Ozikoroclan in the archive
Izzi
Recorded in Ebonyi. A place page gathers every related history, image, recording and document rather than opening only one article.
Connected writing
Histories about Izzi
The archive links no published history to Izzi yet. Its neighbours’ histories are not shown here, because a link to another community is not a history of this one.
Named in other records
Histories that mention Izzi
These are published records whose own words name Izzi. A mention is not a history of Izzi, which is why they are listed here rather than with the histories about it.
Read as: Izzi, Izi, Iji. Counted where the name is written with a capital, because a lower-case occurrence of a name that is also an ordinary word is the word.
The record
What the archive holds for Izzi
| Region | Ebonyi |
|---|---|
| State | Ebonyi |
| Local government | Izzi, Abakaliki, Ebonyi |
| Division | Northeast Igbo |
| Ethnic group | Igbo |
| Recorded as | clan |
Izzi is one of the three great clans of the north-eastern Igbo, with Ezza and Ikwo, in Ebonyi State. Its people live in Izzi, Abakaliki and Ebonyi local government areas, and Iboko is the administrative headquarters of the Izzi area.
Izzi is a clan of hundreds of villages, which is why it is counted by districts rather than by towns: the Agbaja district, the Igbeagu district that holds Iboko, the Ezza-Inyimagu district, and the communities of Izzi Unuhu, Amachi, Nkaleke Achara, Enyigba and Okpitumo among others.
Its people are the indigenous population of Abakaliki itself. The state capital sits on Izzi land, and the town's oldest quarters are Izzi quarters.
Izzi, Ezza and Ikwo are brothers, and the tradition they share is that Ekumenyi was their grandfather: Ezekuna fathered Ezza, Olodo fathered Izzi, Noyo fathered Ikwo. Izzi holds that it is a half-brother to Ezza rather than a full one, and says so when the question comes up.
The clan speaks the Izzi dialect of Igbo, which is also spoken across the border in parts of Benue State.
Sources
Wikipedia, "Izzi people"; Forde & Jones (1950), The Ibo and Ibibio-Speaking Peoples of South-Eastern Nigeria, Table XIII and notes
Archive records
Photographs, oral testimony and documents connected to this community would appear here with provenance.
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