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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Property Reckoning and Methods of Accumulating Wealth among the Ogoni of the Eastern Niger Delta |
Author: | Kpone-Tonwe, Sonpie |
Year: | 1997 |
Periodical: | Africa: Journal of the International African Institute |
Volume: | 67 |
Issue: | 1 |
Pages: | 131-158 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | Nigeria |
Subjects: | Ogoni wealth Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) |
External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/1161273 |
Abstract: | This article, which is based on research carried out in the Ogoni region of the eastern Niger delta of Nigeria between 1981 and 1991, examines the Ogoni perception of wealth and their methods of accumulating wealth during the precolonial period. It shows that Ogoni agricultural production was not all for subsistence, but that a substantial proportion was sold off and the proceeds invested in the economy. Because the currency in use, the manilla, was unmanageable owing to its weight and bulk, the Ogoni devised various methods of investing their extra income in the economy, instead of accumulating cash. Areas of investment included agricultural land, livestock, means of transport, in particular canoes, permanent tree crops and plants, and 'kporo' bronzes. Investment in transport encouraged the expansion of a canoe-making industry at Ko on the river Imo, leading to an increase in marine transport and distributive long-distance trade throughout the eastern Niger delta, the Imo river basin and the Cross river basin, as well as between the delta and the island of Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon. App. (food prices in the Niger delta, indigenous words for money), bibliogr., notes, sum. in English and French. |