AGBOR-BENIN SOCIO-CULTURAL RELATIONS IN PRE-COLONIAL AND COLONIAL TIMES

Abstract

Inter-group relations between various indigenous clans in pre-colonial Nigeria may have received less attention from historians and others, thus, helping to perpetuate the erroneous notion that Africans before the coming of the Europeans were isolated from one another. For this reason, this paper focused on the socio-cultural relations between two contiguous indigenous pre-colonial and colonial kingdoms in Southern Nigeria. It focused on how the social interactions between these people have affected their cultures and practices over time so that in recent times it is a bit difficult to distinguish among these different people’s cultures, languages and some of the names they bear. Some European writers believed that before the Europeans came, there was no contact or movement among the indigenous Nigerian people and by extension, Agbor and Benin. The European community has upheld these racist views in an attempt to justify their actions on the continent and in Nigeria in particular. The study revealed that, even before the coming of the Europeans, Africans were in contact with one another, they interacted through diverse means like trade, wars, and inter-marriages among others. The nature of the contact between the two groups was highlighted, focusing on their origin and culture, some of the festivals celebrated in both lands, marriage rites, and burial ceremonies. To effectively research the subject matter, the qualitative method of research was used while relying on primary and secondary sources to provide data. This research exposed not only the rich culture of these historic kingdoms but also the similarities in culture and relations that existed between the people of Agbor and Benin.