Business & Enterprise
Peerless
Jaja of Opobo
1821 – 1891
Sold into slavery as a boy, and became the Niger Delta's greatest trader
Peerless is level 1 of 4 in the Nigeria Hall of Fame: changed the field itself. Tell the country's story without them and the story breaks. See how the levels work.
Why they are here
Sold into slavery as a child, he bought his freedom, founded his own city-state, cut the European middlemen out of the palm oil trade, and was shipping eight thousand tons a year direct to Britain. They deported him for it.
Born Mbanaso Okwaraozurumbaa in Orlu, in what is now Imo State, he was sold into slavery as a boy in the Niger Delta, worked his way to freedom and to the head of a trading house, and founded the city-state of Opobo.
He barred European and African middlemen from the interior, took control of the palm oil trade, and by 1870 was selling eight thousand tons a year directly to British buyers rather than through them — becoming, by most accounts, the wealthiest trader on the coast.
On 19 September 1887 the British deposed him for obstructing their commercial and political expansion, took him from the Opobo River under a promise of safe conduct, tried him at Accra, and exiled him to Saint Vincent in the West Indies. He was permitted to return in 1891 and died on the way home, at Tenerife.
He barred European and African middlemen from the interior, took control of the palm oil trade, and by 1870 was selling eight thousand tons a year directly to British buyers rather than through them — becoming, by most accounts, the wealthiest trader on the coast.
On 19 September 1887 the British deposed him for obstructing their commercial and political expansion, took him from the Opobo River under a promise of safe conduct, tried him at Accra, and exiled him to Saint Vincent in the West Indies. He was permitted to return in 1891 and died on the way home, at Tenerife.
- Wikipedia — Jaja of Opobo
- Black History Month UK — Aspects of British gunboat diplomacy: Jaja, King of Opobo
- BusinessDay — Jaja of Opobo: from dunghill to kingship
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