Introduction

Hi everyone, it's my pleasure to participate in this contest. It's a good feeling to reflect and relate the impacts of geniuses and legends. I will try to make this thread interesting. On this day 1 post, I will write about King Jaja of Opobo
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Background King Jaja of Opobo

King Jaja of Opobo is a well know African leader of the Nineteenth Century. King Jaja of Opobo's full name is Jubo Jubogha. He was born in1821 and was a was a merchant prince. His father was known as Ozurumba and his mother was known as Uru. They were Christians.

He was born in Umuduruoha Amaigbo, presently known today as Imo State, he was exiled to Bonny by slave traders as a youth, and there, he was known as Jomo Jumofe. Furthermore he later took the name Jaja.

Achievements and notable actions

Jaja made it away from slavery. He was educated and taught about his culture then according to the Ijaw rituals. He rose and was able to head the Anna Pepple House merchant fraction of Bonny Island. When under him, Anna Pepple utilized other trade houses until there was a dispute with the Manilla Pepple House led by Oko Jumbo. Jaja became forced to break away to form the Opobo city-state in 1869.

Opobo came to dominate the region's palm oil trade, and he intelligently controlled fourteen of what was formerly called Bonny's 18 trade houses. The young and vibrant Jaja blocked the access of British merchants to the interior and effectively monopolized trade by making Opobo to be shipping palm oil directly to Liverpool in England for a long time, independent of British middlemen and agents. He led and won many wars in defense of his people's raw materials from the white men.

During the 1884 conference in Berlin, the Europeans designated Opobo as British territory. When Jaja refused to stop taxing the British traders, for tradiding on his people's palm oil, Henry Hamilton, a British vice consul, sent for Jaja to negotiate in the year 1887. Jaja was tricked and arrested on arrival abroad. He was tried in Accra, the gold coast(now Ghana) after which he was exiled to London, and later to Saint Vincent and Barbados in the British West Indies. He was nicknameed 'Amanyanabo' because of his might.

In early 1891, Jaja was released and given permission to return to Opobo, but he died on his way while at Tenerife, Spain.
Sadly, after his exile and death, the power of the Opobo state which he facilitated, rapidly declined.

He was a hero. The people mourned him and missed his elegance and intelligence. His successor, Loolo couldn't match his might.

This is my source for these information about Jaja on Wikipedia

What made me choose to write about King Jaja of Opobo:

I dearly appreciate the endeavors of people who strive to display determination and positive might even under oppression and suppression. He didn't allow his circumstances to deprive him from knowing how to coordinate his life and know the right thing to do.
Though I wouldn't have given in to the British invitation for negotiations if I were Jaja, but we are imperfect and make mistakes. He might have also done that in view of making more profit for his community with the proposed negotiation.

Conclusion

All the same, Jaja was a legend. I hope you enjoyed reading about him. And I know you have seen the need to develop a tough mindset when under oppression and strive to always find a way to prove your worth. His statue was erected in different compounds of his community and in his own compound too as in the picture below
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Special mention :
@focusnow
@steemalive
@whitestallion
@marcocasario
This is my day one post for the contest