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10 Interesting Facts About the Kalabari People

1. The kalabari is a tribe of the Ijaw people of Rivers state living in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.

 

2. Kalabari people are Ijaw speaking settlers who came from the Bini fringes of Ijaw land from the lineage of a man called Mein Owei.

 

3. They are one of the largest ethnic groups in terms of  population and geography with three Local Government Areas in Rivers State.

 

4. Kalabaris were originally fishermen before the coming of the Portuguese to the West African coastline.

 

5. Like most Nigerian coastline tribes, the Kalabaris were wealthy as a result of their interactions with the Europeans.

 

5. Kalabari, Opobo and Bonny were the first to trade with the whites in Rivers state alongside Okrika and Andoni. They engaged in overland trade with the Portugese in the 1400s, later Dutch, then British whom arrived by sea for trade and missionary work. They also traded clothes from India.

 

6. They share similar culture and language to the Okrikas, Bonny, Opobo, Bayelsa Ijaws (Nembe in particular as the language is almost the same), Delta Ijaws, Ondo Ijaws and some parts of Edo state.

 

7. It was discovered that in the 1980s, that the nearly extinct Berbice Dutch (Kalabari Language) was spoken in Guyana.

 

8. The kalabari people are also known to bear European names like Briggs,Jack, etc due to their inter-racial relations.

 

9. Kalabari people are highly educated; they are known to have a high concentration of Professors, Lawyers and Doctors in Nigeria..

 

10. The Kalabaris were called English men in the past because of their civilized and generally peaceful behaviour.

 

Photo: Elizabeth Jack-Rich in Kalabari Traditional Attire

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