Kingdom of Nri

The kingdom existed as a sphere of religious and political influence over a significant part of what is known today as Igboland prior to expansion, and was administered by a priest-king called an Eze Nri.[citation needed] Nri expanded through converts gaining neighboring communities' allegiance, not by force.[citation needed] Nri's culture permanently influenced the Northern and Western Igbo, especially through religion and taboos.The kingdom appears to have passed its peak in the 18th century, encroached upon by the rise of the Benin and Igala kingdom, and later the Atlantic slave trade, but it appears to have maintained its authority well into the 16th century, remnants of the eze hierarchy persisted until the establishment of Colonial Nigeria in 1911, and it continues to exist as one of the traditional states within modern Nigeria.Nri and Aguleri, where the Umueri-Igbo creation myth originates, are in the territory of the Umu-Eri clan, who trace their lineages back to the patriarchal king-figure, Eri.[8] In 1911, the names of 19 eze Nri were recorded, but the list is not easily converted into chronological terms because of long interregnums between installations.[2] Tradition held that at least seven years would pass upon the death of the eze Nri before a successor could be determined; the interregnum served as a period of divination of signs from the deceased eze Nri, who would communicate his choice of successor from beyond the grave in the seven or more years ensuing upon his death.After that, patterns of conflict emerged that existed from the tenth to the fourteenth reigns, which probably reflected the monetary importance of the slave trade.[6] Outside-world influence was not going to be halted by native religious doctrine in the face of the slave trade's economic opportunities.Igbo west of the Niger River and on its east bank developed kingship, governing states such as Aboh, Onitsha and Oguta, their title Obi,[10] apparently from the Benin Empire's Oba (this is debatable however, because the word "obi" in most Igbo dialects literally means "heart" and may be a metaphorical reference to kingship, rather than a loanword from Yoruba or Edo).[citation needed] The Igbo of Nri, on the other hand, developed a state system sustained by ritual power.[5] The Kingdom of Nri was a religio-polity, a sort of theocratic state, that developed in the central heartland of the Igbo region.[11] The influence of these symbols and institutions extended well beyond Nri, and this unique Igbo socio-political system proved capable of controlling areas wider than villages or towns.There, the process of paying of homage to all the necessary shrines/deities in Aguleri by the new Eze Nri, visitation to Menri's tomb at Ama-Okpu, collection of Ofo, purification of the virgin boy to receive the clay from the chosen diver from Umuezeora in Aguleri, sitting on the throne of Eri at Obu-Gad in Enugwu Aguleri by the new Eze-Nri before going back to Nri on the seventh day to undergo a symbolic burial and exhumation, then finally be anointed with white clay, a symbol of purity.[15] Igbo-Ukwu, a part of the kingdom about 18 kilometres (11 mi) south of Nri itself, practiced bronze casting techniques using elephant-head motifs.[10] In fact, the earliest body of Nigerian bronzes has been unearthed in Igbo territory to the east of the Niger River at a site dated to the 9th century, making it older than Ife.The great sculptures of the Benin Empire, by contrast, were almost always brass with, over time, increasingly greater percentages of zinc added.They believed Anyanwu, The Light, to be the symbol of human perfection that all must seek and Agbala was entrusted to lead man there.Chukwu then ordered him to cut off his first son's and daughter's heads and plant them, creating a 'blood bond' between the Igbo and the earth deity, Ana.