Atlantic slave trade The Igbo were affected heavily by the
Atlantic slave trade in the 18th century. Enslaved Igbo were known for being rebellious and having a high count of suicide in defiance of slavery. In the
United States the Igbo were most numerous in the states of
Maryland (coincidentally where there is a predominant population of recent Igbo immigrants) and
Virginia, so much so that some historians have denominated colonial Virginia as “Igbo land.” With a total of 37,000 Africans that arrived in Virginia from
Calabar in the 18th century, 30,000 were Igbo according to Douglas B. Chambers. Igbo peoples constituted the majority of enslaved Africans in Maryland.
Virginia for a runaway "
Ibo Negro" Virginia was the colony that took in the largest percentage of Igbo slaves. Researchers such as David Eltis estimate between 30 and 45% of the "imported" slaves were from the Bight of Biafra, of these slaves 80% were likely Igbo. A so-called conservative estimate of the amount of Igbo taken into Virginia between 1698 and 1778 is placed at 25,000. The Igbo concentration was especially high in the
Tidewater and
Piedmont regions of the Virginia interior. One of the reasons for this high number of Igbo slaves in Virginia was the domination of the Bight of Biafra region of Africa by
Bristol and
Liverpool English merchants who frequently brought Bight of Biafra slaves to British colonies, Virginia being one of these colonies. In addition, neighboring states further contributed to the concentration of Igbo slaves in Virginia. Planters in
South Carolina and
Georgia looked down on Igbo slaves because many were rebellious, selling the majority of Igbo slaves to Virginian planters as a result. Some possible Igbo names were also found among slave records in Virginia. Names found in records such as Anica, or Anakey, Breechy and Juba may originate respectively from the Igbo names
Nneka, meaning
the mother is superior, and
mburichi, male members of the
Kingdom of Nri and Jiugba, meaning
yam barn. Some had their ethnicity added to their names such as
Eboe Sarah and plain
Ebo. These hints of Igbo influence go along with cultural remnants pointing towards the Igbo presence in Virginia, one of which is the use of the Eboe drum in music. The Igbo presence in Virginia also brought new practices such as the cultivation of
okra, a plant whose name derives from the Igbo language. Slaves in Virginia relied on sweet potato which is argued by Douglas Chambers to be an indication of a substitute for yam, the Igbo staple crop.
Kentucky The state of Kentucky, which was carved out of the
Colony of Virginia had received many of Virginia's slave drivers and slaves as people started migrating westward. These migrations spread out the population of African slaves in America, including Igbo slaves. Here the Igbo population had already become heavily creoleized alongside other African ethnicities that were taken in significant numbers to America. ==Culture==