Everything about Yoruba People totally explained
The
Yoruba (
Yorùbá in Yoruba orthography) are a large ethno-linguistic group or ethnic nation in Africa; the majority of them speak the
Yoruba language (èdèe Yorùbá; èdè = language). The Yoruba constitute approximately 21 percent of
Nigeria's total population, and around 30 million individuals throughout the region of
West Africa. They share borders with the
Borgu (variously called Bariba and Borgawa) in the northwest, the
Nupe and
Ebira in the north, the
Ẹsan Afemai 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 western Nigeria, there are also substantial indigenous Yoruba communities in
Benin,
Ghana and
Togo.
The Yoruba are the main ethnic group in the states of
Ekiti,
Lagos,
Ogun,
Ondo,
Osun, and
Oyo, which are subdivisions of Nigeria; they also constitute a sizable proportion of
Kwara and
Kogi states as well as of the
Benin.
A significant percentage of Africans enslaved during the
Atlantic slave trade in the
Americas managed to maintain the Yoruba spiritual religion known as Aborisha.
History
General history
The African peoples who lived in the Nigeria area, at least by the 4th Century BC, were not initially known as the Yoruba, although they shared a common ethnicity and language group. Both archeology and traditional Yoruba oral historians confirm the existence of people in this region for several millennia.
Yoruba spiritual heritage maintain that the Yoruba ethnic groups are a unique people who were originally created at
Ile-Ife. Legend holds that the creation was delegated by the supreme spiritual force, Olodumare. This task attributed to orisha-nla Obatala, may have actually been conducted by orisha Oduduwa, who was assisted by orisha Eshu, the divine messenger. The name "Yoruba" is most likely an adaptation of 'Yo ru ebo', meaning "will venerate (make offerings to the)
Orisha". This refers to the Aborisha spiritual religion of the Yoruba prior to invasion and indoctrination by
Islamic and
Christian influences.
Some contemporary historians contend that some Yoruba are not indigenous to Yorubaland, but are descendants of immigrants to the region. This version of history contends that Oduduwa was a mortal king, probably from northeast Africa, under whose leadership the Oyo region of Yorubaland was conquered sometime in the 11th century AD and the kingdom of Ife was established. Oduduwa's relatives established kingdoms in the rest of Yorubaland. One of Oduduwa's sons, Oranmiyan, took the throne of Benin and expanded the Oduduwa Dynasty east-wards. Further expansion led to the establishment of the Yoruba in what are now Southwest Nigeria,
Benin, and
Togo, with Yoruba city-states acknowledging the spiritual heritage primacy of the ancient city of Ile Ife. The southeastern
Benin Empire, ruled by a dynasty that traced its ancestry to Ifẹ and Oduduwa but largely populated by the Edo and other related ethnicities, also held considerable sway in the election of nobles and kings in eastern Yorubaland.
Between
1100 AD and
1700 AD, the Yoruba Kingdom of Ife experienced a
golden age. It was then surpassed by
the Kingdom of Oyo as the dominant Yoruba military and political power between
1700 AD and
1900 AD, The nearby splinter Yoruba kingdom of Benin was also a powerful force between 1300 and 1850 AD. Yoruba civilization also has strong historical exchanges with Nok civilization, which may date to 900 BC, as with other neighbouring African settlements. The exchanges have been both genetic and cultural.
Most of the city states were controlled by
Obas (elected monarchs) and councils made up of Oloye,
guild of noble leaders or chiefs, and
merchants. Different states saw differing ratios of power between the kingship and the chiefs' council. Some such as Oyo had powerful, autocratic monarchs with almost total control, while in others such as the Ijebu city-states, the senatorial councils were supreme and the
Ọba served as a figurehead.
In all cases, Yoruba monarchs were subject to the continuing approval of their constituents, and could be easily compelled to abdicate for demonstrating dictatorial tendencies or incompetence. The order to vacate the throne was usually communicated through a symbolic message or
aroko, of
parrots' eggs delivered in a covered calabash bowl by the senators.
The Yoruba eventually established a federation of city-states under the political ascendancy of the city state of Oyo located on the Northern fringes of
Yorubaland in the
savanna plains between the forests of present Southwest Nigeria and the
Niger River. Following a
Jihad led by
Uthman Dan Fodio and a rapid consolidation of the Hausa city states of present northern Nigeria, the
Fulani Sokoto Caliphate annexed the buffer
Nupe Kingdom and began to press southwards towards the
Oyo Empire. Shortly after, they overran the Yoruba city of
Ilorin and then sacked
Ọyọ-Ile, the capital city of the Ọyọ Empire.
Following this, Ọyọ-Ile was abandoned and the Ọyọ retreated south to the present city of Oyo (formerly "Ago d'Oyo", or "Oyo Atiba") in a forested region where the cavalry of the
Sokoto Caliphate was less effective. Further attempts by the
Sokoto Caliphate to expand southwards were checked by the Yoruba who had rallied to resist under the military leadership of the City State of
Ibadan which rose from the old Oyo empire, and of the Ijebu city-states.
However, the Oyo hegemony had been dealt a mortal blow. The other Yoruba city-states broke free of Oyo dominance, and subsequently became embroiled in a series of internecine wars, from which prisoners feed the slave trade conducted by Arab and European traders. These wars weakened the Yoruba in their opposition to British colonial and military invasions. Military defeat at
Imagbon of Ijebu forces by the British ensured a tentative European settlement in
Lagos which was gradually expanded by protectorate treaties. Defeat of Yoruba forces at the Battle of Imagbon, by the British military and the protectorate of Lagos, proved decisive in eventual annexation of the rest of Yorubaland and eventually of southern Nigeria and the Cameroons. In 1960, greater Yorubaland became subsumed into the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Different names and slavery-era diaspora
During the 19th century, the term
Yoruba or
Yariba came into wider use, first confined to the Ọyọ. The term is often believed to be derived from a
Hausa ethnonym for the populous people to their south, but this hasn't been substantiated by historians.
As an ethnic description, the word first appeared in a treatise written by the
Songhai scholar
Ahmed Baba (1500s) and is likely to derive from the indigenous ethnonyms
Ọyọ (Oyo) or Yagba, two Yoruba-speaking groups along the northern borders of their territory. However, it's likely that the ethnonym was popularized by
Hausa usage and ethnography written in
Arabic and
Ajami. Under the influence of Bishop
Samuel Ajayi Crowther, a Yoruba clergyman, subsequent missionaries extended the term to include all speakers of related dialects.
Aside from "Yoruba" and its variant "Yariba", this ethnic group was in different times and places known by a variety of other names, including "Yorubo", "Akú", "Okun", "Nago", "Anago" and "Ana" and "Lucumi".
Before the abolition of the slave trade, some Yoruba groups were known among Europeans as
Akú, a name derived from the first words of Yoruba greetings such as
Ẹ kú àárọ? ‘good morning’ and
Ẹ kú alẹ? ‘good evening.’ A variant of this group is also known as the "
Okun", Okun being also a form of "A ku". These are Yorubas found in parts of the states of
Kogi - the "
Yagba",
Ekiti and
Kabba.
The terms "
Nago", "
Anago" and "
Ana" were widely used in Spanish and Portuguese documents to describe all speakers of the language. They derive from the name of a coastal Yoruba sub-group in present-day Benin. Yoruba in Francophone West Africa are still sometimes known by this ethnonym today.
In
Cuba and Spanish-speaking America, the Yoruba were called "
Lucumi" after the phrase "O luku mi", meaning "my friend" in some dialects. This term is at present used mainly to refer to an Afro-Caribbean religion derived from the traditional
Yoruba religion, more often known as
Santería.
Yoruba origin mythology
The mythology of the origin of the Yoruba, who refer to themselves as "Omo O'odua" (Children of
Oduduwa), revolves around the mythical figure of
Oduduwa or
Odudua . The meaning of the name may be translated as "the spiritual one ("O/Ohun") who created the knowledge ("odu") of character ("iwa")."
There are two variants of the myth of how
Oduduwa became the legendary progenitor of the Yoruba.
Cosmogonic origin mythology
"Orisa'nla" (The Great Divinity) also known as
Ọbatala was the arch-divinity chosen by
Olodumare, the supreme deity, to create solid land out of the primordial water that constituted the earth and populating the land with human beings.
Ọbatala descended from heaven on a chain, carrying a small snail shell full of earth, palm kernels and a five-toed chicken. He was to empty the content of the snail shell on the water after placing some pieces of iron on it, and then to place the chicken on the earth to spread it over the primordial water.
According to the first variant of the cosmogonist myth,
Ọbatala completed this task to the satisfaction of Olodumare and he was then given the task of making the physical body of human beings after which
Olodumare would give them the breath of life. He also completed this task and this is why he's the title of "Obarisa" (King of all Deities).
The other variant of the cosmogonic myth doesn't credit
Ọbatala with the completion of the task. While it concedes he was given the task, it claims that he got drunk before he got to the earth and was thus unable to do the job.
Olodumare got worried when he didn't return on time and sent
Oduduwa to investigate. When
Oduduwa found
Ọbatala in a drunken state, he took over the task and completed it.
The spot on which he landed and which he redeemed from water to become land is called
Ilė-Ifę and is considered the sacred and spiritual home of the Yoruba.
Olodumare later forgave
Ọbatala and gave him the responsibility of molding the physical bodies of human beings.
According to
Idowu, 1962, the making of land is a symbolic reference to the founding
of the Yoruba kingdoms and this is why Oduduwa is credited with that achievement.
Recently, historians have attributed this cosmological mythology to a pre-existing civilization at
Ilė-Ifę which was invaded by a militant immigrants from the east, led by a king named
Oduduwa.
Oduduwa and his group had been persecuted on the basis of religious differences and forced out of their homeland. They came to Ilė-Ifę where they subjugated the pre-existing Ugbo inhabitants (often erroneously rendered as
Igbo but unrelated to the present
Igbo people of Eastern Nigeria), under the leadership of Oreluere (
Ọbatala).
After Oduduwa
Upon the death of Oduduwa, there was a dispersal of his children from
Ilė-Ifę to found other kingdoms (Owu, Ketu, Benin, Ila, Sabe, Popo, and Oyo). Each making a mark in the subsequent urbanization and consolidation of Yoruba confederacy of kingdoms, with each kingdom tracing its origin to Ile-Ife.
Precolonial social organization
See also
Oyo Empire#Political structures
Monarchies were a common form of government in the Yoruba-speaking region, but they were not the only approach to government and social organization. The numerous
Ijebu city-states to the west of Oyo and the
Ẹgba communities, found in the forests below Ọyọ's savannah region, were a notable exceptions. These independent polities often elected an
Ọba, though real political, legislative, and judicial powers resided with the
Ogboni, a council of notable elders.
During the internecine wars of the 19th century, the Ijebu forced citizens of more than 150 Ẹgba and Owu communities to migrate to the fortified city of
Abeokuta, where each quarter retained its own
Ogboni council of civilian leaders, along with an
Olorogun, or council of military leaders, and in some cases its own elected
Obas or
Baales. These independent councils then elected their most capable members to join a federal civilian and military council that represented the city as a whole.
Commander
Frederick Forbes, a representative of the British Crown writing an account of his visit to the city in an
1853 edition of the
Church Military Intelligencer, described Abẹokuta as having "four presidents", and the system of government as having "840 principal rulers or 'House of Lords,' 2800 secondary chiefs or 'House of Commons,' 140 principal military ones and 280 secondary ones." He described Abẹokuta and its system of government as "the most extraordinary
republic in the world."
Gerontocratic leadership councils that guarded against the monopolization of power by a monarch were a proverbial trait of the Ẹgba, according to the eminent Ọyọ historian Reverend
Samuel Johnson, but such councils were also well-developed among the northern Okun groups, the eastern
Ekiti, and other groups falling under the Yoruba ethnic umbrella.
Even in Ọyọ, the most centralized of the precolonial kingdoms, the
Alaafin consulted on all political decisions with a prime minister (the
Basọrun) and the council of leading nobles known as the
Ọyọ Mesi.
Ibadan, a city-state and proto-empire founded in the 18th century by a polyglot group of refugees, soldiers, and itinerant traders from Ọyọ and the other Yoruba sub-groups, largely dispensed with the concept of monarchism, preferring to elect both military and civil councils from a pool of eminent citizens. The city became a military republic, with distinguished soldiers wielding political powers through their election by popular acclaim and the respect of their peers. Similar practices were adopted by the
Ijẹsa and other groups, which saw a corresponding rise in the social influence of military adventurers and successful entrepreneurs.
Occupational guilds, social clubs, secret or initiatory societies, and religious units, commonly known as Ẹgbẹ in Yoruba, included the
Parakoyi (or league of traders) and
Ẹgbẹ Ọdẹ (hunter's guild), and maintained an important role in commerce, social control, and vocational education in Yoruba polities.
There are also examples of other peer organizations in the region. When the Ẹgba resisted the imperial domination of the
Ọyọ Empire, a figure named Lisabi is credited with either creating or reviving a covert traditional organization named
Ẹgbẹ Aro. This group, originally a farmers' union, was converted to a network of secret militias throughout the Ẹgba forests, and each lodge plotted to overthrow Ọyọ's
Ajeles (appointed administrators) in the late 1700s.
Similarly, covert military resistance leagues like the
Ekiti Parapọ and the
Ogidi alliance were organized during the 19th century wars by often-decentralized communities of the Ekiti, Ijẹsa, Ìgbómìnà and Okun Yoruba in order to resist various imperial expansionist plans of Ibadan, Nupe, and the Sokoto Caliphate.
The monarchy of any city state was usually limited to a number of royal lineages. A family could be excluded from
kingship and chieftancy if any family member, servant, or slave belonging to the family committed a crime such as theft, fraud, murder or rape.
In other city-states, the monarchy was open to the election of any free-born male citizen. There are also, in Ilesa, Ondo, and other Yoruba communities, several traditions of female
Ọbas, though these were comparatively rare.
The kings were almost always
polygamous and many had as many as 20 wives and often married royal family members from other towns/city states.
Yoruba religion and mythology
Yoruba religion and mythology is a major influence in
West Africa, chiefly in
Nigeria, and it has given origin to several
New World religions such as
Santería in
Cuba,
Puerto Rico and
Candomblé in
Brazil.
Itan is the term for the sum total of all
Yoruba myths,
songs, histories, and other
cultural components.
After the
Ọyọ empire collapsed and the region plunged into
civil war, ethnic Yoruba were among the largest in number of African peoples who were enslaved and taken by European traders to
Haiti,
Cuba,
Puerto Rico,
Brazil,
Trinidad and the rest of the New World (chiefly in the
19th century). The enslaved Africans carried their
Orisha religious beliefs with them. These concepts were combined with preexisting
African-based religions,
Christianity,
Native American mythology, and
Kardecist Spiritism into various New World lineages:
The popularly known
Vodou religion of
Haiti combines the religious beliefs of the many different African ethnic nationalities taken to the island with the structure and liturgy from the Fon-Ewe of present-day
Benin and the Congo-Angolan culture area, but Yoruba-derived religious ideology and deities also play an important role.
Yoruba deities include "
Ọya" (
wind/storm), "
Ifá" (
divination or
fate), "
Ẹlẹda" (
destiny), "
Ibeji" (
twins), "
Ọsanyin" (
medicines and
healing) and "
Ọsun" (
goddess of fertility, protector of
children and
mothers),
Sango (God of thunder)
Human beings and other sentient creatures are also assumed to have their own individual deity of destiny, called "
Ori", who is venerated through a sculpture symbolically decorated with cowrie shells. Traditionally, dead parents and other ancestors are also believed to possess powers of protection over their descendants. This belief is expressed in worship and sacrifice on the grave or symbol of the ancestor, or as a community in the observance of the Egungun festival where the ancestors are represented as colorfully masquerade of costumed and masked men who represent the ancestral spirits. Dead parents and ancestors are also commonly venerated by pouring libations to the earth and the breaking of kolanuts in their honor at special occasions.
Today, many contemporary Yoruba are active
Christians and
Muslims, yet retain many of the moral and cultural concepts of the Aborisha.
Yoruba calendar
Time is measured in isheju (minutes), wakati (hours), ojo (days), ose (weeks), oshu (months) and odun (years).
There are 60 isheju in 1 wakati; 24 wakati in 1 ojo; 4 ojo in 1 ose; 7 ose in 1 oshu and 93 ose in 1 odun. There are 12 oshu in 1 odun.
The days are: Ojo-Orunmila/Ifa, Ojo-Shango/Jakuta, Ojo-Ogun, and Ojo-Obatala. The months are: Sere (January), Erele (February), Erena (March), Igbe (April), Ebibi (May), Okudu (June), Agemo (July). Ogun (August), Owere (September), Owara (October), Belu (November), and Ope (December).
The Yoruba calendar (Kojoda) year starts from 3rd June to 2nd June of the following year. According to this calendar, the Gregorian year 2008 A. D. is the 10050th year of Yoruba culture. To reconcile with the Gregorian calendar, Yoruba people also measure time in seven days a week and four weeks a month. The days are: Ojo-Aiku (Sunday), Oko-Aje (Monday), Ojo-Ishegun (Tuesday), Ojo-Riru (Wednesday), Ojo-Bo/Alamisi (Thursday), Ojo-Eti (Friday) and Ojo-Abameta (Saturday).
Yoruba towns
The chief Yoruba cities are
Ibadan,
Lagos (Eko),
Modakeke-Akoraye,
Ijebu Ode (Ijẹbu Ode),
Abeokuta (Abẹokuta),
Akure (Akurẹ),
Ilorin (Ilọrin),
Ijebu-Igbo (Ijẹbu-Igbo),
Ogbomoso (Ogbomọṣọ),
Ondo,
Ota (Ọta),
Ìlá Ọràngún,
Òkè-Ìlá Ọràngún,
Ado-Ekiti, Ikare,
Shagamu (Sagamu),
Ikenne (Ikẹnnẹ), Ilisan,
Osogbo (Osogbo),
Ilesa (Ilesa),
Oyo (Ọyọ),
Ife (Ilé-Ifẹ), Saki, and
Ago-Iwoye,
Kabba, Omu-Aran and Egbe.
Traditionally the Yoruba organized themselves into networks of related villages, towns, and kingdoms, with most of them headed by an
Ọba [King] or
Baale [anobleman or mayor]. Kingship isn't 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 the royal families, and the selection is usually confirmed by an Ifa divination request. The Ọbas live in palaces usually in the center of the town. Opposite to the king's palace is the
Ọja Ọba, the king's market. These markets form an inherent part of Yoruba life. Traditionally the market traders are well organized, have various guilds, and an elected speaker.
Yoruba Diaspora
There are large Yoruba communities around the world including
the United States. Of such Diasporic communities include the "
Egbe Omo Yoruba" society.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Yoruba People'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://yoruba_people.totallyexplained.com">Yoruba people Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
