I've been thinking deeply about this, and it is very clear that Igbos are very different from most West Africans, in terms of looks, culture and worldviews. I've seen people ascribe this variance to an obscure near eastern origin, which does not align with many Igbo clan's version of history. However as science is becoming more reliable and accurate, it is getting clearer that the homogeneous group called Igbos today were actually a mixture of several ancient groups living within tropical west Africa, giving them their unique looks and culture. This is evident from their oral histories and dna.

Essentially, there have always been an ancient indigenous igbo group that lived within the borders of Igboland, however the regular intermarriages with other west african groups caused the appearance of the "modern day igbo", much like modern day Mexicans who differ significantly from their Ancient Aztec ancestors but still retain many similarities.

I will support this with some information that I have been collecting.

I believe that the "First Igbos", the first group to live in Igboland were actually a conglomerate of indigenous groups, which included groups that were similar to the both the Khoisan and the Baka peoples.

Dna samples from Igbo people state that they ancestry from Khoisan like people, dating back to around 9000 years ago. Coincidentally, the oldest sign of settlement in Igboland is also around 9000 years old.


This explains the skin "yellowish skin" that many Igbos have ranging from light olive to a more ruddy, sandy colour that people falsely attribute to near eastern admixture, as well as the small, almond or slanted eyes I have often seen in many igbos.

Also, have you noticed that Igbo men are much broader and muscular that the majority of Nigerian men? In fact, it's gotten to the point that any brown skinned and powerfully-built man is assumed to be Igbo, not just in Nigeria but in other west African countries as well. Igbo men also tend to have broader and more chiselled faces, unlike the round, soft or thinner faces that most are used to seeing on other West African groups.

This is due to the contributions from Igbo's Bakoid ancestors. They tend to have very strong wiry bodies, and broader faces as well as bronze or reddish-brown skin, as opposed to black, or very, very dark.

These features can be seen in the Igbo man at the very bottom.

Following

Those were some of the groups I believe formed the "First Igbos", however Igbos are a still a variety of several groups.

The next group is an immigrating group which I call the "Nokites", because they are believed to be descendants of the Nok.

This was culled form the Nok exansion theory which states that the expansion of the volta-niger YEAI groups (Yoruba, Igbo, Akoko-edo, Igbo) groups into Southern Nigeria began due to the mysterious decimation of the advanced Nok civilisation.

This group immigrated to Igboland around 2-3000 years ago, most likely starting from small families every so often at first to a full blown great emigration when the Nok civilisation ended. Generations of emigration and population growth allowed this group to achieve some dominance in Igboland in terms of their language and culture, which is the reason that Igbos speak a language that is classified as Volta-Niger today .

It's hard to tell what the original "Nokites" would have looked like because their other alleged descendants, (Other YEAI groups) are also presumed to have mixed with other indigenous tropical west African groups.

But perhaps, the most likely is that they would have looked close to modern day upper west Africans. Tall, lean and more often not, either very dark or almost pitch-black.

This explains why many Igbos are very tall as well as slender, especially in the Anugu and Anambra regions.

EVIDENCE IN IGBO ORAL HISTORY

This information is corroborated by oral history of some Igbo groups. If you ask Igbo clans of their origins you will hear generally of two things; we were always here, we sprouted from the ground or God planted us here. Which would make sense for a people with an over 9000 year long history in a place. Or you will hear variations of; we came from the North, we came from the North east/west, and brought some sort of civilization to the aboriginal people of the land (either Kingship or some sort of heirachal system).

In fact, as someone posted on Nairaland years ago; an Igbo elder actually stated that (I am paraphrasing) that the Igbo origin was that of "an immigrant population coming from the North and spread civilization to the yellow skinned people that were living there at the time".

The version you will hear would be dependent on the particular clans closeness and history with the aforementioned groups I stated before.

Evidence in igbo Oral History Part 2

Another major piece of evidence is the fact that in the oral history of many igbo clans, they believed that God made man "white" and it was the sun that blackened their skins and stretched their limbs. (Remember that Igbos believed that Igboland was the centre of the world) This belief has been somewhat hijacked by those who claim a Middle eastern background.

Now we know thhe indigenous Igbo term for white has nothing to do with Europeans but instead refers to the brightness , or lightness of skin. Someone who is referred to as "white", will actually be a red, yellow or light brown colour. Or someone who is lighter the average(Not dark-brown) Essentially, the average colour of the Khoisanoid/Bakoid Igbo group before Volta-Niger input.

This was probably due to some Igbos trying to makes sense of the fact that they were often taller and darker than their ancestors. (Which probably had something to do with diet as well).

Woow pls continue

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This major population inputs explain why there is such a huge diversity of looks, builds and colours amongst Igbos today and unique phenotypes. This diverse origins often give rise to people with a combination of features that put together, don't look traditionally "African".

An example of this is Bianca Onoh. Many Non-Igbos would look at her and deem her biracial, (even though she is a pure Igbo for as far back as anyone can trace), while forgetting that all her features individually, "long coily hair, long round nose, full lips, yellow skin, tall height" are actually naturally occurring African traits, although you don't usually see them concurrently.