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The history of the Igbo people starts from the migrations that have brought the Igbo to their present homeland.

Prehistory

Period Event
c. 3000 BC Neolithic man's existence in Igboland.[1]
c. AD 850 Bronzes found at the town of Igbo-Ukwu are created, among them iron swords, bronze and copper vases and ornaments and terracotta sculptures are made.[1]

Early history

Year Event
1043 Kingdom of Nri begins with Eze Nri Ìfikuánim.
1434 Portuguese explorers make contact with the Igbo.
1630 The Aro-Ibibio Wars start.
1690 The Aro Confederacy is established.
1745 Olaudah Equiano is born in Essaka, but later kidnapped and shipped to Barbados and sold as a slave in 1765.
1797 Olaudah Equiano dies in England a freed slave.
1807 The Slave Trade Act 1807 is passed (on 25 March) stopping the transportation of enslaved Africans, including Igbo people, to the Americas. Atlantic slave trade exports an estimated total of 1.4 million[citation needed] Igbo people across the Middle Passage
1830 European explorers explore the course of the Lower Niger and meet the Northern Igbo.
1835 Africanus Horton is born to Igbo ex-slaves in Sierra Leone
1855 William Balfour Baikie a Scottish naval physician, reaches Niger Igboland.[1]

Modern history

Year Date Event
1880–1905 Southern Nigeria is conquered by the British, including Igboland.
1885–1906 Christian missionary presence in Igboland.
1891 King Ja Ja of Opobo dies in exile, but his corpse is brought back to Nigeria for burial.
1896–1906 Around 6,000 Igbo children attend mission schools.
1901–1902 The Aro Confederacy declines after the Anglo-Aro war.
1902 The Aro-Ibibio Wars end.
1906 Igboland becomes part of Southern Nigeria
1914 Northern Nigeria and Southern Nigeria are amalgamated to form Nigeria.
1929 November Igbo Women's War (first Nigerian feminist movement) of 1929 in Aba.
1953 November Anti Igbo riots (killing over 50 Igbos in Kano) of 1953 in Kano
1960 October 1 Nigeria gains independence from Britain; Tafawa Balewa becomes Prime Minister, and Nnamdi Azikiwe becomes President.
1966 January 16 A coup by Igbo military officers takes over government and assassinate the Northern leaders. The Federal Military Government is formed, with General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi as the Head of State and Supreme Commander of the Federal Republic.
1966 July 29 A counter-coup by military officers of northern extraction, deposes the Federal Military Government; General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi is assassinated along with Adekunle Fajuyi, Military Governor of Western Region. General Yakubu Gowon becomes Head of State.
1967 Ethnoreligious violence between Igbo Christians, and Hausa/Fulani Muslims in Eastern and Northern Nigeria, triggers a migration of the Igbo back to the East.
1967 May 30 General Emeka Ojukwu, Military Governor of Eastern Nigeria, declares his province an independent republic called Biafra, and the Nigerian Civil War or Nigerian-Biafran War ensues.
1970 January 8 General Emeka Ojukwu flees into exile; His deputy Philip Effiong becomes acting President of Biafra.
1970 January 15 Acting President of Biafra Philip Effiong surrenders to Nigerian forces through future President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo, and Biafra is reintegrated into Nigeria.

References

  1. ^ a b c Understanding 'Things Fall Apart' by Kalu Ogbaa

Further reading

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