Kalabari Kingdom
Kalabari
Elem Kalabari | |
|---|---|
| Kalabari Kingdom | |
Ijaw States, including Kalabari | |
| Coordinates: 4°34′6″N 6°58′34″E / 4.56833°N 6.97611°E | |
| Country | Nigeria |
| State | Rivers State |
| Founded by | King Amachree I |
| Capital | Buguma |
| Government | |
| • Type | Traditional Monarchy |
| • Body | Kalabari Royal Court (Council of Chiefs) |
| • Amanayanabo | Chief (Dr.) C.I.T. Numbere (Regent) |
| Population | |
• Estimate (2022) | 558,000 |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (WAT) |
The Kalabari Kingdom, also called Elem Kalabari (Kalabari: New Shipping Port), is the independent traditional state of the Kalabari people, a sub-group of the Ijaw tribe, eastern ijo, in the Niger River Delta. It is recognized as a traditional state in what is now Rivers State, in southern region of Nigeria.
The Kingdom was founded by the great Amachree I, forefather of the Amachree dynasty, which is now headed by the Princewill family.
According to Alagoa (2009) King Amachree I, the first king of modern Kalabari kingdom (1669-1757) came from Emakalakala in Ogbia.
King Amachree XI (Professor Theophilus Princewill CFR), passed on and was buried in November 2003. The Kingdom is currently being overseen by a Regent Chief (Dr.) C.I.T. Numbere, till a new king is crowned. Contemporary British-Nigerian novelist Victoria Princewill, a descendant of the Princewill family, has written about her Kalabari heritage and ancestral ties to the ruling structures of the region in her 2021 essay for Granta.
The King along with his Council of Chiefs, most of whom are royal princes, make up the Kalabari royal court.