Timeline of Igbo history

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

30th century BC

Year	Date	Event
c. 3000 BC		Neolithic man's existence in Igboland.

9th century

Year	Date	Event
c. 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.

11th century

Year	Date	Event
1043		Kingdom of Nri begins with Eze Nri Ìfikuánim.

15th century

Year	Date	Event
1434		Portuguese explorers make contact with the Igbo.

17th century

Year	Date	Event
		Atlantic slave trade exports millions of Igbo people including other Africans to the Americas.
1630		The Aro-Ibibio Wars start.
1690		The Aro Confederacy is established.

18th century

Year	Date	Event
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.

19th century

Year	Date	Event
1807	25 March	The Slave Trade Act 1807 is passed helping in stopping the transportation of enslaved Africans, including Igbo people, to the Americas.
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.
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.

20th century

Year	Date	Event
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	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.

Further reading

• Understanding 'Things Fall Apart' by Kalu Ogbaa ISBN 0-313-30294-4