Benin Kingdom Research Articles

An Ethnographic and Space Syntax Analysis of Benin Kingdom Nobility Architecture

The Benin kingdom is noted for its sophisticated brass art, large earthwork system, and complex political hierarchy. The kingdom style of nobility architecture has endured for hundreds of years, and a few structures may still date to ca. ad 900–1200. The complex floor plans of these large compounds appear to be based upon traditional kingdom social organization that is fast changing, however. Since most structures are still residences, some renovated, a study utilizing both ethnographic fieldwork and the technique of space syntax analysis proved useful to examine historical room meanings and functions and room access. This paper discusses a particular World Heritage site, Ogiamien’s Palace, and other Benin kingdom chieftaincy sites. It describes the symbolic and ritual meanings of residential room use and room plans that on observation show seemingly wide layout variation. The results of the cultural analysis are then compared against the permeability plans and the quantitative formulas of space syntax analysis, to confirm the traditional social nature of spatial use in chieftaincy palaces of the former kingdom and suggest an adherence to an underlying ideological paradigm. This paper takes the additional step of employing the software GraphPad Prism to determine real correlations among calculated values; the results indicate a strong cognitive consistency of design and use for the structures over time in spite of visible layout variability.

Comparative Analysis of Traditional Institution to Democratic Stability in Nigeria

This paper presents a comparative analysis of traditional institution for democratic dispensation in the 21st century. Nigeria nation, more than anything else, the greatest obstacle to the nascent democracy is the pervasive insecurity of lives and property as evidenced by the spate of armed robbery attacks, political assassinations, power distribution coupled with the seeming helplessness of security agencies to handle criminal acts. The situation is worsened by the increasing number of unemployed Nigerians some of whom are ready recruits for criminal activities. The above statement from an editorial comment by a national daily in Nigeria indeed, epitomises the central focus of this paper, the aim of which is to analyse the nexus between democratic nurturing, sustenance and eventually consolidation vis-a-vis the battles with one of the major ills of Nigeria nation. Fifty one years after Independence, Nigeria still battles with one of the major fall-outs of democratic dispensation, the politics of trying to appease all sectors of the polity. This paper highlights and assesses the nature, quality and value of particular issues and matters that have dominated the Nigerian federal polity which have created untold unpleasant experiences and pains at one point or the other since independence. The Benin Traditional Council is an offshoot of the Benin Central Council and the institution seems to be unknown to many people who are not close to the Benin Traditional System and consequently, the functions of the Council in the traditional administration of Benin Kingdom remain vague to such persons. Such issues include the establishment, existence, coverage and functions of these very important institutions of Benin Traditional Council are similar to the functions being performed by the Council of State in the contemporary Public Administration for the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The paper painstakingly appraises many of these issues and concludes that all stakeholders in the federal policy should thread softly, be objective, rational, altruistic and magnanimous in order not to make the existence of true federalism (social, political and economic cohesive existence of the people, peace and tranquillity) a fleeting illusion and a mirage. It also focused on critical analysis of the problem of power distribution, the kind of crisis it has generated and the kind of measure that can ameliorate the ugly trend.

Iconoclash or Iconoconstrain: Truth and Consequence in Contemporary Benin B®and Brass Castings

In his introduction to the exhibition catalogue Iconoclash Bruno Latour (2002) questions the (art) historical narrative of modernity and turns it into a matter of doubt. What happens, he asks, if iconoclasm is not a definite dividing line between those who commit the hideous act of breaking images and those who don’t? What if we are all iconoclasts and what if we only differ by the motives and attitudes we have towards images?1 Fiddling with Latour’s questions allows for a blast of fresh air into the study of Benin art, especially for gauging the extension of the boundaries of traditional brass-casting in the onceupon-a-time or forever-and-a-day Benin kingdom. Here I look at Latour’s questions as they relate to Benin’s brass-casting over the past hundred years. I argue that both the Benin palace and Western art historical scholarship indulges in iconoclastic gestures. Just as art historians think of 1897, the year British troops looted the Benin palace and deprived the kingdom of many of its artifacts, as a date which has changed artistic productions once and forever (the conceit of a pre-1897 art heritage and a post1897 kitsch consequence) the palace focuses on 1897 in order to brand Benin art as an eternal reference to the past/heritage and to justify demands of repatriation. The removal of palace objects after the punitive event made the date real and artificial, historically accurate and art historically strategic, at the same time. The documented barricade disarticulates the post-1897 production of cast objects from pre1897 castings, creating a dichotomy between categorizations— Euro-American aesthetics and art trade vs. Benin civic efficacies and power memory objects—and in the end constitutes an intellectual dissociation. The date disenfranchises twentieth century Benin castings at the same time that it adds substantial worth to pre-boundary objects. One has somehow to deconstruct the border crossing between classical Benin art and contemporary Benin art as exemplified by the temporal cutoff. The difference in merit/value between an object made in the 1890s and, say, another made ca. 1900–1920 is in the perception of the commodity as dictated by the date. Scavenging canonical castings result in few pickings these days, and a change in the academic weather makes a paradigm shift likely. Ironically, now that the twenty-first century is here, art historians are researching twentieth century Benin cast objects, true to their calling.2 As one examines twentieth century brass-casting, the absence of documentation is striking. Not until the latter decades of that century has attention turned to acknowledging the production of one hundred years, such as Philip Dark’s An Introduction to Benin Art and Technology (1973), but even here the study of casting techniques sought data not to examine twentieth century objects, but to understand the classical corpus, as in Dark’s earlier Benin Art (1969). It raises, Sylvester Ogbechie says, “the issue of how to theorize Edo-Benin art in the era after the end of its ‘history’” (2007). The cultural contours of Benin City in landscape, ideology, hierarchy, and social formations have also infected art historical interests in directing the studies of classical sculptural production in the Ẹdo (Bini) Kingdom of Benin to acquisitions removed from the palace in 1897. An art historical myopia inci-

Afrykanika z kolekcji Aleksandra Wernera w zbiorach Muzeum Uniwersyteckiego w Toruniu

Article presents African collection donated by Alexander Werner (1920–2011), polish painter, sculptor and graphic, to Nicolaus Copernicus University in 2004. Werner lived in London since the end of II World War, when he created the rest of his life. All inheritance of the artist is University Museum in Torun. The introduction outlines the memoir of the artist. The second part of the text is characteristic batch of African objects. The collection includes: sculpture of ivory from Kingdom of Benin (Fig. 1); wood and small figure Ibeji, “image of twins”, form the Yoruba people of Nigeria from the Ivory Coast; (fig. 2); two dolls Akua’ba – wooden ritual fertility dolls from Ghana of Ashanti people (Fig. 3–4); the Antelope headdress Mask “Chi-wara” of thr Bamana people of Mali (Fig. 5); miniature “Passport Mask” whitch is a small portrait human face of Baule People (Fig. 6); paintedgourds Turkana Tribe of Norden Kenya, headrest Kambatta people of Ethiopia (Fig. 7) as well as five of pottery from North Africa.

Constituency Control of Legislators: Lessons from Nigeria

It has been argued that it is ‘rather curious’ to claim that societies without a modern system of government have no government: ‘It is a rather curious hypothesis to advance that because these societies lack modern government paraphernalia, they lack government of any kind.’ It would be rather absurd to say that the pre-colonial societies that constitute present-day Nigeria or any other African country did not have some form of constitutional arrangement or another, by whatever name it might have been known. It must be added that early Western education and military might were the only advantages that those societies lacked to advance their own cause, political ideals, ideologies and constitutional norms. In pre-colonial Nigeria there were the Sokoto Caliphate, Bornu Empire, Benin Empire, Oyo Empire, the Calabari and other societies. These territorial frameworks had their own systems of government, whether emirate or kingship, which were quite functional and satisfied the needs of their people, though there may have been a need for reforms. Some, if not all, of these empires, kingdoms and societies had their own constitutional arrangement, the executive, legislature, judiciary and system of control, whether political or constitutional. No matter by what name they were called and administered, the most important thing was that they had a system, which functioned well until the ‘protectors’, who wanted everything their own way, found otherwise. However, traditional African societies had their legislative process, which was identical in structure and form. Although the king, Oba or the chief was the traditional paramount ruler, he was usually assisted by the council of chiefs in decision-making. For example, it is recorded that the Oba of Benin met frequently with his council of chiefs to take decisions. These decisions were binding on all his subjects. According to Bradbury, while writing about the Kingdom of Benin:

Tourism and Facilities Development in Three Art Traditions of Benin Kingdom

The three traditions of Bronze casting, wood carving and the royal costumes have given an endearing identity globally to the ancient city and kingdom of Benin. Yet, the bronze casting and wood carving traditions have not received as much encouragement from the government and corporate organizations as they have continued to receive from the royalty, nobility, diplomats, pilgrims, business visitors, researchers and all travelers who, meaning to return, travel in the capacity of consumers of these works of art rather than producers of them. On the other hand, the royal costumes worn by the monarch, his chiefs and nobility are beautiful sight to behold during the major ceremonies involving the palace especially the Ugie (an annual ceremony of the Oba). This ceremony attracts a lot of dignitaries and tourists. The plastic art works to a large extent form part of the airport or tourist art of the locality which are original in style, customized with unique group identity that are properly finished to international standard. Thanks to the symbiosis of the use of traditional and modern tools and equipment. Sadly, the government has failed to realize the full potentials, tourist expenditure in this area of our economy can generate. The paper therefore seeks to bring to the front burner some of the problems associated with the production of some Benin traditional art works,vis-a-vis sales, their studios, motivation of the artists and how their work environment can be improved upon in order to sustain the vocation using the art historical survey method. The survey revealed that the materials and technology are abundantly available locally. In addition, weather condition, facilities and patronage are important factors to be considered in the production of the works and sustenance of the two plastic traditions while the government is expected to show more interest in the sponsorship of palace ceremonies. Keywords: Sponsorship, Festivals, marketing Facilities

Library Automation Projects In Nigerian Private Universities: The Case Of Igbinedion University, Okada

Igbinedion University, Okada is the first licensed private university in Nigeria. It was born out of the dream of Chief (Sir) Dr. Gabriel Osawaru Igbinedion, the Esama of Benin kingdom, to bequeath to future generations of Nigerians, university education of international standard, where academic calendar is fully run without interruption. Efforts by the University library to fit into the world of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) was met by a lot of challenges, the greatest of which is unavailability of fund. This paper reported the automation effort of Igbinedion university library, Okada, highlighting the various challenges that impede on the actualization of a full automated library system. Among the challenges identified are: Unavailability of fund, erratic power supply, inadequate professional librarians to execute the project, lack of Local Area Network (LAN), choice of software and absence of Maintenance and Support Agreement. Recommendations that will enable the library overcome the challenges were made. It is concluded that, library automation at Igbinedion University library, Okada, is still in its infancy. The University management should as a matter of urgency provide fund to compliment the effort of Chief Achike Udenwa for a full automated library system to be in place. Keywords: Library Automation; Igbinedion University, Okada; Automated Library System The Information Technologist Vol. 5 (2) 2008: pp. 19-23

The Benin Kingdom in British Imperial Historiography

The body of knowledge that constituted British imperial writing, and the expression that interacted with it were attempts to engage European readership on the imperial adventure in Africa in the age of the new imperialism. This study is an attempt to address the complex issues involved in the production of historical knowledge about precolonial Benin to justify British colonial rule. The argument advanced in this paper is that, since imperial discourse set out to deal with history in terms of civilization, British imperial writing was a struggle to articulate certain ideas about Benin into a position of dominance before the British public. As Mary Louise Pratt explains, “depicting the civilizing mission as an aesthetic project is a strategy the west has often used for defining others as available for and in need of its benign and beautifying intervention.” British imperial discourse will form the basis of the discussion in this paper.Imperial discourse and its subjectivity raises questions about issues of power and privilege of those writers who were determined to sustain their voices in the debate on European imperialism in Africa. Their approach to the constitution of knowledge about Benin was one of many ways that opened the frontiers of knowledge about African states and societies to redefine civilization, albeit for the purposes of understanding various meanings and implications in this intellectual assault. This provides a vital entry point for examining the European colonial approach to the construction of the image of Africa. The aim is to demonstrate how this process suggests a connection from imperial expansionism to forms of knowledge and expression that reaffirmed metropolitan authority in the context of colonial subjugation.

Evolution and Spread of Settlements in the Esan Area of Edo State

AbstractThe study focused on the pattern of settlements evolution and spread in the Esan area of Edo State. The catastrophic theory and the infilling concept are very useful in explaining the evolution and spread of settlements in the study area. The settlements in the study area were founded by migrants from Benin Kingdom in 14th century during the reign of OBA EWARE. The Oba’s only two sons died mysteriously on the same day and to mourn them the Oba enacted some laws forbidding; cooking, dancing, sexual intercourse etc., Those who could not abide by these laws have to flee or migrate into the jungle. Those who migrated and settled in the jungle - North east of Benin kingdom are the ancestral fathers of the Esan people. However, the hardship encountered in the jungle — high mortality rate due to the malaria, fever, wild animals and slave riaders forced the settlers to re-migrate to the EGWALES (villages with traditional ruler) for security. In 1807, slave trade was abolished. The consequent freedom and s...

An Evaluation of the Principles of Primogeniture and Inheritance Laws Among the Benin People of Nigeria

This article is a sociological analysis of the principles of primogeniture in Benin. It discusses the historical background of primogeniture in the Benin kingdom, examines the nature of the roles and rights of primogeniture in Benin prior to and after European contact, and evaluates changes in the system as a result of external contact. The work is a qualitative research project in which a number of Benin indigenes and custodians of Benin culture and tradition were interviewed. The analysis of results shows the effect of the principle of primogeniture in today's Benin society. The study makes recommendations on preventing family disorganization and unstable relationships that may stem from the current adherence to the principle.

Writing from the Center or the Margins? Olaudah Equiano's Writing Life Reassessed

Abstract: This article is literary analysis of the autobiography of Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African. It examines Equiano's use of multiple discursive and rhetorical strategies in order to move the self of his slave narrator from to central status in the international debate over slavery. The essay focuses on Equiano's understanding of morality as multicultural framework and his application of Christian rhetoric in explaining it. The main argument is that his search for religious understanding and his experiential knowledge allowed him to move between cultural centers and cultural margins while speaking with an authoritative voice against slavery. Resume: Cet article propose une analyse litteraire de l'autobiographie de Equiano, ou Gustavus Vassa, l'africain. Nous examinons l'utilisation faite par Equiano de strategies discursives et rhetoriques multiples destinees deplacer le moi de son narrateur esclave d'un statut un statut central dans le debat international sur l'esclavage. Cet essai se concentre sur la comprehension de la moralite chez Equiano comme phenomene multiculturel, et sur son application de la rhetorique chretienne dans l'explication de ce phenomene. L'argument principal est que sa recherche de comprehension religieuse et sa connaissance empirique du monde lui permettent de se deplacer entre des centres de culture et des marges de culture tout en s'elevant contre l'esclavage d'une voix qui fait autorite. Introduction Equiano's autobiography, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African. Written by Himself, was bestseller when it was published in 1789, and in the past few years it has seen resurgence in popularity. The text has been analyzed historically by Paul Edwards (1981, 1985) and by G. I. Jones, who traces Equiano's roots back to fairly exact location in what was the Benin Kingdom (1967). In addition to being traced and positioned historically, Equiano's Interesting Narrative has come under the scrutiny of literary critics. His use of the generic conventions of autobiography has been examined by Angelo Costanzo (1987), and the use to which he put the self or selves created in his autobiography has been delineated by Chinosole (1982), Susan Marren (1993), Marion Rust (1996), and Carl Plasa (2000). In his critique of discursive identities in self-construction, Chinosole argues that the point-of-view shifts in the text are indicative of marginal and multiple identities, while Marren discusses these as multiple narrating selves serving as transgressors against cultural voices that would negate Equiano's existence. Rust understands Equiano's self as the condition of black African passing for white Englishman. Carl Plasa discusses Equiano's use of British imperial discourse, arguing that Equiano appropriated the discourses of his oppressors in order to deconstruct his position as an object of colonial rule. Thus present-day scholars and critics have read Equiano's text with and against the grain of literary, postcolonial, and cultural studies. Moreover, each has had different interpretation of Equiano's position as writer and narrator speaking with an authoritative voice from cultural center or with placating voice from cultural margin.1 To date, however, there have been very few studies of Equiano's religious conversion and his use of religious discourse in constructing himself and his slave narrator in position of centrality and authority when speaking about issues of slavery and freedom, evil and goodness, wickedness and morality. Adam Potkay's Olaudah Equiano and the Art of Spiritual Autobiography (1994) is comprehensive look at Equiano's use of the form and conventions of the spiritual autobiography as theological quest for origins (678). Elizabeth Jane Wall Hinds interprets Equiano's religious conversion as a story of fiscal growth in which the author delves into mercantile capitalism and makes profit; she argues that as a former slave and African moving through world of European and American whites, Equiano's successes, spiritual and commercial, seem to come at the cost of his identity as an African, member of community for whom he from time to time ventures to speak (1998:635). …

Architecture, History, and the Debate on Identity in Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, and South Africa

Research Article| September 01 2002 Architecture, History, and the Debate on Identity in Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, and South Africa Ikem Stanley Okoye Ikem Stanley Okoye Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians (2002) 61 (3): 381–396. https://doi.org/10.2307/991791 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Ikem Stanley Okoye; Architecture, History, and the Debate on Identity in Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, and South Africa. Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 1 September 2002; 61 (3): 381–396. doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/991791 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentJournal of the Society of Architectural Historians Search This content is only available via PDF. Copyright 2002 The Society of Architectural Historians Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

The Atlantic Slave Trade

The Atlantic Slave Trade

Of Small Things Remembered: Beads, Cowries, and Cultural Translations of the Atlantic Experience in Yorubaland

the ways that Atlantic imports were used as objects of cultural and political capital, altering the physical and cognitive realities of the people, and the impact of the sheer volume and new varieties of commodities on cultural transformations are questions rarely asked in the history of Atlantic Africa, especially in the Bight of Benin, between Allada/Dahomey in the wvest and the Benin Kingdom in the east. Rather, there has been a tendency in the historiography towards an instrumentalist economic approach in which the impact of the Atlantic economy on Africa and the importance of Africa to the Atlantic economy are reduced to dollar/pound values. These approaches often lead to facile questions and analyses that ignore or gloss over the lived Atlantic experience in African societies.3 This instrumental reasoning underlies David Eltis's argument that the slave and

CIVIL WAR IN THE KINGDOM OF BENIN, 1689–1721: CONTINUITY OR POLITICAL CHANGE?

Using a combination of oral tradition and written documents, the authors show that Benin’s civil war was a fundamental transformation of political structure, and not simply an isolated struggle. Before 1640, Benin was centrally governed by its king with the assistance of a royally appointed administration. Difficulties in succession, coupled with changing trading patterns, allowed the administration to gain some independence and then to challenge the kings, taking away some power. The civil war matched different levels of the administration and the kings against each other, and transformed Benin from a centrally governed to a more collectively governed kingdom.

Contesting the History of Benin Kingdom

Contesting the History of Benin Kingdom

Contesting the History of Benin Kingdom

Contesting the History of Benin Kingdom

“RUNAWAY WIVES,” NATIVE LAW AND CUSTOM IN BENIN, AND EARLY COLONIAL COURTS, NIGERIA

The Edo‐speaking peoples today are found in much the same area of southwestern Nigeria that was the center of the Benin kingdom up to the end of the 19th century. From the early 16th to late 17th century the kingdom extended to the west, beyond Lagos to the present Republic of Benin, and east across southern Nigeria to beyond the Niger River. Benin City has always been the heart of the culture and the political capital of the kingdom and the empire. In recent years the city and surrounding area have become even more diverse with many ethnic groups in traditional Benin territory on farms, in businesses, schools, hospitals, and trades in towns and the city. Religious institutions in the city include numerous mosques, churches, evangelical groups, and missionaries from around the world, as well as local indigenous shrines and masquerades, and rituals of central worship at the Oba's Palace.Oba Erediauwa, the present traditional ruler of some 2 million Edo‐speaking peoples in the Federal Republic of Nigeria, has as one of his important roles the adjudicating of disputes involving people, land, and inheritance based on native law and custom. People today can go to Customary Court in such disputes, but many seek resolution at the Oba's Palace, when family meetings and the efforts of local elders and chiefs prove unsatisfactory to one or the other parties. Anyone unsatisfied with the Oba's decision still has recourse to the courts, but his decisions have yet to be over‐ruled by the judiciary. Oba Erediauwa, like his forebears, was trained by senior chiefs from childhood for the pre‐destined role of spiritual and temporal head of the Edo‐speaking peoples. Unlike his forebears he was also educated in England and read law at Kings College, Cambridge University.aIn precolonial times the Oba had sole power over life and death. His Palace in Benin City was the center of a tropical rainforest empire that dominated much of what is today southern Nigeria, from medieval times. The site of the Oba's Palace, which has been dated to the 13th century, is possibly as old as the 11th century (Connah 1975: 248). To the north and elsewhere in the south the warlike Benins had complex and fractious relations with its neighbors over many centuries. The Benin kingdom which expanded and contracted over time has always included various ethnic groups within its shifting political and cultural boundaries. The kingdom's independence was finally ended by a British military expedition in 1897, ushering in colonial rule.The exiled Oba of Benin, Oba Ovonramwen, died in eastern Nigeria in 1913. The British then found it expedient to bring his son and heir to the throne, crowned Oba Eweka II, in 1914. Benin territory had been administered locally in the absence of the Oba (1897–1914), through a group of chiefs approved by the British, led by Chief Obaseki. The resulting tensions between Obaseki and Oba Eweka II, before and after the restoration, are still remembered in Benin. It was a situation that lasted until Obaseki's sudden death on September 9th, 1920. He had been given the title “Obaseki,” by Oba Ovonramwen. Oba Eweka II, after coming to the throne and seeking to ease tensions, named him the Ivase, leader of the town chiefs; and married one of his daughters to him. Gradually, after 1914, Oba Eweka II reasserted his power, and ruled until 1933. His first son, Oba Akenzua II, occupied the throne for 45 years (1933–1978). Oba Erediauwa (1978–), greatgrandson of Oba Ovonramwen, followed his father, Oba Akenzua II, in a dynastic succession that Benins trace back to the 12th century (Oba Erediauwa, personal communication, December 21, 1990).In the 1952 census a mostly agricultural population was still living in rural areas. The population of Benin City, the seat of the Edos, was then estimated at 50,000. In the 1990 census, Benin City, the capital of Edo State, included over 200,000 diverse peoples.

The Kingdom of Benin in West Africa

This publication explores African dolls-from those made for children to with to those used in ritual to promote fertilityand the meaningful, powerful roles they in everyday life. Essays by Elisabeth L. Cameron and Doran H. Ross play with ideas about dolls, expanding our American notions of dolls as simply playthings. The catalog section presents dolls made from wood, clay, beads, gourds, wax, .:~,~ : :~':, tar, or plastic. This variety of dolls is used to promote fertility, mark coming-of-age initiations,

The Benin Kinglist/s: Some Questions of Chronology

The chronology of the history of the Benin kingdom is seen by many historians as clarified in the main back to the thirteenth century and even earlier. Apart from the reports of European travelers and missionaries and some information given by merchants, this chronology is based mainly on the Benin kinglist for the periods before 1897. This list names 38 kings (obas) of Benin and covers past centuries with seemingly great accuracy (see table 1).In spite of the many names of formerobasand the pretended accuracy of the list's time-frame, it would be problematic to take it as historically factual since it cannot be corroborated by any documentation before the mid-nineteenth century. The data concerning the period before this time are almost exclusively based on the writings of the Benin amateur historian Jacob Egharevba. In his work Egharevba reported on important events in the oral traditions of Benin and connected the reign of former kings with specific years. In doing so he forced his African oral material into a linear European time scheme and into the framework specified by European written sources.Unfortunately, very few historians have as yet critically analyzed the chronological data for Benin. This is surprising, since the great Benin researcher Bradbury noted some time ago that Egharevba's “chronological conclusions have been accepted too uncritically, especially for the period up to the first European contact” (Bradbury 1959:285f) and have been seen as historical facts without any further consideration ever since. Neither the question of so-called “genealogical parasitism,” nor any of the other fundamental problems which arise when studying kinglists have been addressed.