Ijaw

The Ijaw, who call themselves Izon, are the people of the Niger Delta, spread through mangrove creeks from the Benin river to Bonny, speaking Ijoid languages. They live by fishing, salt-making and river trade, their settlements built on stilts and sandbanks among the waterways.

While many western clans remained decentralized village communities influenced by the Kingdom of Benin, eastern clans such as Bonny developed kingships and stratified canoe-house societies. From the 1400s Portuguese ships traded directly with these delta towns, and Bonny grew into a principal slave entrepot, its war canoes carrying cannon and crews of more than a hundred men; after the British abolition of the slave trade in 1807 the ports exported palm oil and ivory instead.

Ijaw religion centers on ancestor veneration and the water spirits called Owuamapu, honored with drumming and masked dances, alongside Egbesu, leopard-totem god of justice and war.