A Culture of Itinerancy and the Awka Guild System:

So, from about the 16th century, or a little earlier, Awka craftsmen became noted itinerants or travellers. They travelled throughout the old Eastern Region, large parts of the old Midwestern Region and parts of the present Middle Belt. Perhaps, with the possible exception of the Aro people, they were the most widely travelled Igbo-speaking group in pre-colonial times. G.T. Basden, a British missionary who came to Nigeria in 1900, observed that they travelled to such distant parts as Bonny, Calabar, Warri and Lagos, plying their craft. One could even argue that their reach extended further than that of the Aro. They rarely ever established permanent colonies, like the Aro people, however. They only erected workshops in host communities, forged metal ware, sold them at the local markets, offered ‘doctoring’ services, and returned to Awka after a period of time.


For greater efficiency, they organized themselves into a guild. The itinerant artisans of Awka must have realized that if every craftsman travelled where he wanted, there might be crowding in some places which could result in unnecessary friction and petty rivalries. They, thus, divided the world known to them into ezi ije (‘journey-routes’) or spheres of influence. Every Awka smithing/doctoring ward had its own sphere of influence, where their men operated and from which the men of the other wards were excluded, except in certain rare cases.

Below are outlined some of the wards in Awka and their spheres of influence (i.e., places where they operated).

1) Ụmụike – operated in Ikwerreland, and northeastwards into Ngwaland.
2) Ụmụanaga – operated in the creeks of the Western and Central Delta (called Ọwaalị in Awka), home of the Izon.
3) Ụmụjagwo – operated among the Ekpeye people (called Ekpafia by Awka) and neighbouring peoples.
4) Ụmụenechi – operated among the Urhobo, the Isoko, and the peoples of Ụkwụanị and Ndosumili.
5) Ụmụọrụka – operated in the Annang-Efik-Ibibio area, and beyond the Cross River in the area around Ikom (called Azụ-Anyịm in Awka, i.e., ‘back of the Cross River’)
6) Ụmụọgbụ – operated in ‘Uji Ukpali’. The location of Uji Ukpali is difficult to ascertain from the surviving accounts. One account says it is an unspecified region north of Nsukka; another account says it is somewhere in the old Midwest and the eastern reaches of the Western Region. According to one informant interviewed by Professor Elizabeth Isichei in 1975, Ụmụọgbụ smiths later went through Yoruba and beyond to the French territory (i.e., former Dahomey) [see Isichei’s Igbo Worlds, page 57]
7) Ụmụmbele – operated in the riverain area lying between Onitsha and the Niger-Benue confluence, including the floodplains north of Awka, known as Adagbe country.
8.) Ụmụkwa – operated in Enuanị, west of the Niger (they were particularly active in Issele-Uku) and among the Bini. Ụmụkwa people were impressed by the agricultural prowess of the Isseles and made a song about it, part of which goes thus: ‘Isele-e, Isele-e gboji/Ndụ ji abana akpochi ụzọ ọba/Eghu eme ta ji ọcha dụ n’im’ye!’ Rough translation: ‘Issele, yam producers/ Who build their yam barns with yams of the abana variety/ As a distraction for the goats, lest they go into the barn and eat the superior white yams.’ Ụmụkwa tradition claims that it was an Ụmụkwa smith who forged the sword used by the legendary Bini warrior, Iguala (Iguala is the Awka variation of Arhuaran, Esigie’s rival for the Bini throne.) Of course, we shouldn’t take this tradition at face value. The thrust of the gist is that Ụmụkwa smiths were present in Benin.