All the Igbo people are not the same ethnicity, because nations like Nri used their territory as asylum and freed all slaves who set foot in it. Anyone who followed the religion of the Nri people was accepted as an Igbo.

BlackLibya:

All the Igbo people are not the same ethnicity, because nations like Nri used their territory as asylum and freed all slaves who set foot in it.

Okay.

BlackLibya:

Anyone who followed the religion of the Nri people was accepted as an Igbo.

What?

The Kingdom of Nri (948—1911) was the West African medieval state of the Nri-Igbo, a subgroup of the Igbo people, and is the oldest kingdom in Nigeria.[2] The Kingdom of Nri was unusual in the history of world government in that its leader exercised no military power over his subjects. The kingdom existed as a sphere of religious and political influence over much of Igboland, and was administered by a priest-king called the eze Nri. The eze Nri managed trade and diplomacy on behalf of the Igbo people, and possessed divine authority in religious matters.

The kingdom was a safe haven for all those who had been rejected in their communities and also a place where slaves were set free from their bondage. Nri expanded through converts gaining neighboring communities' allegiance, not by force. Nri's royal founder, Eri, is said to be a 'sky being' that came down to earth and then established civilization. One of the better-known remnants of the Nri civilization is its art, as manifested in the Igbo Ukwu bronze items.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Nri

You said "accepted as an Igbo", what does that mean?

BlackLibya:

All the Igbo people are not the same ethnicity, because nations like Nri used their territory as asylum and freed all slaves who set foot in it. Anyone who followed the religion of the Nri people was accepted as an Igbo.

Whatever the ethnicity of these ex-slaves were(ie if there are not ethnic Igbos), their numbers are so insignificant to change the overall ethnicity of the larger group.

But even if Igbo people were descended from Malian slave, they'd still be ethnically Igbo.

abi oo!

By the way, why do most of the african fathers/ originators fall from the sky are they aliens? Since after them, no other person has fallen!

Eri had a ladder.

ChinenyeN:
You're Ngwa. How can you not know this? Alright, let's take our people for example.

1. There's a reason why we call Aro, Abam, Abiriba, etc. "nmogh", though we can now communicate with them.

2. "Ohuhu". The original Ohuhu are our ethnic kin, now primarily in the Ezinihite LGA. Some time in later history, strangers (who neither spoke nor understood our tongue) began showing up in the area. We had no name for them, and we didn't know who they were. So, we called them "ohuhu", because they came from the Ohuhu side of the Imo (either settling on that side or later deciding to cross the Imo to settle on our side). Now, there's a reason why we call all "ohuhu" mbiarambiara (foreigners). Yet, we can communicate with them. As an Ngwa, you should know this. Likewise, you should also know that we are not the same people as them.

3. What this all means is simple. The fact that there is now some degree of intelligibility does not at all mean that we come/came from "the same source". Being able to communicate only speaks for interaction. It doesn't speak for lineage or descent.


That my comment, which you were responding to was about the source of the name "Nri" and not necessarily the source of the people. Although, I will still gladly respond to the above quote by saying "no, we are not".

lets just believe that the ohuhus are foreigners in ngwa. There are ndi-ibom in aro but they (ndi-ibom) knew that they are not igbos originally. They still know their language,tradition, origin even though they have accepted the igbo identity.the ohuhu people might know they mother tongue even though it might have died. Then let u ngwa people who are also foreigners tell ur mother tongue b4 u people embraced igbo language

mbatuku2:

Just to set the records straight, Eri is not the progenitor of all Igbos.

Eri means 'The guardian' in Hebrew and 'prosperity' in Igbo.

Nri means 'food' in Igbo(possibly given to the bearer because of his love for food)

Nri is the son of Eri.

How did you come about the meaning of Eri ?
Anambra groups dont pronounce food the same way southerns Igbo do. We say "nni" and not "nri" and this invalidates your arguement since "Nri" is an Anambra name. About the food;I think you are trying to sound funny. Dont teach what you dont know!

The Igbo first settled in Anambra or Omambala River valley in a place called Umueri in Anambra East local Govt area of Anambra state. Umueri means children of Eri. Nri are sons of Umueri who left from Nri-Aka Ugumana Ugume Umueri who are direct descendants of Dabawor; we call Dabawor Nna mulu Eri. This name (Dabawor) is Hebrew. Umueri people are Hebrew worshipers in the past and up till today they still maintain it in their shrine where he (Dabawor) settled, the three tents as in Hebrew worship- one tent for the Levites, one for men, one for women. Umueri ancestral father left from Eri clan of Gad's tribe in East of Jordan in about I, 300BC with his followers when Molic attacked their inhabitation in East of Jordan called the Trans-Jordan tribes/inhabited by Rubenites, the first son of Jacob. For more info on origin and meaning of Eri visit www.umueriland.com