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Concept
Itsekiri people
Summary
The Itsekiri (also called the Isekiri, iJekri, Itsekri, Ishekiri, or Itsekhiri) are one of the Yoruboid subgroup of Nigeria's Niger Delta area, They speak a Yoruboid language and can be found in Delta State. The Itsekiris presently number 2.7 million people and live mainly in the Warri South, Warri North and Warri South West local government districts of Delta State on the Atlantic coast of Nigeria. Significant communities of Itsekiris can be found in parts of Edo and Ondo states and in various other Nigerian cities including Lagos, Benin City, Port Harcourt and Abuja. Many people of Itsekiri descent also reside in the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada. The Itsekiris are closely related to the Yoruba of South Western Nigeria and also close to the Okpe people and Edo peoples.
The Itsekiris traditionally refer to their land as the Kingdom of Warri or 'Iwere' as its proper name – which is geographically contiguous to the area covered by the three Warri local government districts. The area is a key centre of Nigeria's crude oil and natural gas production and petroleum refining and the main town Warri (a multi-ethnic metropolis) forms the industrial and commercial nucleus of the Delta State region.
The Itsekiri are a people of very mixed ethnic origins who speak a language very closely related to the Yoruba of south western Nigeria and the Igala language of central Nigeria but which has also borrowed some cultural practice from the Ijebu people, Ile-Ife and Benin, they engaged with Portuguese in trade terminologies, as the Itsekiri were the first people in Nigeria to establish contact with the Portuguese who were exploring the West African coast, and also more recently, English. Although linguistically related to the Yoruba and Igala ethnic groups, however, through centuries of intermingling modern day Itsekiris are of mixed ethnic origins. They are most closely related to the South-Eastern and South-South Yorubaland sub-groups - Ijebu, Akure, Ikale, Ilaje, Ondo and Owo, but also Edo, Urhobo, Ijaw, Anglo-Scottish and Portuguese and are today mainly Christian (Protestant and Roman Catholic) by religion.
Official source
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