Eze Nri Ifikuanim, the Priest-King of the ancient Nri kingdom of Igboland,

Eze Nri Ifikuanim, the Priest-King of the ancient Nri kingdom of Igboland,

Eze Nri Ifikuanim, the Priest-King of the ancient Nri kingdom of Igboland, was a highly intelligent and scholarly king who traded with other kingdoms, including Egypt, Ethiopia, India and as far as Babylon, now Iraq, in the Middle East.
According to Igbo oral tradition, his reign started in 1043 and ended in 1089 when he died.

In 1959, his grave was unearthed by British Archaeologist, Charles Thurstan Shaw (1914–2013) who discovered a burial chamber with remains adorned in robes, bronze crown, sceptre, staff and breast-plates adorned with precious stones that were evidence of a sophisticated Igbo civilisation from the year 948 A.D.