Igbo people, also known as the Igbos, are an ethnic group native to the present-day south-central and southeastern Nigeria. A majority of the Igbo people speaks Igbo language, which belongs to the Niger-Congo family of languages. The Igbo people have a rich cultural heritage and are known for their traditional crafts, music and dance.
The name “Igbo” is derived from the word “igbaw”, meaning “to rise”. The Igbo people are believed to have originated from the Nri Kingdom in present-day Anambra State. The Nri Kingdom was founded by Eri, a son of God who descended from heaven to establish order on earth. Eri’s descendants went on to found other kingdoms in what is now southeastern Nigeria.
The first European contact with the Igbo people was made by British explorer John Locke in 1823. Locke was searching for the source of the Niger River and came across a group of Igbo people living near its banks. He described them as “a merry set of fellows” who were “fond of music and dancing”.
In 1857, British explorer Richard Burton became the first Westerner to visit Igbo land. Burton’s account of his travels provides a detailed description of life in pre-colonial Igbo society. He noted that the Igbo people were divided into numerous independent villages, each ruled by a council of elders.
Burton also observed that while there were many different dialects spoken among the various villages, all Igbo speakers could understand one another thanks to a shared body of vocabulary words called ‘pidgin’.
Pidgin is still spoken today by some Nigerian communities as well as in other parts of West Africa where it has been adopted as a lingua franca