Ijaw

The Ijaw are the people of the Niger Delta creeks, spread across Bayelsa, where they form the clear majority, and into Delta, Rivers, Ondo, Edo and Akwa Ibom. 'Ijaw' names a cluster of many distinct clans rather than a single unified people: Kalabari, Nembe, Okrika, Bonny (Ibani), Ogbia, Andoni, Opobo and Apoi among them, each with its own dialect, history and, in several cases, its own historic ruling house. Their settlements sit on islands and riverbanks in mangrove and freshwater swamp, and their historic economy was built on fishing, salt boiling, canoe building and long-distance river trade. Coastal Ijaw communities such as Nembe, Bonny, Okrika and Kalabari became powerful trading houses in the Atlantic era, dealing first in slaves and then in palm oil with European ships.

Ijaw society is organised around clans and house systems rather than a single monarchy, and water spirits occupy a central place in traditional belief, honoured in masquerades carved to be seen from the water. Since commercial oil production began at Oloibiri in Bayelsa in 1956, the Ijaw have been at the centre of Nigeria's oil politics: gas flaring, spills and lost fishing grounds prompted decades of protest, the Kaiama Declaration of 1998 and the militancy and amnesty of the 2000s. Izon is the main language, with Nembe, Kalabari and Bumo among its closely related but sometimes mutually difficult varieties.

Linguists consider Ijaw languages to form one of the oldest and most distinct branches of the Niger-Congo family in the Niger Delta, suggesting Ijaw-speaking communities have occupied the delta for a very long period, possibly several thousand years, well before the arrival of neighbouring groups. Individual clan histories vary: Bonny (Ibani), Okrika, Kalabari and Nembe each trace descent from founding migrations, often from the central Ijaw homeland around present-day Bayelsa, and consolidated into powerful city-states from around the sixteenth century, built on control of delta waterways and, later, the transatlantic slave trade and the palm oil trade that followed abolition. These city-states, notably Bonny and Kalabari (New Calabar), operated as significant independent trading powers dealing directly with European merchants, with their own kings (amanyanabo) and canoe-house systems, until British consular and colonial control was imposed in the nineteenth century.

Ijaw social organisation is built on the canoe house (war-canoe house), an extended trading and political unit historically headed by a house chief that could include family members, dependants and, in the pre-abolition era, enslaved people absorbed into the house; several houses together made up a clan under an amanyanabo (king) in city-states such as Bonny, Kalabari and Nembe, while many inland Ijaw communities were organised more simply around village councils of elders without kingship. Age grades and title societies also structure community responsibilities. Major named clans/subgroups include Kalabari, Nembe, Okrika, Bonny (Ibani), Ogbia, Andoni, Apoi, Arogbo, Furupagha, Tarakiri and Gbaramatu, among many others.

Water spirits (owuamapu) are central to Ijaw traditional belief, understood as beings who dwell beneath the rivers and creeks and are honoured through elaborate masquerade performances, such as the Kalabari Ekine society displays, carved and costumed to be appreciated when seen skimming across water. These beliefs and their associated masquerade societies remain actively practised today, particularly during clan festivals, alongside Christianity, which the majority of Ijaw people now practise.

Iria, a female puberty and fattening rite historically practised in several Ijaw communities, marks a young woman's transition to adulthood with seclusion, feeding and public celebration. Ekine (Sekiapu) masquerade societies stage water spirit plays combining carved masks, costume and dance. Fish and seafood dominate Ijaw cuisine, prepared in dishes such as fresh pepper soup and periwinkle-based stews, and canoe-building and net-making remain living crafts in many riverine communities.