Timeline of Igbo history

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.
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.

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 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.

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.

Further reading

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