Igboland is the home of the Igbo people, and they are the second group of people living in Southern Nigeria.
This Igboland 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 regions.
The Igbos are also surrounded by other tribes on all sides by other tribes like ( the Bini, Warri, Ijaw, Ogoni, Igala, Tiv, Yako, and Ibibo).
The Igbo have no common traditional story of their regions. Historian has proposed two major theories of Igbo origins. One claims the existence of the core area or ‘nuclear Igboland’. The other claims that the Igbo are descended from waves of immigrants from north and west who arrive in the fourteenth century.
Three of these are the Nri, Nzam, and Anam.
European contact with Igbo began with the arrival of the Portuguese in the mid-fifteen century. At first, the Europeans confined themselves to the slave trade on the Niger coast. At this point, the main items of commerce provided by the Igbo were slaves, many of them were sent to the New World.
The protectorate of Southern Nigeria, created in 1900, included Igboland. Until 1960, Nigeria remained a British colony, and Igbo was a British subject.
The Igbo have a system of folk beliefs that explains how everything in the world came into being. it explains what functions the heavenly and earthly bodies have and offers guidance on how to behave towards gods, spirits, and one’s ancestors.
The Igbo believe the word is peopled by invisible and visible forces: by the living, the dead, and those yet to be born. Reincarnation is seen as a bridge between the living and the dead.
The Igbo believe in a supreme god who keeps watching over his creatures from a distance. he seldom interferes in the affairs of human beings, no scarifies are made directly to him he is seen as the ultimate receiver of sacrifices made to the minor gods. To distinguish him from the minor gods he is called Chukwu; the greatest or the highest god. As the creator of everything, he is called Chukwu Abiama.
There are also minor gods, who are generally subject to human passions and weaknesses. They may be kind, hospitable, and industrious; at other times they treacherous, unmerciful, and envious. These minor gods include Ala, the earth goddess, she is associated with fertility, both human beings and land. Anyanwu is the sun god who makes crops and trees grow. Igwe is the sky god, the source of the rain. Other gods include Aha Njoku ( the yam spirit) and Ikoro (the drum spirit).
The Igbo has cultural rites like Circumcision; it takes place about eight days after the birth of a boy, at this time the umbilical cord is buried at the root 0f a tree selected by the child’s mother.
The name-giving ceremony; is the formal occasion celebrated by fasting and drinking at this point many names may be chosen, the name may be based on the child’s birthmark to the opinion of the seer or diviner. Names like Nwanyimeole (means ” what can a woman do?” that a father desires a male child), Onwubiko ” may death forgive”( express the fact that parents have lost many of their children and pray that this child survive.
The process of marrying a young Igbo girl is a long and elaborate one it rarely accomplished in less than a year and often several years.
This process falls into four stages: asking the young woman for consent, negotiating through a middleman, testing the bride’s character, and paying the bride price wealth, a kind of dowry.
Igbo people are known as farmers they cultivate yam, maize, cassava, plantain, and cocoyam.
We gathered that Igbo people have a number of wind and stringed musical instruments. The Ugene is the whistle made of baked clay, round in form, and the size of a billboard call, and another one is Ubaw-Akala, a sort of guitar it has a triangular body and is formed by three pieces of softwood sewed together.
The Igbo celebrate their festival popularly known as Iwa Ji, Iri Ji, or Otute(depending on dialect) is an annual cultural festival by Igbo people usually held at the end of the rainy season in August to October every year.
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