C. 1950 “FIRST TEST DRILLING FOR OIL IN NIGERIA.”
"The first deep test well ever to be drilled in Nigeria was recently “spudded-in” at Owerri in the eastern part of the country.

A section of the map of Nigeria , with the highlighted area in Red showing the densest part of Nigeria, 1932 [cropped]. credit: Library of Congress.
Further comments by the carthographer;
"The Igbo area is one of the most densely populated areas in the world.

Ancestral shrine house (Mma obu), with Ibini okpabe shrine outside. 1951-1953

A short distance inside the compound entrance is the ancestral shrine of the lineage founder, Mma obu (ancestor-rest house),

by Simon Ottenberg (1968).

Colonial prison at Bende ( modern day Abia state).
Early 20th century.
Photo credit: British Museum.

The road from Ụgwụtā (Oguta) to Owere (Owerri), c. 1909, showcasing the undulating landscape of the Igbo country.
A ‘pre-colonial’ road or not is not specified, but this could be how trade routes were in the past.
Photo credit: Ukpuru

PORT HARCOURT

A temporary wooden bridge over the Imo River for the Eastern Division railway line built from 1913 to access the Udi coalfields around Enugwu Ngwo, terminating at the Diobu cliffs of the new port named Port Harcourt by Frederick Lugard. Published 1920.

Igbo string game:
This pattern described as ‘mask for juju’.
Photo credit: Northcote Thomas, 1880-1910.

A lively street scene in Onitsha, in present-day Anambra State, captured in the 1960s, an era when the city stood as one of the most vibrant commercial centres in Eastern Nigeria. The image reflects a bustling urban environment shaped by trade, mobility, and everyday social life.

A woman of Ügwüta (Oguta) in the Òru region of Igbo land, early twentieth century, from Internet Archive.

The riverine Òru used waterways as trade routes, and wealthy merchants formed title societies and wore ivory ornaments obtained through long-distance trade.

Uta
“Boy with spear, bow”,
Photo credit: Northcote Thomas,
Date; Between 1880—1910, [Igbo peoples]

Hairstyle:
“Young man of Ubuluku” [present day northern Delta States, Nigeria] Igbo man taken by Northcote Thomas, early 20th century.

MAN OF ONIÇHA OLONA
in western Igboland, turn of the 20th century.
Photo credit : Thomas Northcote 1912.

Photo of an Igbo dance taken by Northcote Thomas, unknown date presumably from early 1900s [when he was documenting for a 6-part book on Igbo society, Anthropological report on the Ibo-speaking peoples of Nigeria (1913)]

The goddess of the earth," as described by P. A. Talbot, c. 1932. Musée du quai Branly. This may be Ala, the Igbo earth divinity and the man pictured may be an Eze Ala, a head priest of Ala. Ala is represented by trees and shrubs.

IC̆I MARKS AND HAIR DRESSING

Northcote Thomas, turn of the 20th century, in what is now Anambra State, Nigeria.

Igbo Architecture
Ikwere house in 'Note on Ibo Houses' by P. Amaury Talbot, published in September 1916, Man Journal.

An Mbari house at "Omo Dim" [Umudim?] which is known as "Mbari Njokku" according to P. A. Talbot who says it was built in honour of an elder named "Njokku and his wife Mbafor."
Photo credit : P. A. Talbot (1927).

Eastern House of Assembly, Enugu
Taken between :1930 to 1950s
By: Duckworth, E. H

Cadets and huts at the Nigerian Police Training School, Enugu
Photgraphed by : Duckworth, E. H in the 1930s

Hairstyle
An igbo woman from Arochukwu, early 20th century, a postcard via the US Library of Congress.

The making of an igbo stool
Photo graphed by G. I. Jones, 1930s.
Check ALT for photo description.

Ubo aka:
Made of gourd; half of gourd hollowed out inside; circular piece of wood set inside open circle of gourd, two half-circular holes carved in piece of wood; Production ethnic group Made by: Igbo (1922-3)
Found in Awka,in Present day Anambra .
Photo credit: British Museum

Okonko Masquerade:
“Play of late Chief Ogolo of Opobo - men dressed in ritual costumes.” photographed by Arthur Tremearne, c. 1913. MAA Cambridge. Ọkọnkọ masquerade known as Atụ, bush cow.

The history of Ichafu.

Backrest, made by the Igbo people, Acquired in the 19th century.
Photo credit: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Young gorilla killed at Asaba, So. Nigeria, West Africa, 1906. The two boys belong to the Ibo tribe

Titled Igbo man of Issele Asaba, western Igbo area. Photo by Northcote Thomas, 1905-1913

Stool:
Study of three Igbo carved wooden stools. William Fagg, 1946

Igbo architecture:
The making of an igbo house, skeletal structure made with bamboo before addition of mud . Photographed by Simon ottenberg in 1952

Chi shrine at Nkharahia.

Chi is the masculine divine energy of the universe, to put it succinctly. Photographed among the etche by P. Amaury Talbot