The Igbo people ( , ; also spelled Ibo" and historically also Iboe, Ebo, Eboe, / / Eboans, Heebo; natively ) are an ethnic group whose primary origin is found in modern-day Nigeria, in Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo States, while others can be found in the Niger Delta and along the Cross River. They can also be found as residents in Cameroon, Gabon, and Equatorial Guinea. The Igbo people are one of the largest ethnic groups in Africa.
The Igbo language is part of the Niger-Congo language family. Its regional dialects are mutually intelligible amidst the larger "Igboid" cluster. The Igbo homeland straddles the lower Niger River, east and south of the Edoid and Idomoid groups, and west of the Ibibioid (Cross River) cluster.
Before the period of British colonial rule in the 20th century, the Igbo people were largely governed by the centralized chiefdoms of Nri, Aro Confederacy, Nnewi Kingdom, Agbor, Kingdom of Aboh and Onitsha. The Igbo people became overwhelmingly Christian during the evangelism of the missionaries in the colonial era in the twentieth century. In the wake of decolonisation, the Igbo developed a strong sense of ethnic identity. Christianity and Omenala/Odinala are the major religions, with Islamic minorities.
After ethnic tensions following the independence of Nigeria in 1960, the Igbos seceded from Nigeria and attempted to establish a new independent country called Biafra, triggering the Nigerian Civil War (1967–1970). Millions of Biafran civilians died from starvation after the Nigerian military formed a blockade around Biafra, an event that led to international media promoting humanitarian aid for Biafra. Biafra was eventually defeated by Nigeria and reintegrated into the country. The Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra and the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), two organizations formed after 1999, continue to struggle for an independent Igbo state.
Definition and subgroups
"Igbo" as a unitary identity for all Igbo speaking people developed comparatively recently, in the context of decolonisation and the Nigerian Civil War. The various Igbo-speaking communities were historically decentralised; in the opinion of Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe, Igbo identity should be placed somewhere between a "tribe" and a "nation".
Etymology
Forms of the name Igbo – (formerly also spelled Heebo, Eboe, or Ibo) have been used in Western literature at least since the 18th century. Some theories give it the meaning "forest dwellers", connect it to "the ancients" (Ndi-gbo), or suggest that it simply refers to "a community of people".
History
Prehistory
The Igboid languages form a cluster within the Volta–Niger phylum, most likely grouped with Yoruboid and Edoid.Williamson & Blench (2000) 'Niger–Congo', in Heine & Nurse, African Languages. 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.Kay Williamson in Ebiegberi Joe Alagoa, F. N. Anozie, Nwanna Nzewunwa (eds.), The Early History of the Niger Delta (1988) 92f. Genetic studies have shown the Igbo to cluster most closely with other Niger-Congo-speaking peoples.* The predominant Y-chromosomal haplogroup is E1b1a1-M2.
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.; excerpted in "Cultural Harmony I: Igboland—the World of Man and the World of Spirits", section 4 of Kalu Ogbaa, ed., Understanding Things Fall Apart (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1999; ), pp. 83–85. 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. The historian Elizabeth Allo Isichei says "Nri and Aguleri and part of the Umueri clan, [are] a cluster of Igbo village groups which traces its origins to a sky being called Eri."
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 CE 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. The Nri held seven types of beliefs, which included human (such as the abomination of twin births), animal (such as the killing or eating of pythons), 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
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.
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 type among the 138 analytical results for Igbo-Ukwu beads is soda-lime glass produced using plant ash, these were made in Mesopotamia and the eastern Mediterranean. The second most common glass type found were High lime high alumina glass from Ife which became widely distributed east towards the Niger around the 10th century CE.
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. Communities were usually governed and administered by a council of elders. 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.Meek, C. (1937). Law and Authority in a Nigerian Tribe, Pub. LondonBasden, G. (1921). Among the Ibos of Nigeria, Pub Nonsuch, p. 211-213Jeffreys, M. (1951). The Winged Solar Disk, or Ibo Ichi Scarification, Journal of the International African Institute, Vol. 21, No. 2, pp. 93–111
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.
Prior to European contact, Igbo trade routes stretched as far as Mecca, Medina and Jeddah on the African continent and the Middle East.
Transatlantic slave trade and diaspora