Brass River Brass River The Brass River is one of the branches of the Nun River, which in turn is a branch of the Niger River, in the Niger Delta in Nigeria. In the 19th century the river was an important trading route, first for slaves and later for palm oil. Brass River Crude Oil is named for a refinery on the river. The name "Brass" is European, said to have been given to the Nembe coastal villages because they traded for brass pans and neptunes to use for salt boiling. The "Brass Ijo" were all the Ijaw people from Cape Formosa
Enclaves of Forcados and Badjibo families and servants. The lease was for a renewable period of thirty years in each case, and included conditions such as a requirement to enclose the area and to forbid retail trading. The annual rent was set at one franc per year. The enclaves were mentioned in French textbooks in 1926 and described as unoccupied in 1929. The leases were not renewed at the end of the initial thirty year period. The name 'Forcados' (meaning 'forked') was given to the area by the first Portuguese slave traders to explore the Niger delta in the current Bayelsa State. The leased area