Before Europeans arrived, the precolonial economy of the area was based on
subsistence agriculture. Communities were protected from raids and other disturbances by the area's eastern flank along the
Imo River, which borders
Ezi na Ihite. Igbo government was based on kinship and customs, with the village group forming the highest level of organization.
Chinua Achebe describes pre-colonial Igbo life in his novel,
Things Fall Apart. When the British colonial administration initially imposed the Southern Protectorate of Nigeria, the new government established a post at Nguru in 1905 and built a residence for the British there. Around this time, Dr. Rogers Stewart, a British man who took a wrong turn on his bicycle, was captured and killed by indigenes in a case of mistaken identity. The British subsequently launched the
1906 Ahiara Punitive Expedition, led by Captains Brian Douglas and Harold Hastings, to begin reprisals in the region and enforce control. To further supervise the clans, a native court was established in
Obohia in 1907 and transferred to Nguru in 1909. However, in 1927, the colonial government introduced taxation, tax increases in 1929 were met with fierce opposition by the Igbo population, and the
Women's War began in protest of social and economic oppression under British rule. The native court at Nguru was destroyed as a result of the
Women's War. Regional courts were then established in
Itu (for Ezinihitte); Afor Enyiogugu (for Agbaja); Obohia (for Ekwerazu); Orie-Ahiara (for Ahiara); and Uvuru (for Oke-Uvuru) in response to the
home rule movement of the 1930s. On June 12, 1941, Mbaise became a political and administrative federation of five clans: Agbaja, Ekwerazu, Ahiara, Ezinihitte, and Oke-Uvuru. A treasury was opened in Enyiogugu in 1942, later transferred to Aboh in 1948. Councils were formed by 1945, loosely based on autonomous communities that already existed, and it was from these councils that the three local governments of Mbaise were created.
Ahiazu Mbaise was a merger of the Ahiara and Ekwerazu councils, and
Aboh Mbaise was a merger of the Oke-Ovoro and Agbaja councils.
Ezinihitte Mbaise remained by itself except for Obiangwu and Umuohiagu, two small villages which joined the Ngor-Okpala from the
Agbaja region. Between 1955 and 1958, the Mbaise County Council began landmark development projects, such as the Mbaise Secondary School and Mbaise Joint Hospital (now General Hospital) which are both in
Aboh. On June 1, 1969, Mbaise was one of the last remaining Igbo strongholds during the
Biafran War and
Ahiara Mbaise was the site from which General
Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu delivered the historic
Ahiara Declaration. ==Culture and demographics==