THE ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF NSUKKA by Onyeji Nnaji

Also read Nsukka Civilization: The Peopling of Ancient Nsukka
One of the African homes that colonialism has completely deformed beyond certain level of recognition is Nsukka. Colonialism apart, the most affecting factor to the survival of the meaning which the rich cultural enclave, Nsukka, carries will best be blamed on postcolonial political structure. The biggest harm all these have against Nsukka as a people is that they rubbed her of the meaning of her name; their place of origin; how their fathers managed to come into their present abodes and who their ancestors were. A profound understanding of the excerpt above will open the door towards deciphering the meaning and origin of the people called Nsukka.
One of the African homes that colonialism has completely deformed beyond certain level of recognition is Nsukka. Colonialism apart, the most affecting factor to the survival of the meaning which the rich cultural enclave, Nsukka, carries will best be blamed on postcolonial political structure. The biggest harm all these have against Nsukka as a people is that they rubbed her of the meaning of her name; their place of origin; how their fathers managed to come into their present abodes and who their ancestors were. A profound understanding of the excerpt above will open the door towards deciphering the meaning and origin of the people called Nsukka.
Geographically situated at the point where the Egyptian Book of the Dead refers to as “the northern door”, Nsukka is in Northern Igbo land; it is at present in Enugu State of Nigeria. Nsukka is well located geographically. In fact, it appears to be one of the well located in Nigeria Nsukka lies between latitude 6°, 18′ and 70.00, North and longitude 6°, 52 and 70, 541 east. The place is the culture contact zone between the North and the south. This geographical proximity with Idoma and the Igala groups in the North enhances intercourse in various fields of life which subsequently affected the history of Nsukka on one hand and the Idoma and the Igala on the other hand. Nsukka shares boundaries with Idioma of the present Benue state in the North-east and Igala of the present Kogi State in the North and north-west. It is bounded on the east by Ishielu in Abakiliki zone now Ebonyi State and Nike in Enugu zone. It shares boundaries with Udi in the South and Ifite Awgwali in area of Anambra State.
The Meaning of the Word, “Nsukka”
The etymology of the name Nsukka is traced to
no other people than the very people who speak the language collectively termed
“Nsukka”. Its lexicography is traced to the history of the settling of the
Nsukka ancestors in the days of the beginning. Remarkable among the host of the
vast Igbo speaking dialect, or better put, language as a people with a set of
lexicon that differ from the various types of the same Igbo spoken by Nsukka
predecessors, Nsukka was seen as a different people in the fold of the Igbo
consort. Therefore, they were formally
called “Nsukka” following their different linguistic features. The linguistic condition
that characterised the naming of Nsukka the very name the inhabitants today
speak was founded on the fact that the version of Igbo language spoken by the
ancestors attested distinctly that the superiority the inhabitants are immersed
in proved clarity in their tongue.
Lexicographically, Nsukka is the amalgam of
two Igbo lexicons: they are “NSU” and “KA”. There is a clipping of the affricative /k/, considering
the word “Nsukka” serially by its composite letters. The first may be better translated
equivalently as the gerund (verbal noun) “Speaking”. It is also used to
explain stutter (to speak with involuntary disruption
or blocking of speech by spasmodic repetition or prolongation of vocal
sounds). Ka in the Igbo language can be used for the comparative,
“greater” or the superlative, “greatest”. Put together, Nsukka refers to the
language greater than others of its kind in terms of its restricted audience. As the
last group of the Igbo ancestors to arrive at the part of the Igbo settlement
where they have as their home presently, Nsukka was marked as the home of the
gods, considering the extent of the energy these ancestors had. Therefore,
Nsukka means a people with greater tongue.
The Origin
of Nsukka
Nsukka is traditionally called "Nsukka Igboeze". This made some historians to suggest that Igboeze might be the father/ancestor of the ancient Nsukka. But Nsukka, by this reference, does not mean ancestry. Read details of this reference from the papers captioned, Nsukka Civilization: The Peopling of Ancient Nsukka
The Igbo ancestors generally were four. They were not individually four men; they were distinctively different sets of people emerging at different times in their hierarchical positions. According to the Igbo oral tradition, the nations of people marked today as the Igbo emanated from four distinct ancestors who lived in the period which the late Adiele Afigbo referred to as the realm of “Eternal Day(s)”. There were the earliest ancestors, Eri and his wife; the second (a group), the Awka; and the third people, the Umudiala occupying the part of the Igbo land referred to the Igbo heart land. The last was the ancestors of Nsukka. These are the ancestors of the Igbo race. These different people and their different periods of emergence are referred to as different generation of people; and as the Nag Hammadi puts it,
The Igbo ancestors generally were four. They were not individually four men; they were distinctively different sets of people emerging at different times in their hierarchical positions. According to the Igbo oral tradition, the nations of people marked today as the Igbo emanated from four distinct ancestors who lived in the period which the late Adiele Afigbo referred to as the realm of “Eternal Day(s)”. There were the earliest ancestors, Eri and his wife; the second (a group), the Awka; and the third people, the Umudiala occupying the part of the Igbo land referred to the Igbo heart land. The last was the ancestors of Nsukka. These are the ancestors of the Igbo race. These different people and their different periods of emergence are referred to as different generation of people; and as the Nag Hammadi puts it,
Consequently,
four races exist. There are three that belong to the kings of the eighth
heaven. But the fourth race is kingless
and perfect, being the highest of all (Hammadi,
124-5).
Hierarchically, according to the way and time
these ancestors descended respectively, the ancestors of Nsukka were the fourth
set to descend. They made up the Igbo quadrangle that characterised the Igbo
nation. And being of the later, Nsukka was wielded with greater energy above
their three older ancestors. The Nag
Hammadi reveals that, although the three other races were great, “the fourth
race is kingless and perfect, being the highest of all”.
Outside the linguistic feature that gave them
their name, Nsukka was marked as people who had the characteristic feature of
kings. They are
kings. They are the immortal within the mortal. (p. 219).
The Formation of Nsukka City State
Every ancient document that discussed issues
connected to the development of the earliest human population on the earth
plane spoke of Nsukka, although it was not completely easy to directly identify
pinpointed(ly) the part of the world the documents referred to. To identify
this, the researcher therefore needs to get himself assimilated into the
worldview of the Nsukka by dwelling with them. It does not end there, he ought
to learn and use Nsukka dialect competitively, being absorbed into their whims.
With this he may succinctly launch himself into the world of the Nsukka to
understand how names are given, how terms are assigned values and meaning, the
purposes for which any antiquity concept was placed the way they were and why
they are hallowed even hitherto. All these cannot be known by just reading
books written by outsiders since Nsukka does not have a consolidated document
particularly designed with the purpose of sustaining who, how and what they
are.
The formation of Nsukka city states began
earliest with the assortment of the identity personalities that composed the
ancient Nsukka independently. The need for this independent assortment arose
from the desire to independently define the personalities that composed the
race known as Nsukka; the same race or generation which the Nag Hammadi explained as the “Fourth
generation. There was however no consolidated central power among the ancestors
as was found among the Nri of ancient, the inhabitants were generally gifted to
the same energy (mystic force or supernatural qualities). The first to assort
independently was Igbo-Eze. With his assortment Northward, the need for
expansion was found.
About this duo period in the history of the
ancient Nsukka, those part of the land marked out today as Opi, Edem, Obimo,
Okpuja, Ikpa, Orba, Ubollo and the rest were originally not inhabited by any
people. At this earliest time, of course, Nkanu (the descendants of Nwawuwa)
and the descendants of Agbaja were not in the territory. The border land was
far reaching east to the place where the ancient Nodo lived (the present day
Abakaliki) and south to the lands of the Umudiala. West were the Awka and the
Nri community of people. The northern parts of Nigeria were inhabited by nobody;
there was no trace of the Jukuns and the Igalas not until around 3 century AD and 5th to 7th century AD respectively. For, according to the dimension of
history, there was a moving up of the Jukun to the Afar region of Ethiopia before the final return of the Jukun in the reign of Ezana, the Aksumite king (330–356 AD) the settlement of the Jukuns should precede the peopling of ancient
Nubia (A group), Ethiopia and Egypt respectively by the “Walker Traveller,” traditionally
referred to as Ndi Ojukwu. These were
the ancestors of the Jukuns.
The main reason behind the latter spread, inhabiting of the later parts of Nsukka surrounding, was occasioned on the
discovering that such areas were laden with natural resources. Places like Opi,
Orba and many other places suddenly became massively immersed by the Nsukka
population because the areas were discovered to have iron ore which was the
need of the then society. Opi iron smelting sites prove Nsukka the foundational
home of iron smelting in the world. According to The General History of Africa, Joseph Fazing
made the following remark in the Nigerian case.
Early dates undoubtedly make the Taruga iron-smelting
furnaces the earliest ones known in West Africa until the Opi figures were
produced. Some specialists on this subject have seen them as evidence of an
independent invention of iron metallurgy in West Africa, but others, who have
studied the technical aspects of the question, have argued that this is
unlikely since, except in Mauritania, West Africa had no Bronze Age. Everywhere
else in Africa south of the Sahara, the use of iron succeeds the use of stone
for implements and weapons. Without any intermediate copper and bronze
metallurgy, it is difficult to see how late Stone Age people could have
discovered the use of iron by themselves and mastered it so quickly without any
outside influence.
Among archaeologists working in the Nigerian region,
emphasis has now shifted from the ‘diffusionist’ theory to the examination of
the actual level of metallurgical sophistication attained by a particular
group. The study of the methods of production of various iron-producing
societies can result in the clarification of certain patterns of cultural
similarities and contacts across the African continent(Origin, 33-34).
Nsukka
is a proof that, without any intermediate copper and bronze metallurgy, it is
possible for a late Stone Age people to know the use of iron by themselves and
mastered it so quickly without any outside influence. Of course, Nsukka, unlike
Nri/Igbo-Ukwu, Ife, Benin and others, developed the use of iron and mastered it
before trying their hands in bronze art which was the base of Awka. A good
example of Nsukka bronze is shown below


The reason is simple; iron was fashioned to meet the various needs of the society that fashioned it. Unlike bronze which were produced to sustain certain cultural and historical evidences of a people, iron production was fashioned to meet various social needs such as protection, showcasing of authority and levels of attainment in the society and other reasons as the Nsude/Nsukka civilization had proven to us. To meet these various societal needs, Nsukka iron production/extraction had been fashioned to indicate three different periods of that age. Therefore, to understand the Iron Age in Africa better, attention should be given to the Nsukka metallurgical units. Our claim here supports the statement above that, “Early dates undoubtedly make the Taruga iron-smelting furnaces the earliest ones known in West Africa until the Opi figures were produced.”


The reason is simple; iron was fashioned to meet the various needs of the society that fashioned it. Unlike bronze which were produced to sustain certain cultural and historical evidences of a people, iron production was fashioned to meet various social needs such as protection, showcasing of authority and levels of attainment in the society and other reasons as the Nsude/Nsukka civilization had proven to us. To meet these various societal needs, Nsukka iron production/extraction had been fashioned to indicate three different periods of that age. Therefore, to understand the Iron Age in Africa better, attention should be given to the Nsukka metallurgical units. Our claim here supports the statement above that, “Early dates undoubtedly make the Taruga iron-smelting furnaces the earliest ones known in West Africa until the Opi figures were produced.”
Iron
made Nsukka the oldest world merchants. The need for iron was everywhere alike
and Nsukka was there to supply them. This created the interwoven relationship
between Nsukka and Awka down to Nri. For as Nsukka produced the raw material,
Awka were the people who fashioned them into finished products. Igbo-Ukwu
however joined in the fashioning of iron much later. According to research, it
was discovered that Igbo-Ukwu joined in the exhibition of this skill as late as
22,000BC, meanwhile Nsukka had been found in the supply of iron around
500,000BC and beyond. It was about that same time that Nsukka civilization
started.
Expansion of Nsukka
The
extended expansion of the ancient Nsukka may be arguably believed to have
started around 7 – 5000B.C. according to historical documents. With the heavy
presence of iron smelted at Opi, iron workers from most iron interested areas
like Awka found their ways to Nsukka to engage themselves in the smelting work.
Meanwhile, more population had started to move northward towards the plateau
planes, taking refuge in caves. But previously to this time, the Walker Traveller (Ndi Ojukwu) had moved
northwards and had gone deep into the Sahara dusty plane. This population were
difficult to define, but for their feature. They were giants; and the
characteristic features of the Nri was exactly that. This was why we have
always attributed their explorations to the credit of Nri. History revealed that they founded Ethiopia
and Nubia. These were the earliest that lived in North Africa. The later
population that founded Egypt was pygmies. By this feature we know that Egypt
was founded by the Umudiala (the Igbo Heartland), while Nsukka civilized Egypt.
It is
also necessary to note that the iron prominence in Opi was not the only site
for smelting about that time. We have noted earlier that Orba also had a site
at Umundu. Another place with heavy concentration of iron smelting was Lejja.
The quantity of smelting carried out in Lejja was higher than was found
anywhere in Africa. As the needs for iron continued to be, the inhabitants did
not give up its production and supply of it. The earliest merchants of iron in
the Igbo heartland were called the Arochukwu. They were so called because of
the kind of iron tools they sold. The role involved in fashioning the iron was
very intriguing to the inhabitant among whom they were sold. To contain such
creativity believed to be beyond human, the inhabitants had referred to the
merchants as chukwu. With their products making a headword, they called them
the Arochukwu. Meanwhile the original name for the Aro was Eru. Aro were merchants from Nsukka inhabiting their current abode
which originally belonged to the Ibibio.
Prominent
among the iron workers was Agbaja who had come all the way from
the Awka collection of indigenous. Agbaja begot many sons. They include Neke,
Oshie Aniugwu, Ojebe Ogene, Ugwunye, Ezedike, and the founders of Ezeagu, etc.
As in such stories, these sons married and had children who founded towns; the
sons of the children founded the villages. By nomenclature, some of the children of
Agbaja bore names that proved due influence of Nsukka on their parents. Names
like Oshie, Neke, Ojebe and Ugwunyi for instance look more of Nsukka than they
are Awka. These are the people collectively
termed Udi local government area of Enugu state of today. Oshie became more popular among his brethren
through the legendry acts of Uto, one
of the legends that existed at his time. The monument kept in his memorial
marked the prominence for which Nsude is celebrated today.
The Modern Nsukka
Formally, some towns which today are
included as Nsukka were seen on the contrary. They include such border communities
with Nsukka as Eha Alumona, Edem, Alor-uno, Orba
and Ede-Oballa,
Obukpa, Obimo.
Other nearby towns are Enugu-Ezike, Ibagwa,
Ovoko, Iheaka, Obollo-Afor, Nimbo, Adani, Uzo Uwani and Mkpologwu, now also lay
claim to the name Nsukka. This is because they all collectively fall into the
political zoning system in Nigeria known as Senatorial Zone. Presently,
Nsukka include the following, Enugu-Ezike, Aku, Ozalla, Opi, Leja, Obukpa,
Okpuje, Ibagwa-ani, Alor-Uno, Ibagwa-aka, Ede-Oballa, Edem, Ukehe, Obollo-afor,
Obollo-Eke, Ikem, Ekwegbe, Ohodo, Uvuru, Nkpologu, Abbi, Adani, Ukpabi, Nimbo
Ugbelle ajima, Nrobu. Ovoko, Orba, Imilike, Ihe-aka, Obimo, Obollo-etiti,
Ogbodo-Aba, Mbu, Neke, Umuruokpa, lga, etc. Although most people from these
communities point towards Nsukka as their home, the main Nsukka community is
the headquarter of Enugu-North senatorial zone.
The prominence which Nsukka had through iron
smelting sprung them to fame and attracted communities in the neighbourhood to
tham. Nsukka is bounded to different people in the surroundings: Afar-Iwolo, Akaiyi,
Adada, ukpata, uvuru, Ukpologu and then reached Nsukka and Ibagwa. The
secon linked Arochukwu, Abakiliki and Eha-Amufu. Other routes were Abo
Eke-Egede, Amaozala, Nkpologu and Ogurugu routes. The important fact to note
about trade in Nsukka is that the 19th century saw flourishing prosperous
trade in the area and that traders wealth from it.
Thank you so much. This is so interesting and useful.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your observations. But you owe us a duty. Here we expect your comments mostly on the areas you feel the work did not cover. with this you indirectly oblige our team of researchers for further research.
DeleteDo also read about the Ancient Nations Civilized by Nsukka. It is our latest publication on Nsukka civilization.