₦airaland Forum

shymexx: However, I honestly don't think Nri Kingdom is the oldest continuous Kingdom in Africa - I also doubt it's the oldest in Nigeria, tbh... Thebes(Egypt), Djenné-Jeno(Mali), Axum(Ethiopia), Carthage(Tunisia), Alexandria(Egypt), Ife(Nigeria), Igodomigodo/Benin(Nigeria), Avalite(Somalia) etc. are older than Nri and all those Kingdoms are still alive today...

Nri in Nigeria is considered the oldest. The kingdoms you listed either no-longer exist ("Thebes(Egypt), Djenné-Jeno(Mali), Axum(Ethiopia), Carthage(Tunisia), Alexandria(Egypt), Avalite(Somalia)" ) or are younger (Ife(Nigeria)), and/or are not continuous (Igodomigodo/Benin(Nigeria)).

I think the most important thing is that radiocarbon dates of Nri-related noblemen date back before 10th century.

CAMEROONPRIDE: are Igbos Bantu?

Some people say they are semi-Bantu or even proto-Bantu. Some believe they are the pre-cursor to the Bantu people but are not fully Bantu themselves. Igbo culture is quite similar to Bantu cultures as you may know.

Keep bumping my threads for me.

shymexx: Can we also get some information about Igbo-ukwu arts??

The link I posted is quite good.

emiye: widely accepted by whom? those classification can be relative, except one stick to the one defined and recognised in the constitution of the country, If you look at the map, i can as well classify Benue state under "South Eastern" Nigeria,

You didn't know cardinal points are widely accepted and be whom? So cardinal points are relative now? Why would I or anyone be upset with you placing Benue in southeastern Nigeria? At least if I have an objection to that I can use actual geographical features like the climate and topography to back it up. But I don't, so do you have any interesting Benue facts to add to the list?

shymexx: Olaudah Equiano is one of the greatest black Britons ever - he was a great man of honour!!

Ezeagu, can you explain further on why Nri Kingdom is the oldest continuous Kingdom in Africa??

The Nri Kingdom has a new years festival known as Igu aro which literally means 'the counting of the years'. It happens once yearly and it is marked by the appearance of the Eze (king) and the blessing of people who made pilgrimage to Nri from other lands. The Igu aro festival marks the years by ritually counting them. They are on the 1014th year as of February 2013. The earliest archaeological discovery associated with Nri is actually in Igbo-Ukwu in a part that used to be part of the Kingdom. The main discovery at Igbo-Ukwu was a unknown noblemans chamber (which had collapsed) and they found bronzes and art that were fashioned in a style still used by the Nri people till this day. The Nri themselves date the first monarch of their kingdoms reign to the 10th century.

emiye: When you talk of Nigeria, the word South East simply refers to 5 states, Imo,Anambra,Ebonyi,Enugu and Abia states.

Geo-political zones - South west, South-South, South East, North West, North East and North Central

Sorry, I was talking about normal-widely accepted sane peoples geography.

seanet02: At least Yorubas were brave enough to produce Black Scorpion and Ebora owu who make mincemeat of ibos at the front.

Thanks to you, my thread has been seen by over 100.

OkparaIgbo: Good Job OP for impacting some of these new knowledge to me on Ala/Ndi-Igbo. Ignore all the haters and detractors that would soon flood this thread like vampires looking for blood. Ka Chukwu gozie Ala/Ndi-Igbo...Iseeeeee.!

Good advice. Thanks.

emiye: your no 11 & 12 fact is faulty, Calabar is not located in the south east, also, the gorillas are in cross river , south-south region of nigeria.

Simple common knowledge of geography would tell you that Calabar is in the eastern portion of the south of Nigeria. Common knowledge. There is no such thing as a "south-south" on a compass, just like "east-east", "north-north", and "west-west" are nonsensical and nonexistent in civilised societies.

donroxy: 1.SE/N could not be the ''densest'' since it is after another ''densier'' country ''Egypt''......

2.Nri Kingdom has no written/Archeological back-up for ur claims, as the oldest continuos kingdom in AFRICA(u said so urself) u wrote ''Nri kingdom is believed'' . How re u gonna back this up......!!! This sound like moonlight tales......!!!

3. Fact......!!!

4.hmmm, convincing as dates were provided!!!

5. Hmmmm..yam...!!!

6.u wrote ''bantu is 'said' to have rooted from the SE/N..... U re not sure of urself, who and what said it......!!! What makes this FACT!!!

7.masquerade......ok......hmmm

8.Nsibidi.....ok

9: sounds like FACT even with reference......!!! One fact


10: Another Fact......dates provided!!!


11 and 12 on point......!!!!
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Brother,
There is difference between Facts and conjectures(...... U used many Doubtful Words in ur article which implies there are limitations to most of ur points which thus denied most of ur points Factual Xtics.......e.g

they were ''said'' to be; they were ''believed'' to be ; they were ''thought'' to be.........!!!

1. Your opposition to the first point makes no sense since it's a fact, the southeast area is the densest area after the nile valley. No debate here.
2. If you would have actually checked you would have known that a nobleman's funerary chamber was uncovered in what is now Igbo-Ukwu dating back to the 9th century and associated with the Nri kingdom (the ritual objects and symbolism matched the culture).
6. The Bantu expansion is a theory, a large amount of facts in the scientific world are based on theories that are sometimes challenged so it is believed by linguistics/anthropologists (if you would have checked) to have started here since there could be any other explanation, even though this theory is widely accepted. 'Said', 'believed', doesn't make any difference since they all mean coming from an opinion. It's a fact since it is a fact that it is a widely accepted theory.

seanet02: resilient?
No wonder they fled to ivory coast when the chips went down.
Resilient indeed.

Start you own thread please. You sound bitter and restless.

[quote author=Beaf!]Boko Harem are gradually succeeding in instilling fear in every household in Nigeria. And Creek Joe is as clueless as ever.[/quote]You're calling him "Creek Joe" while your people are living on mounds of shit, abi?

No one hates the Yoruba. In order to hate, you will actually have to care. Thanks for the bump.

ijaw citizen: Mr. Ezeagu the Igbo man is lacking understanding of the difference between Inter-ethnic 'INTERACTION' and 'ANCESTRY/ BLOOD RELATION/ GENETIC RELATION' between different ethnic nations and I wish I could explain the difference to him, but I don't think he is intelligent enough to understand me.

Stop confusing ur brain, there is no single piece of history exists where Ijaws and Igbos were brothers. That history does not exist. This is beyond ignorance, this is madness. There is no single community in Ijawland having IGBO ANCESTRY OR PRACTICING IGBO RITUALS OR ANY FORM OF IGBO CULTURE.

You're only angry because Igbo culture overshadows that of the Ijaw and at some point in history the Igbo culture would have swallowed up a large part of the culture, like it was doing the Kalabari. The Kalabari of the 19th century were paranoid enough to have punished people who spoke Kalabari with an Igbo accent. There is no single community in Ijawland practicing Igbo customs because the communities that would have have already been almost completely swallowed whole by the Igbo world, a la Bonny, Opobo, Port Harcourt.

ijaw citizen: The Ijaw towns of Bonny (Okoloama) and Opobo (Opubo ama) are located at the southern tip of two major rivers used to transport slaves (Igbo people) from Igbo mainland. These slaves were either taken to foreign lands or work as slaves under Ijaw nobles in these Ijaw communities, while others were absorbed into the family eg Jaja. Does this mean that the community is having IGBO ANCESTRY? or is it that you don't know the meaning of ANCESTRY?

An igbo creole is spoken in Bonny and Opobo as a result of slave trade and other forms of trade with Igbos, It is not the ONLY LANGUAGE spoken in these places. Bonny and Opobo have their INDIGENOUS (native) Ijaw dialect called IBANI.

I'm sure Ibani is a beautiful language with lots of history, but I'm sorry, it is not as relevant or as strategic as Igbo, even in other "Ijaw" areas. We can call Bonny Ama-ndi-Ijaw, this will not change the fact that Igbo culture has encroached deep into the consciousness of the society. No amount of government-fuelled Ibani propaganda or Ijaw boat turning will change this fact. The Ijaw will keep faux-history, while the Igbo culture dominates de facto.

ijaw citizen: He is trying to tell us that people who have NATURALLY lived as distinct ethnic groups for thousands of years are now gradually coalescing (his actual word was "merging" NATURALLY Into a common ethnic nation with the Igbos. WOW, WHAT A FANTASY!

Ijaw towns speaking a foreign language is a common occurence in Ijawland and this is due to interaction with our neighbours. In the western fringe of Ijawland, there are communities speaking Yoruba, Bini, Urhobo, etc. While in the eastern fringe, Ibibio, Efik and Igbo is spoken in some communities.
It doesn't mean that Ijaw have ANCESTRY from each of the groups mentioned above.

I'm living in fantasy while Ijaw leaders make spiritual pilgrimages to Imo State.

I've given it to you straight with no chaser or mitten gloves now because it seems no one in Nigeria appreciates fairness, facts, and diplomacy.

1. South eastern Nigeria is the densest area in Africa after the Nile valley in Egypt. The Nile has been a home to millions for thousands of years and the majority of Egypt's 80 million plus population dwell there, while south eastern Nigeria has a staggering population density of 1000 per square mile.

2. The oldest continuous kingdom in Africa is the Nri Kingdom and is situated right in the middle of south eastern Nigeria. The Kingdom of Nri is believed to have started in the middle of the 10th century (around 950 AD) although some put this in the 13th century 300 years later. Some of the oldest continuos kingdoms in the world include the oldest Japan starting in 660 BC! Also included is the fourth eldest, the kingdom of Denmark which interestingly began in 940. Too bad Nri can't confirm their date with writing. Nri is also renowned for its organisation, pacifism, and the fact that it did not keep a standing army by choice.

3. The highest selling novel in African history, Things Fall Apart, was written by a native south easterner, Chinua Achebe (16 November 1930 – 21 March 2013), who was born in Ogidi in present Anambra state. The book is also set in south eastern Nigeria and has sold millions in many languages, and Chinua Achebe is praised as the 'father' of modern African literature.

4. The earliest published accounts by a West African in Europe of African society was not only based, yet again, in south eastern Nigeria, but was also by one from there; Olaudah Equianos 1789 autobiography The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano is one of, if not the most, important books of the abolitionist movement era. The book recounted Equianos homeland (somewhere thought to be in Anambra State) and his journey through slavery, his liberation and his journeys throughout the world. Equiano ultimately became a rich Londoner and an icon of the abolitionist movement.

5. The southeastern region has one of the most diverse cultivated species of yam in the world.

6. The Bantu expansion, which birthed the majority of the population between the current nations of Cameroon and South Africa all the way to Kenya, is said to have began in the SE.

7. The biggest mask in Africa calls the SE its home. The Ijele masquerade hails from Anambra State and stands at several meters tall. It is only outed every couple of years for special occasions and is decorated with multicoloured material and models of local life such as animals and villagers. Copies of the Ijele mask have been requested by notable establishments around world, they have been commissioned for foreign museums and even Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge, in Disney World Orlando, Florida, United States.

8. South easterners are thought to have invented one of West Africas pre-European/Arab writing systems known as nsibidi.

9. The bronze artefacts from Igbo-Ukwu dating to before the 10th century are considered to be "among the most inventive and technically accomplished bronzes ever made" by the Metropolitan Museum of Art and "The people of Igbo-Ukwu, ancestors of present-day Igbo, were the earliest smithers of copper and its alloys in West Africa." by the same source. "Igbo-Ukwu bronzeworking was an isolated phenomenon at the time, but bronze casting developed several centuries later in other parts of Nigeria."
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/igbo/hd_igbo.htm

10. Together, there was around 30 years of some sort of major revolt/war against the British between 1880 and 1910 by south easterners. Beginning with the Ekumeku movement, one of the notable wars include the Anglo-Aro war which ended with the defeat of the Aro confederacy after several months stand-off with the British. and Revolts carried on well into the 1930s with Aba womens riots, and in the 1940s with the rise of Nnamdi Azikiwe and anti-colonial movements. 20 years later Nigeria gained independence.

11. Calabar was one of the first and most important major trading ports between Europeans and Africans in the middle of the last millenium and was chosen as the first capital of Nigeria. Unfortunately all other trade was overshadowed by the trade in slaves shortly after its establishment.

12. The critically endangered Cross River gorilla, a subspecies of the western gorilla, is native to southeastern Nigeria (and some in Cameroon).

4chi: See where envy and petty jealousy has driven you. You are no different from a rabid infested dog. Was it the fault of the yorubas that your fathers were primitive,naked wild living mongrels? Food gatherers and cave men? You wish you were Yoruba but since your chi has decided otherwise, learn to live with it.

Forget all the crap being spewed above,the Yoruba culture survived in the diaspora because IT IS THE MOST RESILIENT CULTURE FROM AFRICA AND IT'S SPIRITUALITY IS WORLD ACCLAIMED UP TILL TODAY. Yorubas don't owe anybody any apology for that after all, aji se bi oyo la nri, oyo o se bi baba enikankan .

Ask yourself which other African group has anything as deep as the ifa corpus coupled with impressive pantheon of gods which aremore than that of the Greek mythology. Yorubas have always been the initiator and not the immitators in matters of culture or why do you think the rest of Nigeria now tie gele, wear aso ebi and aso oke, adire, etc, etc other cultures will continue to imitate but you will never see a Yoruba man tie wrapper. Eewo Orishas!!

There was an Igbo settlement in Belize and a Akan-Maroon village in Jamaica. There have been massive contributions by all kinds of African groups to the world. The Kongo language has even enriched many languages with words like zombie and jumbo, so I don't know how you were able to judge which was the most resilient culture when there are people in Cuba that speak Efik and Caribbean English uses mostly Akan-Igbo derived African words.

mainman7: [b]Yes you are definitely right. Right from time, Yorubas valued the sanctity of life and were not rushing to sell their brethren for money unlike the igbos, until the colonial masters' violent raid could no more be withstood and they started taking slaves. igbos are fools,and bloody senseless liars like achebe,twisting history. igbos rather flatter themselves and falsely use mouth to spoil others' image. igbo unity is FAKE! they kill themselves for money with ease. Unlike igbos, Yorubas know that LIFE is more than money. Cynthia, that beautiful girl was severally Molested and killed by 4 igbos for money. This year alone so many ritual killings in igbo land, 38 people were killed and dumped in a Ezu River in Anambra, 12 toddlers were killed in another...several unresolved killings for money in igbo land, what a people. igbos are fools,and bloody senseless liars like achebe,twisting history. I don't know any other tribe that is as ungrateful as d igbos. d Thoughtful Yorubas accepts them like brothers yet they rant about us. They are cowards, hausas are slaughtering their brothers like rams in the North, they do nothing.igbos always think they r d wisest and that is why they are fools who think life is only about money.igbos r d Genesis of d problem of dis country,traitors who spared their greedy leaders in January 29,1966 Coup.The civil war would not have happened. Yorubas don't betray, read history, ur useless father azikwe started d betrayal thing when Awolowo helped him to d top and he didn't fulfill his part of their agreement.in d January 1966 igbo coup,Brgd Ademulegun, Col Fajuyi and other Great Youruba Millitary Men were killed, as usual d ever deceitful igbos, against the agreement, told their greedy leaders to skedaddle. igbos must apologize to d Yorubas now!d YORUBAS are already uniting and getting ready for u people.igbos or hausas, what u want is want u shall get from us,Peace or War![/b]

The most notorious slave raiding and trading empire in Nigeria was Oyo which carried on selling people after the1830s. Igbo people can't compete with that because there was no massive empire.

TheBookWorm: You also forget that in Trinidad & Tobago, some people still practice Obeah. I think that is a derivative of traditional Igbo spirituality.

Yes, it does. And Igbo words are used in everyday Caribbean speech in a way that a lot of others aren't.

Yoruba indentured servants were still arriving in places like Trinidad and Tobago and Brazil way after most European nations had abandoned buying slaves from Africa.

By the way, Efik and aspects of their culture still exists in the Cuban abacua society. Many aspects of Brazilians culture like Candomble and music comes from Angola.

Kitikpa?

JeSoul: Those of you whose comments I hid, please guys watch your language, stop the trolling, the modifying of others posts to say something else etc etc. Thank you.

So my comment was hidden because of the truth which is that the Pope once okayed slavery and tortured men, women and children, all over Europe?

fineheart: The best organized institution in the world is showing humanity in clear terms how to handle sudden resignations and election of the successor. No wonder the Catholic Church with 1.2 billion members world-wide has continued to exist and surmounts challenges that come her way for nearly 2,000 years of its existence. We pray that the Holy Spirit will guide the Cardinals to elect a very worthy successor to the retiring Pope.

You mean like how they sponsored the slave trade and tortured men, women and children all over Europe?

https://wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com/blogs/unreasonablefaith/files/2012/08/stephen-fry-slavery-bible-christianity-atheism.gif

pastie: Shaking his butt when walking

How is that possible?

6. to 10,000,000. - When he takes questionable amounts of "ewoh!" in his "meshiọnụ!".

bigfrancis21: As for the facebook names, it really strikes me as odd how any AA would bear the surname 'igbo' if they weren't igbo/hadn't igbo ancestry. Remarkably, two of them are from Virginia, the same state recorded to have the highest concentration of Igbo slaves in america and the third from Vermont. I was really impressed that, if actually they are AAs, they chose to use the proper spelling 'Igbo' rather than the anglicized spelling 'ibo'. And in full solidarity of her roots one of them bears all Igbo names. 'Chioma Igbo'.
You once mentioned earlier some AAs bearing 'ibo' as surname, especially in Virginia, so my discovery was more than co-incidental.

But it's possible that they're not African American and are actually from recently arrived Nigerians. But the other Jamaican person you posted is interesting. I know of some people using African names, but it's rarely Igbo (or i think it is).

[quote author=PAGAN 9JA]im sorry to say this but these days Igbos give chieftancy titles to any cat or dog that passes their way. It s not like the olden days, when deeds and not birth earned them . . [/quote]That's a romantic view of the past. People bought titles in the 'olden days' as well.

I know in Onicha lamp is úkpé.

bigfrancis21: Stumbled on another thread on NL of an AA who was able to trace her ancestry to the Igbo. She and her family were able to re-discover the original Igbo name of her male ancestor, named 'Chigozie'. Interestingly, her whole family reverted their surname back to Chigozie and hold on tightly to it.
www.nairaland.com/646298/african-american-wants-know-why

Yeah, the lady was frequent here in the past. How are you sure those facebook profiles are from Nigerian Igbo people and are African Americans?

Javanian: One day, someone will write about how ancient the Web looked back in 2013 and marvel at how backwards we were .

Were you online in 1997? Do you have any other interesting old websites to share? Leave a comment and let us know.

Source: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/time-10-big-websites-looked-15-years/

You don't have to wait, some sites already look ancient. *hint* *hint*