Visited Queenstown in Nigeria today with my father. Why is it called that? Glad you asked. 
A boy named Mbanaso from Umuduroha born in 1821 was kidnapped from his town and sold as a slave. Marched in a frightful slave caravan, he eventually arrived on the coast of Bonny.
Bonny had established itself as a powerful “middle man” for what some call the slave trade and I call the African holocaust.
Unlike millions of other enslaved Africans, Mbanaso was spared the additional brutality of the middle passage and instead was bought by a family in Bonny.
Over the decades the young man distinguished himself as a successful trader and powerful leader and now bore the name, Jubo Jugbogha. The Europeans then cannibalized the name to Jaja.
In 1863, Jaja was elected to the headship of the powerful Opubo Annie Pepple house (another cannibalized European name. The original name was Perekule.)
There existed a bitter rivalry between the Annie Pepple and the Fubara Manilla Pepple war canoe houses. These war canoe houses sprang from two brothers. 🤦🏾♀️
Oko Jumbo (also a freed slave) who now headed the Fubara Manilla war canoe house and Jaja couldn’t stand each other. Deepening crisis and politics led to Bonny-Opobo Civil War of September 12, 1869.
But, Jaja who knew he could never be king in Bonny due to his prior slave status already had a plan in place. He seemingly retreated to the Andoni area(this was a clan that was often at war with Bonny).
Taking with him some 14 war canoe houses, On December 25, 1870, Jaja founded the new Opobo Kingdom, naked after King Opubo Annie Pepple, their ancestor.
Jaja became king of Opobo and quickly established the area as the leading trade center for palm oil thereby decimating Bonny’s previous trading power.
Back to Queenstown and how it came about. Captain Uranta was a leader under Jaja. As Opobo prospered and Jaja consolidated power, Uranta believed that Jaja was going to hurt him.
In 1887, he seceded to an area away from Opobo(today, it’s about a 10 minute boat ride from Opobo) and immediately asked to come under the protection of the Queen of England.
Of course the queen granted his request. Jaja was a major thorn in the side of the British and had begun shipping his palm oil directly to Europe and cutting out the European middlemen. They were all for curtailing Jaja’s power.
Captain Uranta knew that as a protectorate of the Queen, the British navy would be on his side should Jaja attempt to retaliate. To strengthen his connection to and honor the queen, he named the new area, Queenstown.
Shortsightedness & playing into Europe’s “divide and conquer” tactics have always hurt us. Today, Queenstown is essentially a part of Opobo and they have nothing to show (except for the name) for “selling out.” The British weren’t done with Jaja, but that’s another story.
@threadreaderapp unroll thread
Named after King Opubo Annie Pepple not “naked” 🤭
