Onitsha
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Onitsha Ọ̀nị̀chà Mmílí |
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| City | |
Onitsha is the biggest river port city in Nigeria
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 Onitsha
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| Coordinates: 6°10′N 6°47′E / 6.167°N 6.783°E | |
| Country |
 Nigeria
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| State | Anambra State |
| LGA | Onitsha North, Onitsha South |
| Founded | 1550 |
| Government | |
| • Obi | Igwe Nnayelugo Alfred Nnaemeka Achebe |
| Area | |
| • City | 20 sq mi (52 km2) |
| • Land | 13.95 sq mi (36.12 km2) |
| • Water | 0.026 sq mi (0.067 km2) |
| • Urban | 759 sq mi (1,965 km2) |
| • Metro | 759 sq mi (1,965 km2) |
| Population (2006 census) | |
| • City | 261,604 |
| • Density | 13,030/sq mi (5,030.8/km2) |
| • Urban | 7,425,000 |
| • Ethnicity | Igbo >90%, Others |
| • Demonym | Onye Onicha (singular) Ndi Onicha (plural) (Igbo) |
| Time zone | WAT (UTC+1) |
| Postcode | 430... |
| Area code(s) | 046 |
| Climate | Aw |
Onitsha (Igbo: Ọ̀nị̀chà Mmílí or just Ọ̀nị̀chà) is a city located on the eastern bank of the Niger River, in Nigeria's Anambra State. A metropolitan city, Onitsha, is known for its river port, and as an economic hub for commerce, industry, and education.
In the 2006 Nigerian census, Onitsha had an estimated city proper population of over quarter a million people, and, as of 2016, had an estimated urban population of 7,425,000. The indigenous people of Onitsha are Igbo and speak the Igbo language. The Onitsha people like to be referred to as Ndi Onicha.
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. These migrants traveled eastward through what is now Western Igboland and various towns also called "Onitsha", for example Onicha-Ugbo, "farmland-Onitsha". Folklore has it that, Onitsha was founded by one of the sons of Chima, the founder of Issele-Uku kingdom in western Igboland. Chima, a prince of the ancient Benin kingdom emigrated, settled and founded what is 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" villages to encompass "non-royal" villages comprising Igala settlers, and the native Igbos to form a more centralized entity. Eze Aroli was apparently the first genuinely powerful Obi of Onitsha, the ruler of the city.
Some 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 [to be disciplined]"; 'Ọnyịsịlị-ncha', "too headstrong [for everyone]"; or Ani-Ocha, "the fair or white land".
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Wikipedia