Igbo - History/Ndị Ìgbò

About Igbo - History/Ndị Ìgbò

(English)

The Igbo people are an ethnic group in Nigeria. They are primarily found in Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo States. A sizable Igbo population is also found in Delta and Rivers States. Ethnic Igbo populations are found in Cameroon, Gabon, and Equatorial Guinea, as migrants as well as outside Africa. There has been much speculation about the origins of the Igbo people, which are largely unknown. Geographically, the Igbo homeland is divided into two unequal sections by the Niger River—an eastern (which is the larger of the two) and a western section. 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 somewhat 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 were politically fragmented by the centralized chiefdoms of Nri, Aro Confederacy, Agbor and Onitsha. Frederick Lugard introduced the Eze system of "warrant chiefs". The Igbos 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.

After ethnic tensions following the independence of Nigeria in 1960, the predominantly Igbo region 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 international media promoting humanitarian aid for Biafra alleged to be a genocide. 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, two sectarian organizations formed after 1999, continue a non-violent struggle for an independent Igbo state.

(Igbo)

N'ala Naigeria, Ndị Ìgbò bụ ndị nke atọ ma a bịa na ọnụ ọgụgụ ebo ndị e nwere na Naijirịa . Asụsụ eji mara ndi Ìgbò bu asụsụ Ìgbò. Asụsụ ọzọ ha na-asụkarị bụ "broken English". Imerime ndị mmadu nọ n'ala Igbo na-asụkwa asusu bèkeè, n'ihi agụmakwụkwọ ha nwetaworo na asụsụ bèkèè.

Ụfọdụ n'ịme steetị Naijirịa nke ndị Igbo kacha dị ọtụtụ na ha bụ: Ọ̀hà Abia, Ọ̀hà Ọmambala, Ọ̀hà Ebonyi, Ọ̀hà Enugu, ma na Ọ̀hà Imo. Ọ̀hà Delta (Anioma) na Ọ̀hà Rivers.

Enwekara asụsụ ndi ọzọ a na-asụ na ala Naigiria nke gbara ndị Igbo gburugburu gụnyere: Igala, Urhobo, Isoko, Itshekiri, Ibibio, Idoma, Tiv, Edo, Eshan d.g.z.