History of Trading Currencies in the Upper Cross River Region of Nigeria Before the Nineteenth Century

Chinyere S. Ecoma, Lequome E. Ecoma

Abstract


The history of the Upper Cross River Region of Nigeria has suffered neglect in the area of scholarly interest for a very long time. Until recently, the area was one of the least known in Nigeria. Early European mariners to the region cast aspersions on the culture history of the people and labelled them indiscriminately as “fragments of earlier world”, “human clusters”, and “splinter zone”. Given this lacuna in the culture history of the Upper Cross River Region, this paper is a bold attempt at documenting and articulating some coherent perspectives of the culture history of the people. Using sources in its methodology, the paper highlights the level of sophistication of the economy which existed in the area prior to the nineteenth century. It also serves to situate the history of the region in its proper context, showing that far from being a mere subsistence economy which was dormant, rigid and unprogressive, it was flexible and basically dynamic. The research concludes that contrary to the misconception of visitors to the region, the people had developed a viable and vibrant economic system which utilised a variety of currencies in exchange transactions. This also depicts the contributions made by ancestors of the people towards development in the region long before the coming of Europeans.


Keywords


Culture history; Economic system; Currencies; Development

Full Text:

PDF

References


Ade-Ajayi, J. F., & Alagoa, E. J. (1980). Nigeria before 1800: Aspects of economic development and intergroup relations. In O. Ikime (Ed.), Groundwork of Nigerian History (pp.232-238). Ibadan: Heinemann Educational Books (Nig.) Ltd.

Aggrey, G. M. (1980). The impact of colonialism on the economy of the Ekajuk, 1902 – 1960. B. A. Research Project, Department of History and International Studies, University of Calabar, Calabar.

Alagoa, E. J. (1980). The eastern Niger delta and the hinterland in the nineteenth century. In O. Ikime (Ed.), Groundwork of Nigerian History (pp.249-261). Ibadan: Heinemann Educational Books (Nig.) Ltd.

Anene, J. C. (1966). Southern Nigeria in transition 1885 – 1906. London: Cambridge University Press.

Attoe, S. D. (1990). A federation of the Biase: Origin and development of ethnicity 1750 – 1950. Enugu Harris Publishers Ltd.

Ayambi, O. (1981). An agricultural history of the Mbube C. 1850 – 1980. B. A. History Project, Department of History and International Studies, University of Calabar, Calabar.

Ejogha, F. (1984). The development of trade in Ikom local government of south eastern state, 1800 – 1945. M. Phil. Research Project, Department of History and International Studies, University of Calabar, Calabar.

Ekejiuba, F. I. (1972). The ARO system of trade in the nineteenth century. Ikenga, Journal of African Studies, 1(2), 10-18.

Esse, U. O. U. (1993). Descriptive Index to Records relating to the Economic History of Nigeria 1900 – 1963. National Archives of Nigeria, Enugu.

Eyo, E. (1979). Nigeria and the evolution of money. Nigeria: Central Bank of Nigeria.

Harris, R. (1972). The history of trade at Ikom, eastern Nigeria. AFRICA, Journal of the International African Institute, 13(2), 122-203.

Hodder, B. W., & Ukwu, U. I. (Eds.), (1969). Markets in West Africa. Ibadan: Ibadan University Press.

Hopkins, A. G. (1966). The currency revolution in south western Nigeria. Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria, 3(3), 472.

Hopkins, A. G. (1973). An economic history of West Africa. London: Longman Group Ltd.

Johnson, M. (1970). The cowrie currencies of West Africa. Journal of African History, 11, 32.

Jones, G. I. (1958). Native and trade currencies in southern Nigeria during the 18th and 19th centuries. Africa, The Journal of the International African Institute, 28(1), 40.

Jones, G. I. (1977). Native and trade currencies in southern Nigeria during the 18th and 19th centuries. In Z. A. Konczaki, & J. M. Konczaki (Eds.), An Economic History of Tropical Africa (Vol. 1): The Pre-Colonial Period (p.278). London: Frank Cass and Co. Ltd.

Latham, A. J. H. (1971). Currency, credit and capitalism on the Cross River in pre-colonial Era. Journal of African History, 12.

Majuk, S. E. (1995). Bakor nationality: A study in the evolution of an ethnic identity C. 1750 – 1963. Ph.D Thesis. Department of History and International Studies, University of Calabar, Calabar.

Meek, C. K. (1969). A Sudanese kingdom: An Ethnographical Study of the Jukun-Speaking Peoples of Nigeria. New York: Negro Universities Press.

Murdock, L., E – 4, 1958; F1 Africa; Cross River Tribes FFIA Iyala 456, 105 cited in the National Archives of Nigeria, Enugu.

Ndoma-Egba, B. A. (1972). The evolution of rural markets and their role in a developing economy: A case study of cross river village markets, south eastern Nigeria. M. A. Thesis, Department of Economics, Dalhousie University, Canada.

Northrup, D. (1978). Trade without Rulers: Pre-colonial economic development in south eastern Nigeria. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Obokon, B. (1985). Economic and social history of Mbube Clan in Ogoja local government 1880 – 1980. B. A. History Project, Department of History and International Studies, University of Calabar, Calabar.

Ogunremi, G. O. (1980). The pre-colonial economy and transportation in Nigeria. In I. A. Akinjogbin, & S. O. Osoba (Eds.), Topics on Nigerian Economic and Social History (p.102). Ile-Ife: University of Ife Press.

Olof-Johnansson, S. (1967). Nigerian currencies. Sweden: Adfa Tryok I. A. Skolgaton, Norr Kopping.

Patridge, C. (1905). Cross River Natives. London: Hutchinson and Co.

Sunstrom, L. (1970). The exchange economy of pre-colonial Africa. London: C. Hurst and Co.

Ubi, O. A. (1985). The agwagwune of the upper Cross River region. The Calabar Historical Journal, 3(1).




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3968/j.css.1923669720130905.2779

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c)



Reminder

  • How to do online submission to another Journal?
  • If you have already registered in Journal A, then how can you submit another article to Journal B? It takes two steps to make it happen:

1. Register yourself in Journal B as an Author

  • Find the journal you want to submit to in CATEGORIES, click on “VIEW JOURNAL”, “Online Submissions”, “GO TO LOGIN” and “Edit My Profile”. Check “Author” on the “Edit Profile” page, then “Save”.

2. Submission

Online Submission: http://cscanada.org/index.php/css/submission/wizard

  • Go to “User Home”, and click on “Author” under the name of Journal B. You may start a New Submission by clicking on “CLICK HERE”.
  • We only use four mailboxes as follows to deal with issues about paper acceptance, payment and submission of electronic versions of our journals to databases: caooc@hotmail.com; office@cscanada.net; ccc@cscanada.net; ccc@cscanada.org

 Articles published in Canadian Social Science are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC-BY).

 

Canadian Social Science Editorial Office

Address: 1020 Bouvier Street, Suite 400, Quebec City, Quebec, G2K 0K9, Canada.
Telephone: 1-514-558 6138 
Website: Http://www.cscanada.net; Http://www.cscanada.org 
E-mail:caooc@hotmail.com; office@cscanada.net

Copyright © Canadian Academy of Oriental and Occidental Culture