The road from Ụgwụtā to Òwèrè, c. 1909

The road from Ụgwụtā (Oguta) to Owere (Owerri), c. 1909, showcasing the undulating landscape of the Igbo country.

Whether this is a ‘pre-colonial’ road or not is not specified, but this could be how trade routes were in the past.

Nigeria, 1932 [cropped]. Library of Congress.

The Igbo area is one of the most densely populated areas in the world. Relative stability over centuries made it so. Developmentally, it may turn into one metropolitan area, with considerations for nature and the environment.

Igbo Landscaping and Architecture

A building photographed in the western Igbo area, filed under Onicha Olona by the MAA Cambridge, but may be another surrounding Igbo town. The trees and shrubs appear to have been planted in an order. Photographed by Northcote Thomas and assistants, c. 1912-13.

Omambara

Crossing the Omambara River (or ‘Anambra River’) at Ogurugu in present day Uzo-Uwani LGA, Enugu State, Nigeria, c. 1916. Photo: Hugh Nevin Nevins.

Ögbü Compound [Colourised]

Ögbü compound and tower, Anambra State today, photographed by Northcote Thomas, May 1911, colourised, Ụ́kpụ́rụ́ 2018.

... (and two (possibly lazy) compound dogs.)

... (kpaaa~.)

Mbari

Urata-Igbo Mbari votive shrine. The buildings are built in honour of particular deities, most often Ala the Earth Mother, in what is now Imo State and Rivers State. The actual site is not used as a place of worship. Photo: Edward Chadwick, 1927-1943. British Museum.

The British in Eza-Igbo country, present day Ebonyi State, 1905.

Text underneath the photos reads:

The development of our West African possessions is constantly being checked by interminable inter-tribal wars. It was with a view to settling such disputes that early in March a column of 300 men left Calabar to patrol the country on the right bank of the Upper Cross River. The greater part of it is inhabited by the Ezzas, a tribe hitherto unvisited by Europeans and living in round grass-thatched huts. The Ezzas, though at first they actively opposed the column, submitted with a good grace, and proved themselves to be an intelligent, manly race, far superior to their pagan brothers of the delta. Horses, although not bred in the country, are in great demand for the purposes of sacrifice on the death of a big chief. Large herds of anego, the native name for a species of waterbuck, and other smaller buck were met with. The country is well cultivated

– "Newly Discovered People Southern Nigeria Ezzas." The Sphere: An Illustrated Newspaper for the Home, August 19, 1905.

Igbo Bridge

A bridge somewhere in the Igbo country, photographed by Gustaf Bolinder, 1930-31. Etnografiska Museet.

Abakaleke

"Old Abakaliki" from an photo album made before the 1920s. The National Archives UK.

Ögbü Compound

Ögbü (Awgbu), p.d. Anambra State, what was described as a store house by Northcote Thomas, tower in the background, May 1911. Part of Thomas’ British colonial government backed anthropological tour of the north-central Igbo-speaking area.