Yoruba people

The Yoruba are a West African ethnic group primarily found in Nigeria, Benin, and Togo—a region known as Yorubaland. Across Africa, they number over 50 million, with more than a million living elsewhere, including significant communities in the African diaspora in Brazil, Cuba, and the Caribbean. In Nigeria, the Yoruba make up about 20.7% of the population, according to Ethnologue, placing them among the continent’s largest ethnic groups. The Yoruba language, spoken by most of the people, has the highest number of native speakers of any Niger-Congo language.

Etymology

The earliest known written mention of the name "Yoruba" appears in a 1614 manuscript by the Berber scholar Ahmed Baba, titled Mi'rāj al-Ṣu'ūd. The original is kept at the Ahmed Baba Institute in Timbuktu, with a digital copy at the World Digital Library.

In it, Baba lists the Yoruba alongside nine other groups as "unbelievers," suggesting the name was already in common use by the 1500s. Various outsiders have proposed origins for the term—such as Caliph Muhammed Bello’s suggestion of Ya'rub, T.J. Bowen’s Goru Ba, or a Mande phrase for the Niger River—but these lack support in Yoruba traditions. English ethnologist Richard F. Burton, writing in 1863, recorded an 1861 account that the name derives from Ori Obba, meaning "The Head King."

Names

While "Yoruba" is the most common ethnonym for people tracing their origin to Ife, other terms have been used historically, including Nago/Anago, Lucumi/Olukumi, and Aku/Oku. Across West Africa, exonyms include Alata in southern Ghana, Eyagi in Nupe (which led to the Hausa term Ayagi and the Igala term Iyaji). The Yoruba often call themselves Ọmọ Káàárọ̀-oòjíire, meaning "The People who ask 'Good morning, did you wake up well?'"—a nod to their culture of situational greetings. Another self-reference is Ọmọ Oòduà, "The Children of Oduduwa," after their semi-legendary king.

History

The Yoruba emerged largely from earlier Mesolithic Volta-Niger populations by the first millennium BCE. By the 5th century BCE, a powerful city-state existed at Ile-Ife, one of the earliest in modern Nigeria.

Oral traditions link it to figures like Oduduwa and Obatala, and it became the heart of the Ife Empire, the first in Yoruba history, which flourished between 1200 and 1420 CE and influenced much of southwestern Nigeria, eastern Benin, and Togo. Oral history recorded under the Oyo Empire traces the Yoruba as an ethnic group to Ile-Ife, which remained central to their history. The Yoruba were a dominant cultural force in southwestern and west-central Nigeria from at least the 11th century.

Historically, the Yoruba were among Africa’s most urbanized ethnic groups, often settling in concentric nuclear patterns. Before colonialism, they lived in structured kingdoms and states with urban capitals (Olú Ìlú) that housed the Oba’s palace, the premier market (Ọjà Ọba), and temples.

Many cities had extensive defenses, such as the moats and trenches of Ife and the Eredo Sungbo around the Ijebu Kingdom, or the tall walls and ramparts of Oyo ile, whose outer wall reportedly stood over 20 feet high with ten gates. These cities were among Africa’s most populous; archaeological findings suggest Òyó-Ilé (Katunga), capital of the Oyo empire (16th–19th centuries), had over 100,000 inhabitants. Ibadan expanded rapidly in the 1800s, but today Lagos, with over 20 million people, is the largest Yoruba city and one of the largest on the continent.

Archaeological evidence shows Ile-Ife exhibited urban features in the 12th–14th centuries, coinciding with the Ife Empire’s peak, when it became one of West Africa’s largest cities. Around 1300 CE, glass bead production reached industrial scale, and floors were paved with potsherds.