TRADE AS A DIPLOMATIC CHANNEL IN PRE-COLONIAL IGBO DIPLOMACY- THE NNEWI EXAMPLE

Abstract

Some scholars had argued that most pre-colonial African societies such as Igbo land never practiced diplomacy before the coming of the Europeans into the area. But such assertion does not hold water in the light of pre-colonial Igbo societies. Diplomacy is an essential ingredient of human existence. Right from the pre-historic age when people began to come together in societies it became necessary for them to co-exist and co-operate in the titanic struggle against nature and in the efforts to subdue and muster the environment to man’s advantage. Thus, pre-colonial Igbo land was not alien to diplomatic practices. They practiced diplomacy at various levels through different channels. The aim of this work is to highlight trade as one of the important channel through which diplomacy was practiced during the pre-colonial times in Igbo land generally and particularly in Nnewi, thereby butressing the fact that economic activities did fostered diplomatic activities in pre-colonial Igbo land. Trade in pre- colonial times provided the platform for economic co-operation, alliances and intergroup relations between Nnewi and her neighboring communities as well as among other Igbo communities, thereby fostering diplomatic intercourse among them.