Penn Language Center

The term "Igbo" often denotes community or the inhabited world, as in the expression, "Igbo bia lere (world or whole community, come see!)!"  The Igbo language has dozens of geographical dialects and belongs to the Niger-Congo family / Benue-Congo group of languages. It is also the second most populous indigenous language of southern Nigeria.

The Igbo number between 20 and 25 million people and live all over Nigeria. The original area, known as Igboland, is now situated in seven states. Five of the seven are completely Igbo-speaking (Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo). The other two are part Igbo-speaking (Rivers and Delta). There is also a great number of Igbo people in the Diaspora (U.S.A., Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, and all parts of the world).

The Igbo are highly enterprising, resourceful, and education-focused. They have resorted to travel in order to satisfy these quests and to make room for their ever-growing population.