FRONT MATTER ARCHITECTURE

The following front matter components must be included in the published book. Their content will be developed in the final manuscript preparation phase.

1. Half Title Page Title: We Are Biafrans

2. Full Title Page Full title: We Are Biafrans: Ancient Memory, Present Struggle, and the Demand for Justice and Dignity in Nigeria

3. Copyright Page - Copyright notice - Publisher information - ISBN - Legal disclaimers (to be drafted by publisher’s legal team) - Note on verification methodology and labeling system

4. Dedication Dedicated to the dead who cannot speak but whose silence demands witnesses; the survivors who spoke despite fear; and the young who asked questions their parents could not answer.

5. Epigraph “There was a country…” — Chinua Achebe, There Was a Country: A Personal History of Biafra (2012)

6. Author’s Note on Method and Evidence This note will explain the book’s evidence-gathering methodology, the verification tagging system (V, PV, D, O, YV, [P], OT, F), and the editorial standards applied throughout. It will also disclose known gaps in the evidence base and flag the categories of claim that remain YV or D at time of publication.

7. Map Section The following maps must be commissioned and cleared for publication: - Map 1: Pre-colonial Eastern Region — major polities and trade routes - Map 2: Nigeria at independence (1960) — four regions - Map 3: Republic of Biafra at declaration (May 30, 1967) — claimed territory - Map 4: Biafra’s shrinking territory — June 1967, December 1967, June 1968, January 1970 - Map 5: Contemporary Southeast Nigeria — five states and major cities - Map 6: The Atlantic slave trade — Bight of Biafra routes and destinations (based on TSTD data)

8. Chronology Key dates from c. 2000 BCE (Lejja furnace complex) through June 2026 (current period), to be compiled as a standalone reference chronology.

9. Cast of Characters Alphabetical biographical register of all named individuals referenced more than twice in the text.

10. Note on Terminology and Language Explanation of contested terms: “Biafra,” “Igbo,” “Biafran,” “rebel,” “pogrom,” “genocide,” “self-determination.” Note on Igbo language orthography. Note on spelling variants for proper names.