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Fashion in Old Calabar 1474 - 1862

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Before i go into the nitty gritty of this piece, i would briefly like to defend the use of 1474 as a starting date. It is believed that this was the year the Efik came in contact with the Portuguese who were ruled by King Afonso V. The date is based on dates and events obtained from Halley's comet and orally transmitted by the Efik Bard Adiaha Atiñ Anwa in 1910.The earliest clothing worn by the Efik people was the raffia (Ikpaya). Ikpaya was a woven raffia attire comprising of a skirtlike wrapper and tunic. Several other Efik attires were fashioned out of tree bark such as Ofriyo (Mahogany tree). With the inception of the Efik-Portuguese liasons and the triangular trade, several fabrics were imported into old Calabar. Unfortunately, many of these are very rare to find and a majority have gone extinct. I will go through a few that i'm familiar with and the few i've read about.Itu Ita: Oral tradition holds that this was the earliest fabric imported into Old Calabar by the Por...
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Tibari: Discovering the Efik name for the Fulani and its cultural significance

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Old Calabar in the 19th century was a melting pot of cultures, with migrants from various ethnicities such as the Igbo, the Ibibio, and the Hausa calling it home. The Efik people, who were native to the area, had names for the different ethnicities and races they encountered, including the generic term “Mbakara” for white people. Among these names was “Tibari,” which was the Efik name for the Fulani. This name is now extinct, but early missionaries like Rev. Hope Waddell recorded its use in the Efik vocabulary in the 1860s. According to Waddell, the Tibari were a “Moorish tribe” known for being slave hunters and referred to as “white men” because of their clothing, horses, and straight hair. Image Caption: Fulani People Rev. Hugh Goldie also mentioned the Tibara, speculating that they were “most likely the felatas,” a subgroup of the Fulani. The true origin of the name Tibari remains a mystery, but it is possible that it may have come from Tibati, a settlement in present-day southweste...
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Amamaisim: Ancient Pygmies of Nigeria’s Lower Cross River

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Image caption: Figure of a Pygymy Dance Leader The mysterious Amamaisim have long been the subject of fascination for the people of the lower Cross River region. These ancient pygmies, with their distinctive tails, are described in the various folktales and literature of the area as being intelligent and skilled in farming, hunting, and trading. It is said that they used the bow and arrow as their hunting equipment, and were known to have existed in a number of lower Cross River communities, including the Efik, Eniong, Eki, Ibibio, and Oron. According to legend, the Amamaisim were first sighted in Akpabuyo by the Efik, though there is no evidence to suggest that they were encountered in other areas such as Ikpa ene, Ndodoghi, Uruan, or the Calabar coast. In the 1930s, colonial anthropologist Jeffreys recorded accounts of Amamaisim sightings from the Efik and the Eniong, and attempts were made in the 1970s to document these stories. Many Ibibio communities also claim that these pygmies ...
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