Indigenous Industries in Igbominaland
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Date
2022
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Department of History and International Studies, University of Ilorin and Department of History and International Studies, Prince Abubakar Audu University, Kogi State.
Abstract
Attempt is made in this chapter to catalogue the various indigenous industries in Igbominaland, partly to demystify Eurocentric arrogance that is often peddled in favour of the West, and partly to bring to the fore the robust and composite productive system marked by occupational differentiations. This paper adopts a historic-structural and descriptive approach, with a combination of primary and secondary sources of data collection, to expound its thesis. Our findings reveal that, the economic activities in precolonial Igbominaland, as it was with most other West African groups, comprised three branches of the economy: the agrarian economy, indigenous production techniques (crafts/industries), as well as trade and commerce, the exchange and distributions of the various agricultural and industrial products. The indigenous industries in Igbominaland were either agro-allied (such as textile,) with some agricultural products serving as raw-materials for the local industries, or agro-induced, such as blacksmithing and iron metallurgy. Our conclusion is that although the indigenous economy in Igbomina rested largely on agrarianism, the Igbomina society was agog with productive industrial activities, indigenous to the people; as the skills, techniques and raw materials involved were all internally/locally generated from within the area. It is therefore plausible, in the final analysis, to posit that the sustainable economic activities evident in pre-colonial Igbominaland, particularly drew the attention of the British, known for her imperialism of economics. This was a major catalyst for foreign influence on Igbomina.
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Keywords
Igbomina, Indigenous industries, economy
Citation
Aboyeji, A. J. (2022): Indigenous Industries in Igbominaland. In Indigenous Science, Technology and Economic Transformation in Africa: Essays in Honour of Professor R. A. Olaoye Odeh, L. E., Paul, I. A. & Abah, D. (eds.) 269-291. Published by the Department of History and International Studies, University of Ilorin and Department of History and International Studies, Prince Abubakar Audu University, Kogi State.