Intergroup Relations – SS1 Government Lesson Note (Third Term)

Intergroup relations is the interaction between states, kingdoms and communities for political, economic and social development.

Behavioural objectives

1. Define intergroup relations.
2. State the factors that promoted intergroup relations in Nigeria.
3. Identify the trade routes that linked Nigeria’s peoples around the 14th century.
4. Explain how intermarriage and cultural borrowing affected relations between groups.
5. Describe the forms and patterns of migration in Nigeria.
6. State the positive and negative effects of intergroup relations.

What are the key terms in intergroup relations?

Seven key terms are used in this topic: intergroup relations, trade, diplomacy, intermarriage, bilingualism, cultural borrowing and migration.

• Intergroup relations: contact and exchange between different states, kingdoms and communities.
• Trade: the buying, selling and exchange of goods between people.
• Diplomacy: the peaceful handling of relations between states, for example through envoys and agreements.
• Intermarriage: marriage between members of different groups.
• Bilingualism: the ability to speak two languages, which traders and migrants needed to deal with other groups.
• Cultural borrowing: one group adopting a custom, institution or art form from another.
• Migration: the movement of people from one place to settle in another.

What are the types of intergroup relations?

There are three types of intergroup relations: political, economic and social-cultural.

• Political: war, diplomacy and the joining of peoples into one kingdom or empire.
• Economic: trade, trade routes and the exchange of crafts and local products.
• Social-cultural: intermarriage, bilingualism, cultural borrowing and migration.

What factors promoted intergroup relations?

Trade, trade routes, war, diplomacy and marriage were the main factors that promoted intergroup relations in Nigeria.

• Other links: migration and the sharing of crafts and culture also joined peoples together.

How did trade link Nigeria’s diverse peoples?

Trade linked Nigeria’s peoples through long-distance routes and the exchange of local products.

What trade routes existed around the 14th century?

• Hausaland and Bornu: joined the Hausa states to the Kanuri empire.
• Bornu and Adamawa: the route also reached the Benue Valley.
• Hausaland and Nupe: the route extended to the confluence area.
• Hausaland and Yorubaland: joined the north to the south-west.
• Benin and Yorubaland: joined the forest kingdom to its Yoruba neighbours.

How were local products exchanged?

• Coast and interior: people of the coastal region exchanged fish for tuber crops from the interior.
• Result: each region obtained goods it could not produce easily for itself.

How did intermarriage, bilingualism and cultural borrowing affect intergroup relations?

They joined groups socially, spread customs between them and made new communities.

Intermarriage

• Hausa and Fulani: the two groups intermarried.
• Yoruba and Edo: the two groups intermarried.
• Igala and Nupe: the two groups intermarried.
• Effect: intermarriage resulted in cultural fusion and the emergence of distinct societies.
• Itsekiri: the Itsekiri kingdom evolved out of Benin, Ijaw, Urhobo and Yoruba peoples.

Bilingualism

• Need: traders, migrants and in-laws had to understand the language of their hosts.
• Effect: shared languages made trade and settlement easier.

Cultural borrowing

• Nupe egungun: taken over by the Oyo Yoruba.
• Igala Okega and Igbo Ikenga: institutions that show contact between Igala and Igbo peoples.
• Ekura masquerade: derived from the Jukun.

Crafts and industries

• Yoruba and Benin: known for artists and carvers.
• Awka: known for blacksmiths.
• Effect: contact increased between the various Nigerian groups.
• Migrants: they were often drawn to these places of industry.

Which trading associations cut across linguistic and territorial barriers?

Trading associations were groups of traders and craftsmen who worked across language and territorial boundaries.

• Awka: blacksmiths, carvers and dealers in ivory and beads who travelled the length and breadth of Igbo and Ibibio territories, where they “carved out spheres of influence” for themselves.
• Aro: used trading agents and mercenaries to create a network of market trade routes throughout Igboland.
• Aro mercenaries: also used to raid for slaves in these zones.
• Yoruba and Hausa: traded in cattle and kola nut.
• Cattle Fulani: lived and traded in Yorubaland, in towns such as Ijebu-Ode and Sagamu.
• Benin: controlled the forest trade in Yorubaland (Akure).

What role did migration play in intergroup relations?

Migration carried people, skills and customs from one group to another and brought different peoples to live together.

What are the forms and patterns of migration?

1. Forced migration: slaves and captives were moved away from their homes.
2. Flight of Islamic scholars: teachers fled war zones. Muslim preachers “drifted” from Hausaland and Bornu into Nupeland and Ilorin.
3. Wars of expansion: these brought diverse peoples into kingdoms and empires, as in Itsekiri land, Aboh and Tawuri.
4. Centres of power: places of political or ritual power attracted immigrants. Examples are Oyo, Wukari, Bornu, Benin and Igala.

What were the effects of intergroup relations?

Intergroup relations had both positive and negative effects on Nigeria’s peoples.

Positive effects

• Cultural fusion: intermarriage produced new societies such as the Itsekiri.
• Spread of culture: masquerades and other institutions passed from one group to another.
• Economic growth: trade and crafts brought goods and income to many towns.
• Wider contact: peoples who spoke different languages came to know one another.

Negative effects

• Slave raiding: some groups, such as the Aro through their mercenaries, raided for slaves.
• Wars: expansion by force brought conquest and loss of independence to some peoples.

Evaluation

1. Define intergroup relations.
2. List five factors that promoted intergroup relations in Nigeria.
3. Name three trade routes that linked Nigeria’s peoples around the 14th century.
4. Explain how intermarriage led to the emergence of the Itsekiri kingdom.
5. Give two forms of migration in Nigeria, with one example each.

Assignment

1. Discuss the commercial and cultural relations among Nigerian peoples. In your answer, describe the role of crafts and industries, and the effects of wars and migration on contact between groups.