The Kalabari
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The Kalabari are an Ijo-speaking people who live on 23 islands in the Niger delta of southern Nigeria. In their traditional economy based on fishing and trade, they traveled in large canoes to trade with inland peoples, including the Igbo to the north, the Yoruba to the west, and the Ogoni and Ibibio to the east.
About 400 years ago, many Kalabari villages started trading with Europeans. Traditional kin-based
lineages developed into large corporations known
as Houses, each with an elected Head and a war canoe team that controlled commerce and warfare. At the height of this trade, the delta became an important economic center. Today, Port Harcourt
is the major urban center of a local economy
strongly linked to petroleum.
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© 1998 American Museum of Natural History.
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