The Itsekiri are an ethnic group that resides in the Niger Delta.
Their neighbors include the Urhobo and the Ijo. The Itsekiri language is a dialect of the Yoruba language with a Benin influence.
The Itsekiri organized themselves into a kingdom around the 15th century under a Benin prince who settled in Warri and married a Yoruba woman. In 1848, the king died and a power struggle erupted between two lineages.
Living on the coast, the Itsekiri encountered Europeans before groups farther inland did. The Portuguese during the 15th century were the first to make contact, and as a result the Itsekiri established a reputation as great traders and middlemen by supplying European manufactured goods to inland peoples in exchange for slaves and palm oil from the interior.
The Itsekiri, though a minority group within Nigeria, are considered to be a highly educated and affluent ethnic group with a very high rate of literacy and a rich cultural heritage. The Itsekiris have one of the oldest histories of western education in West Africa, and are noted for producing one of its earliest university graduates – the Olu of Warri Kingdom, Olu Atuwatse I, Dom Domingo a 17th-century graduate of Coimbra University in Portugal.
Notable Itsekiri people include:Grace Alele-Williams (first female Vice Chancellor of a Nigerian University) Amaju Pinnick (Nigeria Football Federation Chairman), Tuedon Morgan (Nigerian Marathon runner).
Credit: Social Media
