Àbọ House

"Eboe House", a drawing on the map of the Niger River by the Lander Brothers while on their expedition of the Niger River in 1830. via archive.org.

The little we could see of the houses with which the shore is interspersed gave us a very favourable impression of the judgment and cleanliness of the inhabitants of the town. They are neatly built of yellow clay, plastered over, and thatched with palm-leaves; yards sprucely fenced are annexed to each of them, in which plantains, bananas, and cocoa-trees grow, exhibiting a pleasing sight, and affording a delightful shade.

– The Lander Brothers, 1832. From Journal of an Expedition to Explore the Course and Termination of the Niger. Vol. II, p. 210.

Àbọ Canoe

"Eboe Canoe." An Abö canoe via the Lander Brothers while on their expedition of the Niger River in 1830. via archive.org.

An hour or two after this, or about midday, one of the Eboe men in our canoe exclaimed, “There is my country!” pointing to a clump of very high trees, which was yet at some distance before us; and after passing a low fertile island, we quickly came to it. Here we observed a few fishing-canoes, but their owners appeared suspicious and fearful, and would not come near us, though their national flag, which is a British Union, sewed on a large piece of plain white cotton with scallops of blue, was streaming from a long staff in the bow. The town was yet, we were told, a good way down the river. In a short time, however, we came to an extensive morass, intersected by little channels in every direction, and by one of these we got into clear water, in front of the Eboe town. Here we found hundreds of canoes, some of them even larger than any we had previously met with. They are furnished with sheds and awnings, and afford commodious habitations for a vast number of people, who constantly reside in them; perhaps one of these canoes, which is made of a single trunk, contains as many as seventy individuals.

– The Lander Brothers, 1832. From Journal of an Expedition to Explore the Course and Termination of the Niger. Vol. II, p. 210.

Àbọ

"The Aboh Creek", drawn from an 1841 visit during the British government's Niger Expedition.

Abö (Àbọ) was the most powerful mercantile state on the Lower Niger before European incursion into these hinterland areas around the Niger.

Located directly on the western bank of the Niger River, near the Forcados and Nun rivers from which the Niger runs into the Atlantic, Abö controlled trade on the Niger from the delta areas up to Asaba, with its influence reaching Ida, the Igala capital and main trading rival of Abö.

Aboh Child, 1840s

Son of Onnese Obi Osai Inside front cover of the medical and surgical journal of His Majesty’s Steam Ship Albert by J. O. McWilliam, MD, Surgeon with the picture of a son of the Obi of the Igbo town of Aboh. The Albert travelled the course of the Niger River from 1841.

‘One of the sons of Onnese Obi Osai chief of Aboh, River Niger’, drawn by John Duncan. The illustration appears to have been cut from a published source and pasted inside the journal. Beneath it is a written note 'Ali Hare came on board accompanied by a dozen little boys, who seemed to be nearly coeval [the same age]. These were sons of the Obi.

— The National Archives, UK.