Igbo (people)

The Igbo or Ibo are a people living in southeast Nigeria, where they constitute an estimated 15% of the population. Their language is also called Igbo.

Related Topics:
Nigeria - Language - Igbo

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Before the arrival of Europeans, the sense of a distinct cultural identity among the Igbo was much more diffuse: the Igbo did not have a centralized system of government and lived in small, democratically organized autonomous communities. Perhaps consequently, the Europeans considered them among the more backward of Nigeria's ethnic groups.

Related Topics:
Europe - Cultural - Ethnic group

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The arrival of the British in the 1870s and increased encounters between the Igbo and other Nigerians led to a deepening sense of a distinct Igbo ethnic identity. The Igbo also proved remarkably decisive and enthusiastic in their embrace of Christianity and Western education. Under British colonial rule, the diversity within each of Nigeria's major ethnic groups slowly decreased and distinctions between the Igbo and other large ethnic groups, such as the Hausa and the Yoruba became sharper.

Related Topics:
British - Christianity - Hausa - Yoruba

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In 1966, a failed coup d'etat by Nigerian army officers led by an Igbo—Major Kaduna Nzeogwu—resulted in the death of Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto, a prominent northern Nigerian of the Hausa tribe. Although the coup was foiled primarily by another Igbo, Colonel O. Ojukwu, the belief prevailed in northern Nigeria that Hausa leaders were singled out for death. This situation gave rise to a retaliatory pogrom in which tens of thousands of Igbo were murdered in northern Nigeria, which led to the headlong flight back to the Eastern Region of as many as two million Igbos.

Related Topics:
1966 - Coup d'etat - Hausa - Colonel O. Ojukwu

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Eventually, the crisis reached an apex in May 1967 with the secession of the Igbo-dominated Eastern Region from Nigeria to form the Republic of Biafra headed by the aforementioned Colonel Ojukwu. The secession quickly led to civil war after talks between former Army colleagues, Yakubu Gowon and Ojukwu broke down. The Republic of Biafra lasted only until January 1970 after a resounding victory by the Nigerian Army.

Related Topics:
Biafra - Yakubu Gowon - 1970

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A number of Nigeria's well-known intellectuals and professionals are of Igbo descent, of note, Dr. Philip (Emeka) Emeagwali - "Father of the Internet" and Chinua Achebe - author of Things Fall Apart.

Related Topics:
Philip (Emeka) Emeagwali - Chinua Achebe - Things Fall Apart

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