Igbo History Hebrew Exiles of Eri. Omabala Aguleri
conducted ingenuous varieties of traps for capturing animals.
The West African Stone Age, particularly that of the Ugwuele, had relationship chronologically and typologically with those of the Sangonan and the Fouresmith. The northward migration of earlier folks into the blooming Sahara region via the Cameroons and southeastern Nigeria might have opened another new era of African culture in the Saharan and Western Africa. Regional variations in physical appearance began to appear 35, 000 years ago. Homo sapiens had appeared alongside the Neanderthals who became extinct by 10, 000 B.C. Small statured men occupied southern Africa. The Sangonans have been displaced by the Negroes. The Neanderthals occupying North Africa were displaced by new settlers from South Africa and probably by Asia Minor. These new types lived in larger groups and had regulated community life.
The Wet Phase of Sahara
At about 10, 000 B.C., the climate of the Sahara grew cooler, rivers; flowed and pasture appeared. The Sahara became an area of interchange of peoples, ideas and technology. This continued and was intensified b about 5, 000 B.C. when the “wet phase” ushered in a period of mellow fruitfulness. For about three thousand years the Sahara teemed with life and culture. Tropical peoples from the south mixed with Mediterranean peoples from the north.
These Sahara inhabitants raised herds of horned-cattle and by 3, 500 B.C., they were also practicing some form of primitive agriculture while their neighbors in the Nile Valley grew food by tilling, sowing and irrigation. Thus, the Sahara became the cradle of the African Neolithic Age and one could say that in developmental terms African civilization had passed another remarkable phase. The universal hand-axe of over a million years ago was replaced by better tools and weapons made by different types of men for different purposes. Egypt at this era belonged to the Sahara-Sudan region of wet phase, but it assumed a special position as a result of the presence of the River Nile and its linkage with the Near East and the Eastern Sudan.
The Sahara Desert
About 3, 000 B.C. the Sahara began to dry up, the rivers and pastures began to disappear. Then began a steady movement of Saharan people into more favourable lands. Some moved northward and merged with the mixed population of the African Mediterranean. The Saharans who migrated eastward towards the Nile came up against Egyptian resistance which gradually diminished with the weakening position of the Egyptians Kingdoms. The other movement was southward into the heart of the continent. These Saharans mingled with those they found and new ways of life emerged in various places.
On the Ethiopian Plateau and in East Africa, for example, stock-raising cultures emerged. In the south-western Sahara, on the western Sudanese fringe, a Neolithic way of life based on local experiment and inventors emerge, new crops such as sorghum and rice were grown; and in the West Africa Savanna, new crops such as yam and melons were grown.
In Africa south of the Sahara, the appearance of iron-work, and its attendant job creation and population growth, occurred at different times in different regions. In the Nile Valley, the use of iron at Kush was common around 500 B.C. By 200 B.C, it was at Meroe and around 440 B.C. it was also used at Nok in southern Zaria (Nigeria). The Nok culture has proved to be clear evidence of a traditional stage between a Stone age food-collecting culture and one that grew food. The metal age of Africa emerged independent of Europe, and developed its distinctive features independent of Northern Africa. Iron helped the final conquest of the equatorial forest which was started in the late Stone Age. With the spread of iron, people also spread. Gradually, in the early Metal Age of Africa, the Savannah people came in contact with the forest people as typified in the Bantu migration, the Eri and Oduduwa migrations. Eri moved down the Anambra to begin the Anambra civilization, which finally gave rise to the Nri civilization. Great social and cultural transformation overwhelmed Africa and prepared her for another phase. These movements introduced metal work deep into the fringes of the forest zones of Nigeria. In the cultural theatre of Eastern Nigeria, Metal Age culture flourished in Nsukka area and diffused t Udi, Awka and Ikwerre. It reached its apogee in the Igbo-Ukwu culture through Nri activities which spread into the Western Igbo to dovetail with the Edo Metal Age culture – Onwuejeogwu (1970)
Notable Contributions to The Origin Of The Igbo People
Idigo (1955) made a unique contribution to the history of the origin and migration of the Igbo based on time honoured oral tradition. “One school of thought traces the origin of the Igbo from the Jews who migrated from Egypt centuries ago. The word Igbo is assumed to be a corruption of the name Hebrew. When the Hebrews left Egypt after over four hundred years of servitude, they crossed the Red Sea and wondered about in the Arabian Desert for forty years. Some of them who did not reach the Promised Land found their way to Africa south of the River Nile and then in Nigeria”
Idigo goes further to say that “according to a popular oral tradition Aguleri, a warrior and hunter called Eri migrated near the bank of River Anambra (called Omabala by the indigenes and corruptly named Anambra by the European settlers). He built his camp at Eri-Aka, near Odanduli Stream, a place which lies between Ivite and Igboezunu, Aguleri”
Other writers of Igbo history, who engaged in debates bothering on the uncertainty about the origin of the Igbo, may have done so owing to their source of information. In spite of the different contentions, however, most of them indicate that Eri came from areas further north, possibly from the Niger Confluence. This area has been the settlement of the Igala people. Isichei (1976) makes the following assertions “The first human inhabitants of Igboland must have come from areas further north, possibly from the Niger confluence. But men have been living in Igboland for at least five thousand years since the dawn of human history. One of the most notable facts of Igbo history is its length and continuity. Igbo began to diverge from other related languages such as Edo and Yoruba, perhaps four thousand years ago. Four thousand five hundred years ago, people in Nsukka were making pottery, which was similar in style to that still made in the area today”
Omoregie (1989) makes the following revelation about the first settlement of the Igbo in Anambra river basin. “A site was excavated in Aguleri and radio carbon dates showed that it had been continuously inhabited for about 5, 000 years. These were no spectacular finds but it revealed ancient pottery, human bones and tools of stone”
Some Christian Missionaries in Nigeria made relevant references to our strong relationship with the Jews. An example is that made by a German Missionary Aboh in 1841. He described the Igbo attitude to religion thus,
Like the Jews of the Old Testament, they expected in return for
Their prayers and sacrifices blessings such as health, longevity
And prosperity and especially children – the greatest blessing”
This kind of allusion is not confined to the early missionaries. As
Soon as the Igbo started interacting with the Europeans, stories of
Relationship of the Igbo with the Jews of Israel were widely speculated
And are still being discussed up till this day. This speculation has triggered
Off researches even by the Israelis.
Israelis Confirm oral Tradition On Igbo Migration
Amidst all the beliefs, claims and counter claims among the Igbo something wonderful happened to change the entire perception of Igbo history; something which could be considered as the handiwork of God and coming at a time the Igbo people were fed-up with speculations and uncertainties surrounding their origin. In fact, the event gave added credence to the oral tradition mentioned by the only Aguleri writer on the origin of the Igbo.
In September 1996, five Israeli Jews who were on a research mission came to Aguleri in search of Eri whom they claimed belonged to the lost tribe of Israel. To substantiate their claim, they quoted Genesis 46: 16 and Numbers 26: 16 of the Bible where it was stated that Eri was one of the sons of Gad who was one of the sons of Jacob. It would be recalled that the sons of Jacob made up the 12 tribes of Israel. They gave account of their visit to Igbo-Ukwu, Oraeri and Agukwu