Duke Town
Duke Town was the principal Efik settlement in Old Calabar, located along the Cross River in the Bight of Biafra, serving as a major trading hub from the late 17th century.[1] Established by Efik merchant lineages, it emerged as a key port in the transatlantic slave trade during the 18th century, exporting tens of thousands of enslaved individuals annually to European ships.[1] Following the British abolition of the slave trade in 1807, Duke Town transitioned to "legitimate commerce" in palm oil, capitalizing on European industrial demand and maintaining its status as a maritime entrepôt.[1] Governance in Duke Town centered on the Ekpe secret society, a fraternity wielding judicial, moral, and regulatory authority through its Nsibidi script-based system, alongside powerful merchant houses such as the Duke and Cobham lineages that controlled trade networks with Europeans.[1] These houses managed plantation economies reliant on enslaved labor, which sparked significant resistance, including the mid-19th-century "Blood Men" revolt initiated by plantation slaves opposing ritual sacrifices and Ekpe oppression following the death of ruler Duke Ephraim.[2] The arrival of Presbyterian missionaries in the 1840s introduced Christianity and education, gradually eroding traditional practices, while in 1884, local chiefs accepted British protection, integrating Duke Town into the Niger Coast Protectorate as its initial administrative center.[1] This era marked the decline of autonomous Efik merchant power amid colonial expansion.[1]Geography and Location
Historical and Modern Setting
Duke Town, originally designated Atakpa by its Efik inhabitants, emerged as a settlement on the right bank of the Calabar River in southern Nigeria during the 17th or 18th century, when Efik groups acquired land from neighboring Qua, Okoyong, and Ibibio communities.[3] This location, approximately 8 kilometers inland from the river's estuary into the Gulf of Guinea, positioned it advantageously for maritime interactions. By the 19th century, Atakpa—renamed Duke Town by European traders—had evolved into a prominent Efik city-state, one of two sovereign entities in Old Calabar alongside Creek Town, facilitating extensive commerce with British and other European vessels.[4] [5] The historical setting was defined by its role as a coastal entrepôt, where Efik rulers like King Eyamba V governed from the 1830s to 1840s, negotiating treaties and hosting diplomatic exchanges, including with British naval officers.[5] European factories and missionary outposts dotted the vicinity, underscoring the town's integration into Atlantic networks by the mid-1800s, as evidenced by events like the 1850 slave revolt on local plantations following the death of ruler Duke Ephraim.[2] In the contemporary era, Duke Town constitutes a historic district within Calabar, the capital of Cross River State in southeastern Nigeria, where traditional Efik structures coexist with modern infrastructure.[6] The area preserves early missionary legacies, such as the Duke Town Secondary School, tracing its origins to 1846 Church of Scotland Mission efforts that introduced formal education and Presbyterianism.[7] Urban development has subsumed the original city-state boundaries into Calabar's municipal framework, yet Efik cultural institutions, including Ekpe society houses, maintain influence amid a population exceeding 500,000 in greater Calabar as of recent estimates.[8]Relation to Calabar and Efik Territories
Duke Town, historically designated as Atakpa, constituted the foremost settlement within the Efik territories comprising Old Calabar, a confederation of Efik-speaking communities arrayed along the Calabar River estuary in present-day southeastern Nigeria. These territories encompassed Duke Town on the eastern bank, alongside Creek Town (Obio-Oko), Old Town (Obutong), and Henshaw Town (Nsidung), forming a segmented polity unified by Efik kinship and the Ekpe secret society. The Efik migration to this region, commencing in the early 17th century, positioned Duke Town as a strategic nexus for riverine control and external commerce, distinguishing it as the de facto commercial capital amid the broader Efik domain.[9] Prior to formal British colonial administration in 1905, the designation "Old Calabar" delimited the core Efik enclaves rather than the expansive modern municipality of Calabar, with Duke Town anchoring the eastern flank proximate to European trading factories. This spatial arrangement facilitated Duke Town's preeminence in transatlantic exchanges, as Efik houses in Atakpa dominated slave shipments and later palm oil exports, leveraging the river's accessibility over inland territories. Efik territorial claims extended upstream along the Cross River but concentrated political authority in these riparian towns, where inter-town alliances and rivalries shaped governance.[10][2] The subsumption of Duke Town into the colonial Calabar Province by the early 20th century integrated Efik territories into a unified administrative framework, yet preserved Atakpa's role as a cultural bastion of Efik identity amid urbanization. Historical records from Efik traders and European observers underscore Duke Town's centrality, with lineages like the Dukes exerting influence over adjacent settlements, reflecting a hierarchical yet decentralized Efik spatial order. This relational dynamic persisted, embedding Duke Town within Calabar's evolution while delineating Efik sovereignty against neighboring groups such as the Ibibio.[11]Early History and Society
Origins and Settlement of Atakpa
The Efik people, originating from migrations along the Cross River basin in the early 17th century amid conflicts and resource pressures, established initial settlements upstream before expanding downstream. Creek Town (Obio Oko), founded around the early 1600s by clans including Iboku, Obutong, and Adiabai under leaders like Eyo Ema and Oku Atai, served as the primary hub.[12] Population growth, internal disputes over land and authority, and strategic needs for proximity to the river estuary—facilitating access to Atlantic trade routes—prompted subgroups to relocate. Atakpa emerged on the eastern bank of the Calabar River as one such offshoot, likely by mid-century, positioning it for direct maritime engagement.[12][13] Founding lineages traced to Creek Town migrants, particularly the Efiom Ekpo branch associated with the later Duke house, formed the core of Atakpa's wards. These groups maintained Efik patrilineal structures, with ekpe (leopard society) governance enforcing rules and resolving conflicts inherited from upstream origins. Oral traditions, corroborated by 18th-century European records, describe Atakpa as a "new town" initially, reflecting its recent establishment relative to older settlements like Obutong (Old Town).[12] While exact founding dates remain uncertain due to reliance on oral histories—potentially embellished for lineage prestige—archival evidence confirms Atakpa's existence and trade role by 1720, with tributes paid to neighboring Qua groups for land rights until the 19th century.[12] This settlement pattern underscores causal drivers of geographic adaptation: Efik clans prioritized defensible riverine sites with tidal access, enabling canoe-based commerce over agrarian hinterlands.[13] Early Atakpa society mirrored broader Efik patterns, with fishing, farming yams and plantains, and localized trade in palm products preceding intensive slave exports. Disputes from Creek Town, including those over ekpe authority, accelerated the split, as evidenced by the formation of parallel house systems in Atakpa akin to those in Obutong, founded similarly around 1600 from upstream quarrels.[14] Historical accounts attribute no single founder but collective migration by related houses like Ntiero and Okoho Effiom, fostering a politically autonomous ward under hereditary etuboms (heads).[12] By the late 17th century, its location near the river's great bend supported population consolidation, setting the stage for 18th-century prominence in European barter networks.[12]Efik Social Structure and Ekpe Authority
The Efik society in Duke Town (Atakpa) was structured around patrilineal houses, known as ufok or lineages, each comprising extended families descended from a common progenitor, or akwa ete kiet.[15] These houses formed the basic units of social, economic, and political organization, with membership determined by genealogical tracing; individuals unable to establish such descent were regarded as outsiders lacking full community rights.[15] Prominent houses in Duke Town included those associated with lineages like the Archibong and Duke families, which managed internal affairs such as inheritance, marriage alliances, and minor disputes autonomously while cooperating on communal matters like defense and trade regulation.[16] Overlying this house-based segmentation was the Ekpe society, a male-only secret fraternity that wielded supreme authority in Efik governance, functioning as the primary judicial, legislative, and executive institution.[17] Ekpe originated among the Ejagham peoples possibly in the 16th century and was adopted and reorganized by the Efik by the mid-18th century, with its headquarters established in Duke Town, enabling centralized control over the decentralized house system.[17] Membership progressed through hierarchical grades—beginning at the ufok (house/family) level, advancing to essien (lineage), and culminating at obio (town-wide)—conferring escalating privileges, including the enforcement of oaths via secret signs, masquerades, and the symbolic "Ekpe spirit" represented by a leopard.[17] In practice, Ekpe enforced laws, adjudicated inter-house disputes, regulated economic activities such as slave and palm oil trade, and maintained social order by acting as a de facto police force, often superseding individual house leaders or the Obong (paramount ruler), who typically held the highest Ekpe title.[17][18] This structure fostered unity among the otherwise autonomous houses of Old Calabar, including Duke Town, by providing a confederative mechanism that resolved conflicts through binding verdicts and fines, thereby stabilizing the polity amid external trade pressures from the 17th to 19th centuries.[17] Ekpe's influence extended to cultural practices, with its rituals reinforcing patriarchal norms and excluding women, while its adaptation for economic oversight ensured equitable participation in Atlantic commerce.[15]Economic Development and Trade
Pre-European Contact Economy
The pre-European contact economy of Duke Town (Atakpa) among the Efik centered on fishing and localized riverine commerce, reflecting the coastal and estuarine environment of the Cross River delta. Fishing constituted the foundational activity, with Efik communities employing large dugout canoes—often crewed by house-based labor units—to harvest fish from rivers, creeks, and coastal waters, yielding staples like smoked or dried fish for consumption and exchange.[19] This occupation aligned with broader patterns among related groups like the Uruan, emphasizing aquatic resource exploitation over extensive land-based pursuits due to the swampy terrain.[19] Complementing fishing, the Efik produced salt through evaporation of brackish mangrove waters, a labor-intensive process that generated a valuable commodity for internal trade networks extending into the Cross River hinterland.[20] These exchanges involved bartering salt and preserved fish for inland goods such as yams, iron implements, and forest products from Ibibio and other interior peoples, facilitated by canoe fleets navigating seasonal waterways.[20] Such diplomacy underpinned pre-colonial economic ties, predating Atlantic commerce and enabling Efik houses to accumulate influence through controlled access to trade routes.[20] Subsistence agriculture played a secondary role, constrained by mangrove swamps and flooding; Efik cultivated yams, cocoyams, plantains, and palm groves in upland clearings, often relying on hinterland imports to meet caloric needs.[21] Labor was organized via patrilineal house systems, where extended kin groups pooled resources for production and distribution, foreshadowing later mercantile adaptations without centralized state extraction.[22] This decentralized structure supported endogenous market growth, with periodic fairs and kinship ties mitigating risks in a low-surplus environment.[21]Atlantic Slave Trade Involvement
Duke Town functioned as the primary Efik entrepôt in Old Calabar for the Atlantic slave trade, serving as a hub where Efik merchants aggregated captives procured from interior networks, including purchases from Aro middlemen and occasional raids known as panyarring, before exchanging them for European goods such as firearms, textiles, and alcohol delivered via canoe to offshore ships.[12] This system, dominated by Efik trading houses under the oversight of the Ekpe society—which enforced contracts, imposed fines, and resolved disputes among traders—enabled Duke Town to emerge as a key port in the Bight of Biafra by the early 18th century, with European partners primarily British and Dutch vessels avoiding shore landings due to disease risks and Efik control.[14] The naming of Duke Town after prominent trader Duke Ephraim (d. circa 1786), who led the Robin John house and negotiated with Europeans, underscores the settlement's trade-centric identity, as his influence extended to regulating slave supplies and "comey" (customs duties) on incoming ships.[12][23] Antera Duke (ca. 1735–ca. 1809), a leading Efik chief and relative of Duke Ephraim, exemplifies the active role of Duke Town elites in the trade; his surviving diary from January 1785 to January 1788 details routine operations, including slave barters, ship arrivals, and inter-house rivalries, recording a total of 7,511 slaves exported from Old Calabar during this period amid British naval disruptions from the American Revolutionary War.[11][24] Over the broader 18th century, Efik merchants from Duke Town and adjacent settlements supplied tens of thousands of captives annually at peak times, with records indicating around 15,000 slaves sold to Europeans alongside yams, ivory, and other commodities in intensive three-year cycles, fueling Efik wealth accumulation through accumulated European imports that reinforced their social hierarchy.[24] The trade's volume from Old Calabar, centered on Duke Town, contributed significantly to the Bight of Biafra's estimated 1.5 million embarkations between 1650 and 1800, though precise Duke Town-specific figures are elusive due to decentralized Efik house records; however, British abolition in 1807 prompted a gradual shift, with illegal exports persisting into the 1830s under figures like Eyamba V (r. 1834–1846), who initially resisted suppression efforts before engaging British missionaries.[12][25] Ekpe authority waned as British naval patrols intensified, eroding the profitability that had sustained Duke Town's preeminence.[14]Shift to Legitimate Commerce
The abolition of the British slave trade in 1807, enforced through naval blockades, prompted Efik merchants in Duke Town to redirect their commercial networks toward palm oil exports, marking the onset of legitimate commerce in Old Calabar.[1] Although illegal slave trading persisted in the region until the early 1840s, the growing demand for palm oil in Britain's industrial sector—used for soap, lubricants, and candles—accelerated this transition.[26] The first large-scale commercial shipment of palm oil from Old Calabar to the United Kingdom occurred in 1813, establishing the foundation for sustained exports from Duke Town and adjacent Efik settlements.[27] By the 1830s, palm oil had supplanted slaves as the primary export commodity from Duke Town, with Efik trader houses such as those led by the Duke and Eyamba families leveraging existing riverine supply chains from the Cross River hinterlands to procure and bulk the product.[1] In 1857, Old Calabar contributed approximately 2,000 tons of palm oil to the Bight of Biafra's total of 26,050 tons, reflecting Duke Town's central role in aggregating oil from inland producers via canoe fleets and factory beaches.[26] This shift sustained the economic dominance of Efik merchant elites, who adapted trust-based credit systems—previously used for slaves—to advance goods for palm oil collection, though domestic slavery continued to support local labor needs.[26] The integration of British consular oversight and missionary influences in the 1840s further facilitated the palm oil trade by stabilizing commerce and suppressing residual slaving, positioning Duke Town as a key export hub until the late 19th century.[1] Palm kernels emerged as a secondary export alongside oil, with combined volumes from southern Nigeria reaching 83,090 tons of oil and 174,718 tons of kernels by 1913, underscoring the long-term viability of this legitimate commerce for Efik society.[26] Despite fluctuations in global prices—peaking at £40 per ton in the 1860s before declining—the trade preserved the hierarchical structure of Efik merchant houses under Ekpe authority.[26]Governance and Rulers
Independent Efik Rulers
![West Coast of Africa, Palaver of Chiefs on Board HMS 'Decoy', at Duke Town, Old Calabar River - The Graphic 1880.jpg][float-right] The independent Efik rulers of Duke Town, known as Obongs, governed the city-state autonomously from the late 18th century through the mid-19th century, deriving authority from leading wards such as Eyamba and Duke, while relying on the Ekpe society for enforcement of laws, dispute resolution, and control over trade.[2] These rulers managed external relations with European traders, amassing wealth through the export of slaves and, later, palm oil, without formal subjugation until escalating British interventions in the 1840s.[2] Prominent among them was Duke Ephraim, who ruled in the early 19th century and exemplified the house's dominance in slave trading networks, channeling captives from interior suppliers to coastal factories.[2] He was succeeded in 1834 by Eyamba V from the Eyamba ward, whose reign until 1847 marked a peak of prosperity; Eyamba V leveraged alliances with British supercargoes to secure his throne and expanded commerce, though his administration faced internal challenges from rival houses.[2][28] Eyamba V engaged in diplomacy with Britain, co-signing a 1841 treaty with Creek Town's King Eyo Honesty II to abolish the slave trade, reflecting the rulers' strategic negotiations to preserve autonomy amid abolitionist pressures; however, enforcement remained limited, with palm oil trade supplanting but not immediately eradicating slaving.[29] His death in 1847 initiated instability, as three Obongs—spanning from Duke Ephraim's era through successors—died within 18 years, fueling political turmoil and the rise of groups like the Blood Men to stabilize governance.[2]| Ruler | Reign Period | Key Contributions and Events |
|---|---|---|
| Duke Ephraim | c. 1814–1834 | Led expansion of slave trade; built trading infrastructure with Europeans.[2] |
| Eyamba V | 1834–1847 | Consolidated power via merchant support; signed anti-slave trade treaty; shifted toward palm oil exports.[2][29][28] |
| Archibong I | 1849–1852 | Brief rule amid post-Eyamba instability; linked to Duke family alliances.[2] |