Alice C. Linsley
Are the Igbo related to the Israelites? This is the question Salamatou Naino Idi has asked and I will do my best to answer her question.
The Igbo are not directly related to the Israelites. They are not descendents of Jacob who is the founder of the Israelites. Igbo history is traced back to a time before there were a people called Israelites.
The Igbo are likely a Nok clan. Nok is related to the Yourba word anochi, refering to the sucession of rulers. In the Hebrew Bible, the word is Enoch, a royal title.
Cain and his brother Seth married royal daughters of the chief of Nok. These daughters named their first-born sons Nok, after their father. These sons would have been regarded as the sons of the Chief. The line of royal descent was traced through the royal brides. However, only one could rule after the king’s death. Apparently Cain’s son was preferred to rule because settlements were built in his name Kano.
Likely Seth, Cain’s brother, moved to the east to establish his own territory closer to Lake Chad, in Borno (where we later find his descendent Noah). The types of musical instruments and the tradition of horsemanship suggest that the people of Kano, Borno and Nok are related culturally. There is a striking similarity between the hairstyle of the Igbo woman shown above and that on the Nok sculpture below. Analysis of the Genesis king lists makes it possible to trace Abraham's ancestors to these regions.
Cain and his brother Seth married royal daughters of the chief of Nok. These daughters named their first-born sons Nok, after their father. These sons would have been regarded as the sons of the Chief. The line of royal descent was traced through the royal brides. However, only one could rule after the king’s death. Apparently Cain’s son was preferred to rule because settlements were built in his name Kano.
Likely Seth, Cain’s brother, moved to the east to establish his own territory closer to Lake Chad, in Borno (where we later find his descendent Noah). The types of musical instruments and the tradition of horsemanship suggest that the people of Kano, Borno and Nok are related culturally. There is a striking similarity between the hairstyle of the Igbo woman shown above and that on the Nok sculpture below. Analysis of the Genesis king lists makes it possible to trace Abraham's ancestors to these regions.
Apparently the Igbo ancestors intermarried with the people of Nok to whom they were probably related by blood (as many of the peoples of this region of Africa are of the L1 haplotype). This was before the time when we can speak of Arabs and Jews. Nok dominance existed for at least 1,000 years before the establishment of the royal city of Daura.
Read it all here.
Related reading: Extant Biblical Tribes; Conversation About Hausa Origins
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