The first of two migrations that changed the course of Awka history occurred in about the 15th century. Our chronicler, Amanke Okafor, using genealogy as a dating tool, puts the migration in the year circa 1485. In that time, a blacksmith named Nebechi Ụzọ or Nebuzọ from Agụlụ-Ụmana in Agbaja country in what is now Enugu State migrated with his family and settled in Awka. He brought with him the Agbaja god of smithing, Akpụtakpụ. The cult of Akpụtakpụ was held in high regard among his descendants until quite recently. It is believed that Nebuzọ was looking for a place of opportunity to ply his craft – and Awka was a flourishing centre for craftspeople. Apparently, his progeny prospered there; his legendary son Agụlụ founded seven wards (or villages) in Awka! The second migration occurred much later, and Barrister Okafor, using the same dating technique, dated it to the year circa 1615. In that year (or rather around that period), an itinerant body-artist and doctor from Ụmụdiọka in Dunukọfia came with his people and settled in Awka. His name was Ichide. Ichide and his people founded a ward (or village) in Awka called Ụmụdiọka, after their ancestral home. Like Nebuzọ before him, Ichide also came looking for business opportunities. The Nri cultural hegemony was in decline; there are traditions that suggest that such Nri-associated traits like the cutting of ichi marks were no longer as fashionable as they once were, and the Ụmụdiọka body-artists that cut such marks on people were seeing their patronage shrink. It is hardly surprising that when these Ụmụdiọka people settled in Awka, they completely abandoned the art of cutting ichi marks, and focused on doctoring and wood-carving. They also learnt metalsmithing from the aboriginal Awka people. The Ụmụdioka settlers brought with them an oracle which was to become widely influential in the old Eastern Region in the centuries before Christianization – the oracle of the goddess Agbala. The Ụmụdiọka people prospered, too; and their ward grew to become the most populous ward in Awka. These two migrations had considerable effects on Awka and its economy. The most important effect was that it significantly increased the number of professional men (i.e., smiths, carvers and doctors) operating in the town. The consumer market in the immediate vicinity of Awka became too small for them, and new economic strategies had to be worked out. Awka had to expand its market; and it was from this period that these professional men developed the culture of itinerancy and a complex and well-organized guild system. Where before, the Awka man had been a stay-at-home craftsman, he was now compelled to travel to distant lands if he was to survive. |
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