1.   INTRODUCTION
 The Igbo, sometimes referred to as Ibo, are one of the largest single ethnic groups in Africa. Most Igbo speakers are based in southeast Nigeria, where they make up almost 17% of the population; they can also be found in significant numbers in Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea. Their language is also called Igbo. The primary Igbo states in Nigeria are Anambra, Abia, Imo, Ebonyi, and Enugu States. The Igbos also are more than 25% of the population in some Nigerian States like Delta State and Rivers State. Traces of the Igbo Culture and language could be found in Cross River, Akwa Ibom and Bayelsa States. Igbo language is predominant in such cities like Onitsha, Aba, Owerri, Enugu, Nnewi, Nsukka, Awka, Umuahia, and Asaba, among others.

is that all honestly I was expecting to read something spacial didn't know its the dominance instinct in display..

you stopped when it was begining to get intresting

Patience please, just stay put. The main facts are yet to come, putting them together. Your patience shall sure pay. God bless you.

2.0 POSSIBLE IGBO ORIGIN
There have been postulations of different origins of the Igbo; however, serious studies based on testable facts clarify that the Igbo have lived in their country for tens of millennia. The archeological finds at Ugwuele Okigwe make an insightful proof of human activities in the theatre of Igbo civilization more than two hundred and fifty thousand years ago. Evidence of man-made tools like axe, pottery and carved stones dug up at the present day Enugu and Ebonyi states establish the credibility of the habitation of Igbo for a very long time. In other words, traditions of Igbo origin favor Igbo genesis in Igboland.

        According to Professor Oriji as well as Forde and Jones, the Isu group of the Igbo nation would appear to be the largest in population and seem to occupy a contiguous stretch of land from the center of Igboland expanding to all directions. This implies that the initial Igbo cultural and structural ideas likely evolved from the Isu. Their spread has helped to harmonize the features of the Igbo Cultural Area. In the Orlu section of Isu that claim autochthony for instance, a primogenitor was recollected of the name Igbo Ngidi, who was spiritually and scientifically advanced. He founded Ama Igbo [The home of the Igbo].


          From Ama Igbo in Orlu, he instituted various blacksmithing centers, agricultural practices, commerce and religious oracles. He further established his ideas at a place he called Igbo Ukwu [Igbo the Great] in praise of his success. It was from these places of initial causes (Ama Igbo and Igbo Ukwu) that the Igbo multiplied and occupied the present-day Igboland. It is recollected that Igbo people called themselves Umu Igbo Ngidi [Children of Igbo Ngidi], which was shortened to Umu Igbo. Today, Igbo means the people, the language and the land. Etymologically, the word "Igbo" connotes "human community".         

 With regard to the genesis of the Igbo in relation to their original population stock and areas of initial settlements and dispersals, four views are worth mentioning:

A. THE AMAIGBO VIEW OF IGBO ORIGIN          
There exists the speculation of settlement from antiquity among the Orlu and Isu group. Within this zone, Amaigbo stands out with complex sophistication that ushers valid insight into Igbo settlements of old as well as the evolution of the cultural, linguistic, behavioral and psychological patterns that give the Igbo a distinct outlook. Some historians noted that with population explosion, people from this region spread rapidly and founded other parts of Igboland. The axis in question constitutes the upper half of the "Southern Igbo" involving the Isu, Orsu, Orlu and Ihiala group.

B. THE OWERE VIEW OF IGBO ORIGIN          
This is shared by both indigenes and foreigners alike, who see the Owere region as the archetype originality of Igbo. Critical insights into the height of linguistic and cultural evolution attained here attest this standpoint. This region covers the stretch of land from Urata surroundings to Umuahia areas. This view is held by Elizabeth Isichei, who suggests that Igbo origin has its root somewhere in Owere-Umuahia axis. Hence, from here, there skyrocketed the outward radiation of Igbo characteristic elan. In other words, the original population stock from this region expanded north, south, east and west.

C. THE AWKA VIEW OF IGBO ORIGIN          
It suggests an earlier habitation of the Awka and Nri axis, whose people emerged as the first and original Igbo group. After elapsing series of internal evolution, there was the need to expand due to population pressures. There are claims of autochthony here, where migrations are just remembered to be a few miles from the present abode. Igbo cultural thoughts could have developed by this region around the Omambara and Ezu river basins being among the important elements of civilization. Factors that fuel this view include the Awka smithery and the emergence of Nri ritual functions.

D.THE OWERE-AWKA VIEW OF IGBO ORIGIN          
The fourth satisfies the result of archaeological studies that noted the continuous inhabitation of Igboland from prehistoric period. Regarding the complex dynamism involved in the question of Igbo origin, K.O. Dike and P.A. Talbot argue that Awka and Owere form the focal foundation of early Igbo dispersal. Chikezie Uchendu also holds this view that the area stretching from Awka to Owere form the Igbo heartland belt. Botanical and anthropological evidence confirm a continuous settlement of the Igbo in Igboland with a cultural continuum from the lithic periods to this day. Uchendu elaborates that "the belt formed by Owerri, Awka, Orlu and Okigwe divisions constitute this nuclear area" of Igbo evolution. People in this area have no tradition of coming from anywhere else. Within this belt, villages are small in area but are very densely populated due to internal sub-divisions over long period of habitation and group autonomy. Communities lying outside this core belt make a sharp contrast, where villages are large in area but are scantly populated. In summary, the Igbo are African people who have occupied their land for many millennia, splitting off from other Africans and evolving a distinct system.

3.0 IGBOS BEFORE COLONIZATION
Pre-colonial Igbo political organization was based on semiautonomous communities, devoid of kings or governing chiefs. With the exception of towns such as Onitsha, which had kings called Obis, and places like Nri and Arochukwu, which had priest kings known as Ezes, most Igbo village governments were ruled solely by an assembly of the common people. Although titleholders were respected because of their accomplishments, they were never revered as kings, but often performed special functions given to them by such these assemblies. This way of governing was immensely different from most other communities of Western Africa, and only shared by the Ewe of Ghana. Igbo secret societies also had a ceremonial scriptcalled Nsibidi. Igbos had a calendar in which a week has four days. A month has seven weeks and thirteen months a year. The last month had an extra day.They also had mathematics called Okwe and Mkpisi and a saving and loans bank system called Isusu. They settled law matters by oath-taking to a god. If that person died in a certain amount of time, he was guilty. If not, he was free to go, but if guilty, that person could face exile or servitude to a deity.

Dear Op, have you ever wondered why OWERRI contains ERI?

Why Agu ukwa has ERI?

Why Aguleri has ERI?
Why Umueri has ERI?

It is even in the Bible that ERI is a descendant of Jacob(Gen 46:16)

Why Aba trances their origin to Aguleri?


Why Awka does same?

Go to orlu again and dig deep it is Ngidi ERI.

I doubted all those stuffs until a man took me to Aguleri. I saw a Jacobs stone on which was written all the names of his sons in Hebrew. You will see GAD from where ERI was a son to.

I know that some Igbo came from Igala like some part of Anam,Delta, etc but most are from Isreal.

Do research on Igbo new yam festival(Iwa ji)and see for yourself that truely it all started from Aguleri/Umueri.

#ProudlyIgbo

A. Kola Nut

Kola nuts are not only known for its origin to many American and European soft-drinks and its chewing by labourers to diminish hunger and fatigue, but even more for its sacred significance in Igboland. Attending a kola nut ceremony is almost inevitable for anyone visiting Enugu and is Igbo tradition at its best. Elder agree that once the 5-centimetre nuts are blessed with incantations, the visitors will feel ensured that they are welcome. People are more than willing to explain the ceremony, and where there is no kola nut available, the host will need to do the explanatory apology to his visitors. The kola nut tradition is used for a variety of events, but principally to welcome guests to a village or house.Breaking of Kola NutThe ceremony may vary depending on the occasion and people present at the ceremony, but there is a common understanding in the traditional way of breaking them. To illustrate this delicate ceremony, I will take the occasion of welcoming a group of visitors to a village. The host presents a plate with a number of Kola nuts (ranging from two up to sixteen) to the leader of the delegation, who will take the plate and shows it to the most senior member of his entourage. To acknowledge that he has seen the plate, he briefly touches the plate with his right hand, before it is shown to less senior members and so forth till most members have taken a glimpse of the plate. After that, the host gets the plate returned from the visitor and takes one of the kola nuts and gives it to the visitor while saying:‘Öjï luo ünö okwuo ebe osi bia.’‘When the Kola nut reaches home, it will tell where it came from.’This proverb says that the visitor needs to show the kola nut to his people at home as a proof of having visited this village.Igbo Kola Nut CeremonyUsually, the oldest man among the host audience is asked to bless the kola nuts. He will take one of the nuts in his right hand and makes a blessing, prayer or toast using a proverb, e.g.‘Ihe dï mma onye n’achö, ö ga-afü ya.’‘What ever good he is looking for, he will see it.’Subsequently, the presenter or an appointed person breaks the kola nut with his hands or using a knife. An aid or close relative breaks the remaining nuts. The visitors now explain the purpose of their visit, while the kola parts are distributed to the people, occasionally coming along with palm wine, garden eggs and peanut butter.As mentioned before, it is the breaking that is the significant part of the ceremony. The more parts the kola breaks up to, the more prosperity it gives to its presenter and visitors. Though there is one exception: if the nut yields only to two parts, it signifies no good as it signals that the presenter has a sinister motive behind the kola. Because of that, Kola nuts with only two parts are avoided for this ceremony and therefore the purple/reddish coloured nuts, cola acuminata are preferred over its greyish counterpart, the cola nitida, as the latter one only breaks up in two. Four parts coincide with the four market days of the Igbo week. Five or more broken parts mean prosperity for the family. In some parts of Igboland, when the kola breaks into six, a separate celebration is required and sometimes even including the slaughter of a goat. There are many other rules surrounding the kola nut ceremony, which you can read in the books mentioned in the references. I will mention only a few more things: kola nut should only be presented with two hands at the same time, and also as the kola tree is associated with man, only men can climb and pluck the kola tree. Sorry ladies!

Joe4lv:
Dear Op, have you ever wondered why OWERRI contains ERI?

Why Agu ukwa has ERI?

Why Aguleri has ERI?
Why Umueri has ERI?

It is even in the Bible that ERI is a descendant of Jacob(Gen 46:16)

Why Aba trances their origin to Aguleri?


Why Awka does same?

Go to orlu again and dig deep it is Ngidi ERI.

I doubted all those stuffs until a man took me to Aguleri. I saw a Jacobs stone on which was written all the names of his sons in Hebrew. You will see GAD from where ERI was a son to.

I know that some Igbo came from Igala like some part of Anam,Delta, etc but most are from Isreal.

Do research on Igbo new yam festival(Iwa ji)and see for yourself that truely it all started from Aguleri/Umueri.

#ProudlyIgbo

On a truth scale bro, I would give you 85%
#ProudlyMbaiseImoIgbo

B. MARRIAGE