Medieval and Ancient West African Civilization Highlights: Igbo Addition

[KOohbt]

Gonna have a series of West African Highlights to combat the non stop infatuation of north, north east Africa, and the Middle East.

I know this won't get many looks but, this for the brehs who are proud of our rich and downright mystical origins before slavery and colonialism.

Starting with the Igbo:


Origin: Pottery dated at around 2500 BCE showing similarities with later Igbo work was found at Nsukka, along with pottery and tools at nearby Ibagwa; the traditions of the Umueri clan have as their source the Anambra valley. In the 1970s theOwerri, Okigwe, Orlu, Awgu, Udi and Awka divisions were determined to constitute "an Igbo heartland" from the linguistic and cultural evidence


The Nri people of Igbo land have a creation myth which is one of the many creation myths that exist in various parts of Igbo land. The Nri and Aguleri people are in the territory of the Umueri clan who trace their lineages back to the patriarchal king-figureEri.[28] Eri's origins are unclear, though he has been described as a "sky being" sent byChukwu (God).[28][29] He has been characterized as having first given societal order to the people of Anambra.[29] The historian Elizabeth Allo Isichei says "Nri and Aguleri and part of the Umueri clan, [are] a cluster of Igbo village groups which traces its origins to a sky being called Eri."[30]

Archaeological evidence suggests that Nri hegemony in Igboland may go back as far as the 9th century,[31] and royal burials have been unearthed dating to at least the 10th century. Eri, the god-like founder of Nri, is believed to have settled the region around 948 with other related Igbo cultures following after in the 13th century.[32] The first Eze Nri (King of Nri) Ìfikuánim followed directly after him. According to Igbo oral tradition, his reign started in 1043.[33] At least one historian puts Ìfikuánim's reign much later, around 1225 AD





Igbo people - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Government:
Nearly all communities in Igboland were organized according to a title system. Igbo west of the Niger River and on its east bank developed kingship, governing states such as Aboh, Onitsha and Oguta, their title Obi.[11][N 1] The Igbo of Nri, on the other hand, developed a state system sustained by ritual power.[6]

The Kingdom of Nri was a religio-polity, a sort of theocratic state, that developed in the central heartland of the Igbo region.[7]The Nri had a taboo symbolic code with six types. These included human (such as twins), animal, object, temporal, behavioral, speech and place taboos. The rules regarding these taboos were used to educate and govern Nri's subjects. This meant that, while certain Igbo may have lived under different formal administration, all followers of the Igbo religion had to abide by the rules of the faith and obey its representative on earth, the eze Nri.[12]

An important symbol among the Nri religion was the omu, a tender palm frond, used to sacralize and restrain. It was used as protection for traveling delegations or safeguarding certain objects; a person or object carrying an omu twig was considered protected.[12] The influence of these symbols and institutions extended well beyond Nri, and this unique Igbo socio-political system proved capable of controlling areas wider than villages or towns.[11]

For many centuries, the people within the Nri hegemony were committed to peace. This religious pacifism was rooted in a belief that violence was an abomination which polluted the earth.[3] Instead, the eze Nri could declare a form of excommunication from the odinani Nri against those who violated specific taboos. Members of the Ikénga could isolate entire communities via this form of ritual siege.


Region: Southeastern Nigeria, is the indigenous homeland of the Igbo people.[3][4]:307 It is a non-governmental cultural and common linguistic region in southern Nigeria. Geographically, it is divided by the lower Niger River into two unequal sections – an eastern (which is the larger of the two) and a western section


Economics: "As great travelers, they were also business people involved in the long distant Tran Saharan trade"

"Prior to European contact, Igbo trade routes stretched as far as Mecca, Medina and Jeddah on the continent."




Art: Igbo-Ukwu - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Language: Igbo language - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Nsibidi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Nsibidi name written"

Court case

Religion: Odinani - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Odinani has monotheistic and panentheistic attributes, having a single God as the source of all things."

Architecture:

Mbari

Music:

Igbo music - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Udu - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cuisine:
Igbo cuisine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Yam is the staple food

Yam Pottage


Clothing: Traditionally, the attire of the Igbo generally consisted of little clothing, as the purpose of clothing originally was simply to conceal private parts.Uli body art was used to decorate both men and women in the form of lines forming patterns and shapes on the body.


General Culture: Igbo culture - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


My opinions on the Igbo:

Advanced forest culture that was incredibly peaceful and spiritual.

these nikkas didn't even have to conquer neighbors

they just ran up on 'em like "tryin to get down with this utopia?" and nikkas was like "bet"


Feel free to add on brehs


Next up will be the Mossi Kingdoms

 

[Bawon Samedi]

Pretty interesting. I heard about the Nri people and their non-violent culture.

@Hiphoplives4eva aren't you Igbo?

 

[MajorVitaman]

 

[GrindtooFilthy]

op should note that portuguese sailor tried to destroy the nri kingdom because they would free slaves that they tried to capture, because of this the sailors went around kidnapping people at night or during day, someone would even burn down villages and trap those that were running


and if dont know now you know

 

[#1 pick]

@Golden @1984

 

[Black Cobain]

 

[Okocha]

Great information

 

[ChatGPT-5]

2,500 BC doesn't sound right.

Founded in 945 AD does. Bit of a contradiction in the article imo. The bantu expansion started around 200 BC - 1 AD.

 

[Unknown Poster]

subs.

 

[Bawon Samedi]

2,500 BC doesn't sound right.

Founded in 945 AD does. Bit of a contradiction in the article imo. The bantu expansion started around 200 BC - 1 AD.

The Bantu migration started way earlier than the dates you mention.

 

[Bawon Samedi]

While not specifically Igbo, I found some VERT interesting info on the Nsibidi script which is found in Southeast Nigeria where Igbos mostly live. I found that it actually has classical origins!

I always been trying to find good info on indigenous African scripts outside of Northeast Africa, but most the time I find that these scripts like the Vai are just recent... But the Nsibidi script debunks the very thinking that Africans never developed their own writing script!

"The use of nsibidi is that of ordinary writing. I have in my possession a copy of the record of a court case from a town of Enion [Enyong] taken down in it, and every detail, except the evidence, is most graphically described- the parties in the case, the witnesses, the dilemma of the chief who tried it, his sending out messengers to call other chiefs to help him, the finding of the court and the joy of the successful litigants and of their friends.."

--J. K., Macgregor (January-June 1909). "Some Notes on Nsibidi.". Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 39: 209-219.

“Elphinstone Daryell, however argues that "many of the signs reproduced are connected with one another and form short stories. He gives several examples of how this is done and one folktale in particular is worthy of mention- the story of the miracle child, born from his mother's knee, who is disowned by his father. In this version the child kills his father with a spear and disappears up a long rope into the sky. This is all skilfullly narrated by the clever assembling of four geometrically patterned symbols, each one representing a section of the story.. As has been shown, writing existed- writing that was not unrelated to literature, and that was pictographic. Side by side with this existed highly developed forms of writing which were in some cases applied to literature.“

-- The Black Mind: A History of African Literature. 1974. O.R. Dathorne, Professor of English, University of Kentucky, University of Minnesota Press. Cite- [Dayrell, Elphinstone (July-December 1911). "Further Notes on 'Nsibidi Signs with Their Meanings from the Ikom District, Southern Nigeria". Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 41: 521-540]

"Nsidibi was a script found among a number of Cross River peoples which owed nothing to foreign exemplars- each symbol is an ideograph, as in Chinese. Because each symbol represented a concept, it could be used between peopes speaking different anguages; over 500 signs are recorded, and there is reason to believe that they were only a small partof the whole. There are suggestions that it was used by the Ekpe society but there is a record of a school where children were taught signs. A curious aspect of Nsibidi, as recorded by three separate observers in the early twentieth century, was that many of the signs dealth with love affairs! It seems likely that ideographs dealing with religion and war were kept secret- and that the choice of signs to explain to European officials were an elaborate joke, as well as a way of protecting the realm of the secret/sacred from outsiders."

--A History of African Societies to 1870. Elizabeth Isichei, 1997. Professor, University of Otago, New Zealand. Cambridge University Press.

“The Nsibidi signs used by secret societies in various language groups in southern Nigeria, e.g. the Igbo, Efik, and Ekoi have been considered by some to be of a similar pictographic nature, but others have maintained it to be true writing, based on a logographic or syllabary system."

-- Gregersen, Edgar A. (1977). Language in Africa: An introductory survey. p. 176.

"However, such systems are also found in areas where Muslim influence has been less strong or is unlikely. Thus, among the Ashanti and other Akan-speaking peoples of Ghana and Cote D'Ivorie, where gold was of great political, economic and symbolic significance, many goldweights bore signs that indicated their precise ponderal value; other signs corresponded to proverbs, while others represented concepts (for example, certain aspects of the Supreme Being). The nsibidi system of the Ekoi, Igbo and Ibibio peoples of the Cross River area of present-day Nigeria used over a thousand signs to represent a considerable number of concepts as well as some sounds. Nsibidi was used to record court cases and convey complex messages, including warnings in wartime, and for summarizing folktales and personal narratives; its pictograms thus constituted a true writing system. As with the Malian systems of graphic signs, knowledge of nsibidi was often acquired within the initiation societies, but unlike the Malian ones, nsibidi signs were often tattooed on the body or dramatically enacted through gestures."

--Kevin Shllingford (2004) "Literacy and Indigenous Scripts: Pre-colonial West Africa" - Encyclopedia of African History

 

[KOohbt]

While not specifically Igbo, I found some VERT interesting info on the Nsibidi script which is found in Southeast Nigeria where Igbos mostly live. I found that it actually has classical origins!

I always been trying to find good info on indigenous African scripts outside of Northeast Africa, but most the time I find that these scripts like the Vai are just recent... But the Nsibidi script debunks the very thinking that Africans never developed their own writing script!


--J. K., Macgregor (January-June 1909). "Some Notes on Nsibidi.". Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 39: 209-219.



-- The Black Mind: A History of African Literature. 1974. O.R. Dathorne, Professor of English, University of Kentucky, University of Minnesota Press. Cite- [Dayrell, Elphinstone (July-December 1911). "Further Notes on 'Nsibidi Signs with Their Meanings from the Ikom District, Southern Nigeria". Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 41: 521-540]


--A History of African Societies to 1870. Elizabeth Isichei, 1997. Professor, University of Otago, New Zealand. Cambridge University Press.


-- Gregersen, Edgar A. (1977). Language in Africa: An introductory survey. p. 176.


--Kevin Shllingford (2004) "Literacy and Indigenous Scripts: Pre-colonial West Africa" - Encyclopedia of African History

i try and tell people the southern nigerian kingdoms and empires were the most advanced in medieval times in africa. we aint scratched the surface of how grand these places really were.

 

[Bawon Samedi]

The Ikom monoliths in Nigeria for example, frequently show several nsibidi designs such as carefully rendered concentric circles, spirals, lozenges, and other discrete figures. These have been dated by some scholars to 120-220 AD.

(Source: Alok and Emangabe stone monoliths: Ikom, Cross River State of Nigeria,-Ezio Bassani, Arte in Africa (Modena: Edizioni Panini, 1986), 103. )

"The Calabar terracottas, found at the other end of the Cross River basin, offer additional early evidence of nsibidi... there are now five radiocarbon dates from Calabar and two from the nearby village of Okang Mbang that generally corroborate each other, and which are associated with hundreds of terracottas that display a considerable range of designs. Combined, the dates encompass the period ca. 450 A.D - 1440 A.D (Fig. 1.5)... When considered together, the individual Calabar results overlap significantly. For example, all five urban Calabar dates overlap in the eighth century, while two of them extend into the eleventh century, where the two Okang Mbang dates begin. Both Okang Mbang dates then correspond until the turn of the fourteenth century.

Thus, if what the archaeological evidence strongly suggests-that nsibidi is indeed a modern iteration of the iconography found on the terracottas-then nsibidi is much older, even more complex, and was distributed over a broader area than previously considered. In short, there is now physical evidence that nsibidi was already a sophisticated phenomenon fifteen hundred years ago! This is remarkable in light of what is currently known about indigenous scripts in sub-Saharan Africa and, therefore, these objects further (and strongly) refute the idea that Africans had no writing until the arrival of Europeans. If modern practices are anything to go by, these signs were not just found on ceramics, but also appeared on wood sculptures, calabashes, textiles, earthen architecture, and the human body, to name just a few examples that would not be expected to survive in the archaeological record of a tropical area such as Calabar.. it is telling that Amanda Carlson, [2003- Nsibiri, gender, and literacy] in her doctoral dissertation on the implications of nsibidi usage among the Ejagham, describes fluency with such signs as literacy."

--Slogar C. 2005. ICONOGRAPHY AND CONTINUITY IN WEST AFRICA- CALABAR TERRACOTTAS AND THE ARTS OF THE CROSS RIVER REGION OF NIGERIA/CAMEROON. University of Maryland. 2005.

And there we have it... The idea of "tropical Africa" never having a writing system is bushes status...

 

[Bawon Samedi]

i try and tell people the southern nigerian kingdoms and empires were the most advanced in medieval times in africa. we aint scratched the surface of how grand these places really were.

Can you give me some examples. Very interested in learning more. All I know about is Benin. My knowledge on early southern Nigerian civilization is lacking.

 

[KOohbt]

Can you give me some examples. Very interested in learning more. All I know about is Benin. My knowledge on early southern Nigerian civilization is lacking.

im researching ile ife right now found some interesting stuff on how they paved all the roads there and the process of how they did it. real cool stuff Movements, Borders, and Identities in Africa

also looking at some work their doing on Ile ife's famous Eredo wall. http://www.ifra-nigeria.org/IMG/pdf/preliminary-report-ife-sungbo.pdf

basically Ile Ife is a advanced mega city burried under hundreds of years of vegetation and soil.

heres some ife bronze work. Igbos bronze work actually predates most of the ones they found in Ile Ife so far. Yoruba | (Ife Kingdom Figures)