Ijaw people in the context of "Bayelsa State"

Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa and the sixth most populous in the world. Nigeria is also one of the most densely populated countries in Africa, with approximately 218.5 million people in an area of 923,768 km (356,669 sq mi).

54.3% of Nigerians are urban dwellers, with the annual rate of urbanisation being estimated at 3.92%. Nigeria is home to 371 ethnic groups speaking over 500 languages and the variety of customs and traditions among them gives the country great cultural diversity. The three largest ethnic groups, namely the Hausas, Yorubas, and Igbos constitute more than 60% of the population. The Ijaw, Efik, Ibibio, Annang, Ogoni, Tiv, Urhobo-Isoko, Edo and Itsekiri are some of the other sizeable ethnic groups. Over 1.2 million people living in Nigeria (0.5% of its total population, or 1 in every 200 people living in Nigeria) are from a continent other than Africa. There are 100,000 people from the United States, 75,000 are from Lebanon, 60,000 are from China and 16,000 are from the United Kingdom.

Rivers State is the sixth-largest geographic area in Nigeria according to 2006 census data. The state has an indigenously diverse population with major riverine and upland divisions. The dominant tribes are: Ikwerre, Ogoni, and Ijaw, representing three dominant Ethno-Linguistic blocs in the State, in no particular order (Igboid, Ijoid and Ogoni). Upland Rivers State, covering about 45%, is composed mainly of Ogba & Iwhuruogha / ancient Bini speaking people, and Ogoni . The riverine, including most of the state's towns and villages surrounded by water, is moderately inhabited. It covers approximately 39% of the total land mass and is home to the Ijaw people.

This list refers to the various autochthonous ethnic groups residing within Rivers State's boundaries in addition to its upland and riverine areas.

The Ogoni is an ethnic group located in Rivers South-East senatorial district of Rivers State, in the Niger Delta region of southern Nigeria. They number just over 2 million and live in a 1,050-square-kilometre (404-square-mile) homeland which they also refer to as Ogoniland. They share common oil-related environmental problems with the Ijaw people of the Niger Delta.

The Ogoni rose to international attention after a massive public protest campaign against Shell Oil, led by the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), which is also a member of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO).

The Isu people// are the largest group of the Igbo people of Nigeria.Isuama, in which the purest Igbo is said to be spoken, is to be found the heart of the Igbo nationality; consequently it is quite reasonable to look among its people for the original fountain-head from which all the other clans have sprung. This inference too is supported not only by the purity of the language, but by this right of dispensing or rather of confer-ring royalty which is undoubtedly the prerogative of the Nri or N'shi people.In the pre-colonial era, the Igbo people were protected from external invasion by the dense forests of the region, which also encouraged diversity. Thus as warriors the neighboring Oratta (Uratta) people (Owerri people) looked down on the Isu people, who were traders.

Isuama is the name given to the south-central part of Igboland, which was a major source of slaves during the period of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.The name has been carried across the Atlantic, where it is found in the name of Cuban society Carabali Isuama.This name pays homage to the group's ancestry in the Isuama area of Igboland to the north of the Kalabari Ijaw people.At one time the Isuama language was spoken in Cuba, but eventually it and other Cross River languages was displaced by the standard Abakua language called Brikamo.

The Isokos are an ethnolinguistic group who inhabit the Isoko region of Delta State and Bayelsa State, Nigeria. They are people of southern Nigeria, near the northwestern Niger delta. They speak the Isoko language – a language of the Kwa branch of the Niger-Congo family.

The Isoko culture is related to several cultures in the Niger-Delta – namely the Urhobo, Ijaw and Anioma. The Urhobo are closely related in language and culture, leading to the invaders erroneously labelling the Urhobo and Isoko cultural groups as Sobo. This name was strongly rejected by both tribes.

The Urhobos are a people located in southern Nigeria, near the northwestern Niger Delta. They are the major ethnic group in Delta State. The people of this ethnic group speak the Urhobo language. Their population is approximately 7 million.

The Urhobo people live in a territory bounded by latitudes 6° and 5°, 15° North and Longitudes 5°, 40° and 6°, 25° East in the Delta and Bayelsa States of Nigeria. Their neighbors are the Isoko to the southeast, the Itsekiri and Ijaw to the west, the Edo people to the north, the Ijaw to the south and the Ukwuani people to the northeast.

The Eastern Region was an administrative region in Nigeria, dating back originally from the division of the colony Southern Nigeria in 1954. Its first capital was Calabar. The capital was later moved to Enugu and the second capital was Umuahia. The region was officially divided in 1967 into three new states, the East-Central State, Rivers State and South-Eastern State. East-Central State had its capital at Enugu, which is now part of Enugu State.

The region had the country's third-, fourth- and fifth-largest indigenous ethnic groups including Igbo, Ibibio and Ijaw, respectively. It was what later became Biafra, which was in rebellion from 1967 to 1970.