The People
The Ibani
The people of Bonny are Ibani. an Ijaw people who have lived on this island for centuries. They speak Ibani language alongside Igbo and English. They are traders, fishermen, rulers, and storytellers. Their history isn't written in books. It's carved into war canoes, woven into coral beads, and carried in the names of the 35 chieftaincy houses that still govern the kingdom today.
Then
Now
The Short Version
A Short History of Bonny
~1450. Bonny sends Prince Abagy as an ambassador to Portugal. One of West Africa's earliest diplomatic missions to Europe.
1700s. Grand Bonny becomes the busiest port in the Bight of Biafra. War canoes carrying 140 men patrol the waters.
1864. Bishop Ajayi Crowther establishes St. Stephen's Cathedral. First Anglican cathedral in Nigeria, second in Africa.
1869. Jaja, a former slave turned merchant king, breaks from Bonny with 14 war canoe houses to found the Kingdom of Opobo.
1961. Shell (now Renaissance) commissions the Bonny Oil Terminal. The island becomes the anchor of Nigeria's crude export infrastructure.
1999. Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG) commissions its first train on Bonny Island. The plant becomes one of the largest LNG facilities in the world.
2025. First road connecting Bonny to the mainland opens. A new chapter begins.
