Prehistory The Igboid languages form a cluster within the
Volta–Niger phylum, most likely grouped with
Yoruboid and
Edoid. The greatest differentiation within the Igboid group is between the
Ekpeye, and the rest. Williamson (2002) argues that based on this pattern, proto-Igboid migration would have moved down the Niger from a more northern area in the savannah and first settled close to the delta, with a secondary center of Igbo proper more to the north, in the
Awka area. Genetic studies have shown the Igbo to cluster most closely with other Niger-Congo-speaking peoples. The predominant Y-chromosomal haplogroup is
E1b1a1-M2. Pottery dated from around 3,000–2,500 BC showing similarities with later Igbo work was found at
Nsukka, and Afikpo regions of Igboland in the 1970s, along with pottery and tools at nearby Ibagwa; the traditions of the
Umueri clan have as their source the
Anambra valley. In the 1970s, the
Owerri,
Okigwe,
Orlu,
Awgu,
Udi and
Awka divisions were determined to constitute "an Igbo heartland" from the linguistic and cultural evidence. In the Nsukka region of Igboland, evidence of early iron smelting has been excavated, dating to 750 BC at the site of
Opi and 2,000 BC at the site of
Lejja.
Kingdom of Nri The Nri and Aguleri people are in the territory of the Umueri clan who trace their lineages back to the patriarchal king-figure
Eri. Eri's origins are unclear, though he has been described as a "sky being" sent by
Chukwu (God). He has been characterized as having first given societal order to the people of
Anambra. Archaeological evidence suggests that Nri
influence in Igboland may go back as far as the 9th century, and royal burials at the
Igbo-Ukwu sites have been unearthed dating to at least the 10th century.
Eri, the god-like founder of Nri, is believed to have settled the region around 948 with other related Igbo cultures following after in the 13th century. The first Eze Nri (King of Nri)
Ìfikuánim followed directly after him. According to Igbo history, his reign started in 1043. Each king traces his origin back to the founding ancestor, Eri. Each king is a ritual reproduction of Eri. The initiation rite of a new king shows that the ritual process of becoming
Eze Nri (Nri priest-king) follows closely the path traced by the hero in establishing the Nri kingdom. :— E. Elochukwu UzukwuThe Kingdom of Nri was a religio-polity, a sort of theocratic state that developed in the central heartland of the Igbo region. object, temporal, behavioural, speech and place. The rules regarding these beliefs were used to educate and govern Nri's subjects. This meant that, while certain Igbo communities may have lived under different formal administrations, all followers of the
Igbo religion had to abide by the rules of the faith and obey its representative on earth, the Eze Nri.
Igbo-Ukwu archaeology s, known as
ichi, early 20th century
Igbo-Ukwu is a historically significant archaeological site located in southeastern Nigeria, in what is now
Anambra State. The site is renowned for its remarkable discoveries of ancient artifacts that date back to the 9th and 10th centuries AD. The archaeological findings at Igbo-Ukwu have provided valuable insights into the early history and cultural achievements of the Igbo people and their interactions with other civilizations in the region. The artifacts may be associated with the traditional
Kingdom of Nri and its priest-king, the Eze Nri. Igbo-Ukwu has one of the oldest glass productions in West Africa. The archeology of Igbo-Ukwu had over 600 prestige objects including complex cast copper-alloy sculptures and more than 165,000 glass and carnelian beads. The most common glass among the 138 analytical results for Igbo-Ukwu beads is soda-lime glass produced using plant ash. Overall, Igbo-Ukwu remains a vital archaeological site that continues to contribute to our understanding of ancient African civilizations and their contributions to human history.
Traditional society Traditional Igbo political organization was based on a democratic
republican system of government. In tight knit communities, this system guaranteed its citizens equality, as opposed to a feudalist system with a king ruling over subjects. This government system was witnessed by the
Portuguese who first arrived and met with the Igbo people in the 15th century. With the exception of a few notable Igbo towns such as
Onitsha, which had kings called
Obi and places like the Nri Kingdom and Arochukwu, which had priest kings; Igbo communities and area governments were overwhelmingly ruled by a republican consultative assembly of the common people. Many Igbo towns however, were also partly governed the high council known as the
Ozo society, whose titles could be both earned and inherited. And the spiritual (though not political) authority of the king of Nri was recognized all over Igboland. Although title holders were respected because of their accomplishments and capabilities, they were not revered as kings but often performed special functions given to them by such assemblies. This way of governing was different from most other communities of
Western Africa and only shared by the
Ewe of
Ghana.
Umunna are a form of
patrilineage maintained by the Igbo. Law starts with the
Umunna which is a male line of descent from a founding ancestor (who the line is sometimes named after) with groups of compounds containing closely related families headed by the eldest male member. The
Umunna can be seen as the most important pillar of Igbo society. It was also a culture in which gender was re-constructed and performed according to social need; "The flexibility of Igbo gender construction meant that gender was separate from biological sex. Daughters could become sons and consequently male." Mathematics in indigenous Igbo society is evident in their calendar,
banking system and strategic betting game called
Okwe. In their
indigenous calendar, a week had four days, a month consisted of seven weeks, and 13 months made a year. In the last month, an extra day was added. This calendar is still used in indigenous Igbo villages and towns to determine market days. They settled law matters via mediators, and their banking system for loans and savings, called Isusu, is also still used. The Igbo new year, starting with the month
Ọ́nwạ́ M̀bụ́ () occurs on the third week of February, although the traditional start of the year for many Igbo communities is around springtime in
Ọ́nwạ́ Ágwụ́ (June). Used as a ceremonial script by secret societies, the Igbo have an indigenous
ideographic set of symbols called
Nsibidi, whose origin is now generally attributed to the neighboring
Ejagham people, though in the 1900s J. K. Macgregor recorded a native tradition attributing it to the Uguakima or Uyanga section of the Igbo. Igbo people produced bronzes from as early as the 9th century, some of which have been found at the town of
Igbo Ukwu,
Anambra State. A system of
indentured servitude existed among the Igbo before and after the encounter with Europeans. Indentured service in Igbo areas was described by
Olaudah Equiano in
his memoir. He describes the conditions of the slaves in his community of Essaka and points out the difference between the treatment of slaves under the Igbo in Essaka and those in the custody of Europeans in West Indies: ...but how different was their condition from that of the slaves in the West Indies! With us, they do no more work than other members of the community,... even their master;... (except that they were not permitted to eat with those... free-born;) and there was scarce any other difference between them,... Some of these slaves have... slaves under them as their own property... for their own use.
Transatlantic slave trade and diaspora Chambers (2002) argues that many of the slaves taken from the
Bight of Biafra across the
Middle Passage would have been Igbo. These slaves were usually sold to Europeans by the
Aro Confederacy, who kidnapped or bought slaves from Igbo villages in the hinterland. Igbo
slaves may have not been victims of slave-raiding wars or expeditions but perhaps debtors or Igbo people who committed within their communities alleged crimes. With the goal for freedom, enslaved Igbo people were known to European
planters as being rebellious outspoken and having a high rate of suicide to escape slavery. There is evidence that traders sought Igbo women for labor. It is alleged that European slave traders were fairly well informed about various African ethnicities, leading to slavers targeting certain ethnic groups that were less challenging to European dominance, which plantation owners preferred. These ethnic groups consequently became fairly concentrated in certain parts of the Americas. While those that were outspoken, like the Igbo people, were dispersed to colonies such as
Jamaica,
Colonial America,
Belize and
Trinidad and Tobago, among others. Elements of Igbo culture can still be found in these places. For example, in
Jamaican Patois, the Igbo word
unu, meaning "you" plural, is still used. "Red Ibo" (or "red eboe") describes a
black person with fair or "yellowish" skin. This term had originated from the prevalence of these
skin tones among the Igbo people, but eastern Nigerian influences may not be strictly Igbo. The word
Bim, a colloquial term for
Barbados, was commonly used among enslaved
Barbadians (Bajans). This word is said to have derived from
bém in the Igbo language meaning 'my place or people', but may have other origins (see:
Barbados etymology). A section of
Belize City was named
Eboe Town after its Igbo inhabitants. In the United States, the Igbo were imported to the
Chesapeake Bay colonies and states of
Maryland and
Virginia, where they constituted the largest group of Africans. Since the late 20th century, a wave of Nigerian immigrants, mostly English and Igbo-speaking, have settled in Maryland, attracted to its strong professional job market. They were also imported to the southern borders of
Georgia and
South Carolina considered the low country and where
Gulluh culture still preserves African traditions of its ancestors. Today, there is an area called
Igbo Landing, where a group of Igbo had tried to drown themselves, rather than become slaves, when they disembarked the slave ship.
Colonial period The establishment of British colonial rule in present-day Nigeria and increased encounters between the Igbo and other ethnicities near the Niger River led to a deepening sense of a distinct Igbo ethnic identity. The Igbo proved decisive and enthusiastic in their embrace of Christianity and Western-style education. Christian missionaries introduced aspects of European ideology into Igbo society and culture, sometimes shunning parts of the culture. The rumours that the Igbo women were being assessed for taxation sparked off the 1929
Igbo Women's War in
Aba (also known as the 1929 Aba Riots), a massive revolt of women never encountered before in Igbo history. Aspects of Igbo culture such as construction of houses, education and religion changed following colonialism. The tradition of building houses out of mud walls and
thatched roofs ended as the people shifted to materials such as concrete blocks for houses and metal roofs. Roads for vehicles were built. Buildings such as hospitals and schools were erected in many parts of Igboland. Along with these changes, electricity and running water were installed in the early 20th century. With electricity, new technology such as radios and televisions were adopted, and have become commonplace in most Igbo households. A series of black and white, silent films about the Igbo people made by
George Basden in the 1920s and 1930s are held in the
British Empire and Commonwealth Collection at
Bristol Archives (Ref. 2006/070).
Nigerian Civil War of the Republic of
Biafra (1967–1970) A series of ethnic clashes between Northern
Muslims and the Igbo, and other ethnic groups of Eastern Nigeria Region living in Northern Nigeria took place between 1966 and 1967. Elements in the army had assassinated the Nigerian military head of state General
Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi on 29 July 1966, and peace negotiations failed between the military government that deposed Ironsi and the regional government of
Eastern Nigeria at the
Aburi Talks in Ghana in 1967. These events led to a regional council of the peoples of Eastern Nigeria deciding that the region should secede and proclaim the Republic of Biafra on 30 May 1967. General
Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu made this declaration and became the head of state of the new republic. The resultant war, which became known as the
Nigerian Civil War or the Nigerian-Biafran War, lasted from 6 July 1967 until 15 January 1970, after which the federal government re-absorbed Biafra into Nigeria. Several million Eastern Nigerians died from the
pogroms against them, such as the
1966 anti-Igbo pogrom where between 10,000 and 30,000 Igbo people were killed. Many homes, schools, and hospitals were destroyed in the conflict. The federal government of Nigeria denied Igbo people access to their savings placed in Nigerian banks and provided them with little compensation. The war also led to a great deal of discrimination against the Igbo people at the hands of other ethnic groups. In their struggle, the people of Biafra earned the respect of figures such as
Jean-Paul Sartre and
John Lennon, who returned his
MBE, partly in protest against British support for the Nigerian government in the Biafran War.
Odumegwu-Ojukwu, stated that the three years of freedom allowed his people to become the most civilized and most technologically advanced black people in the world.
Since 1970 Some Igbo subgroups, such as the
Ikwerre, started dissociating themselves from the larger Igbo population after the war. In the post-war era, Nigeria changed the names of places to non-Igbo-sounding words. For instance, the town of Igbo-uzo was anglicized to
Ibusa. Because of discrimination, many Igbo had trouble finding employment, and during the early 1970s, the Igbo became one of the poorest ethnic groups in Nigeria. Many Igbo people eventually took government positions, although many were engaged in private business. Since the early 21st century, there has been a wave of Nigerian migration to other African countries, Europe, and the Americas. == Culture ==