Atlantic slave trade reaches the Igbo interior

Portuguese adventurers entered the Bight of Biafra in the second half of the 15th century, and by the latter part of the 16th century, with the trans-Atlantic slave trade an established concern, the southern and Cross River Igbo were feeling the presence of European traders. The trade introduced swords and guns and exotic status goods, intensifying competition with Ijo and Efik neighbours, though the book argues it was not the prime mover of Igbo society.