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Igbos-by Encyclopedia.com by zuchyblink(m): 8:00pm On Aug 17, 2015 |
Identification. Igbo is the language spoken
in Ala Igbo or Ani Igbo (Igboland) by the
people who are collectively referred to as
"Ndi Igbo"; their community is known as
"Olu no Igbo" ("those in the lowlands and
uplands". Before European colonialism, the
Igbo-speaking peoples, who shared
similarities in culture, lived in localized
communities and were not unified under a
single cultural identity or political
framework, although unifying processes
were present via expansion, ritual
subordination, intermarriage, trade, cultural
exchange, migration, war, and conquest.
Villages and village groups were generally
identified by distinct names of their
ancestral founders or by specific names
such as Umuleri, Nri, Ogidi, Nnobi, Orlu,
Ngwa, Ezza, and Ohaffia.
There are several theories concerning the
etymology of the word "Igbo" (wrongly
spelled "Ibo" by British colonialists).
Eighteenth-century texts had the word as
"Heebo" or "Eboe," which was thought to be
a corruption of "Hebrew." "Igbo" is
commonly presumed to mean "the people."
The root -bo is judged to be of Sudanic
origin; some scholars think that the word is
derived from the verb gboo and therefore
has connotations of "to protect," "to
shelter," or "to prevent"—hence the notion
of a protected people or a community of
peace. According to other theorists, it may
also be traced to the Igala, among whom
onigbo is the word for "slave," oni meaning
"people."
Igbo-speaking peoples can be divided into
five geographically based subcultures:
northern Igbo, southern Igbo, western Igbo,
eastern Igbo, and northeastern Igbo. Each
of these five can be further divided into
subgroups based on specific locations and
names. The northern or Onitsha Igbo are
divided into the Nri-Awka of Onitsha and
Awka; the Enugu of Nsukka, Udì, Awgu, and
Okigwe; and those of the Onitsha town. The
southern or Owerri Igbo are divided into
the Isu-Ama of Okigwe, Orlu, and Owerri;
the Oratta-Ikwerri of Owerri and Ahoada;
the Ohuhu-Ngwa of Aba and Bende; and the
Isu-Item of Bende and Okigwe. The western
Igbo (Ndi Anioma, as they like to call
themselves) are divided into the northern
Ika of Ogwashi Uku and Agbor; the
southern Ika or Kwale of Kwale; and the
Riverrain of Ogwashi Uku, Onitsha, Owerri,
and Ahoada. The eastern or Cross River Igbo
are divided into the Ada (or Edda) of Afikpo,
the Abam-Ohaffia of Bende and Okigwe,
and the Aro of Aro. The northeastern Igbo
include the Ogu Uku of Abakaliki and Afikpo. |
Re: Igbos-by Encyclopedia.com by zuchyblink(m): 8:01pm On Aug 17, 2015 |
Location. Today Igbo-speaking individuals
live all over Nigeria and in diverse countries
of the world. As a people, however, the Igbo
are located on both sides of the River Niger
and occupy most of southeastern Nigeria.
The area, measuring over 41,000 square
kilometers, includes the old provinces of
Onitsha, Owerri, East Rivers, Southeast
Benin, West Ogoja, and Northeast Warri. In
contemporary Nigerian history, the Igbo
have claimed all these areas as the
protectorate of the " Niger Districts." Thus
began the process of wider unification and
incorporation into wider political and
administrative units. Presently, they
constitute the entire Enugu State, Anambra
State, Abia State, Imo State, and the Ahoada
area of Rivers State; Igbo-speaking people
west of the Niger are inhabitants of the
Asaba, Ika, and Agbo areas of Delta State. |
Re: Igbos-by Encyclopedia.com by zuchyblink(m): 8:02pm On Aug 17, 2015 |
Demography. In 1963 the Igbo numbered
about 8.5 million and by 1993 had grown to
more than 15 million (some even claim 30
million, although there has been no widely
accepted census since 1963). They have
one of the highest population densities in
West Africa, ranging from 120 to more than
400 persons per square kilometer. Igbo
subcultures are distributed in six ecological
zones: the northern Igbo in the Scarplands,
the northeastern Igbo in the Lower Niger,
the eastern Igbo in the Midwest Lowlands,
the western Igbo in the Niger Delta, the
southeastern Igbo in the Palm Belt, and the
southern Igbo in the Cross River Basin. |
Re: Igbos-by Encyclopedia.com by zuchyblink(m): 8:07pm On Aug 17, 2015 |
History and Cultural Relations
Contemporary views in Igbo scholarship
dismiss completely earlier claims of Jewish
or Egyptian origin—that is, "the Hamitic
hypothesis"—as "the oriental mirage."
Instead, there are two current opinions as a
result of evidence derived from several
sources that take into account oral history,
archaeology, linguistics, and art history. One
suggests the Awka-Orlu uplands as the
center of Igbo origin, from which dispersal
took place. The second and more recent
opinion suggests the region of the Niger-
Benue confluence as the area of descent
some five thousand years ago, and the
plateau region, that is, the Nsukka-Okigwe
Cuesta, as the area of Igbo settlement. This
first area of settlement would include
Nsukka-Okigwe and Awka-Orlu uplands. The
southern Igbo would constitute areas of
later southward migration.
Until about 1500, major economic, social,
and political transformations led to
continuous outward migrations from
overpopulated and less fertile Igbo core
areas to more fertile lands, particularly east
of the lower Niger River. The Igbo had
cultural relations with their various
neighbors, the Igala, Ijaw (Ijo), Urhobo, Edo,
and Yoruba. From 1434 to 1807, the Niger
coast was a contact point between
European and African traders. This was also
the period of trade in slaves; this activity
resulted in the development of many
centralized states owing to greater
economic accumulation and the
development of more destructive weapons
of war. The Portuguese came to Nigerian
coastal towns between the fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries; they were the first
Europeans to make contact with the Igbo.
The Dutch followed in the seventeenth
century, and the British came in the
eighteenth century. In the late nineteenth
century, mission Christianity and colonialist
interest worked together for the
colonization of Igboland. The Church
Missionary Society and the Catholic Mission
opened their missions in Onitsha in 1857
and 1885, respectively. |
Re: Igbos-by Encyclopedia.com by zuchyblink(m): 8:10pm On Aug 17, 2015 |
Linguistic Affiliation. Igbo is classified in
the Kwa Subgroup of the Niger-Congo
Language Family, which is spoken in West
Africa. It is thought that between five and
six thousand years ago, Igbo began to
diverge from its linguistic related neighbors
such as the Igala, Idoma, Edo, and Yoruba
languages. There are many dialects, two of
which have been widely recognized and are
used in standard texts: Owerri Igbo and
Onitsha Igbo. Of the two, Owerri Igbo
appears to be the more extensively spoken. |
Re: Igbos-by Encyclopedia.com by zuchyblink(m): 8:10pm On Aug 17, 2015 |
Economy
Subsistence and Commercial Activities.
Subsistence farming characterizes
agriculture among traditional Igbo people.
The chief agricultural products include
yams, cassava, and taro. Other important
subsidiary crops include cocoyams,
plantains, maize, melons, okra, pumpkins,
peppers, gourds, and beans. Palm products
are the main cash crops. The principal
exports include palm oil and, to a lesser
extent, palm kernels. Trading, local crafts,
and wage labor are also important in the
Igbo economy. High literacy rates among
the Igbo have helped them obtain jobs as
civil servants and business entrepreneurs
since Nigeria gained independence in 1960. |
Re: Igbos-by Encyclopedia.com by zuchyblink(m): 8:12pm On Aug 17, 2015 |
Industrial Arts. The Igbo blacksmiths of
Awka are renowned for their ironsmithing.
Men's wood carving and women's pottery
and patterned woven cloth are of very high
quality, and Igbo carpenters can be found
all over Nigeria. The stylized character of
Igbo masks consists of figures with beak
noses, slit eyes, and thin lips. |
Re: Igbos-by Encyclopedia.com by zuchyblink(m): 8:15pm On Aug 17, 2015 |
Trade. The Ikwo and Ezza in the Abakaliki
Division of Ogoja produce a substantial
surplus of yams for trade. Women dominate
rural retail-market trade. Trading is a major
social and economic function of women in
traditional Igbo society. Women engage in
all sorts of economic activities to make
money to purchase the essentials they
need. They make mats and pottery and
weave cloth. Women do most of the petty
trade, which is very active. The
manufacture and trade of pottery are
almost exclusively the domain of women.
Igbo also process palm oil and palm kernels,
which they market with the surplus crops
from their farm stock, and generally
monopolize the sale of cooked foods. They
mine and sell salt. |
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