Ibibio

Ibibio - people of southeastern Nigeria, mainly in the Cross River state. They speak dialects of Efik-Ibibio, a language now grouped within the Benue-Congo branch of the Niger-Congo language family. The Ibibio comprise the following major divisions: Efik, Northern (Enyong), Southern (Eket), Delta (Andoni-Ibeno), Western (Anang), and Eastern (the Ibibio proper).

art, African - Among the oldest sculptures of tropical Africa are several hundred ancestor figures, called ekpu, of the Ibibio coastal trade centre of Oron, some of which are thought to date from the late 18th century. They are bearded figures 3 to 4 feet (90 to 120 cm) high and are so individual as to suggest portraiture, despite their schematic style. Oron is one group of Ibibio-speaking villages. As with the ...

Nigeria - The south is the most economically developed part of Nigeria. Its forest resources are intensively exploited, and its tree crops are harvested on peasant farms and commercial plantations. All of the country's major industrial centres and oil fields, as well as its seaports, are concentrated in the region. Important cultural centres are also found in the south, such as those of the Yoruba in the ...

Oron - town, Akwa Ibom state, southeastern Nigeria. It lies at the mouth of the Cross River and is the terminus of roads from Uyo and Opobo. Oron is a coastal trade centre for the yams, cassava, fish, and palm oil and kernels produced by the Ibibio people of the hinterland. The town is the site of a hospital, a teacher-training college, the Federal Nautical College of Nigeria, and several secondary ...

Benue-Congo languages - The 60 Cross River languages are situated around the Cross River in southeastern Nigeria and westward toward the Niger Delta. The largest of these languages is Ibibio, which together with its written cousin, Efik, has some 3,500,000 speakers. Other languages with more than 100,000 speakers are Anang, Khana, Ogbia, Loko, Mbembe, Obolo, and Gokana.