British creations from top to bottom. The britsh created them based of course on the reality on the ground. Yes there were groups of people that spoke the same language and it's thus easy to name them after that language and have them except it as an identity, but it is known by every reputable scholar that the british created Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa/Fulani, Bini etc as concrete identities of 'different people' that had these 'walls' around their tribe that made them all family.


As much as we say the britian 'brought us together', to a great extent the level of togetherness prior to colonialism was also shattered. We traded one form of togetherness for another and the terms of an 'ethnic' union.


Before the british there was no 'yoruba'. There way Oyo, Ekiti, Ijebu etc etc and they were trying to kill each other. the Bini people who are linguistically and to a great extent nothing like the yoruba were ruled willing by a yoruba king. the bini founded igbo cities like Onitcha and 'niger delta' cities and groups as well ('niger delta' is the newest 'family' we've created out of thin air).

There are tribes that speak igbo but aren't igbo. tribes that don't speak igbo but are igbo. Igbo tribes with more in common with efiks and ijaws than other igbos. As it stands, nothing but colonialism makes an anambran and an abia 'one'.

Before colonialism Jaja, and igbo man could raise the ranks in Ijaw man an become a king as he did. Efiks and Ibibios and Igbos were in the same cultural fertrnities and shared the same written language.

The same goes for yorubas. Iilorin has a Fulani head, and has more in common with the people in that area (nupe etc) than the people on Ondo.



The north is the most striking example of this. What is Hausa/Fulani? Hausa is simply a language. It became a lingua franca and due to heavy trade a dominate culture in the region and now I'm willing to say almost half of the people who speak hausa aren't 'ethnically' hausa, including the Fulani.

and what do the city Fulani have in common with the rural ones? Culture, lifestyle, religion, language even look, they're in two different worlds that seldom cross paths.

The Ijaw are the worst. exactly what is an Ijaw? They even speak different languages among each other and will openly tell you they have nothing to do with each other. It's only the oil struggle that have brought about a stronger identity for them as biafra did for igbos.





I do understand that there are a people you can call 'igbo' because they speak 'igbo', and people that call themselves 'yoruba' because they speak yoruba, but it didn't mean a single thing to these people until they were told that's who they are. Sure it made sense once the combination happen but consider this example.


Nigerians call whites Oyibo. All whites are Oyibo. Hispanics, Asians, Arabs, Europeans, all Oyibo. What if Nigerians would have colonized the world and told "oyibo" people that they were Oyibos. Suddenly it would exist as an ethnic group. After all you can say they all have the same color of skin, and similar hair texture so it has to mean something right? This is exactly what happened in Nigeria.

Yoruba isn't even a Yoruba word. Fulani is an Hausa word. We need to stop being so simplistic in our understanding of ourselves.

^^ Excellent, thought-provoking analysis.

Well, the write-up is commendable, but it honestly won't change anything. Thumbs up, anyway.

Most Nigerians un pre-colonial times merely identified with their immediate communities and towns. The sense of a common origin with other neighbors never appealed to them until the Europeans arrived.

Nice write up, and opens up more discussions. I like threads like this, I am sure this issue has been in the OP's mind for long

Yoruba is merely a nomenclature, they could as well have been called romanbas, it wouldn't still change their identity. While you have the Ijebus, Ijesas, Oyos as distinct groups, they all still fraternized under the Omo Odua brotherhood even before colonisation. The yorubas in benin republic might not be classed as yorubas by nomenclature, but by identity they recognise themselves as Oduduwa people and still visit Ife and osogbo. Socio-cultural identity is by acceptance, while colonisation gave us a collective name, identity was still a matter of social-cultural an religious acceptance which really cannot be forced

For the Hausas-Fulani, their alliance was in effect and acceptable to their people before western influence. This acceptance was valid and structural and a reason the british decided on indirect rule. The real hausas and fulani know themselves, it is we in the south who normally call every northerner an hausa/fulani man. An Alago in Nasarawa speaks hausa well but will sternly warn you he isn't Hausa. If the british tried to force hausa/fulani identity on them it clearly didn't work. Taraba and Adamawa are other examples.

As for the Igbos, it still boils down to acceptance. You are Igbo if you believe you are. Obama doesn't call himself a Kenyan, neither does he call himself irish because of his mother's irish roots. He is simply an american because that is where he is accepted. The real igbos know themselves, you can't force it or take it away from them. I don't believe it is a western creation, maybe the name - the nomenclature, but the caricature of the Igbo man easily makes him know if he is one or not.

I agree to an extent that the whites tried to define us with their dictionary, but we know who we really are and what we want to be known for.

Not that I agree with all your points, but I remember the days of my childhood in Igboland when we (the kids then) usually called every black person on TV "onye Igbo". Even Ben Johnson was referred to as "onye Igbo" by kids!

@OP, I am going fault your premise by making it clear that it is only on Nairaland (and during my travels back home) that I see/hear folks using the word "tribe".

What you refer to as "tribes" should be termed "linguistic groups" or "ethnic groups".
If you are prepared to entertain this later view, the classifications you provided apply aptly.

I disagree. Its Nigerian politics that caused the divisions of ethnic nationalities not colonial masters. Ask yourself how the igbo ethnicity would have been like today for instance without the civil war and state creation

eGuerrilla: @OP, I am going fault your premise by making it clear that it is only on Nairaland (and during my travels back home) that I see/hear folks using the word "tribe".

What you refer to as "tribes" should be termed "linguistic groups" or "ethnic groups".
If you are prepared to entertain this later view, the classifications you provided apply aptly.

I agree. The problem stemmed from the words tribe and ethnic group being used as synonyms. In school in Nigeria, they teach it like this - we have three major tribes/ethnic groups - so they now come across as synonyms and that's why we use it interchangeably. But I agree the ethnic group is a better description to what we have as Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa going by these definitions.


Tribe- a social division in a traditional society consisting of families or communities linked by social, economic, religious, or blood ties, with a common culture and dialect, typically having a recognized leader.

Ethnicity or ethnic group is a socially defined category of people who identify with each other based on a shared social experience or ancestry.[1] Membership of an ethnic group tends to be associated with and ideologies of shared cultural heritage, ancestry, history, homeland, language or dialect, and with symbolic systems such as religion, mythology and ritual, cuisine, dressing style, physical appearance, etc.

So I think we can say for example Awka is a tribe, but Igbo is an ethnic group.

I'm happy I've found someone who has understood what I've known since I was born but difficult to impact on the head of my fellow unintelligent blacks. This ethnic creation has caused long term wars in some places like Ikwo vs Legbo in Ebonyi/Crossriver boundary where in the past they saw themselves as relatives, intermarried and traded together without knowing who is Igbo or Crossriver.

dude its 2013 nobody use d word tribe again. it is considered to be racial and abusive , demeaning to say i cum frm a tribe in d yr 2013. pls use d word ethnic group

Onlytruth: Not that I agree with all your points, but I remember the days of my childhood in Igboland when we (the kids then) usually called every black person on TV "onye Igbo". Even Ben Johnson was referred to as "onye Igbo" by kids!

But he is very likely onye Igbo.

..

Onlytruth: Not that I agree with all your points, but I remember the days of my childhood in Igboland when we (the kids then) usually called every black person on TV "onye Igbo". Even Ben Johnson was referred to as "onye Igbo" by kids!

Wow! Dude u grew up in a village...but the village didn't grow out of you.

wao, dis s anoda inteligent topic, if some stewpid folks will not come to derail it! Im following

@op

I totally disagree with you. I don't know about the Hausa and Yoruba, so u might be right there. Regarding the igbos, you are wrong. Igbo is not just a linguistic group. It is a nation of people that share language, culture, philosophy etc.

Although there are slight variations in these practices, but the core values are the same among all Igbos.

For example the breaking of Kola nuts, the words spoken during this act, the idea it has to be done by the eldest man in the gathering, offering it to visitors and etc are pretty much similar among all Igbo towns. This significance of Kola nut is similar to all igbos as opposed to its significance to other ethnic groups in Nigeria.


Also, majority of igbos will respect and reserve certain rights to an man from Nri. Other will pay certain homage to an Arochukwu man.

There are names like Igbokwe, towns with names like igboukwu, etc. All these among many others prove that the igbos are a people, and not just a linguistic group.

The name, igbo, did not come from another source, it is indigenous to the people.

Also, the fact that these ethnicities have myths about there origin is a pointer to the fact that they are a people together not just by language. They Yoruba believe they descended from odudua, the igbos believe they descended from Eri who founded the Nri town. These myths which indicate common ancestry and identity were not handed to them by the white colonists.


Give our forefathers the respect they deserve. They founded nations, only that whites colonists refused to acknowledge them as nations, rather they called these great nations tribes and forced us in an impossible entity, Nigeria which is their creation.

^
brilliant

All those people calling themselves kings in Igboland are mad. For one most Igbo do not know about their existence. These are warrant chiefs turn kings. And warrant chiefs were actually bad guys that turned against their own people, in favour of white people. I can't believe that some people are actually entertaining these ridiculous claims that Igbo had a central authority. Some of these villages only knew about the existence of their neighbours and were very clannish. The claim that we all originated from NRI and then forgot all about it is also very ridiculous. Especially if we consider the fact that Alaigbo is really small for the population of Igbos. The only reasonable explanation is that we migrated from else where from different routes. An Industrious race like the Igbo race would have had great cities before the british criminal occupation of their land. This suggest short period of occupation (And migration in distress) . Some Igbo dialects are almost unintelligible to Igbos that are not from around their landmass. This suggests some form of acculturation.

igbo identity was never a creation of colonialist. what is plausible is to say that the present day Igbo nation may have been formed based on the definition of ethnicity/nationhood by the colonialist and as such,some groups who previously would not see themselves as Igbo,becomes igbo.

@michelle007, I agree wit u, yes there was nothing like yoruba, that was a name coined by Fulani historian, we could have also being called Eka or Eku pple! But there were common heritage among us, the 'yorubas' of today just like you opined for the Igbos, we all believed to come from Oduduwa, the Oyos, Ijeshas, Egbas, Ondos etc! Some pple said we were nt cooperating, but I disagreed, Ogedemgbe of Ijeshaland was trained by the Ibadan and he really rose in rank among them, when he to be exiled, it was to an Oyo town! Efunsetan Aniwura, Iyalode of Ibadan was an Egbawoman!

michelle007: @op

I totally disagree with you. I don't know about the Hausa and Yoruba, so u might be right there. Regarding the igbos, you are wrong. Igbo is not just a linguistic group. It is a nation of people that share language, culture, philosophy etc.

Although there are slight variations in these practices, but the core values are the same among all Igbos.

For example the breaking of Kola nuts, the words spoken during this act, the idea it has to be done by the eldest man in the gathering, offering it to visitors and etc are pretty much similar among all Igbo towns. This significance of Kola nut is similar to all igbos as opposed to its significance to other ethnic groups in Nigeria.


Also, majority of igbos will respect and reserve certain rights to an man from Nri. Other will pay certain homage to an Arochukwu man.

There are names like Igbokwe, towns with names like igboukwu, etc. All these among many others prove that the igbos are a people, and not just a linguistic group.

The name, igbo, did not come from another source, it is indigenous to the people.

Also, the fact that these ethnicities have myths about there origin is a pointer to the fact that they are a people together not just by language. They Yoruba believe they descended from oduduwa, the igbos believe they descended from Eri who founded the Nri town. These myths which indicate common ancestry and identity were not handed to them by the white colonists.


Give our forefathers the respect they deserve. They founded nations, only that whites colonists refused to acknowledge them as nations, rather they called these great nations tribes and forced us in an impossible entity, Nigeria which is their creation.

Replace every sentence where you have Igbo with Yoruba and you'd still be making sense.

I don't know what the OP was thinking; the various Yoruba tribes you mentioned are infact of common ancestry, they are the sons of Okanbi, the only son of Oduduwa. It was these 7 sons of Okanbi that founded and settled in the various Yoruba settlements you have today.

Olowu (Owu, Ogun state)
Alaketu (Benin republic)
Omo N'Oba (Bini, Edo state)
Òràngún (Igbomina, Ila, Osun and Kwara states)
Onisabe (Benin republic)
Olupopo (Benin republic)
Alaafin (Oyo, Oyo-ile)

Others migrated from ile-ife, however at different times, and settled other areas thus claiming more land for the kingdom.

So to say these people who together have common ancestry are Yorubas "just because they all speak Yoruba", is the height of ignorance.

olu_kenzo :


Replace every sentence where you have Igbo with Yoruba and you'd still be making sense.

I don't know what the OP was thinking; the various Yoruba tribes you mentioned are infact of common ancestry, they are the sons of Okanbi, the only son of Oduduwa. It was these 7 sons of Okanbi that founded and settled in the various Yoruba settlements you have today.

Olowu (Owu, Ogun state)
Alaketu (Benin republic)
Omo N'Oba (Bini, Edo state)
Òràngún (Igbomina, Ila, Osun and Kwara states)
Onisabe (Benin republic)
Olupopo (Benin republic)
Alaafin (Oyo, Oyo-ile)

Others migrated from ile-ife, however at different times, and settled other areas thus claiming more land for the kingdom.

So to say these people who together have common ancestry are Yorubas "just because they all speak Yoruba", is the height of ignorance.

dont crucify d OP! at least he s right to some extent. There was actually nothing like Yoruba language! we had and still have things like Egba, Ondo, Ijesha, Oyo, Ijebu languages and nothing like Yoruba language. Common Yoruba language started with the work of Samuel Ajayi Crowther! But that notwithstanding, all the 'Yoruba' languages were and are still quite understandable among themselves

michelle007: @op

I totally disagree with you. I don't know about the Hausa and Yoruba, so u might be right there. Regarding the igbos, you are wrong. Igbo is not just a linguistic group. It is a nation of people that share language, culture, philosophy etc.

Although there are slight variations in these practices, but the core values are the same among all Igbos.

For example the breaking of Kola nuts, the words spoken during this act, the idea it has to be done by the eldest man in the gathering, offering it to visitors and etc are pretty much similar among all Igbo towns. This significance of Kola nut is similar to all igbos as opposed to its significance to other ethnic groups in Nigeria.


Also, majority of igbos will respect and reserve certain rights to an man from Nri. Other will pay certain homage to an Arochukwu man.

There are names like Igbokwe, towns with names like igboukwu, etc. All these among many others prove that the igbos are a people, and not just a linguistic group.

The name, igbo, did not come from another source, it is indigenous to the people.

Also, the fact that these ethnicities have myths about there origin is a pointer to the fact that they are a people together not just by language. They Yoruba believe they descended from odudua, the igbos believe they descended from Eri who founded the Nri town. These myths which indicate common ancestry and identity were not handed to them by the white colonists.


Give our forefathers the respect they deserve. They founded nations, only that whites colonists refused to acknowledge them as nations, rather they called these great nations tribes and forced us in an impossible entity, Nigeria which is their creation.

I never heard of Eri until I started reading peoples work. 90% of Igbos don't know what is Eri until they are taught in school about it. Are you aware that my great-grandparents did not accept the word Igbo? Some people were called Igbo as a derogatory word and not as a tribe. Does it not surprise you that no slave recorded his ethnic groups as Igbo or Yoruba and most never even heard of the names?

Nice thread I will come back later to learn more. Please tribal bigots I beg una to stay away from this wonderful thread.

Oladiran: dont crucify d OP! at least he s right to some extent. There was actually nothing like Yoruba language! we had and still have things like Egba, Ondo, Ijesha, Oyo, Ijebu languages and nothing like Yoruba language. Common Yoruba language started with the work of Samuel Ajayi Crowther! But that notwithstanding, all the 'Yoruba' languages were and are still quite understandable among themselves

It is pretty trivial, if you lend a thought to it. They only started speaking slightly altered dialects when they resettled...

And BTW, the name Yoruba was given to us by our neighbours, long long before the British knew of Africa. Also, Ajayi crowther did not create a common Yoruba language, he created a written standard.

Abagworo:

I never heard of Eri until I started reading peoples work. 90% of Igbos don't know what is Eri until they are taught in school about it. Are you aware that my great-grandparents did not accept the word Igbo? Some people were called Igbo as a derogatory word and not as a tribe. Does it not surprise you that no slave recorded his ethnic groups as Igbo or Yoruba and most never even heard of the names?

Apparently the slaves dd not even know the meaning nd had never heard of those words ( Yoruba, Igbo) funny

olu_kenzo :


It is pretty trivial, if you lend a thought to it. They only started speaking slightly altered dialects when they resettled...

And BTW, the name Yoruba was given to us by our neighbours, long long before the British knew of Africa. Also, Ajayi crowther did not create a common Yoruba language, he created a written standard.

Well, it looked so, but nobody called the language Yoruba! Ijesha man in Ibadan in those days will speak distinct Ijesha language as oppose to what you will have today and that is why you have 'baba ijesha'
Yes, our neighour did called us Yoruba, for reasons best known to them but it was not popular among us then, the colonialists popularise it! The work of Ajayi Crowther made the speaking of common Yoruba language which would have been learnt in school, popular!

Oladiran:
Well, it looked so, but nobody called the language Yoruba! Ijesha man in Ibadan in those days will speak distinct Ijesha language as oppose to what you will have today and that is why you have 'baba ijesha'
Yes, our neighour did called us Yoruba, for reasons best known to them but it was not popular among us then, the colonialists popularise it! The work of Ajayi Crowther made the speaking of common Yoruba language which would have been learnt in school, popular!

I am sure there would have been a name for the language they spoke before resettling. The name has unfortunately become lost in history.

C'mon, the fact that they have common ancestry presupposes they had a common language. The dialects only came about with time, interaction with other ethnic groups etc etc

Lol. Again, the highly revered bishop only anglicised/latinized, majorly, the Oyo spoken Yoruba. Just so you know, this Latinized Yoruba is not the one we speak on the streets of Lagos, it is most similar to that in Oyo, excluding the accent. Suffice to say Ajayi Crowther did not "create" this.

Abagworo:

I never heard of Eri until I started reading peoples work. 90% of Igbos don't know what is Eri until they are taught in school about it. Are you aware that my great-grandparents did not accept the word Igbo? Some people were called Igbo as a derogatory word and not as a tribe. Does it not surprise you that no slave recorded his ethnic groups as Igbo or Yoruba and most never even heard of the names?

Some yorubas claim to have been the ones to have name us Igbo. Meaning bush people. I highly doubt that tho. Because I don't see any bush demarcating us. Another explanation is that we were refugees (or subjects/slaves) in these yoroboid areas before war or emacipation. I think war is more like it.

Dibiachukwu:
Some yorubas claim to have been the ones to have name us Igbo. Meaning bush people. I highly doubt that tho. Because I don't see any bush demarcating us. Another explanation is that we were refugees (or subjects/slaves) in these yoroboid areas before war or emacipation. I think war is more like it.

And you beleive those things those pple must have been pulling ur legs because it simply cannot just be the truth! I know so even though Im not Igbo

Oladiran: And you beleive those things those pple must have been pulling ur legs because it simply cannot just be the truth! I know so even though Im not Igbo

I'm sorry ma, you can't claim to know so. Have you heard of Efunsetan Aniwura? Is that her name now? There was this Yoruba woman who volunteered and went as a spy to "Igbo" land when her people were being enslaved left right and center by some scary looking neighbours. I am still looking for the to link. I hope I didn't read it in a book!

Edit: The woman was Moremi of Ife and not Efunsetan of Ibadan. Error on my part.

olu_kenzo :


I'm sorry ma, you can't claim to know so. Have you heard of Efunsetan Aniwura?

Hmmm funny, I ddnt know Efunsetan traded in Igbo slaves