Anaang people

According to oral tradition, the Abiakpo came to the northern range of Anaang from Eka Abiakpo. They were quickly followed by the Ukana clan, the Utu, Ekpu, Ebom and Nyama (the British lumped these groups together and gave them the name Otoro), and other Anaang clans. The Anaang and the entire people of Akwa Ibom and Cross River States of Nigeria (AkwaCross people) have occupied their land in the coastal Southeastern Nigeria for thousands of years.

The group is related to the Efik people. It is believed that the Annang people originated from Egypt and began their migration from Egypt around 7500BC before settling in present day Akwa-Ibom, Nigeria. Before their current settlement, they lived among the Twi of Ghana where the name Anaang means "fourth son". From Ghana, the group moved eastward into present-day Cameroon. It was in the Cameroon highlands that the group broke off but later arrived at same territory in the Coastal Southeastern Nigeria. Lineages were recognized and the groups organized themselves into clans based on old family origins known as Iman, a similar structure extends into the land of their northern neighbors, the Igbo.

Very little was written about the Anaang people before the mid-19th century. Early European traders who arrived in the cross river territories referred to groups who lived outside of the coastal areas as residents of Egbo-Sharry Country. The first written mention of the Anaangs is in Sigismund Koelle's account of liberated slaves in Sierra Leone. He mentioned a liberated slave named Ebengo who hailed from Nkwot in Abak. Ebengo was captured and sold to the Portuguese but was subsequently freed by a British warship and later settled in Waterloo, Sierra Leone. The British soldiers listed the languages spoken by the slaves in that captured ship as "Anaang". The second mention is a description of what is known as the Ikot Udo Obong Wars. The British described the killings of the Anaangs by King Jaja of Opobo as a punishment for defying his orders and trading in palm oil directly with the British merchants instead of going through him as a middle man. In the war that ensued, the British intervened and with the help of the Anaangs, they captured King Jaja and exiled him to the West Indies. The British established a military post at Ikot Ekpene in 1904.

Following British colonialism and with changes and ban in ancient hunting practices, the Anaang witnessed attacks by wild animals. As the men went to fight in World War II these attacks intensified. The British authorities called the attacks murder and blamed it on "the barbarism of the Africans". The Anaang were accused of belonging to a secret society called Ekpeowo (The Human Leopards Society).[5] It has been argued that killings born out of insurgency against the British elsewhere in Africa led to the branding of leopard attacks as murders by the British authorities among the Anaang. Between 1945 and 1948 about 196 people were killed in Ikot Okoro community in the present-day Oruk Anam LGA; the Ikot Okoro Police station was set up because of this reason. The British convicted 96 people and executed 77 innocent people. The Anaang religion called Idiong was banned and the priests arrested. Articles and worship materials were publicly burnt and those who did not convert to Christianity automatically became suspects.

The Anaangs have a history and reputation for fearlessness and the ability of villages and clans to bind together to fight a common enemy. This is perhaps why they were able to thrive living so close to the Aro Confederacy's center, Arochukwu with its famed Ibini Ukpabi oracle. A particular interesting war group, or "Warrior cult", was the famous Oko warriors. This war group was highly functional in the 1950s. These warriors were considered invulnerable to penetration of knives, spears, and arrows. In various instances sharp machetes were tested on the body parts of members.

The Anaangs suffered genocide during the Nigerian Civil War. The war lasted for three years (1967–1970) and the Anaang lost a significant number of its people. The effect of the war and the resulting neglect of the Anaang is now a serious political issue and a source of unrest in the area

The fattening room is traditionally where virgin adolescent girls were fattened up in preparation for marriage. A fattening room girl is known as a mbobo. This was an occasion for a major village celebration. As part of her preparation for marriage the girl was also instructed on how to be a wife. She would spend her time in the room naked so that her fattening could be observed, and would sleep on a bamboo bed which was thought to fatten her up. It was also meant to make it more possible for her to conceive easily.

This use for fertility purposes was also used at time for infertile wives and as a prerequisite for entrance into secret societies.[9]

• Brink, P. J. (1989) The Fattening Room among the Annang of Nigeria. Medical Anthropology 12 (1) p. 131 - 143.
• Ekanem, J. B. (2002) Clashing Cultures: Annang Not(with)standing Christianity: An Ethnography (Gods, Humans, and Religions, No. 3), Peter Lang Publishing: Brussels. ISBN 0-8204-4687-4.
• Enang, K. (1987) Some Key Religious concepts of the Annang. In Africana Marburgensia: Cross River Religion, Hackett, R. I. J. (ed) Sonderheft 12 (12) 21 – 34.
• Koelle, W. (1854) Polyglotta African Cited in Udo, E. U. (1983) The History of the Annang People, Apcon Press Ltd. Calabar, Nigeria.
• Livingstone, W. P. (1916) Mary Slessor of Calabar: Pioneer Missionary, BiblioBazaar, ISBN 1-4264-3290-9.
• Meek, C. K. (1937) Law and Authority in a Nigerian Tribe. Oxford, England. Oxford University Press ISBN 0-389-04031-2.
• Noah, Monday Effiong (1988) Proceedings of the Ibibio Union 1928-1937.
• Messenger, John Cowan (1957). Anang Acculturation: A Study of Shifting Cultural Focus. Evanston, Illinois: Ph.D Dissertation Northwestern University.
• Nair, Kaanan. K. (1972) Politics and society in South Eastern Nigeria, 1841–1906;: A study of power, diplomacy and commerce in Old Calabar (Cass library of African studies. General studies), London, Frank Cass, ISBN 0-7146-2296-6.
• Pratten, D. (2007) The Man-Leopard Murders: History and Society in Colonial Nigeria. Indianapolis, Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-34956-9
• Udondata, J & Idem-Agozino, U. (2001) Annang Orthography, Uyo, Scholars Press.
• Udo, E. U. (1983) The History of the Annang People, Calabar, Nigeria. Apcon Press Ltd.
• Umoh, E. (2004) Annang Map with Boundaries, Plano TX. USA.
• Waddell, H.M. (1893) Thirty Nine Years in West Africa and the West Indies. London. Frank Cass Ltd.