NSIBIDI: The Code Language Way Before Python & Java

The proto-writing system known as Nsibidi was created in what is now the far south of Nigeria. They are categorized as pictograms, despite claims that some of them are logograms or syllabograms.

Although there is no widely recognized date, experts claim that it has been used in Ekoi as far back as 400 CE. The earliest archaeological evidence for it is from the year 2000 B.C. The earliest archaeological evidence for it is from the year 2000 B.C.

Nsibidi was used to convey messages on houses as well as decorate objects like the skin, calabashes, sculptures, and clothing. The first mention of the symbol system was made in 1904.

An iconography that is “easily comparable” to nsibidi was discovered during the excavation of terracotta headrests, vessels, and figurines from the Calabar region of south south Nigeria, which dates to roughly the 5th to 15th centuries.

There are numerous nsibidi symbols available. Kids used to learn them in a school. Many of the signs refer to romantic relationships; those that refer to conflict & the sacred are kept a secret. Mostly used on calabashes, metals (such as bronze), leaves, swords, tattoos, & walls. It is primarily used by the secret Ekpe leopard society, also known as Ngbe or Egbo, which is widespread among the Ekoi, Efik, and Igbo people as well as the Bahumono and other local populations in Cross River State.

Nsibidi was divided into a sacred version and a public, more decorative version that women could use before the colonial era of Nigerian history. The number of nsibidi literate people was drastically reduced by aspects of colonial rule like Western education & Christian doctrine, leaving members of secret societies as some of the last literate in the symbols. The Ekpe symbolism was & is still communicated through nsibidi. Nearly a thousand symbols make up Nsibidi, which can be written on houses, in the air (as gestures), on the ground, on the skin (as tattoos), or on textiles and masks.

Though majority of people enjoy nsibidi art as a form of expression, but only men who are part of the men’s associations that used to regulate trade and uphold social and political order are allowed to have a deeper understanding of the symbols. The Ejagham people of Northern Cross River are thought to be the originators of nsibidi. As Nsibidi spread throughout the area, other cultures and forms of art, like Igbo uri or uli graphic design, adapted it. Nsibidi has a large sign vocabulary that is typically inscribed on calabashes, brass objects, textiles, wood carvings, masquerade costumes, buildings, and human skin. Numerous abstract and pictorial signs make up the “fluid system” of communication known as Nsibidi.

The “ukara ekpe” is a woven material decorated with nsibidi symbols and motifs and is typically dyed blue (but can also be green or red). On calabashes, metals (such as bronze), leaves, swords, tattoos, and walls. It was a means of communication and writing.Before the development of the western writing system, Nsibidi was a system of writing that was used. The Igbos and the Ibibios must have used it to communicate. Nsibidi is comparable to the Egyptian hieroglyphs.

Nsibidi was sometimes meant only for a secret society to use & others for general use. Modern artists now use it to create art after it was revived. The ekpe cult still use it.