King Koko

King Koko

King Frederick William Koko, Mingi VIII of Nembe (1853–1898), known as King Koko and King William Koko, was an African ruler of the Nembe Kingdom (also known as Nembe-Brass) in the Niger Delta, now part of southern Nigeria. A Christian when chosen as king of Nembe in 1889, Koko's attack on a Royal Niger Company trading post in January 1895 led to a retaliatory raid by the British in which his capital was sacked. Following a report on the Nembe uprising by Sir John Kirk which was published in March 1896, finding that forty-three of Koko's hostages had been murdered and ceremoniously eaten, Koko was offered a settlement of his grievances but found the terms unacceptable, so was deposed by the British. He died in exile in 1898. King Koko of Fantippo, a character in the Doctor Dolittle books of Hugh Lofting (1886–1947), appears to be based on the real King Koko.

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