Introduction

This volume deals with the Edo-speaking peoples of the Benin, Delta, and Ondo Provinces of Western Nigeria and the Rivers Province of Eastern Nigeria.1 A section has also been included on the Itsekiri or Jekri2 who, although they speak a Yoruba dialect, claim descent from an early Oba of Benin, and whose culture owes much to Bini, Urhobo, and Ijaw influences.