History of Nigeria - Akwa Akpa

Akwa Akpa

The modern city of Calabar was founded in 1786 by Efik families who had left Creek Town, farther up the Calabar river, settling on the east bank in a position where they were able to dominate traffic with European vessels that anchored in the river, and soon becoming the most powerful in the region. Akwa Akpa became a center of the slave trade, where slaves were exchanged for European goods. Most slave ships that transported slaves from Calabar were English, and around 85% of these ships being from Bristol and Liverpool merchants. The main ethnic group taken out of Calabar as slaves were the Igbo, although they were not the main ethnicity in the area.

With the suppression of the slave trade, palm oil and palm kernels became the main exports. The chiefs of Akwa Akpa placed themselves under British protection in 1884. From 1884 until 1906 Old Calabar was the headquarters of the Niger Coast Protectorate, after which Lagos became the main center. Now called Calabar, the city remained an important port shipping ivory, timber, beeswax, and palm produce until 1916, when the railway terminus was opened at Port Harcourt, 145 km to the west.