Cultural transformations of the Atlantic slave trade era and the aftershocks of the traffic conspired to promote new value systems in the second half of the nineteenth century that were markedly different from earlier times. These changes occurred in the production and marketing of the commodities that had replaced captives in the overseas trade. The Bight of Biafra dominated the production of palm oil, which had become the key commodity in West African trade. This fact bespeaks an intensive economic activity in the region that had far-reaching implications for the social structure, understood as an identifiable pattern of social relationships among the principal groups and institutions in society over the long term. Profound cultural, demographic, and economic changes deriving from the Atlantic slave trade and the increasing involvement of the British in the internal affairs of the region converged in a maelstrom of violence. This process is consistent with the violence that pervaded Africa during the nineteenth century.

Nowhere in Atlantic Africa, however, was this violence as intense and widespread as in the Bight of Biafra. The impact of external trade had been perhaps more far-reaching here than in any region in Africa during the period. The slave trade era had witnessed continuing Aro expansion and its consolidation of existing diaspora settlements. Although trade remained a significant part of Aro life, the Aro trading economy entered a terminal crisis. The nature and intensity of warfare changed, and agriculture became a significant part of the equation in Aro life.