Early+Igbo+History-+Abhinav

Early Igbo History To summarize the section about early history, I just decided to come up with questions that I know I had when I read the text and in answering them I should hopefully cover all the information included in the section (concisely). The questions should also hopefully cover parts of the history that would be helpful when reading the book.

Who exactly are the Igbo people?
 * The Igbo people are an __ethnic group__ that occupy the region known as Igboland. The majority of the Igbo people live in Nigeria (15 million), while 1 million live outside Nigeria.

Are all of the Igbo people similar in culture?
 * Pre-colonial times, the Igbo people were not uniform at all. As the communities were divided into small villages often separated by thick bush, they had separate self contained languages and identities that were branches of Igbo culture. During the colonial era, more and more Igbo people congregated in urban centers, allowing for the influx of a diverse group of people who interacted in ways they never had before. This allowed the Igbo people to notice that they really were more similar than they had realized. Earlier, the differences in language had led most Igbo people to not communicate with villages more than a couple of kilometers away from their own village.

What does Igboland look like? (This helps with imagining the setting)
 * It is mostly made up of farming communities, with the Niger river in the west and the Cross river in the east. The southern coast has delta swampland while the north is composed of tropical rainforests and open grasslands.

What are some principles of their religious beliefs?
 * The Igbo people believe in a supreme God (Chukwu) who created everything and demanded obedience. Religious myths suggest that religion has always been an integral part of their life, with an emphasis on ancestral worship (we see this often in the book with characters praying to their ancestors for a harvest etc.). Agriculture is often intertwined with religion, as both play such a central role in the Igbo people's lives.
 * An interesting fact that I noticed is that the defining stories about Igbo religion often include sacrifice (such as that of a person's son/daughter). We see this in other religions, such as Christianity, but the practice seems to be more prominent with characters in the novel (such as the sacrifice of the child and virgin from the other village).

What vocational practices are attributed to the Igbo people?
 * The Igbo people are known to have smelted and forged iron for centuries. It plays a central role in helping with their agriculture, and in helping develop weapons to fight with.
 * Agriculture has obviously played a huge role, with yams being the staple food in Igbo culture (which is why its so prevalent in the novel).
 * Interestingly, agriculture is based on the system of shifting cultivation where land that has already been farmed for several years are left to regain their topsoil. Instances of hard work/laziness are depicted in the novel, such as when Okonkwo talks about how his father refused to clear new forest land and continually tried to farm the same overused land.