Igbo

Igbo, or Ibo, large ethnic group in Nigeria. Although the origin of the Igbo people is not precisely known, recent archeological evidence suggests that the Igbo's artistic culture was supported by both agriculture and flourishing trade. Located near the Nigerian coast, the early Igbo civilization participated in the slave trade, which lasted from the 1400stothe 1800s. During the 1800s and 1900s Nigeria fell under British rule, and in 1967 the Igbo homeland, along with the entire Eastern Region of Nigeria, proclaimed itself the independent republic of Biafra. Today, many Igbo occupy villages of dispersed homesteads in rain-forest country and are subsistence farmers.