The ancient city of Calabar, the Cross River State capital was agog recently as the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM) in conjunction with the Cross River State Government formally opened the newly established Slave History Museum to further develop tourism potential in the state.
The history of slave trade in West Africa between the 15th and 18th centuries will not be complete without the mention of Calabar as about 40 per cent of the slaves exported from Nigeria went through the Calabar port.
The Slave History Museum is a specialized museum which tells the story of slavery as witnessed in Calabar and its immediate surroundings.
The Museum is a unique destination for lovers of history. The artistic impressions in human forms with sound effects bring to life the past, making visitors experience the era of the slave trade in the 21st century. The museum’s location besides the Calabar River rouses the remembrance of slaves brought from the hinterland and moved through the Calabar River to the high seas, prompting the development of the Slave History Museum.
The Museum exhibition is meant to give an insight into the circumstances of slave trade in Calabar and its environs from the 15th century to the late 19th century and how it has moulded perceptions. The idea therefore showcasing this continental tragedy cannot be overemphasized.
Some of the artifact exhibited at the museum were leg and neck shackles used on slaves, cowries used as medium of exchange for slaves, ceramic jars used as slaves urine pits, bells earned from slave purchase, swords used as medium of exchange for slaves, Dane guns earned from slave supply, manilas used for the purchase of slaves, Nok Head from Rafin Kura 900BC-200AD. Others are monolith Calabar terracotta, Igbo-ukwu bronze, Ife terracotta and bronze, Owo terracotta and ivory, Benin bronze and ivory, Esie soapstone art.
The collections in the Slave History Museum is remarkable treasure of Africans in Diaspora, tourists and researchers who may wish to learn the patrimony of south eastern Nigeria in general and Calabar in particular.
The slave trade involved the shipment of human beings to the Americas and the Caribbean’s in exchange for manufactured luxurious goods and consumable items. This brought about the emergence of rich city states along the coastal areas of Nigeria. Despite the fact that human beings are priceless, but for the slaves, reverse was the case as the prices of slaves were calculated in iron and copper bars in the Niger delta, cowry shells in Hausa and Yoruba Lands and Manilas in Efik, Ibibio and Igbo lands.
The slave trade encouraged socio-economic relationships between the various continents involved like Europe, Africa, and the Americans. The result of the slave trade left so many victims unable to trace or go back to their countries of origin while facing racism in their new slaving country.
During that era, Calabar being a coastal city, played a major role as the Efik settlements at the Calabar River developed into trading city states, where about one million slaves were shipped out through the old Calabar River between 1720 and 1830.
The establishment of the Slave History Museum in Calabar will not only create job opportunities for the youths but will also serve as a rallying point for Africans in Diaspora to appreciate their culture.
Slave monuments in Nigeria include the Badagry Slave Port Monuments, Mobee Family Slave Trade Museum in Badagry, slave section of Kasuwan Kurmi in kano , Arochukwu Underground Slave Route, Calabar Point of no Return , and now the Calabar Slave History Museum.
A slave route project which encompasses all these to highlight this important heritage and develop it into a veritable tourism attraction is being planned by the National Commission for Museums and Monuments which is in line with the new vision of the commission under Mallam Yusuf Abdallah Usman to develop specialized museums and galleries that will serve as tourist attractions and educational resource centres . Such Museums and Galleries include, Islamic Art Museum in Ilorin, Oil Museum in Oloibiri , Museum of Missionary Activities in Calabar , and National History Museum in Jos.
