Onitsha, port and market town in Anambra state, southern Nigeria. The town lies on the east bank of the Niger River just south of its confluence with the Anambra River. Founded by adventurers from Benin (nearby, to the west) in the early 17th century, it grew to become the political and trading centre of the small Igbo (Ibo) kingdom of Onitsha. Its monarchical system (rare among the Igbo people) was patterned after that of Benin. An Onitsha obi (“king”) negotiated in 1857 with William Balfour Baikie, a British trader, for the establishment of a British trading post in the town.
Onitsha remains the chief entrepôt for goods coming upstream from the Niger River delta and those transported downstream from towns on the Niger and Benue rivers. Roads lead to the town from Enugu and Owerri, and the completion in 1965 of the 4,606-foot (1,404-metre) bridge across the Niger River to Asaba provides Onitsha with a direct road link to Benin City and Lagos.