Yoruba - Language Links

The Yoruba (native name Yorùbá) are the largest single ethnic group in Nigeria. The Yoruba constitute approximately 24% percent of Nigeria's total population, and number upwards of 30 million individuals throughout the region of West Africa. They share borders with the Nupe and Borgu peoples in the northwest, the Esan and Edo to the southeast, the Igala and other related groups to the northeast, and the Egun, Fon, and other Gbe-speaking peoples in the southwest. While the majority of the Yoruba live in the south-west of Nigeria, there are also substantial Yoruba communities i ...

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• Yoruba - Odùduwà
• Yoruba - Yoruba mythology
• Yoruba - Yoruba cities
• Yoruba - History
• Yoruba - Precolonial Social Organization
• Yoruba - Culture
• Yoruba - Sports
• Yoruba - Famous Yoruba People
• Yoruba - Language Links
• Yoruba - Pictures

Read more here: » Yoruba: Encyclopedia - Yoruba

The Yoruba were one of the most urbanized sub-saharan Africans in the pre-colonial era, and have a history of town-dwelling that goes back to 500 A.D. The wealth of the Yoruba came from controlling the important trade routes between the coast and the hinterland. Trade caravans exchanged the agricultural products of the forest economies, including kolanuts and yam with textiles, metalwork, leatherwork and other goods imported through the Saharan trade. The pre-colonial Yoruba living in the savannah region between the forest and the Niger rive ...

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Yoruba, Yoruba - Odùduwà, Yoruba - Yoruba mythology, Yoruba - Yoruba cities, Yoruba - History, Yoruba - Precolonial Social Organization, Yoruba - Culture, Yoruba - Sports, Yoruba - Famous Yoruba People, Yoruba - Language Links, Yoruba - Pictures

Read more here: » Yoruba: Encyclopedia II - Yoruba - History

Some famous Yoruba people include: Sade Adu, MKO Abiola, Olusegun Obasanjo, King Sunny Ade, Sir Shina Peters, Yinka Ayefele, Majek Fashek, Ebenezer Obey, Hakeem Olajuwon, Bobby Ologun, Gani Fawehinmi, Bola Ige, Obafemi Awolowo, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, Beko Ransome-Kuti, Wole Soyinka, Thomas Adeoye Lambo, Hubert Ogunde ...

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Yoruba, Yoruba - Odùduwà, Yoruba - Yoruba mythology, Yoruba - Yoruba cities, Yoruba - History, Yoruba - Precolonial Social Organization, Yoruba - Culture, Yoruba - Sports, Yoruba - Famous Yoruba People, Yoruba - Language Links, Yoruba - Pictures

Read more here: » Yoruba: Encyclopedia II - Yoruba - Famous Yoruba People

The Yorubas are one of the ethnic groups in Africa whose cultural heritage and legacy are recognizable in the Americas, despite the delibitating effects of slavery. Orisha religion, often called "Shango" worship and various musical artforms popularized in Latin America, especially Cuba, are rooted in Yoruba music. Perhaps their best known material artist is Olowe of Ise. Their religious beliefs are complex, and recognize a wide variety of deities. Olorun or Olodumare is venerated as the creator, with the other Orisas serving as emissaries or ...

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Yoruba, Yoruba - Odùduwà, Yoruba - Yoruba mythology, Yoruba - Yoruba cities, Yoruba - History, Yoruba - Precolonial Social Organization, Yoruba - Culture, Yoruba - Sports, Yoruba - Famous Yoruba People, Yoruba - Language Links, Yoruba - Pictures

Read more here: » Yoruba: Encyclopedia II - Yoruba - Culture

Though monarchies were fairly common throughout the Yoruba-speaking region, they were not the only approach to government and social organization. The numerous Egba communities, found in the forests below O.yo.'s savannah region, were a notable example. These independent polities often had elected Obas, though the Ogboni, a legislative and judicial council of notable elders, wielded the actual political power. When citizens of more than 150 Egba and Owu communities migrated to the fortified city-state of Abeokuta during the wars of th ...

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Yoruba, Yoruba - Odùduwà, Yoruba - Yoruba mythology, Yoruba - Yoruba cities, Yoruba - History, Yoruba - Precolonial Social Organization, Yoruba - Culture, Yoruba - Sports, Yoruba - Famous Yoruba People, Yoruba - Language Links, Yoruba - Pictures

Read more here: » Yoruba: Encyclopedia II - Yoruba - Precolonial Social Organization

The chief Yoruba cities are Lagos, Ibadan, Abeokuta, Akure, Ilorin, Ijebu Ode, Ijebu-Igbo,Ogbomoso, Ondo, Ota,Ado-Ekiti, Shagamu, Ikenne, Iseyin, Osogbo, Ilesha, Oyo, Ilé-Ifè. Traditionally the Yoruba organized themselves into networks of related villages, towns, and kingdoms, with most of them headed by an Oba [King] or Baale [a nobleman or mayor]. Kingship is not determined by simple primogeniture, as in most monarchic systems of government. An electoral college of lineage heads is usually charged with selecting a member of one of ...

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Yoruba, Yoruba - Odùduwà, Yoruba - Yoruba mythology, Yoruba - Yoruba cities, Yoruba - History, Yoruba - Precolonial Social Organization, Yoruba - Culture, Yoruba - Sports, Yoruba - Famous Yoruba People, Yoruba - Language Links, Yoruba - Pictures

Read more here: » Yoruba: Encyclopedia II - Yoruba - Yoruba cities

Yoruba mythology is sometimes claimed to be one of the world's oldest widely practised religions. It is a major religion in Africa, chiefly in Nigeria, and it has given origin to several New World religions such as Santería in Cuba and Candomblé in Brazil. Itan is the term for the sum total of all Yoruba myths, songs, histories, and other cultural components. Many ethnic Yoruba were enslaved and taken to Cuba, Brazil, Trinidad and the rest of the New World (chiefly in the 19th century, after the Oyo empire collapsed and the r ...

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Yoruba, Yoruba - Odùduwà, Yoruba - Yoruba mythology, Yoruba - Yoruba cities, Yoruba - History, Yoruba - Precolonial Social Organization, Yoruba - Culture, Yoruba - Sports, Yoruba - Famous Yoruba People, Yoruba - Language Links, Yoruba - Pictures

Read more here: » Yoruba: Encyclopedia II - Yoruba - Yoruba mythology