ABSTRACT
The Igbo area was and still is broadly culturally homogeneous. Igbo language has been the key unifying factor of the Igbo. It is the most important single trait marking out the people as a distinct group and to which they could claim of being the symbol of pan-Igbo. However, wide variations in the ecology of the Igbo region as well as the impact of neighboring non-Igbo peoples have resulted in local differences within the broad Igbo culture area. Such local variations are manifested in social, cultural and political institutions and organizations, architectural traditions, and multiple dialects. Arising from these local variations, some ethnographers and scholars have divided the Igbo into five main sub-cultural groups. One of them, Adiele Afigbo, has the following as Igbo sub-cultural zones: the Northern, the Western, the Southern, the Eastern and the Northeastern Igbo. 1
