lower Niger during the Igala commercial and socio-cultural ascendancy and domination. This was the reinforcing of the golden age of Igala imperial expansion. In this way, Igala mega state took control and allegiance were paid. Until the decline of Igala power, the Ezes of Enugwu-Ezike, Akpugo, Nkpologu, Ibagwa Ani and Opi continued to receive their titles from Idah; investiture, installation and confirmation of their office was only by the royal blessing of Attah Igala in Idah. The Eze were only validated when they returned home with Igala choral beads aka, staff of office believed to be imbued with protective charms to ensure longevity and security of the Eze as well as prestige animal (horse) to bolster up their ego. There were also periodic royal visits to the Attah Igala to pay tributes and as well intended to strengthen diplomatic ties and inter-group relations, renew allegiance, and assured insurance from slave raids. In terms of indigenous technologies, the Igala soldiers built factories (forges) for manufacturing Dane-guns, ironworks, carving, introduced arrowheads with tip-poison from sting ray; cloth knitting, terracing of Nsụka hillsides and brought in a well developed political and social hierarchies. At this time Igala empire had become a cultural exchange hub for other emerging states; the influence was felt as far north as the Nok civilisation and down east to Igbo-Ukwu civilisation. Till date many of the Igala-Nsukka borderland remain bilingual. On the religious level, the Igala installed their own priests- the Attama- as the custodian of the dangerous Alụsị, shrine, took control as mediators between the spirit and the Igbo communities, presided over divinations and fashioned Ikenga, Okwute (ritual staffs) that combined both Igala and Igbo religious elements. The Attama thus became the major agents of Igala socio-cultural control. Several efforts to keep the Attama lineage Igala failed, eventually the priestly office has been igbonized, even though the nominal Igala identification is still predominant. Many of the northern Igbo state settlements have lineages with Igala names, cultural practices with marked Igala modification and adaptations. The use of Igala circular basket in contrast to the Ibo rectangular types persists till this day. By the turn of the 19th century, the Igala empire was too large for any reliable and robust central control. Internal decay and implosion set in. The Fulani Crusaders started contracting the Igala imperial power, conquered territories in the north switched tributes, forced or/and seceded from the Igala empire. The Bassa war added more pressure to the war-weary empire. The abolition of slave trade brought in untold economic recession. In 1914 the British burnt down Ibagwa and Obukpa as a punitive measure. By the 1920s, Igala empire was a spent force and a limping shadow, the British easily took over control of both Nsụka and the Igala territories.

The kingdom of Igala survived well into the 19th century, becoming a British protectorate in 1901.

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See also

References
  1. Becky, Ahmadu. "CHAPTER TWO POLITICAL, CULTURAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE KINGDOM 1. POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT". Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  2. eujournal.org https://eujournal.org/index.php/esj/article/viewFile/3809/3625. Retrieved 2018-12-14. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  3. "Igala Kingdom Gets New Attah". Information Nigeria. 17 December 2012.

Further reading
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