Global InformationIgbo people information
Ṇ́dị́ Ìgbò | |
|---|---|
 | |
 Igbo family in traditional attire | |
| Total population | |
| c. ≈ 37,102,000 (2024)[1] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Nigeria | 35,088,096 (15.2% of total population)[2] |
 United States | 232,000[3][4] |
 Cameroon | 114,000[5] |
 Ghana | 72,000[3] |
 Equatorial Guinea | 69,000[3][4] |
 Canada | 9,035 (2021)[6] |
 United Kingdom | 8,000[3] |
 Gambia | 7,700[3] |
 Estonia | 152 |
| Languages | |
| Igbo, Igboid, Nigerian Pidgin, Nigerian English | |
| Religion | |
| Christianity, Omenala/Odinala[7] | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Ibibio, Efik, Annang, Bahumono, Ogoni, Idoma, Igala, Edo, Ijaw, Ogoja, Bamileke
(Diaspora) : Afro Caribbean • African Americans • Americo Liberian • Krio | |
| People | Ṇ́dị́ Ìgbò |
|---|---|
| Language | Ásụ̀sụ́ Ìgbò |
| Country | Àlà Ị̀gbò |
The Igbo people (English: /ˈiːboʊ/ EE-boh,[8][9] US also /ˈɪɡboʊ/ IG-boh;[10][11] also spelled Ibo[12][13] and historically also Iboe, Ebo, Eboe,[14] Eboans,[15] Heebo;[16] natively Ṇ́dị́ Ìgbò) are an ethnic group in Nigeria. They are primarily found in Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo States. A sizable Igbo population is also found in Delta and Rivers States.[17] Ethnic Igbo populations are found in Cameroon,[18] Gabon, and Equatorial Guinea, as migrants[19][20] as well as outside Africa. There has been much speculation about the origins of the Igbo people,[21] which are largely unknown.[22] Geographically, the Igbo homeland is divided into two unequal sections by the Niger River—an eastern (which is the larger of the two) and a western section.[23][24] The Igbo people are one of the largest ethnic groups in Africa.[25]
The Igbo language[21] is part of the Niger-Congo language family. Its regional dialects are somewhat mutually intelligible amidst the larger "Igboid" cluster.[26] The Igbo homeland straddles the lower Niger River, east and south of the Edoid and Idomoid groups, and west of the Ibibioid (Cross River) cluster.
Before the period of British colonial rule in the 20th century, the Igbo were politically fragmented by the centralized chiefdoms of Nri, Aro Confederacy, Agbor and Onitsha.[27] Frederick Lugard introduced the Eze system of "warrant chiefs".[28] The Igbos became overwhelmingly Christian during the evangelism of the missionaries in the colonial era in the twentieth century.[29] In the wake of decolonisation, the Igbo developed a strong sense of ethnic identity.[30]
After ethnic tensions following the independence of Nigeria in 1960, the predominantly Igbo region seceded from Nigeria and attempted to establish a new independent country called Biafra, triggering the Nigerian Civil War (1967–1970).[31] Millions of Biafran civilians died from starvation after the Nigerian military formed a blockade around Biafra, an event that international media promoting humanitarian aid for Biafra alleged to be a genocide. Biafra was eventually defeated by Nigeria and reintegrated into the country. The Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra and the Indigenous People of Biafra, two sectarian organizations formed after 1999, continue a non-violent struggle for an independent Igbo state.[32]
- ^ Sare, Watimagbo (2024). "Total population of the Igbo people". Joshuaproject.net. Retrieved 2024-01-06.
- ^ Central Intelligence Agency (23 October 2023). "Nigeria country profile". The World Factbook.
- ^ a b c d e https://namibia.un.org/sites/default/files/2022-04/formattted%20SDG%206%20Igbo%20READING%20LIST_Final.pdf [bare URL PDF]
- ^ a b "Igbo people group in all countries | Joshua Project".
- ^ "PeopleGroups.org - Igbo of Cameroon". peoplegroups.org.
- ^ "Mother tongue by single and multiple mother tongue responses: Canada, provinces and territories, census divisions and census subdivisions". 17 August 2022.
- ^ Ezekwugo, Charles M. (1991). "Omenana and Odinana in the Igbo World: A Philosophical Appraisal". Africana Marburgensia. 24 (2): 3–18.
- ^ Nwangwa, Shirley Ngozi (26 November 2018). "Why It Matters That Alex Trebek Mispronounced The Name Of My People On 'Jeopardy!'". Huffington Post. Retrieved 26 November 2018.
- ^ "Igbo". Lexico UK English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 2020-03-22.
- ^ "Igbo". Collins English Dictionary. HarperCollins. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
- ^ "Ibo". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
- ^ Isichei, Elizabeth (1978). Igbo Worlds. Institute for the Study of Human Issues.
- ^ "Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 14 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 223.
- ^
- Lovejoy, Paul (2000). Identity in the Shadow of Slavery. Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 58. ISBN 978-0-8264-4725-8.
- Floyd, E. Randall (2002). In the Realm of Ghosts and Hauntings. Harbor House. p. 51. ISBN 978-1-891799-06-8.
- Cassidy, Frederic Gomes; Robert Brock Le Page (2002). A Dictionary of Jamaican English (2nd ed.). University of the West Indies Press. p. 168. ISBN 978-976-640-127-6.
- ^ Equiano, Olaudah (1837). The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano. I. Knapp. p. 27.
- ^ Obichere, Boniface I. (1982). Studies in Southern Nigerian History: A Festschrift for Joseph Christopher Okwudili Anene 1918–68. Routledge. p. 207. ISBN 978-0-7146-3106-6.
- ^ "About the Igbo people". Culture Trip. 22 May 2018. Retrieved February 15, 2022.
- ^ Forrest, Tom (1994). The Advance of African Capital: The Growth of Nigerian Private Enterprise (illustrated ed.). Edinburgh University Press. p. 272. ISBN 978-0-7486-0492-0.
- ^ Mwakikagile, Godfrey (2006). African Countries: An Introduction with Maps. Pan-African Books: Continental Press. p. 86. ISBN 978-0-620-34815-7.
- ^ "The Native Igbo Of Equatorial Guinea". www.igbodefender.com. 19 August 2018. Archived from the original on 2020-06-18. Retrieved 2020-05-18.
- ^ a b "Igbo | Culture, Lifestyle, & Facts | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2022-03-07.
- ^ "The Igbo People - Origins & History". www.faculty.ucr.edu. Retrieved 2019-04-22.
- ^ Slattery, Katharine. "The Igbo People – Origins & History". www.faculty.ucr.edu. School of English, Queen's University of Belfast. Retrieved April 20, 2016.
- ^ Chigere, Nkem Hyginus (2000). Foreign Missionary Background and Indigenous Evangelization in Igboland: Igboland and The Igbo People of Nigeria. Transaction Publishers, USA. p. 17. ISBN 978-3-8258-4964-1. Retrieved January 17, 2016.
- ^ Williams, Lizzie (2008). Nigeria: The Bradt Travel Guide. Bradt Travel Guides. p. 32. ISBN 978-1-84162-239-2.
- ^ Fardon, Richard; Furniss, Graham (1994). African languages, development and the state. Routledge. p. 66. ISBN 978-0-415-09476-4. Retrieved 2009-04-12.
- ^ Miers, Suzanne; Roberts, Richard L. (1988). The End of slavery in Africa. University of Wisconsin Press. p. 437. ISBN 978-0-299-11554-8.
- ^ Falola, Toyin (2003). Adebayo Oyebade (ed.). The foundations of Nigeria: essays in honor of Toyin Falola. Africa World Press. p. 476. ISBN 978-1-59221-120-3. Retrieved 2010-06-27.
- ^ Ekechi, Felix K. (1971). "Colonialism and Christianity in West Africa: The Igbo Case, 1900-1915". The Journal of African History. 12 (1): 103–115. doi:10.1017/S0021853700000098. S2CID 162515367.
- ^ "Igbo". Britannica Online Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2009-02-01.
- ^ Forsythe, Frederick (2006). Shadows: Airlift and Airwar in Biafra and Nigeria 1967–1970. Hikoki Publications. p. 1. ISBN 978-1-902109-63-3.
- ^ Adekson, Adedayo Oluwakayode (2004). The "civil society" problematique: deconstructing civility and southern Nigeria's ethnic radicalization. Routledge. pp. 87, 96. ISBN 978-0-415-94785-5.