The Igbo people are a meta ethnicity native to the modern-day South-Central and SE Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea. There has been speculation concerning the Igbo people’s origins as it’s not known how the group originated or came to form. The Niger River divides the Igbo homeland into two sections. They include an Eastern section, the larger or bigger of the two, and a Western section. The Igbo people are among the largest tribes or ethnic groups in the African region (3rd largest group in Nigeria).
The Igbo language is a part of the Niger-Congo language family. It’s divided into several regional dialects and is mutually intelligible with the Igboid cluster.
In rural Nigeria, the Igbo people work mostly as traders, artisans, and farmers. The farmers grow yam, and it is their most important crop. Other staple crops include taro and cassava.
Before the British colonial rule in the 20th century, the Igbo people were a politically fragmented group with several centralized chiefdoms like Agbor, Onitsha, Nri, and Aro Confederacy. Frederick Lugard introduced the Eze system of ‘Warrant Chiefs.’ Unaffected by the Fulani War and the spread of the Islam faith in Nigeria in the nineteenth century, they became overwhelmingly Christian under colonization.
The History of the Igbo People (Pre-history and the Nri Kingdom)
The Igboid languages form a cluster within the Volta-Niger phylum, grouped with Edoid and Yoruboid. The most significant differentiation within the Igboid group is between the Ekpeye and the rest. Williamson argues that based on this pattern, the proto-Igboid migration would have moved down the Niger from a Northern region in the Savannah and 1st settled close to the delta, with a secondary center of Igbo proper more to the North.
Pottery dated from 3000BC-2500BC showing similarities with later Igbo work was at Afikpo and Nsukka regions of Igboland in the 1970s, along with tools and pottery at Ibagwa. The Umueri clan traditions have as their source the Anambra Valley.
Researchers have excavated proof of early iron smelting in the Nsukka area of Igboland, dating to 750 BC at the Opi site and 2000 BC at the Lejja site.
The Nri people of Igbo land have a creation myth, one of the creation myths in several Igbo land regions or parts. The Aguleri and Nri people are in the Umueri clan territory who trace their lineages to Eri, a king-figure. The origins of Eri are not clear, though he has a description of a sky being whom Chukwu, the Supreme God, sent. He has been characterized as having 1st given societal order to the Anambra people.
Archaeological proof or evidence suggests that Nri’s influence in Igboland goes back to the 9th century, and people have unearthed royal burials dating to the 10th century. Eri, the founder of Nri, settled in the area around 948 with other related Igbo cultures.
The Nri Kingdom was a religion-polity that developed in the Central heartland of the Igbo area. The Nri had more than five taboos that included human, animal, object, temporal, behavioral, place, and speech taboos. People used these rules regarding taboos to govern and educate Nri’s subjects.
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Recent History of the Igbo People
Some Igbo sub-groups, like the Ikwerre, began distancing or dissociating themselves from the bigger Igbo population after the war. In the post-war period, the Eastern Nigeria people changed the names of places and people to non-Igbo-sounding words. Due to discrimination, several Igbo people had problems finding jobs, and during the early 1970s, the Igbo became one of the most impoverished tribes in Nigeria. The Igbo people rebuilt their cities by themselves without any help or contribution from Nigeria’s federal authority. This resulted in the creation or establishment of new factories in Southern Nigeria. Several Igbo eventually took government positions. Since the early 21st century, there has been a wave of Nigerian Igbo immigration to other African states, the New World, and the European region.
The Traditional Society of the Igbo People
Umunna is a form of patrilineage which the Igbo people maintained. Law begins with the Umunna, a male line of descent from a founding ancestor with groups of compounds having related families that the eldest male member heads. People see the Umunna as the most vital pillar of the Igbo society. It was also a way of life in which gender was reconstructed and performed according to social needs.
Mathematics in local or indigenous Igbo society is evident in their banking system, calendar, and strategic betting game known as Okwe. A week had 4 days in their local calendar, a month comprised seven weeks, and thirteen months made a single year. In the last month, there was an additional day added. People still use this calendar in local Igbo villages and towns to determine market days. They settled law issues through mediators and their banking system for loans and savings known as Isusu.
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The Culture of the Igbo People
The Igbo language is written in the Roman script, and the Nsibidi formalized ideograms, which the Ekpe society and the Okonko fraternity use. Nsibidi ideography existed among the Igbo people before the 16th century. However, it died out after it became popular among secret societies, making Nsibidi a secret form of communication. The Igbo language is complicated due to its many dialects, wealth in prefixes and suffixes, and heavy intonation. Igbo is a tonal language, and there are several different Igbo dialects and Igboid languages like the Ekpeye and Ikwerre languages.
The Igbo tribe has a musical style into which they include several percussion instruments. They include the udu, designed from a clay jug, an ekwe, formed from a hollowed log, and the ogene, a handbell designed or made from forged iron. Other instruments include opi, igba, and ichaka. Another famous musical form among the Igbo is Highlife.
Masking is one of the common art styles in Igboland and is in connection with Igbo traditional music. An individual can mask fabric or wood, along with other materials, including vegetation and iron. Masks have several uses, mostly in social satires, secret society initiations, religious rituals, and public festivals. Some famous masks are the Agbogho Mmuo masks of the northern Igbo, which symbolize or represent dead maidens’ spirits.
Other masks include Northern Igbo Ijele masks. The Ijele masks comprise platforms 1.8 meters in diameter, supporting figures made of colored cloth and symbolizing daily scenes with leopards’ objects. People use the Ijele masks in honoring the dead to ensure the well-being and continuity of the community and are only present on rare events or occasions like the death of a prominent person in the community.
There are also several Igbo dance styles, but Igbo dance is famous for its Atilogwu dance troops. These performances include acrobatic stunts like cartwheels and high kicks, with each rhythm from the local instruments showing a movement to the dancer. The Egedege dance is an Igbo traditional royal-styled cultural dance and one of the most celebrated or famous traditional dances in the whole of SE Nigeria.
The Visual Art and Architecture of the Igbo
The Igbo art is famous for masks, masquerades, and outfits symbolizing animals, people, and abstract conceptions. In the Igbo Ukwu town from the 9th century, the bronze castings form the earliest sculptures discovered in Igboland. Along with these bronzes were over 160000 glass beads said to have come from Venice, Egypt, and India. Some of the famous Igbo art styles include Uli designs. People note the Igbo art for Mbari architecture.
The Igbo Attire
Traditionally, the Igbo attire comprised little clothing as the purpose of clothing was to conceal or hide private parts. Children were often nude from birth until the start of their adolescence. Artists used Uli body art to decorate men and women in lines forming shapes and patterns on the body. Women traditionally carry their babies on their backs with a strip of clothing binding the 2 with a knot at her chest. Individuals have modernized this method in the form of the child carrier. Maiden wore a short wrapper with beads around their waist and other ornaments such as beads and necklaces. Men also wore wrappers.
The Igbo Cuisine
As stated above, the yam is very vital to the Ibo people as the staple crop. It is famous for its toughness. A yam can remain edible for more than five months without refrigeration. The yam is also versatile in terms of its incorporation into different foods. The Igbo people can fry, roast, or boil yams. Men are responsible for the cultivation of yams as women tend to concentrate on other crops.
There are several celebrations like the New yam festival, which the people hold for the yam harvest. During the festival, the people eat yams as a celebration. Individuals show off yam tubers as a sign of wealth and success.
Other indigenous or local foods include garri, cassava, maize, and plantains. In a typical meal, the people prepare stews or soups with vegetables like okra, to which people add pieces of chicken, fish, or goat meat.
