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Onitsha ((イボ語:Ọ̀nị̀chà Mmílí) or just ''Ọ̀nị̀chà'') is a city, a commercial, educational, and religious centre and river port on the eastern bank of the Niger river in Anambra State, southeastern Nigeria. In the early 1960s, before the Nigerian Civil War (see also Biafra), the population was officially recorded as 76,000, and the town was distinctive in a number of dimensions; the great Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe (born and raised in the contiguous town of Ogidi) characterized it as harboring an "esoteric region from which creativity sallies forth at will to manifest itself," "a zone of occult instability" (see "Onitsha Matters" ()). Though it experienced great suffering during and after the civil war, by virtue of its still-strategic geographic position Onitsha has continued to develop, and by 2001 had an estimated population of 511,000 with a metropolitan population of 1,003,000.〔 The indigenous people of Onitsha are Igbo and speak the Igbo language. The Onitsha people like to be referred as Ndi Onicha. ==History== Most theories on the word 'Onicha' point to the meanings "despiser" or "arrogant"; apparently the people of Onitsha were prone to "look down" upon the people of the towns adjacent to them. 'Onicha' may be a contraction of either 'Ọnịsịlị-ncha', meaning 'too headstrong (be disciplined )'; Ọnyịsịlị-ncha, 'too headstrong (everyone )'; or 'Ani-Ocha', 'the fair or white land'. Some claim that 'Onicha' is a contraction of Igbo and Edo words, and perhaps from the word 'Orisha'. Therefore, as a matter of verifiable fact, there are as well other communities east of the Niger River kwown as Onicha with differing appendages. The communities are as follows: Onicha Uburu (Ebonyi state), Onicha Uboma (Imo state), Onicha Agu (Enugu state), Onicha Nwenkwo (Imo state), Onicha Ngwa (Abia state), Onicha Amagunze(Enugu state) etc. Onitsha Mmili was known as ''Ado N'Idu'' by migrants who departed from the vicinity of the Kingdom of Benin near the far western portion of Igboland (near what is now Agbor), after a violent dispute with the Oba of Benin that can be tentatively dated to the early 1500s. Traveling eastward through what is now Western Igboland (and various towns also called "Onitsha", for example Onicha-Ugbo, "farmland-Onitsha". Onitsha was founded by one of the sons of Chima, the founder of Issele-Uku kingdom. Chima, a prince of the ancient Benin kingdom emigrated, settled and founded now known as Issele-Uku in Aniocha North Local Government Area. The eldest son of Chima eventually emigrated across the Niger River to establish the Onitsha community. After their arrival on the east bank (Onicha-mmili, "Onitsha-on-water", see above), the community gradually became a unitary kingdom, evolving from a loosely organized group of "royal" and "non-royal" villages into a more centralized entity. Eze Aroli, was apparently the first genuinely powerful Obi of Onitsha, the ruler of the city.〔(Nigerian traditional poilities )〕 In 1857 British palm oil traders established a permanent station in the city, Christian missionaries joining them headed by the liberated African bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther (a Yoruba recaptive) and Reverend John Taylor (an Igbo Recaptive).〔.〕 In 1900 Onitsha became part of a British protectorate.{ The British colonial government and Christian missionaries penetrated most of Igboland to set up their administration, schools and churches through the river port at Onitsha. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Onitsha」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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