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The Igbo People
- Origins & History By Katharine Slattery This project was completed under the direction of Dr Leon Litvack
as a requirement for the MA degree in
Modern Literary Studies in the School of English at the Queen's University of
Belfast. Igboland is the home of the Igbo
people and it covers most of Southeast Nigeria. This area is divided by the
Niger River into two unequal sections – the eastern region (which is the
largest) and the midwestern region. The river, however, has not acted as a
barrier to cultural unity; rather it has provided an easy means of
communication in an area where many settlements claim different origins. The
Igbos are also surrounded on all sides by other tribes (the Bini, Warri,
Ijaw, Ogoni, Igala, Tiv, Yako and Ibibio). The origins of the Igbo people has
been the subject of much speculation, and it is only in the last fifty years
that any real work has been carried out in this subject: like any group of
people, they are anxious to discover their origin and reconstruct how they
came to be how they are. ...their experiences under colonialsim and since
Nigeria’s Independence have emphasized for them the reality of their group identity
which they want to anchor into authenticated history. (Afigbo, A.E.. ‘Prolegomena to the study of the culture history of the
Igbo-Speaking Peoples of Nigeria’, Igbo Language and Culture, Oxford
University Press, 1975. 28.). Also
see Catherine Acholonu). Analysis of the sources that are
available (fragmentary oral traditions and correlation of cultural traits)
have led to the belief that there exists a core area of Igboland, and that
waves of immigrant communities from the north and west planted themselves on
the border of this core area as early as the ninth century. This core area –
Owerri, Orlu and Okigwi – forms a belt, and the people in this area have no
tradition of coming from anywhere else. Migration from this area in the
recent past tended to be in all directions, and in this way the Igbo culture
gradually became homogenized. In addition to this pattern of migration from
this core area, other people also entered the Igbo territory in about the
fourteenth or fifteenth centuries. Many of these people still exhibit
different characteristics from that of the traditional Igbos – for example
geographical marginality, the institution of kingship, a hierarchical title
system and the amosu tradition (witchcraft). For some time some
Igbo-speaking peoples claimed that they were not Igbo – the word was used as
a term of abuse for “less cultured” neighbours. The word is now used in three
senses, to describe Igbo territory, domestic speakers of the language and the
language spoken by them.(see (A.E. Afigbo,1981: Ropes of Sand, Caxton
Press,Ibadan. and T. Shaw:1970; "Igbo Ukwu: An Account of Archaeological
Discoveries in Eastern Nigeria", Faber and Faber, pp. 268-285). The first contact between Igboland
and Europe came in the mid-fifteenth century with the arrival of the
Portuguese. From 1434-1807 the Niger coast acted as a contact point between
African and European traders, beginning with the Portuguese, then the Dutch
and finally the English. At this stage there was an emphasis on trade rather
than empire building, in this case the trade consisting primarily of Igbo
slaves. With the abolition of the slave trade in 1807 came a new trading era,
concentrating on industry (palm products, timber, elephant tusks and spices).
At this point the British began to combine aggressive trading with aggressive
imperialism. They saw the hinterland as productive, and refused to be
confined to the coast. In 1900 the area that had been administered by the
British Niger Company became the Protectorate on Southern Nigeria, also
incorporating what had been called the Niger Coast Protectorate. Control of
this area then passed from the British Foreign Office to the Colonial Office.
Long before it had officially been conquered, Igboland was being treated as a
British colony. Between 1900 and 1914 (when Northern and Southern Nigeria
were amalgamated) there had been twenty-one British military expeditions into
Igboland. In 1928 for the first time in their history, Igbo men were made to
pay tax – they were a subject people. This attempt to take over
political control of Igboland met with resistance and cultural protest in the
early decades of the twentieth century. A nativistic religious movement
sprang up (the ekumeku) which inspired short-lived but feverish
messianic enthusiasm. The rumours that the Igbo women were being assessed for
taxation, sparked off the 1929 Aba Riots, a massive revolt of women never
encountered before in Igbo history. However, the engine of imperialism could
not be stopped, and once it had begun, Igbo culture would never be the same
again. |