StapleNigeria
Pounded Yam and Egusi Soup
White yam pounded to a smooth elastic mound with a soup of ground melon seeds, greens and meat. The centrepiece of Yoruba and Igbo tables alike.
Serves 6 · 1 hour 30 minutes
Esan (Ishan)
People of thirty-five small kingdoms on the plateau north-east of Benin City, whose Onojie rulers each hold an independent throne, and whose name is said to come from the Bini word for those who fled.
Identity
Population: Estimated 1.5 to 2 million
Location: Edo Central senatorial district of Edo State, Nigeria, on the plateau around Uromi, Ekpoma, Irrua and Ubiaja
Language: Esan (Ishan)
Language family: Niger-Congo → Volta-Niger → Edoid
Traditional governance: Thirty-five autonomous kingdoms, each under an Onojie, with village age-grade councils beneath; Edo State administration.
Clans, Sections & Sub-groups (4)
Most African peoples are federations of named sub-groups (clans, sections, chiefdoms or sub-tribes), each with its own dialect, territory and traditions.
Uromi
One of the largest kingdoms, with a strong military tradition.
Ekpoma
Kingdom and university town on the plateau's centre.
Irrua
Kingdom and the site of the specialist Lassa fever centre.
Ubiaja and Ewohimi
Southern kingdoms toward the Niger.
Culture
Clothing: The Onojie's beaded and coral regalia in the Benin manner; wrapper and blouse with head ties; the age-grade dress at ceremonies.
Food: Yam as the staple and the centre of the harvest festival, cassava, egusi and bitterleaf soups, palm oil, bushmeat, and palm wine.
Ceremonies: The Onojie's coronation; the yam harvest festivals; age-grade promotions; the igbabonelimhin acrobatic masquerade; funerals with several days of dance.
Marriage customs: Patrilineal with bridewealth in goods and cash; primogeniture governs succession both to the throne and to a household's property.
Initiation rites: Age-grade entry and promotion, which organises village labour, defence and dispute settlement; the igbabonelimhin dancers train from boyhood.
Food & Recipes
Every dish the Atlas publishes for Nigeria, at national rather than community level — 10 in all: the staple a household eats daily, the dish the country names as its own, street food, what is cooked for a wedding or Eid, regional specialities and a drink. Quantities and method are given for every one, so these are recipes rather than descriptions, and each has a photograph from Wikimedia Commons. The Food page carries the whole continent, searchable by country and by ingredient.
StapleNigeria
Tuwo Shinkafa
also Rice swallow
Soft short-grain rice cooked and beaten into a smooth mound, the northern Nigerian staple eaten with miyan kuka or miyan taushe.
Serves 6 · 45 minutes
National dishNigeria
Nigerian Jollof
Long-grain rice cooked in a reduced pepper and tomato base until the bottom of the pot lightly scorches, which is where the smoky flavour comes from and is not a mistake.
Serves 6 · 1 hour 20 minutes
National dishNigeria
Miyan Kuka
also Baobab leaf soup, Luru
Dried baobab leaf powder cooked into a dark, faintly slippery soup with dried fish and locust bean. The Hausa soup of northern Nigeria, eaten with tuwo.
Serves 6 · 50 minutes
Street foodNigeria
Suya
Thin beef skewers rubbed in yaji, a groundnut and chilli spice mix, grilled over open charcoal by Hausa mallams and served on newspaper with raw onion and tomato.
Serves Makes 12 · 40 minutes, plus 2 hours marinating
Festival & feastNigeria
Ofe Nsala
also White soup
A pale peppery soup of catfish thickened with pounded yam and scented with uziza and ehuru. Made in Anambra for a woman who has just given birth, and served at important occasions.
Serves 6 · 1 hour
Regional specialityNigeria
Moi Moi
Steamed bean pudding of peeled black-eyed peas, peppers and onion, wrapped in leaves and studded with egg and fish. Eaten alone or beside jollof at every party.
Serves 8 · 1 hour 30 minutes, plus 4 hours soaking
Regional specialityNigeria
Efo Riro
also Yoruba spinach stew
Shredded greens cooked into a base of blended pepper, onion and palm oil with assorted meat and stockfish. The Yoruba vegetable soup, and the one Lagosians argue about most.
Serves 6 · 1 hour 15 minutes
Regional specialityNigeria
Banga Soup
also Ofe akwu, Palm nut soup
Palm nut pulp cooked with catfish and the Delta's particular spices — beletientien, oburunbebe stick, ataiko — into a thick orange soup. The Urhobo and Isoko signature.
Serves 6 · 1 hour 15 minutes
Drink & sweetNigeria
Zobo
Hibiscus infused with pineapple, ginger and clove, bottled and sold cold at every Nigerian gathering. The non-alcoholic drink of choice at weddings.
Serves 8 · 40 minutes, plus chilling
Stories & Oral Literature
Those Who FledFoundation tradition
Esan tradition and Benin sources both hold that the plateau's communities were formed largely by people leaving Benin in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries — during Oba Ewuare's reign in most accounts — to escape war, punitive laws or succession violence. The name Esan is derived from the Bini esanfua, those who fled. The refugees established separate settlements that became separate kingdoms, each with a ruler drawn from or approved by Benin, which is why there are thirty-five thrones on one plateau.
IgbabonelimhinPerformance tradition
The igbabonelimhin is an acrobatic masquerade in which masked dancers somersault, spin on their heads and perform aerial turns to a fast drum pattern. It is performed at festivals and at the reception of dignitaries and has become the emblem of Esan cultural identity, taught in schools and performed at national events. Its athleticism has made it one of the best-known Nigerian dances outside the country.
Irrua and Lassa FeverPublic-health history
The Institute of Lassa Fever Research and Control at Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital is West Africa's principal centre for a viral haemorrhagic fever endemic to Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, spread by the multimammate rat and killing thousands in recurrent outbreaks. Irrua's laboratory, built up from very little with German and Nigerian collaboration, does the diagnostics and the clinical care for a large part of the country, and its staff have died doing it.
Proverbs
“A child who runs from a fight builds a house further away.”
On the founding tradition, without embarrassment.
“Thirty-five crowns and one language.”
On Esan political fragmentation and cultural unity.
“The dancer who turns in the air must know where the ground is.”
On igbabonelimhin, and on ambition.
Mythology & Spiritual Beliefs
Creation: Osenobua as the high god, in the Edo pattern; ancestral spirits at lineage shrines; the earth as guarantor of oaths; named groves with prohibitions.
Beliefs: Ancestral shrines maintained by the eldest son; earth oaths; the Onojie's ritual responsibilities for the kingdom's fertility; Catholic and Anglican Christianity now dominant, with Pentecostal expansion.
Ancestors: The eldest son inherits both the property and the obligation to maintain the ancestral shrine; the Onojie's ancestors underwrite the kingdom.
Gods, Goddesses & Spirits
Osenobua
The high god of the Edo-speaking peoples
Ancestral spirits
Addressed at lineage shrines maintained by the eldest son
The earth
Guarantor of oaths and of boundaries
Architecture
Traditional settlements: Villages of rectangular mud houses with impluvium courtyards in the older form, grouped by lineage, with the Onojie's palace at each kingdom's centre.
Building techniques: Mud walling with thatch and now iron roofing; the impluvium courtyard house of the Edo tradition; palace construction with audience courts; masquerade costume making.
Village layout: Compounds around a lineage head's house with the ancestral shrine at a fixed point; the palace and the market at the kingdom's centre.
Artifacts
Onojie regalia
Regalia
Coral and beaded insignia of the thirty-five Esan thrones, in the Benin manner.
Igbabonelimhin costumes
Masquerade
The acrobatic masquerade dress that has become the emblem of Esan identity.
Ancestral shrines (aru)
Ritual structure
Household shrines maintained by the eldest son of each lineage.
Irrua Lassa fever laboratory
Scientific heritage
West Africa's principal centre for Lassa fever diagnostics and care.
Historical Timeline
1400s–1500s
Migrations from Benin establish the plateau's settlements, which become separate kingdoms.
1500s–1800s
The thirty-five kingdoms consolidate under Onojie rulers within Benin's sphere.
1899–1906
British forces subdue the Esan kingdoms after Benin's fall; several Onojie are deposed or exiled.
1960–1991
Nigerian independence; Edo State is created in 1991 with Esan as its central district.
2000s–present
Irrua becomes West Africa's Lassa fever centre; igbabonelimhin is adopted as a national performance emblem.
Sources & Further Reading
Open sources
Premium & scholarly sources
- Ethnologue: EsanSIL International