Nembe

Nembe stands among the creeks of the eastern Niger Delta, where waterways connect inland settlements with the Atlantic. Its Ijo communities developed a trading state whose authority reached neighbouring towns and river markets. In the seventeenth century Nembe expanded its connections across the delta; merchants later traded through Bonny and New Calabar. During the early nineteenth century the Brass and Nun river ports became regular centres of overseas commerce, including the trade in enslaved people and palm oil.