Early+Igbo+History+Oli

The Igbo people are one of the largest ethnic groups in Africa - 15 million living in Nigeria, another one million living outside

Farming communities of Igbo people located between Niger River in the west and the Cross River in the east.

Igbo language has several different dialects which were developed because Igboland contained many villages and towns that were self-contained and separated from each other.

Before the twentieth century the Igbo people were made up of over two hundred separate groups. - Each considered its own society containing around 20-30 villages

Every group of Igbo people however being very closely related regarding culture and language.

During Nigeria's colonial period, many Igbo people began migrating into urban centers. Many of the Igbo people realized that what they initially thought to be different distinct languages were dialects of the same language.

They also realized that most Igbo speaking people had the same basic culture.