Jaja of Opobo: The King Who Outsmarted the British

Before Kwame Nkrumah or Yaa Asantewaa, there was Jaja of Opobo, a Igbo trader who rose from slavery to become one of West Africa’s most formidable leaders. This episode traces his extraordinary journey from a market boy in Bonny to the ruler of a thriving independent kingdom on the Niger River. We explore how he monopolized the palm oil trade, defied the Royal Niger Company, and outmaneuvered British imperial agents through diplomacy and economic power. When the British finally moved against him, they didn’t win with bullets but with betrayal—arresting him on false charges and exiling him to the Caribbean. We examine the legal and political fallout that followed, including the landmark court cases that exposed the illegality of his removal. This is a story of African agency, economic sovereignty, and the high cost of resisting colonial expansion long before the independence movements of the mid-20th century. #JajaOfOpobo #IgboHistory #NigerRiverTrade #PalmOilKingdom #WestAfricanEmpires #ColonialResistance #RoyalNigerCompany #BritishExile #CaribbeanExiles #19thCenturyAfrica #TradeMonopoly #DiplomaticBetrayal #AfricanAgency #ImperialismInAfrica #BonnyKingdom #OpoboState #EduardoIsland #FelixDouglah #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo