A common historical fallacy which is often repeated is that all Igbo-speaking clans originated from Nri. How that theory gained acceptance in academic circles is quite surprising. The traditions certainly don’t make that claim.
In Awka, we believe that we are more ancient than Nri. Our traditions say that before the eponymous ancestor of the Nri people came from the Anambra Valley to settle in Agukwu, Awka was already an established centre of iron technology and the trade in ivory. Nri traditions would appear to admit as much. According to the legends of the Nri people themselves, when Eri their purported progenitor came down from the sky to the valley of the Anambra River, he could not settle there because the land was waterlogged. Then Chukwu, the high god, sent an Awka blacksmith with his bellows, fire and charcoal to dry up the land. Eri was only able to settle there after the Awka smith had finished his assignment. Eri was so impressed with the Awka man’s work that he rewarded him with an ọvbọ (short ritual staff) which conferred on him special claims to the smithing profession.
This legend rationalizes the relationship which existed between Nri and Awka for centuries. Awka’s prowess in metal-working was invaluable to the Nri hieratic elite. Awka smiths manufactured the metal paraphernalia of the Nri man’s priestly office, including the Ọtọnsi staff with which Nri priests claimed to cleanse abominations. The creative forces behind what has come to be known as the Nri ‘civilization’ were, in fact, three distinct social castes: First, the Nri priests who performed rituals of various sorts; second, the Ụmụdiọka body-artists who cut the intricate nobility marks (called ichi marks) on the faces of the elite; and third, the Awka metalworkers who produced objects of utilty used by both the Nri priests and the Ụmụdioka body-artists. A remarkable combine of Ụmụdioka’s artistic skill and Nri’s spirituality, backed by Awka’s technological power lies at the soul of Nri cultural greatness.
In this wise, historians have postulated that the Igbo-Ukwu bronzes (the earliest known works of their kind from sub-Saharan Africa) were made by Awka smiths working under the aegis of Nri. If indeed the Igbo-Ukwu bronzes were connected with Nri rites, as is thought by some scholars, then it is most likely that their manufacturers were Awka smiths. There is no tradition that Igbo-Ukwu ever had a caste of smiths; the nearest important centre of smithing to Igbo-Ukwu was/is Awka, less than 20 miles away. The theory that Awka smiths made the bronzes is a compelling one.
In Awka, we say: ‘Etuvbe, etuvbe gbavba a gbavba, Ọka na Nri bu ovbu, ebe-ne-ebe.’ This roughly translates: ‘If you search deeply into history, you will find that Awka and Nri are one’. The activities of both peoples complemented one another.
There is another saying in Awka – ‘Nri anara awakpo Ọka ọji’, i.e., ‘An Nri man cannot break the kolanut when an Awka man is present.’ Awka did not interact with Nri from the position of subordinates, but claimed some prerogatives over Nri, being the older town and the supplier of its powerful priests’ paraphernalia of office.
From about the 16th century, Nri hegemony began to decline. Bini political influence was encroaching on its field of operation to the west; Igala was doing the same to the north; and the destructive slave trade was developing to the south.
In Awka, the people were set to enter another crucial stage of their history.
Fig 22: ‘Surgical’ knives used by Ụmụdiọka scarifiers; made by Awka smiths.
Fig 23: An Nri ritual specialist with his Awka-made Ọtọnsị staff stuck in the ground in front of him.
