Equiano on Igbo Warfare

Equiano’s picture of Igbo warfare has four components. The first is the view that Igbo society was fairly highly militarized. The second is that war was endemic in Igbo society leading to a situation in which neighbouring communities were generally in a state of suspended conflict. The third is that the wars were generally precipitated by the activities of slave raiders. The fourth is that women were active rather than passive participants in combat. In the attempt in 1981 to carry out a critical appreciation of Equiano’s ethnography of Igbo land I had cause to examine these ideas in a general sort of way. In this paper I shall attempt a more detailed examination of his portrayal of Igbo warfare using materials, which have since become available to me on Igbo warfare in the nineteenth century. Our assumption is that if these features characterized Igbo warfare in the mid 18th century some of them would be found to survive in 19th century Igbo wars.