History of Ekoli-Yeden

ABOUT EKOLI-YEDEN Ekoli-Yeden, commonly written as Ekori, is one of the communities of the Yakurr people in Cross River State, Nigeria. It is a place with its own people, families, communities, language, traditions, institutions, memories and identity. But Ekori is more than a name on a map. It is the home of people whose ancestors established roots here, whose families have lived and worked here, whose elders have carried knowledge from one generation to another, and whose sons and daughters have taken the identity of Ekoli-Yeden with them wherever life has taken them. Today, Ekoli-Yeden exists both as a physical community and as a wider community of people connected by ancestry, family, culture and shared identity. This digital home is being built to ensure that the story of Ekoli-Yeden is not lost, fragmented or told only by people outside the community. The people of Ekoli must help tell the story of Ekoli. THE NAME: EKOLI-YEDEN / EKORI The name by which the community is known today is Ekoli-Yeden, commonly written as Ekori in many existing records. The question of the relationship between Ekoli and Ekori is important because names are part of identity. According to the Yakurrwatchblog account, the wider Yakurr community comprises nine clans: Assiga, Inyima, Ugep, Idomi, Agoi Ibami, Mkpani, Ekori, Nko and Agoi Ekpo. The same source states that earlier names associated with the wider Yakurr identity included “Umor, Ekoli, Iloli and Yakurr Ibe,” and attributes changes in the form of the name partly to difficulties Europeans had with pronunciation. However, this is not enough to settle the question. What does Ekoli-Yeden mean? Where did the name come from? What names did our ancestors use? How did “Ekoli” become “Ekori” in written records? These are questions that deserve answers from the people of Ekoli-Yeden themselves. The Preservation Team will therefore seek oral histories, traditional knowledge, old documents and other evidence that can help establish and preserve the community's own understanding of its name. OUR ORIGINS The origins of the Yakurr people and the history of the communities that make up Yakurr are subjects that have been described differently by different writers and researchers. The Yakurrwatchblog account presents more than one explanation. It attributes to Captain Chessmab the suggestion that the Yakurr people first lived near Okuni. It also attributes to Dr. Otu Abami the assertion that the ancestral home was at “Lekanakpakpa,” and states that historian Enang Basset confirmed this account. These accounts should not automatically be treated as established fact. They are recorded here because they form part of the existing written record, while leaving room for further research and community verification. The same source tells a traditional account involving Princess Obia, described as coming from Abiriba in Igboland, who married a hunter and is said to have established the first dynasty. Her son, Ibe, is then associated with the establishment of the second dynasty. Whether and how these accounts connect with the traditional histories preserved by Ekoli-Yeden families and elders is something that remains to be properly documented. Our ancestors had a story. This archive exists to help recover it. MIGRATION AND THE SETTLEMENT OF YAKURR The history of Yakurr includes accounts of movement, settlement and the establishment of different communities. The Yakurrwatchblog account places significant migration within a period around AD 1617–1670, associating movement with issues including burial rights, competition over land and population growth. It describes migration as occurring in stages and gives the following dates: AD 1660 — Idomi and Ugep established settlements. AD 1677–1707 — Ekori and Nko established. AD 1707–1737 — Mkpani founded. However, the same source contains an inconsistency: its description of the migration sequence does not completely agree with the dates it later provides. Rather than…