Kalabari Kingdom

Origins

Kalabari tradition tells of migrants from the central delta who settled on an island in the eastern delta and founded Elem Kalabari, known to Europeans as New Calabar. Fishing and salt making gave way to trade with the hinterland by the 15th century, and Portuguese ships arrived soon afterward.

Rule and society

The Amanyanabo, or king, ruled with the heads of wari, the trading houses that owned war canoes and absorbed slaves as members who could rise to lead them. Under King Amakiri, in the 18th century, Kalabari became a major slave port. After abolition it turned to palm oil. The Ekine masquerade society governed much of public ritual.

Decline and legacy

Rivalry with the Bonny Kingdom and a civil war led to Elem Kalabari's abandonment in the early 1880s, the people regrouping at Buguma, Abonnema and Bakana. Kalabari signed a British protection treaty in 1884 and became part of the Oil Rivers Protectorate. The Amanyanabo still reigns at Buguma.