1966 anti-Igbo pogrom

1966 Anti- Igbo Pogrom
LocationNorthern Region, Nigeria
Coordinates10°31′59″N 7°29′06″E / 10.533°N 7.485°E / 10.533; 7.485
Date1966
TargetIgbos and other easterners
Attack type
Pogrom
Deaths10,000 - 30,000[1]
Injuredunspecified number

A series of massacres were committed against Igbo people and other people of southern Nigerian origin living in northern Nigeria starting in May 1966 and reaching a peak after 29 September 1966.[2] Between 8,000 and 30,000 Igbos and easterners have been estimated to have been killed. A further 1 million Igbos fled the Northern Region into the East. In response to the killings some northerners were massacred in Port Harcourt and other eastern cities.[3] These events led to the secession of the eastern Nigerian region and the declaration of the Republic of Biafra, which ultimately led to the Nigeria-Biafra war.

  1. ^ "Civil War". countrystudies.us. Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress. 1991. Retrieved November 21, 2019. The estimated number of deaths ranged as high as 30,000, although the figure was probably closer to 8,000 to 10,000.
  2. ^ Last, Murray (October 2005). "Poison and Medicine: Ethnicity, Power and Violence in a Nigerian City, 1966–1986 by Douglas A. Anthony Review by: Murray Last". The Royal African Society. 104 (417): 710–711. JSTOR 3518821.
  3. ^ "Civil War". countrystudies.us. Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress. 1991. Retrieved November 21, 2019. The estimated number of deaths ranged as high as 30,000. More than 1 million Igbo returned to the Eastern Region. In retaliation, some northerners were massacred in Port Harcourt and other eastern cities, and a counterexodus of non-Igbo was under way.