Nri

Nri was an Igbo priestly state in the lower Niger, ruled by the divine king known as the Eze Nri. Oral tradition traced its founding to Eri and placed the first Eze Nri around 1225.

Travelling converts called mbùríchi won neighbouring towns through ritual oaths. At its height in the late sixteenth century, Nri's authority reached roughly a quarter of Igboland. From the eighteenth century the rise of Benin and Igala and the Atlantic slave trade weakened its authority, though its priests outlasted its political power.