Portuguese is the citizen, native people and language of Portugal. Portugal is a country that lies on the Iberian Peninsula in South Western Europe facing the Atlantic Ocean, borders with Spain.
Most Portuguese are Roman Catholics and Christian warriors. The Portuguese Seamen, from the Fifteenth century opened up sea routes throughout the World and founded many colonies.
In about 1472 C.E., the first Portuguese came to Benin the Edo people, who called themselves, their language, their capital city and their kingdom EDO.
The Portuguese seldom spoke the language and so both often miss-understood themselves.
Events were put into plaques where information about the past were kept and in the other ways officials in the royal court learned by heart what was important. These facts might be handed on for generations while ordinary people told stories of the past but many things may be left out or just forgotten.
Europeans who came to Benin sometimes wrote about it. Contact with Europeans mattered very little to Benin. The Benin officials on the coast spoke Portuguese to visiting traders and were known by the Portuguese title ‘fladors’.
It was said that the Portuguese built chapels of knowledge — Owa Iruemwin (Itaemwin) in Benin City where the teaching of literacy was attempted.
The schools were built as more Portuguese Priests became available to man the chapels.
Christianity is a literate religion of how to read, write and recite. The Portuguese made the effort to bring the gift of literacy to Benin, under the guidance and encouragement of Oba Esigie.
Oba Esigie incorporated into the palace rites, many of the usages of the Roman Catholic Church.
The Maltese cross with its four limbs of equal length was the cross the Portuguese brought to Benin, was adopted as a palace Motif and can be seen reproduced on the ADA, the state SWORD of the Oba of Benin.
It is also liberally reproduced in coral, on the helmet and other regalia of the monarch and his Chiefs
The Maltese cross is the Logo name of the most venerable order of knight of Saint John International, as it follows from the ancient history of knights of St. John (Hospitaliers) of Jerusalem.
The eight (8) points of the cross symbolizes the eight (8) beatitudes and the concept of those duties linked to the teaching of Jesus Christ in demand for happiness of the highest kind, for purposeful charity and care for the people.
The morning and evening Mass said in those days by priests in the Oba palace chapel continue to be celebrated nowadays, especially the vespers called the evening mass which metamorphosed into the daily Eguae-maton ceremony, the ceremony of the evening mass.
Oba Orhogbua was educated outside Benin in the Bishopric of the off-shore Island of Sao Tome, and later in the metropolitan capital of Lisbon before he ascended the ancient Benin throne.
The Edo calendar consisted of an un-ending series of ceremonies directed towards the assurance of the corporate health of the people and the sustenance of the overall good of the land, as having everything needed for the ensuring of the spiritual health of the kingdom.
Christianity had made redundant all the other belief systems, previously worked out by the people for securing the same purpose.
The work of the Catholic Missionaries made progress and thousands of people were baptized. The missionaries went with Oba Esigie to Idah war which took place in 1515-1516 C.E.
On a letter written to the king of Portugal on 20th October 1516, a portion of it reads “At the end of the year, in the month of August the king of Benin ordered his son and two of his greatest noblemen to become Christians and built a church Aruosa, in Benin.
They learnt how to read and did it very well”.
Oba Esigie encouraged and improved the brass work. He introduced “Iweuki”
Astrology for the study of Moon phases. The Oba could speak and read the Portuguese language. He made the worship of God “Aruosa” a state religion.
Chapels were built in towns and villages. He made the native fast and abstinence
“Ague” a royal ceremony.
Some of the Portuguese words entered the Benin vocabulary and the vernacular such as: Ikpotoki for a Portuguese. Alimo for Limoes Portuguese word for an orange. Amoko for hammock — a cloth hung as a bed or couch. Ekalaka for caneca-a tumbler; Ekuye for colher- a spoon. Eforhiyen for forinha-Fermented dried cassava (ekpukpu Igari). Esara for sieria — Saw; Etianran for teada — trader of silk (Esiliki) Etuheru for Tesoura — a scissors. Epipa for pipa-A keg, a barrel, Isahen for chaven-a key. Itaba for tabaco-tobacco. Olima for Lima-a file (for burnishing) Ama for hammer Esete for plate, Akpakpava for Papa via etc and the missionary code of dressing also entered Benin Culture.
The magic of being able to read and write had been introduced into Benin among the royals and noblemen and had proved proficiency in it. The cap-a-pie, from head to foot worn by Queen Idia, as a warrior depicted in one of the bronze works of the ancient Benin art refers to the arming dress-uniform of the ancient Catholic Knight; the Christian soldiers.
The Portuguese had seen an African Kingdom rising to the height of its power and by the end of the seventeenth Century Benin controlled the whole of the coastline of Modern Nigeria, from Lagos in the West to Calabar in the East. The Benin inland armies, helped to found the great trading city of Onitsha on the River Niger, and were claimed as founders by many Igbo clans.
The Portuguese were coming less often to Benin, after Vasco da Gama opened the trade routes by sea with India in 1497. The warehouse which the Portuguese had built on the Benin River was closed. The friars were disappointed to find that their converts were just as unwilling to give up their old deities as they had been willing to accept the God of Christianity.
Nevertheless, Portuguese and later English and Dutch ships continue to come each year to Benin. They brought the brightly coloured cloths of silver, red, gold that was so popular in Benin.
The fine cottons and linens, the glass wares, the coral, the brass-bracelets-Manillas that could be used as money or be melted down by the Brass-smiths; Iron bars, mirrors, glass, beads and cowries shells that were accepted as money in market places throughout the West Africa.
The Europeans bought from Benin, cotton cloth which could be sold any where along the coast. Most of the cloth dyed and patterned-designed blue was woven in Benin, though some came from further inland.
There was a profitable trade in Ivory, in pepper and in the blue cowry beads, which were said to have been dug out in the interior.
Although Benin trade was a prosperous one, the kingdom had little to do with the world outside Africa. The Oba refused to allow male slaves to be sent out of his country.
In four hundred (400) years after D’Aveiro’s had visited Benin hardly any Europeans ever reached the City, only rumours of its affairs reached the coast.
The Benin officials spoke Portuguese to traders and used their words to identify their wares and so the English, Dutch and Portuguese henceforth enhanced the Edo vocabulary such as Ikobo for a copper, Isele for a shilling, Ikpon for a pound (monies) and nowadays the Portuguese words are vernacular in Edo Culture.
Reference Note:
Bacon, R.H. 1897 Benin: City of Blood, Arnold, London.
Bacon, R.H., 1925, A Naval Scrap Book First Part 1877-1900, Hutchinson and Co.: London.
Baikie, W.B., 1856, Narrative of an Exploring Voyage up the Rivers Kwo'ra and Bi'nue in 1854, London.
Baker, G.L.,1996, Trade Winds of the Niger: The Saga of the Royal Niger Company 1830-1971, Radcliffe Press: London.
Baker, R. St. B.,1928, Silvicultural Experiments at Sapoba, Empire Journal of Forestry, 7, 2.
Baker, R. St. -B., 1949, Magie au Benin, Revue de Paris, LVI.
Baker, R. St. B., 1954, African Drums, New York: British Book Center.
Balfour, Henry, 1903, Thunderbolt Celts from Benin, Man, 3.
Balfour, Henry, 1910, Modern Brass casting in West Africa, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Society, 40.
Barbier, J.P., (ed.), 1992, Art Royal du Benin - Royal Art of Benin, Bulletin published by the Friends of the Barbier-Mueller Museum, special issue June.
Barbot, J., 1732, A Description of the Coasts of North and South Guinea, (ed.) Churchill, A., A Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol.5, London.
Barkan, E., 1994, Review of Royal Art of Benin: The Pearls Collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art by K.Ezra, Museum Anthropology, 18, 1.
Barkan, E., 1997, Aesthetics and Evolution: Benin Art in Europe, African Arts 30, 3.
Barker, C., 1997, World's of Yesterday: An Oba of Benin, Addison-Wesley Reading: M.A..
Barley, N., 1993, Exhibition on Benin Art, London, British Museum.
IJAW ANANOLOGY ON BENIN HISTORY BY NGOGO TUBO
ReplyDeleteMORE ON EDO / BINI HISTORICAL FALLACY .
Usman Dan Fodio was born in December 1754, Maratta, Gobir
This means Islamic and Arab civilization came to Southern Nigeria perhaps in the 19th century some where around 1800 because it was the Sultan's Jihad that brought Arabic and Islamic culture to the South of Nigeria . If Bini people had contact with the Arabs it would be in the 19th century and nothing close to the 14th, 15th, 16th , 17th or 18th century.
It means the Bini were still naked at before that time .
They had claimed having contact and traded with the Arabs as early as the 15th century before they met the Portuguese . Which Arabs did they trade with ?
If actually Bini had an army before the 19th century, what was the uniform of their army and what weapons did they use ? What vehicles did they also use to reach all the places they claimed to conquer including Lagos, Ile Ife, Iddah and the whole of Ondo ? By what means did their army march through the thick rain forest to such far places ?
They claimed to have traded with the Portuguese from the early 15th century to the 19th century when the English destroyed them. That is some 300 yrs of contact .... 300 years of Portuguese contact before meeting the English would make the Edo or Bini speaking Portuguese and having standard Western civilization .
How did the Portuguese trade with the Bini when the Bini do not have any water way to and are not known to be sea dwelling people.
I mean if a Portuguese explorer TODAY meets any tribe and write about them, It would not mean the tribe had contact with Portuguese traders in the 15th century .
Extensive trade with a people for 300 years would have a lot of evidence to tell. The Bini do not have any Portuguese trait to prove their 300 years contact with the Portuguese.
Today the Bini has adopted the word BENIN just to claim the fame of the DAHOMEY who were also known as BENIN and spelled so by the French .
It was the French and not the Portuguese that called the coast of Lagos Bight of Benin and that of Calabar as Bight of Biafra .. Benin was named after the people of DAHOMEY who are the real BENIN PEOPLE while Biafra was named after the tribe of Mafra also known as BAFRA in Cameroon .. The French never had no contact with the Edo cos the EDO were never anywhere close to the coast .
The name the Portuguese called the Coast of Nigeria was Gulf of GUINEA .
Bini was so not important that even the ROYAL NIGER COMPANY never had a base in Bini . It would not cos in those days only settlements by the coast or a navigable river were the favorite places for foreign companies to station.
And so the English were astonished to see such an ISOLATED settlement to have such artistic culture especially with Bronze. If the English had an idea that Bini had traded with the Portuguese , the artifacts of Bini would not be surprising . Numerous European goods and products would also be found at homes of prominent BINI merchants who traded with them.. Such Portuguese artifacts are every where in Ijaw towns and cities .
There are no real evidence of Bini having contact with the Dutch or French .
This link would explain how the Ijaws had contact with the Dutch and formed the Berbice Dutch creole that also lead to the pidgin English we speak .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PH1TvEE8Vw&t=76s
A people who were / are not near the coast and who do not have the culture of River or Sea navigation would have no opportunity of meeting the Portuguese when they arrived ... The truth of the matter is, in the 19th century some Portuguese explorers had also visited Bini as tourists . Such visits would also not be termed as 300 years of trade contact .
A CLASSICAL RESPONSE BY SAMUEL IGBINOSA NOMAMIUKOR
ReplyDeleteMore of ijaw fallacy the dutsh map of 1704 did not contain any ijaw kingdom and then if the dutsh had contact with the ijaws how come ijaws was never in that map, in 1885, 60 british workers were captured by the king of nembe 40 was eating which led to the british invasion of nembe it means that as of that by the 19th century the ijaws were uncivilized practised cannibalism which benins never practised, if ijaws had contacts with the dutsh what is the name of the dutsh explorers that had treaty with them? What is the name of the dutsh historian that wrote about the ijaw, where are the treaties and which trading company? To proof that benin had contact with the dutsh at ughoton there is the dutsh trading company and there is egedegbe house built by the dutsh, in 1702 the dutsh historian david van nyandael visited benin empire and wrote about benin and obtain permission to measure oba of benins palace and he wrote the obas palace is bigger than amsterdam, secondly the portuguese came before the dutsh and benin had contact with the portuguese far back as 1472 through ruy de sequrra, benin had an embassy in portugal far back as 1495 with ohen okun of ughoton as benin empires first ambassador, while jao alfonso alvero was the portuguese ambassador to benin empire all these and benins trade treaties with the portuguese can be found in the journal of african history, also the fulanis are not from magreb and there are not arabs, the fulanis are from juta jalon and there are not even north africans there are afro asiatic race and not arabs, this alone shows how illogical you are and your level of intelect and reasoning, the arabs of north african extraction first made contact with benin and traded in gold, ivory and artifacts which attracted the portuguese and european explorers the 1595 abraham ortelius map of africa attest to this, the english were the last in 19th century
it was ruy de sequerra who visited benin empire in 1472 that called lagos lagoon de coramo, and these can be found in journal of african history. Colonial records, lagos belongs to the binis/under benin kingdom report from the select committee on africa(western coast) volume5 by the house of commons june 26 1865 . Kikikiki narration without referencies and citations is nothing but falsehood. The link i presented is all about benins contact with explorers including the portuguese, benins history, the history of oba ewuare the great and with referencies and so you lied. See www.acedemia.edu/1542339/study of benin and portuguese trade relation . Also see video https://youtu.be/qDzU7Ega2R8
Your illiteracy have been exposed and your land grabbing act have been uselessed, www.alabamamaps.ua.edu/historicalmaps/africa/ . You did not watch any of those videos and is not a doctored youtube video like yours without a single citation and referencies but an aljazeera documentary who was the historical narrator, if i may ask? . In that documentry it states benins traded with portuguese, dutsh, and english, you must be smoking stove dust. That documentary was made in the 21st century .. Saying so without evidence makes it a Tale . Without evidence indeed but aljazeera cited referencies from explorers and historians like ling roth and olfert dapper and your youtube was doctored without a single reference and all was situated around the british. Alan ryders benin and the european was also written in the 21century abi?
This is the record of benins empires trade and relation with the portuguese from the 1400s kept by portuguese explorers and also contains the conversation between benin ambassador to portugal sent by oba of benin with king D Jodo of portugal http://www.medievalarchives.com/2010/09/25/medieval cross influence of ancient benin culture
Oil rivers that is during the british era and certainly 19 century and so ijaws civilization started in the 19th century and oil rivers is not soley ijaw land i have a copy of the letter of rivers chief to the queen of england those were treaties entered into with the royal niger company not for trading but to aquire thier land and oba ovonramen of benin never sighned such nonsense treaties with the royal niger, we deal direct with the source which are the portuguese, dutsh and english, this alone shows your level of literacy. Go and read alan ryders benin and the europeans and digest on it also.
ReplyDeleteRead robin walkers history of benins kingdom and you will see the letter oba esigie wrote to king dom manuel of portugal 20th december 1514 and his response to oba esigie and how portuguese missionarries accompanied oba esigie to the idah war, 1619 the portuguese explorer lorenco pinto refered to benin, as great benin kingdom, the palace where the king resides is larger than lisbon the roads runs straight far as the eyes could see. 1702 David van nyandael the dutsh historian wrote about benin and dutsh trade with benins. 1682 the roman catholic priest and missionarriy jerome morella da sorrento wrote about benin kingdom, 1651 urbanus cerri wrote about benin kingdom, in 1836 captain crow hugh of liverpool wrote about benin kingdom, and before then ling roth wrote about benin kingdom, the 1705 dutsh map of africa has benin kingdom, the 1570 map of africa by abraham ortelius which is the standard map of africa has benin kingdom, 1827 map of africa by anthony finlay had benin empire, the 1644 map of africa drawn by italian, portuguese and english explorers has benin empire, the map of negreo land has benin empire, the ancient map of roman empire showing kingdoms in africa showed ubini kingdom/benin and next to benin was the kingdom of jabus/ijebu and the 1907 map titled new and exact map of guinea by sir alfred jones shows benin as a kingdom and as a territory, and so your ijaw is no where to be found in ancient history and maps. To further expose your historical falsehood, in 1956 the conference of rivers chiefs and people wrote to the then colonial masters (CO554/1121) by the terms of those instrument neither her majesty the queen nor our for bearers both parties to those treaties, had any last intention that our rivers country, our market and our entire territory should be ruled by a govt which has its headquarters at enugu or ibadan or lagos. And so you lied those oil rivers treaties were based on lands and wasnt soley ijaws in todays river also other ethnic groups.
And those oil rivers treaties was during the british colonial era and with the royal niger and hence 19th century and it was the ethnic groups that make up todays rivers that sighned those treaties and wasnt soley kalabaris, and has no connection with trade treaties but with handing thier territory over to the british and the royal niger company and also it has no connection whatsoever with the dutsh and so you lied, the dutsh trading company is at ughoton/gwato during thier trade with benin empire to start with, egedegbe house in ughoton was built by the dutsh in benin empire.
They are all ijaw kingdoms, and so ogoni, ikwerre, ekpeye, etche etc are ijaw? ijaws now own the entire rivers, isorite, ijaws? I dont need to read your questionable posts these days, besides i read about the oil rivers treaty and so i know what I am talking about and its different from the 26 january 1836 trade, friendship and protection treaty the ijaw communitties entered into with the british at bonny with lieutenant robert tyron on behalf of the queen of england and these are the names of the ijaw communitties and territories, augalabiri,angiama,sagbama,odianni,ogbene,akassa,midleton,bonny,ogolornoa,obika, and opobo and so digest on that and ijaws only became known during the british era of 19th century and which led to the abduction of 60 british workers by the king of nembe and nembe in 1895 and 40 were eating which led to the british invasion of nembe in that same 1895. The oil rivers treaty is different from the royal niger companies treaty and are different from the british treaties, and so something is wrong somewhere, there is distortion of facts see the contents of the 1884 and 1894 trade and protection treaty between the itsekirri of western niger delta and the british by peter ekeh PhD
ReplyDeleteBishop Ajayi crowther, an anglican bishop was the 19th century and the british colonial era. he was an ex slave and the grand father of hebert macauley and so your ijaw civilization and evolution started during the british era 19th century, and take a look at your level of reasoning we are talking about the holy aruosa church built by oba esigie in 1517 with the portuguese and handed over to oba oreoghene by pope piusXVII in 1692. I think its high time i stop responding to your frevolities and illogical argument.
And so your 19th century boat giving to you by the british to run illegal piracy and slave trading till the british banned slave trading and arrested you and aros then for trading on slaves is why you are making all this noise, go and figure out how benins traded with gold coast people which is todays ghana even the oba of lagos mentioned this, even pre dynastic lagosians habitat and theories of migration by R O ajetumobi mentioned this, aworis ferried benins, same with itsekirris, this alone prove that your ijaw was nothing but a clan and not an organised unit or an empire, because you never had an empire to start with.
ReplyDeleteOba orhogbua was the first african graduate of the maritime university portugal, and oba orhogbua of benin established eko the port for trans atlantic trade, and in your own sense benins never had boats, oba ado of lagos the first oba of lagos was oba orhogbuas son, benins where attending portuguese universities far back as 1495, all these can be found at the portuguese museum of geographic history and benin empire had an embassy in portugal far back as 1495 with ohen okun of ughoton as benins empires first ambassador to portugal even the portuguese had its ambassador to benin empire, jao alfonso alvero and benin as of then has a national flag and so in your own reasoning benin empire wouldnt have aquired ships and gun boats from the portuguese. Who is ijaws ambassador to portugal and who is the portuguese ambassador to ijaw?
Finaly let me now break your back , the pope his holiness sent emyseries to benin empire to oba ahenzae to help strengthen the hold of christianity in the coast of africa from the strangle hold of islamist jihad, which oba ahenzae oblidged and benin empired was given that role in the gulf of guinea, in 1692Ad pope pius xvii visited benin empire and personaly handed the holy aruosa church to oreoghene of benin empire and oba oreoghene/oghene lent his name to guinea for guinea was formely called oghene coast after oba oghene of benin and oba oghenes mum is urhobo. Napoleone beonaparte emperor of france approached oba akengbuda of benin empire to be his ally in securing the coast of africa from the british which oba akengbuda refused and that alone is proof that benin empire had boats.
Also the chapel of knowledge owa irruemwin(itaemwin) benin city, built by the portuguese and was also a place meant for teaching literacy, the maltese cross used in benin, which is the logo name and symbol for the most venerable knight of saint john of the roman catholic church, given to benin empire by the pope and the catholic church in recognition for benin empires effort in fighting the spread of islamist jihad in the coast of africa and west africa in general and strenghtning chritianity, a replica of this logo can be found in the ada and eben and in helmets and regalias of the oba of benin and chiefs, with these facts, i end it here