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Igboid · Nigeria’s peoples

Igbo

The Igbo are one of Nigeria’s three largest peoples, native to Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo.

See the Igbo on the mapNri

At a glance

Where do the Igbo people live?
Their homeland is in Abia, Ebonyi, Imo, Anambra and Enugu States, across 94 local government areas. They are also a large share of Anambra West in Anambra State.
What language do the Igbo speak?
Igbo, a language of the Igboid family (Atlantic-Congo › Volta-Congo › Benue-Congo › Igboid).
Which kingdoms are part of Igbo history?
Nri, Aro Confederacy

Overview

The Igbo are one of Nigeria’s three largest peoples, native to Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo. Igbo is the lingua franca of the South East. Igboid peoples west of the Niger and in Rivers (Anioma, Ika, Ukwuani, Etche, Ogba, Ikwerre) are mapped under their own names, because many of them reject the Igbo label, though others among them, and Igbo organisations, count them as Igbo.[2],[3],[4],[5],[6]High confidence

Where the Igbo live

Local government areas by state. Homeland: the group is the majority. Shared area: a large share of a mixed area. Smaller presence: present, but a small share.

  • Abia

    • Aba North
    • Aba South
    • Arochukwu
    • Bende
    • Ikwuano
    • Isiala-Ngwa North
    • Isiala-Ngwa South
    • Isuikwuato
    • Obi Nwga
    • Ohafia
    • Osisioma Ngwa
    • Ugwunagbo
    • Ukwa East
    • Ukwa West
    • Umu-Nneochi
    • Umuahia North
    • Umuahia South

  • Ebonyi

    • Abakaliki
    • Afikpo North
    • Afikpo South
    • Ebonyi
    • Ezza North
    • Ezza South
    • Ikwo
    • Ishielu
    • Ivo
    • Izzi
    • Ohaozara
    • Ohaukwu
    • Onicha

  • Imo

    • Aboh-Mbaise
    • Ahiazu-Mbaise
    • Ehime-Mbano
    • Ezinihitte
    • Ideato North
    • Ideato South
    • Ihitte/Uboma
    • Ikeduru
    • Isiala Mbano
    • Isu
    • Mbatoli
    • Ngor-Okpala
    • Njaba
    • Nkwerre
    • Nwangele
    • Obowo
    • Oguta
    • Ohaji/Egbema
    • Okigwe
    • Onuimo
    • Orlu
    • Orsu
    • Oru East
    • Oru West
    • Owerri Municipal
    • Owerri North
    • Owerri West

  • Anambra

    • Aguata
    • Anambra East
    • Anaocha
    • Awka North
    • Awka South
    • Ayamelum
    • Dunukofia
    • Ekwusigo
    • Idemili North
    • Idemili South
    • Ihiala
    • Njikoka
    • Nnewi North
    • Nnewi South
    • Ogbaru
    • Onitsha North
    • Onitsha South
    • Orumba North
    • Orumba South
    • Oyi
    • Anambra West

  • Enugu

    • Aninri
    • Awgu
    • Enugu East
    • Enugu North
    • Enugu South
    • Ezeagu
    • Igbo-Etiti
    • Igbo-Eze North
    • Igbo-Eze-South
    • Isi-Uzo
    • Nkanu East
    • Nkanu West
    • Nsukka
    • Oji-River
    • Udenu
    • Udi
    • Uzo-Uwani

  • Benue

    • Ado
    • Obi
    • Oju

  • Rivers

    • Oyigbo

Areas are approximate and show where people live. They are not claims of land ownership.

Communities beyond the homeland

Agukwu Nri

Anaocha, Anambra State.[13]High confidence

Seat of the Eze Nri, the priest-king whose ritual authority reached across much of Igboland. Nri, a son of Eri, left his father’s camp at Aguleri and founded his own kingdom here; by Idigo’s account of Aguleri, Eri was an Igala warrior from Idah.[13],[14],[15],[16]

Igbo-Ukwu

Aguata, Anambra State: Obiuno, Ngo, Ihite.[17]High confidence

Originally called Igbo, a centre of the Nri kingdom from the 8th or 9th century, linked by trade to Gao on the Niger bend and through it to North Africa, and one of the earliest centres of lost-wax bronze casting in Africa.[17]

Aguleri

Anambra East, Anambra State.[21]High confidence

Founded by Eri, an Igala warrior who came down from Idah, as Prince M. C. M. Idigo of the Aguleri royal family wrote in The History of Aguleri (1955): Eri came with his followers on a military expedition and made his war camp at Eri-aka, near the meeting of the Ezu and Omambala rivers. Meek (1937) heard the same from the Umueri towns, and Igala elders remember an Attah Eri whose sons left Idah and founded Aguleri. Eri’s sons spread out from here: Agulu stayed and founded Aguleri, and Nri (Menri) went on to found his own kingdom at Agukwu Nri, whose priest-kings still come to sit on Eri’s throne at Aguleri before they are crowned. Its ruling family is the Idigo. Other tellings differ: Nri says Eri came down from the sky, and some Aguleri accounts reverse the story and make Eri’s sons the founders of Igala and Benin.[15],[18],[19],[20],[14],[21],[22],[16]

Anam

Anambra West, Anambra State: Umueze Anam, Umuem Anam, Umuenwelum Anam, Ezi Anam, Umuoba Anam, Mmiata Anam.[7],[23]High confidence

In the Omambala tradition the Anam descend from Ogbe, son of Ajida, a warrior of Idah. Ogbe’s family lived near Ankpa and fled down the Niger through the Ibaji forest when the Apa (Jukun) invaded Igala land; his children Nzam, Anam, Anaku, Ulossi (Ilushi) and Okpanam settled along the way, and the clan is called Anam Ogbe. Over the centuries the Anam took up Igbo, the language they speak today.[23]

Awka

Awka South, Anambra State; Awka North, Anambra State.[24]High confidence

One of the oldest settlements in Igboland, at the centre of the Nri civilisation, famous for its blacksmiths. Its earliest settlers were the Ifiteana. Capital of Anambra State since 1991.[24]

Onitsha

Onitsha North, Anambra State; Onitsha South, Anambra State.[25]High confidence

Founded by the people of Ado N'Idu under Eze Chima, who crossed the Niger after war with Benin and drove out the Oze; Chima's son Oraeze became the first Obi.[25]

Nnewi

Nnewi North, Anambra State; Nnewi South, Anambra State: Otolo, Uruagu, Umudim, Nnewichi.[26]High confidence

Four villages, Otolo, Uruagu, Umudim and Nnewichi. In Nnewi tradition the rabbit (ewi) saved the founders in war. In 1953 it was the largest inland town of the Eastern states; today an industrial city.[26]

Owerri

Owerri Municipal, Imo State; Owerri North, Imo State; Owerri West, Imo State.[27]High confidence

Founded in the 14th century by Ekwem Oha. In 1969 it was the last of Biafra's three capitals, after Enugu and Umuahia.[27]

Mbaise

Aboh-Mbaise, Imo State; Ahiazu-Mbaise, Imo State; Ezinihitte, Imo State: Agbaja, Ahiara, Ekwereazu, Ezi na Ihite, Oke Uvuru.[28]High confidence

Named from its five clans, Agbaja, Ahiara, Ekwereazu, Ezi na Ihite and Oke Uvuru; one of West Africa's most densely settled areas. The British arrived in 1902; after a British traveller was killed by mistake, the 1906 Ahiara Punitive Expedition was sent against the clans.[28]

Orlu

Orlu, Imo State.[29]High confidence

Regarded as a homeland of the Igbo, speaking the Isuama dialect. During the civil war it was the base of relief agencies.[29]

Oguta

Oguta, Imo State.[30]High confidence

Oguta-Ameshi, 27 villages on the eastern shore of Oguta Lake; one of the oldest trading and administrative posts of the Royal Niger Company and the colonial government.[30]

Okigwe

Okigwe, Imo State: Ezinachi, Ikigwu, Otanzu, Umulolo, Ihube, Otan-Chara.[31]High confidence

Six autonomous communities; several villages carry the name Aro, such as Aro-Okigwe and Aro-Umulolo.[31]

Umuahia

Umuahia North, Abia State; Umuahia South, Abia State: Umuopara, Ibeku, Olokoro, Ubakala, Ohuhu.[32]High confidence

From Ama Ahia, “market place”: a central market of the region before colonial rule, later a railway town and Biafra's second capital.[32],[27]

Ngwa

Isiala-Ngwa North, Abia State; Isiala-Ngwa South, Abia State; Osisioma Ngwa, Abia State.[33]High confidence

The largest Igbo subgroup, between the Imo River and the Annang and Ibibio. Part of the Isuama of the Orlu area, their founders migrated south through Ezinihitte to the Imo River. The Okonko and Ekpe societies kept the law.[33]

Ohafia

Ohafia, Abia State: Elu, Ebem, Amaekpu, Asaga, Akanu, Isiugwu.[34]High confidence

26 villages around Elu, the ancestral capital. Its ancestors were famed warriors; the leopard cap (okpu agu) and the iri agha war dance keep that tradition.[34]

Abiriba

Ohafia, Abia State: Ameke, Amogudu, Agboji.[35]High confidence

Founded in the 14th century by migrants from the Cross River basin who share ancestry with Arochukwu; famous for blacksmithing and iron smelting. Its three villages each have an Eze, and the Eze Ameke is the Enachioken, first among equals.[35]

Arochukwu

Arochukwu, Abia State: Amannagwu, Ugwuakuma, Atani, Isimkpu, Agbagwu, Asaga, Amuvi, Oror, Ujari, Amankwu, Ugwuavor, Amangwu, Obinkita, Amoba, Ibom, Amasu, Utughugwu, Ugbo, Amukwa.[36],[37],[38]High confidence

Formed when the Eze Agwu group from Abiriba, the priest Nnachi from Edda and the Akpa from beyond the Cross River joined the Ibom kingdom's prince against his rivals; the three peoples became the Aro.[36]

Afikpo (Ehugbo)

Afikpo North, Ebonyi State: Itim Ukwu, Ohaisu, Nkpoghoro, Ugwuegu, Ozizza, Unwana, Amasiri.[39]High confidence

A centre of old Igbo tradition: its boys are initiated into the Ogo society, and archaeology points to settlement since the Neolithic.[39]

Abakaliki

Abakaliki, Ebonyi State: Izzi, Ezza, Ikwo.[40]High confidence

A slave-trade centre in the 17th century, raided by the Aro in the 18th. The name also covers the old Abakaliki block of Ohaukwu, Ishielu, Izzi, Ezza and Ikwo.[40]

Enugu

Enugu North, Enugu State; Enugu East, Enugu State; Enugu South, Enugu State.[41]High confidence

A township from 1917 as Enugwu-Ngwo, renamed Enugu in 1928. After striking coal miners were massacred in the Iva Valley in 1949, Enugu became a symbol of resistance to colonial rule.[41]

Nsukka

Nsukka, Enugu State: Nkpunano, Nru, Ihe-n-Owerre.[42]High confidence

By tradition Nsukka, Obukpa and Okpuje were the three sons of Asadu Ideke Arumona, and Nsukka's own sons founded its three quarters, Nkpunano, Nru and Ihe-n-Owerre. Opi, its neighbour, is an archaeological site.[42]

Igbo of Sabon Gari, Kano

Fagge, Kano State.[43]Medium confidence

With the railway, British rule brought many traders and workers from the south, mostly Igbo and Yoruba, who settled in the new towns the Hausa called Sabon Gari. The Cantonments Proclamation of 1914 made them separate reservations.[43]

Language

Igbo, a language of the Igboid family (Atlantic-Congo › Volta-Congo › Benue-Congo › Igboid). ISO 639-3: ibo.[1]High confidence

In history

Sources

Every claim carries a confidence level: high (well attested), medium (one source or approximate) or disputed (sources disagree).

  1. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian. Glottolog: Igbo (nucl1417)
  2. Wikipedia contributors. Igbo people
  3. Obinaju, Nwabueze; Anyanwu, Ogbonna. (2018). A Geolinguistic Survey of the South East Zone of Nigeria. JOLAN Supplement III
  4. (2025). Aniocha, Oshimili leaders reject move to place Anioma State in South East (communique signed by Dr Okey Okonta for Njiko Aniocha-Oshimili). Vanguard
  5. (2025). NDOKWA-UKWUANI: NPN faults Ned Nwoko over Igbo claim (Ndokwa Professional Network). Vanguard
  6. (2025). Group says indigenous Igbos in Rivers part of Ndigbo ethnic nationality (Indigenous Igbo Council, Rivers State). Vanguard
  7. Amali, Anthony-Mary Chukwudozie; Bieresnu-Nnabugwu, Makodi. (2023). Political Economy of Autonomous Communities in Southeast Nigeria: A Study of Select Autonomous Communities in Anambra State, 2003 to 2023. Socialscientia 8(3)
  8. Wikipedia contributors. Igbo Eze North
  9. Chukwudi, Usman; Opone, Paul Oshagwu. (2024). Eteh in Pre-Colonial Nigeria: Origin and Social History. Abraka Journal of Humanities, Law & Social Sciences 1 (1): 21-30
  10. HistoNaija owner. (2026). Local knowledge from the HistoNaija owner: Etteh is ruled by an Igala king, its people are mostly Igala and Idoma, and Igbo settlement there is small
  11. Wikipedia contributors. Benue State
  12. Wikipedia contributors. Ado, Benue State
  13. Wikipedia contributors. Kingdom of Nri
  14. Wikipedia contributors. Eri (king)
  15. M. C. M. Idigo. (1955). The History of Aguleri. Nicholas Printing and Publishing Co., Yaba (cited elsewhere, not yet checked directly)
  16. HistoNaija owner. (2026). Local knowledge from the HistoNaija owner: Eri came from Igala, as Prince M. C. M. Idigo of the Aguleri royal family wrote; Nri, his son, founded his own kingdom
  17. Wikipedia contributors. Igbo-Ukwu
  18. C. K. Meek. (1937). Law and Authority in a Nigerian Tribe: A Study in Indirect Rule. Oxford University Press (cited elsewhere, not yet checked directly)
  19. Ayegba Abdullahi Adojoh, Izoduwa Amowie Imasuen, Omede Abdul Solomon and Onucheyo Sunday. (2024). Examining the Interwoven Relationship Between Igala, Benin, Ika, Urhobo, Isoko and Ijaw (quotes Idigo 1955, Meek 1937 and Boston 1960 on Eri). International Journal of Trend in Research and Development 11 (1)
  20. Daily Trust. (2022). Igala footprints in Enugu
  21. Wikipedia contributors. Aguleri
  22. Local knowledge from the HistoNaija owner: Eri is of Igala origin, according to Prince Michael Idigo of the Aguleri royal family
  23. Wikipedia contributors. Anaku Town (the Ajida–Ogbe genealogy: Ogbe’s children Nzam, Anam, Anaku, Ulossi and Okpanam)
  24. Wikipedia contributors. Awka
  25. Wikipedia contributors. Onitsha
  26. Wikipedia contributors. Nnewi
  27. Wikipedia contributors. Owerri
  28. Wikipedia contributors. Mbaise
  29. Wikipedia contributors. Orlu, Imo State
  30. Wikipedia contributors. Oguta
  31. Wikipedia contributors. Okigwe
  32. Wikipedia contributors. Umuahia
  33. Wikipedia contributors. Ngwa people
  34. Wikipedia contributors. Ohafia
  35. Wikipedia contributors. Abiriba
  36. Wikipedia contributors. Arochukwu
  37. Unity in Diversity: A Great Gain for Arochukwu Kingdom (quoting J. K. Oji, The Kingdom of Arochukwu, on the three kindreds and nineteen villages). Aro News Online
  38. GRID3. (2020). GRID3 NGA Settlement Names (settlement points with ward and LGA)
  39. Wikipedia contributors. Afikpo North
  40. Wikipedia contributors. Abakaliki
  41. Wikipedia contributors. Enugu State
  42. Wikipedia contributors. Nsukka
  43. Wikipedia contributors. Sabon Gari