# 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. |