Biafra , secessionist West African state that unilaterally declared its independence from Nigeria in May 1967. It formed the former eastern region of Nigeria and was mainly inhabited by Igbo (Ibo) folks. Biafra ceased to exist as an independent state in January 1970.
Britannica Quiz Exploring Africa:Fact or Fiction? Though this continent is teeming with natural resources and diverse wildlife, how much do you really know about Africa? Sort these facts from Cairo to Khartoum in this African odyssey. In the mid-1960s, economic and political instability and ethnic friction characterized public life in Nigeria. In North of Hausa resentment against the more affluent, educated Igbo minority erupted in violence. In September 1966, in the northern region about 10,000 to 30,000 Igbo people massacred , and perhaps 1,000,000 fled as refugees to the Igbo-dominated East. Non-Igbos were then expelled from the eastern region.
Attempts by representatives of all regions to reach an agreement were unsuccessful. On May 30, 1967, the Chief of the Eastern Region, Lieutenant Colonel (later General) Odumegwu Ojukwu declared the region with the approval of a consultative assembly under the name Biafra to sovereign and independent Republic . General Yakubu Gowon , the leader of the federal government, refused to recognize Biafra's secession. In the hostilities that broke out the following July, Biafran forces were initially successful, but soon the numerically superior Federal forces began encroaching on the borders of Biafra from the south, west and north to press inside. Biafra shrank to a tenth of its original size during the war. By 1968 it had lost its seaports and become landlocked; Deliveries could only be made by air. hunger and disease followed; Estimates of wartime mortality generally range from 500,000 to 3,000,000.
The African Unity Organization , the papacy and others attempted the combatants to reconcile . Most countries continued to recognize Gowon's regime as the government of all Nigeria, and United Kingdom and the Soviet Union provided it with weapons. On the other hand, international sympathy for the plight of starving Biafran children brought airlifts of food and medicine from many countries. Ivory Coast, Gabon , Tanzania and Zambia recognized Biafra as an independent state, and France sent Biafran weapons.
The Biafran forces were finally routed in a series of skirmishes in late December 1969 and early January 1970. Ojukwu fled to Ivory Coast , and the remaining Biafran officers surrendered to the federal government on January 15, 1970. Biafra, total collapse, then ceased to exist.