Igboland is surrounded on all sides by large rivers, and other southern and central Nigeria indigenous tribes, namely Igala, Tiv, Yako, Idoma and Ibibio.

On the north it borders on Igara, Igala and A'kpoto, and it is separated from the sea only by petty tribes, all of which trace their origin to this great race.

[9] The earliest found settlements in Igboland date to 900 BCE in the central area, from where the majority of the Igbo-speaking population is believed to have migrated.

The northern Igbo Kingdom of Nri, which rose around the 10th century CE, is credited with the foundation of much of Igboland's culture, customs, and religious practices.

In Nigeria today, Igboland is roughly made up of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, Imo, Northern Delta and Rivers states.

[1][16] Igboland's culture has been shaped by its rainforest climate, its ancient trade along the rivers, migration, and social history within its various clans and peoples.

[6] Mid-nineteenth century trader W. B. Baikie said, "I seized the moment, and, by our interpreter, told Tshukuma, that we had come to make his acquaintance and his friendship, and to ascertain if the people were willing to trade with us."

[19] Early settlement of Igboland is dated to 6000 BC based on pottery found in the Okigwe, Oka Igwe, and known today as Awka.

[24] Much of the Igbo population is believed to have expanded from a smaller area in this region, diverging into several independent Igbo-speaking tribes, village-groups, kingdoms and states.

The movements were generally broken into two trends in migration: a more northerly group that expanded towards the banks of the Niger and the upper quadrant of the Cross River; the other, following a southerly trail, had risen from the Isu populations based closer to the axis from which the majority of southern Igbo communities emerged.

Mbaise are notably the best examples of an Igbo group claiming autochthony; they reject theories of many migratory histories about their origins.

Based on the proximity of traditions to those of their neighbours, and familial and political ties, many of these groups are apparently culturally northern or southern Igbo.

The first Igbo Ukwu metal and precious artefacts finds were made accidentally in 1939, when a resident named Isiah Anozie found them in the process of digging a cistern.

Initially, throughout the 1960s and 1970s, scholars believed that the Igbo Ukwu bronze and copper items found here had been made elsewhere and were trade goods or were influenced by outside technology due to their technical sophistication.

[26] The northern Igbo Kingdom of Nri, rising around the 10th century based on Umunri traditions, is credited with the foundation of much of Igboland's culture, customs, and religious practices.

As they left Benin City heading eastwards, Eze Chima and his followers settled in a number of lands and established monarchies with the natives in those areas.

The Aro state centred on Arochukwu followed Nri's steady decline, basing much of its economic activities on the rising trade in slaves to Europeans by coastal African middlemen.

The present site of Arochukwu was originally settled by the Ibibio people under the Obong Okon Ita kingdom before the conquest of what became Obinkita in the 17th century by two main Igbo groups: the Eze Agwu clan and the Oke Nnachi assisted by the Ibom Isi (or Akpa) mercenaries under the leadership of the Nnubi dynasty.

[42] Nigerian General Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu on this day made a declaration of independence of Biafra from Nigeria and became the head of state of the new republic.

The effects of Nigerian war strategies such as starvation on Biafran civilians (most of whom were ethnic Igbo) remains a controversial topic.