Western Igbo Society and Its Resistance to British Rule: The Ekumeku Movement, 1898-1911

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Periodical article

Title:	Western Igbo Society and Its Resistance to British Rule: The Ekumeku Movement, 1898-1911
Author:	Igbafe, Philip A.
Year:	1971
Periodical:	The Journal of African History
Volume:	12
Issue:	3
Pages:	441-459
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Nigeria
Subjects:	rebellions 1890-1899 1900-1909 1910-1919 Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) colonialism History and Exploration
External link:	https://www.jstor.org/stable/181043
Abstract:	The much misunderstood Ekumeku movement became the bug-bear first of the Royal Niger Company, and later of the British administration, in the Asaba hinterland during the closing years of the 19th and the first decade of the 20th century. The Ekumeku originated as a resistance movement against the Royal Niger Company which attempted to establish its authority in the Asaba hinterland in the 1880s. When in 1900 the area came under direct administration of the British government the Ekumeku forces consolidated and between 1902 and 1910 offered courageous and prolonged resistance to British rule. Much misunderstood in official circles, the Ekumeku movement was not investigated along relevant lines. Here is attempted to study, from oral and written sources, the actual nature and the organization of the Ekumeku, its responses to the European challenge, and its sources of strength. Notes, map.