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{{Infobox ethnic group
|group = Yoruba<br />{{small|''Ìran Yorùbá''}}
|image =
| pop = c. '''43 million'''
| region1 = {{NGR}}
| pop1 = 40 million (2016)
| ref1 = <ref name="Nigeria CIA" />
| region2 = {{BEN}}
| pop2 = 1.70 million (2016)
| ref2 = <ref>[http://www.axl.cefan.ulaval.ca/afrique/benin.htm] "National statistical institute of Benin: 15% of a Projected 2017 Beninois population of 11.34 Million belonging to Yoruba speaking groups" (2016 estimate)</ref>

| pop3 = 486,000
| ref3 = <ref name=Joshuaproject>[https://joshuaproject.net/countries/GH] "Two Yoruba groups are identified in Ghana, The Ife: 36,000 and The Yoruba proper: 450,000, giving a total population of 486,000"</ref>
| region4 = {{TOG}}
| pop4 = 303,000

| pop5 = 113,000
| ref5 = <ref name="Joshuaproject Cote D'Ivoire">[https://joshuaproject.net/countries/IV] "A Yoruba population of 113,000 indentified in Cote D'Ivoire, mostly residing in the urban centres like Abidjan"</ref>
| region6 = {{GBR}}
| pop6 = 98,000
| ref6 = <ref name="Joshuaproject Yoruba in UK">[https://joshuaproject.net/people_groups/16057/UK]"Yoruba in United Kingdom"</ref>
| region7 = {{flagicon|Europe}} [[European Union|Rest of the EU]]
| pop7 = 60,000
| ref7 = <ref>Mostly in Italy ([https://joshuaproject.net/people_groups/16057])</ref>
| region8 = {{flagicon|US}} [[North America]]
| pop8 = 200,000
| ref8 = <ref>mostly in the United States; [http://www.joshuaproject.net/people-profile.php?peo3=16057&rog3=US Joshuaproject.net]
| langs ={{hlist| [[Yoruba language|Yoruba]] & [[Yoruboid languages]] (Native) <br> [[English language|English]], [[French language|French]], [[Spanish language|Spanish]] & [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] In West Africa and Diaspora}}
| religions= {{hlist | [[Christianity]] | | [[Islam]] | | [[Yoruba religion]]}}
| related-c = [[Afemai people|Afemai]], [[Arogbo tribe|Arogbo]] & [[Western Apoi tribe|Apoi]], [[Bariba people|Bariba]], [[Bini people|Bini]], [[Ebira]], [[Esan people|Esan]], [[Ewe people|Ewe]], [[Fon people|Fon]], [[Igala people|Igala]], [[Itsekiri]], [[Nupe people|Nupe]]
}}

'''Yoruba people''' ( {{Lang-yo| '''Ìran Yorùbá'''}}, literally: Yoruba lineage, also known as '''Àwon omo Yorùbá''', literally: Children of Yoruba, or simply as '''Yoruba''') are an ethnic group of Southwestern and North Central [[Nigeria]] as well as Southern and Central [[Benin]], together known as [[Yorubaland]]. The Yoruba constitute over 40 million people in total. The majority of this population is from Nigeria and make up 21% of its population, according to the ''[[CIA World Factbook]]'',<ref name="Nigeria CIA">[https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ni.html Nigeria] at CIA World Factbook: "Yoruba 21%" out of a population of 180 million (2013 estimate)</ref> making them one of the largest [[ethnic groups in Africa]]. The majority of the Yoruba speak the [[Yoruba language]], which is [[Tone (linguistics)|tonal]], and is the [[Niger-Congo languages|Niger-Congo]] language with the largest number of native speakers.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.britannica.com/topic/Benue-Congo-languages|title=Benue-Congo languages|author= John T. Bendor-Samuel|website=Encyclopaedeia Britannica}}</ref>

The Yoruba share borders with the [[Bariba people|Bariba]] to the northwest in Benin; the [[Nupe people|Nupe]] to the north, and the [[Ebira]] to the northeast in central Nigeria. To the east are the [[Edo people|Edo]], [[Ẹsan]], and the [[Afemai]] groups in mid-western Nigeria. Adjacent the Ebira and Edo groups are the related [[Igala people|Igala]] people found in the northeast to the left bank of the [[Niger River|Niger river]]. To the southwest are the [[Gbe languages|Gbe]] speaking [[Mahi people|Mahi]], [[Egun]], [[Fon people|Fon]] and [[Ewe people|Ewe]] who border Yoruba communities in Benin and Togo. To the southeast are [[Itsekiri people|Itsekiri]] who live in the north-west end of the [[Niger delta]]. They are ancestrally related to the Yoruba but chose to maintain a distinct cultural identity. Significant Yoruba populations in other West African countries can be found in [[Ghana]],<ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com.ng/books?id=eiQHFrA7GUwC&pg=PA72&lpg=PA72&dq=Yoruba+people+Ghana&source=bl&ots=wlL1pETmjg&sig=kpn68-S6RCY7SEU0gkcKcs7WxNY&hl=en&sa=X&ei=2GQ9VMneF8-2yATajICgAg&ved=0CCwQ6AEwBzgK| page=72|isbn=978-1-4670-2480-8|title=Contributions of Yoruba people in the Economic & Political Developments of Nigeria|date=12 October 2011|publisher=Authorhouse|author=Jacob Oluwatayo Adeuyan|accessdate=13 October 2014}}</ref><ref name=rand/><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=IjlzSYnAKdQC&dq=Yoruba+in+Ghana&source=gbs_navlinks_s|title=Strangers and Traders: Yoruba Migrants, Markets, and the State in Northern Ghana Volume 11 of International African library|issn=0951-1377|author=Jeremy Seymour Eades|publisher=Africa World Press|year=1994|isbn=978-0-86543-419-6}}</ref> [[Ivory Coast]],<ref>{{cite journal|publisher=African Research Review|author=Adeshina Yusuf Raji|author2=P.F. Adebayo|url=http://afrrevjo.net/journals/multidiscipline/Vol_3_no_2_art_11_Adesina%20&%20Adebayo.pdf|volume=3|number=2|year=2009|archivedate=6 October 2014|archiveurl= http://www.ajol.info/index.php/afrrev/article/view/43614|website=African Journals Online|format=pdf|title=Yoruba Traders in Cote D'Ivoire: A Study of the Role Migrant Settlers in the Process of Economic Relations in West Africa|pages=134–147}}</ref> [[Liberia]] and [[Sierra Leone]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nalrc.indiana.edu/brochures/yoruba.pdf|format=pdf|author = National African Language Resource Center|publisher = Indiana University|title = Yoruba|accessdate = 3 March 2014}}</ref>

The '''[[Yoruba people#The Yoruba diaspora|Yoruba diaspora]]''' consists of two main groupings; one of them includes relatively recent migrants, the majority of which moved to the United Kingdom and the United States after major economic and political changes in the 1960s to 1980s; the other is a much older population dating back to the [[Atlantic slave trade]]. This older group has communities in such countries as [[Cuba]], [[Dominican Republic]], [[Saint Lucia]], [[Jamaica]],<ref name="Jamaica">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=URx7AAAAMAAJ&q=yoruba+slaves+in+jamaica&dq=yoruba+slaves+in+jamaica&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiJrdzBuo_RAhUHOFAKHZBBAII4ChDoAQgiMAA|title=Encyclopedia of Jamaican Heritage|author=Olive Senior|publisher= University of Michigan (Twin Guinep Publishers)|year=2003|isbn=978-976-8007-14-8|page=343}}</ref> [[Brazil]], [[Grenada]],<ref name=gender>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=C6_aWWN5aoUC&pg=PA145&dq=Yoruba+slaves+Brazil&hl=en&sa=X&ei=IkkrVfmLFcTbPd3EgNgI&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAjgK|isbn=978-0-253-35416-7|publisher=Indiana University Press|title=Gendering the African Diaspora: Women, Culture, and Historical Change in the Caribbean and Nigerian Hinterland (Blacks in the diaspora): Slavery in Yorubaland|page=145|author1=Judith Ann-Marie Byfield|author2=LaRay Denzer|author3=Anthea Morrison|year=2010}}</ref> [[Trinidad and Tobago]],<ref name="Lovejoy 2003 92–93">{{cite book|title=Trans-Atlantic Dimensions of Ethnicity in the African Diaspora |last=Lovejoy |first=Paul E. |isbn=0-8264-4907-7 |publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group |year=2003 |pages= 92–93}}</ref><ref name="Isichei 2002 81">{{cite book|title=Voices of the Poor in Africa |first=Elizabeth Allo |last=Isichei |publisher=Boydell & Brewer |year=2002 |page=81}}</ref><ref name="Rucker 2006 52">{{cite book|title=The River Flows on: Black Resistance, Culture, and Identity Formation in Early America |first=Walter C. |last=Rucker |isbn=0-8071-3109-1 |publisher=LSU Press |year=2006|page=52}}</ref><ref name=history>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=LxIaBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA101&dq=Yoruba+people+Brazil+Cuba&hl=en&sa=X&ei=bE8rVfHSE4LdaJnhgIgM&ved=0CDwQ6AEwBjgK|page=101|title=Activating the Past: History and Memory in the Black Atlantic World|author=Andrew Apter|author2=Lauren Derby|year=2009|isbn=978-1-4438-1790-5|publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing}}</ref><ref name=saunders>{{cite book | url =https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=XNbqUR_IoOMC&pg=PA209&dq=|title=The Peoples of the Caribbean: An Encyclopedia of Archeology and Traditional Culture|author=Nicholas J. Saunders|publisher=ABC-CLIO|year=2005|isbn= 978-1-57607-701-6|page=209}}</ref><ref name =cabrera/><ref name=nicholas>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=XNbqUR_IoOMC&pg=PA209&dq=|title=The Peoples of the Caribbean: An Encyclopedia of Archeology and Traditional Culture|author=Nicholas J. Saunders|publisher=ABC-CLIO|year=2005|isbn=978-1-57607-701-6|page=209}}</ref> among others.

==Etymology==
As an ethnic description, the word "Yoruba" was first recorded in reference to the [[Oyo Empire]] in a treatise written by the 16th-century [[Songhai people|Songhai]] scholar [[Ahmed Baba]]. It was popularized by Hausa usage<ref name=trinidad>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=d2q5o25NNfcC&pg=PA20&lpg=PA20&dq=|title=Trinidad Yoruba: From Mother Tongue to Memory|author=Maureen Warner-Lewis|page=20|isbn=978-976-640-054-5|publisher=University of the West Indies|year=1997}}</ref> and ethnography written in [[Arabic]] and [[Ajami script|Ajami]] during the 19th century, in origin referring to the Oyo exclusively. The extension of the term to all speakers of dialects related to the language of the Oyo (in modern terminology North-West Yoruba) dates to the second half of the 19th century. It is due to the influence of [[Samuel Ajayi Crowther]], the first Anglican bishop in Nigeria. Crowther was himself a Yoruba and compiled the first Yoruba dictionary as well as introducing a standard for Yoruba orthography.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=Vxx0F6zZUfwC&pg=PA39&dq=|title=The Black Urban Atlantic in the Age of the Slave Trade (The Early Modern Americas)|author1=Jorge Canizares-Esguerra|author2=Matt D. Childs|author3=James Sidbury|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|year=2013|isbn=978-0-8122-0813-9}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=mhkRAQAAIAAJ&q=|title=Orisa: Yoruba gods and spiritual identity in Africa and the diaspora|author1=Toyin Falola|author2=Ann Genova|publisher=Africa World Press|year=2005|isbn=978-1-59221-373-3}}</ref> The alternative name ''Akú'', apparently an [[exonym]] derived from the first words of Yoruba greetings (such as ''Ẹ kú àárọ?'' "good morning", ''Ẹ kú alẹ?'' "good evening") has survived in certain parts of their diaspora as a self-descriptive, especially in Sierra Leone<ref name=trinidad/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.saintleo.edu/media/131009/aihiokhai-ancestors-saint.pdf|title=Ancestorhood in Yoruba Religion and Sainthood in Christianity:Envisioning an Ecological Awareness and Responsibility|author=SimonMary A. Aihiokhai|page=2|format=pdf|accessdate=May 1, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|website=Cambridge University Press|title=Marriage Rites among the Aku (Yoruba) of Freetown|author=Olumbe Bassir|volume=24|number=3|page=1|url=http://www.journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=7896661|date=21 August 2012|doi=10.2307/1156429|publisher=International African Institute}}</ref>

[[File:Yorubaland Cultural Area of West Africa.jpg|thumb|center|1100px|Map of the [[Yorubaland|Yoruba Cultural Area]] of West Africa., showing some settlements.]]

==Language==
{{main article|Yoruba language}}
{{Yoruba people}}
The number of speakers is roughly estimated at about 30 million in 2010.<ref>The number of speakers of Yoruba was estimated at around 20 million in the 1990s. No reliable estimate of more recent date is known. ''Metzler Lexikon Sprache'' (4th ed. 2010) estimates roughly 30 million based on population growth figures during the 1990s and 2000s. The [[demographics of Nigeria|population of Nigeria]] (where the majority of Yoruba live) has grown by 44% between 1995 and 2010, so that the Metzler estimate for 2010 appears plausible.</ref> Yoruba is classified within the [[Edekiri languages]], which together with the isolate [[Igala language|Igala]], form the [[Yoruboid languages|Yoruboid]] group of languages within the [[Volta–Niger languages|Volta-Niger]] branch of the [[Niger-Congo]] family. Igala and Yoruba have important historical and cultural relationships. The languages of the two ethnic groups bear such a close resemblance that researchers such as Forde (1951) and Westermann and Bryan (1952) regarded Igala as a dialect of Yoruba.

The Yoruboid languages are assumed to have developed out of an undifferentiated Volta-Niger group by the 1st millennium BCE.
There are three major dialect areas: Northwest, Central, and Southeast.<ref>This widely followed classification is based on Adetugbọ's (1982) dialectological study — the classification originated in his 1967 PhD thesis ''The Yoruba Language in Western Nigeria: Its Major Dialect Areas''. See also Adetugbọ 1973:183–193.</ref>
As the North-West Yoruba dialects show more linguistic innovation, combined with the fact that Southeast and Central Yoruba areas generally have older settlements, suggests a later date of immigration for Northwest Yoruba.<ref>Adetugbọ 1973:192-3. (See also the section [[#Dialects|Dialects]].)</ref> The area where North-West Yoruba (NWY) is spoken corresponds to the historical [[Oyo Empire]].
South-East Yoruba (SEY) was probably associated with the expansion of the [[Benin Empire]] after c. 1450.<ref>Adetugbọ 1973:185.</ref>
Central Yoruba forms a transitional area in that the lexicon has much in common with NWY, whereas it shares many ethnographical features with SEY.

Literary Yoruba, the standard variety taught in schools and spoken by newsreaders on the radio, has its origin in the Yoruba grammar compiled in the 1850s by Bishop [[Samuel Ajayi Crowther]], who himself was a creole from Sierra Leone. Though for a large part based on the Oyo and Ibadan dialects, it incorporates several features from other dialects.<ref>Cf. for example the following remark by Adetugbọ (1967, as cited in Fagborun 1994:25): "While the orthography agreed upon by the missionaries represented to a very large degree the phonemes of the Abẹokuta dialect, the morpho-syntax reflected the Ọyọ-Ibadan dialects".</ref>

==History==
{{Main article|History of the Yoruba people}}
{{further|Ife}}
{{further|Yoruba religion}}

[[File:HistoYoruba.jpeg|left|thumb|350px|Some Yoruba cities of the [[Middle Ages]]]]
As of the 7th century [[BCE]] the African peoples who lived in [[Yorubaland]] were not initially known as the Yoruba, although they shared a common ethnicity and language group. By the 8th century, a powerful Yoruba kingdom already existed in [[Ile-Ife]], one of the earliest in Africa.

The historical Yoruba develop ''in situ'', out of earlier Mesolithic [[Volta-Niger]] populations, by the 1st millennium BCE. Oral history recorded under the [[Oyo Empire]] derives the Yoruba as an ethnic group from the population of the older kingdom of Ile-Ife. The Yoruba were the dominant cultural force in southern Nigeria as far back as the 11th century.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=466fAAAAMAAJ&q=Yoruba+civilisation&dq=Yoruba+civilisation&hl=en&sa=X&ei=esafVcCKKcSt7AbZxYGIDg&ved=0CDcQ6AEwBg|page=323|title=When We Ruled: The Ancient and Mediœval History of Black Civilisations|author=Robin Walker|publisher=Every Generation Media (Indiana University)|year=2006|isbn=978-0-9551068-0-4}}</ref>

The Yoruba are among the most urbanized people in Africa. For centuries before the arrival of the British colonial administration most Yoruba already lived in well structured urban centers organized around powerful city-states ('''Ìlú''') centered around the residence of the Oba.<ref name=voices>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=XKIaBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA150&dq#v=onepage&q&f=false|title=African Voices on Slavery and the Slave Trade: Volume 1, The Sources|author1=Alice Bellagamba|author2=Sandra E. Greene|author3=Martin A. Klein|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2013|isbn=978-0-521-19470-9|pages=150, 151}}</ref> In ancient times, most of these cities were fortresses, with high walls and gates. Yoruba cities have always been among the most populous in Africa. Archaeological findings indicate that '''Òyó-Ilé''' or '''Katunga''', capital of the Yoruba empire of Oyo (fl. between the 11th and 19th centuries CE), had a population of over 100,000 people (the largest single population of any African settlement at that time in history). For a long time also, [[Ibadan]], one of the major Yoruba cities, was the largest city in the whole of Sub Saharan Africa. Today, [[Lagos]] ([[Yoruba Language|Yorùbá]]: '''Èkó'''), another major Yoruba city, with a population of over twenty million, remains the largest on the African continent.<ref>{{cite thesis|url=https://archive.org/stream/aspectinyorubani00jnti/aspectinyorubani00jnti_djvu.txt|degree=PH.D|title=ASPECT IN YORUBA AND NIGERIAN ENGLISH|first=Timothy Temilola|last=Ajayi|publisher=University of Florida|year=2001|website=Internet Archive|accessdate=8 July 2015}}</ref>

Archaeologically, the settlement of Ile-Ife showed features of urbanism in the 12th–14th century era. In the period around 1300 CE the artists at Ile-Ife developed a refined and naturalistic [[sculptural]] tradition in [[terracotta]], [[stone]] and copper alloy - [[copper]], [[brass]], and [[bronze]] many of which appear to have been created under the patronage of King Obalufon II, the man who today is identified as the Yoruba patron deity of brass casting, weaving and regalia.<ref name="Blier Art and Risk">{{cite book|last=Blier|first=Suzanne Preston|title=Art and Risk in Ancient Yoruba: Ife History, Politics, and Identity c. 1300|date=2015| publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-107-02166-2}}</ref> The dynasty of kings at Ile-Ife, which is regarded by the Yoruba as the place of origin of human civilization, remains intact to this day. The urban phase of Ile-Ife before the rise of Oyo, c. 1100–1600, a significant peak of political centralization in the 12th century)<ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com.ng/books?id=umyHqvAErOAC&pg=PA672&lpg=PA672&dq=yoruba+kingdom+oyo+encyclopedia+african+history&source=bl&ots=xIfuQUcwa2&sig=NXwsyFJoL1MubFhWxoC6Va9gQOE&hl=en&sa=X&ei=g0-BU7-iCoXeOv_rgcAL&ved=0CDMQ6AEwBA|title=Ife, Oyo, Yoruba, Ancient:Kingdom and Art|work=Encyclopedia of African History|author=Kevin Shillington|isbn=978-1-57958-245-6|page=672|publisher=Routledge|date=22 November 2004|accessdate=May 1, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Hegemony and culture: politics and religious change among the Yoruba|first=David D.|last=Laitin|page=111| publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]]|year=1986|isbn=0-226-46790-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dHbrDvGQEbUC&pg=PA111}}</ref> is commonly described as a "golden age" of Ile-Ife. The [[oba (ruler)|oba]] or ruler of Ile-Ife is referred to as the Ooni of Ife.<ref>[http://au.encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_781536070/Ife_(kingdom).html Encarta.msn.com]{{dead link|date=July 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref name=civilisation>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=xAyCAAAAMAAJ&q=Yoruba+civilisation&dq=Yoruba+civilisation&hl=en&sa=X&ei=esafVcCKKcSt7AbZxYGIDg&ved=0CBsQ6AEwAA|title=A Living Tradition: Studies on Yoruba Civilisation|author=L. J. Munoz|publisher=Bookcraft (the University of Michigan)|year=2003|isbn=978-978-2030-71-9}}</ref>

===Oyo and Ile-Ife===
[[File:Cabeza de rey (ciudad yoruba).jpg|thumb|200px|left|Brass head from [[Ife]], 12th century]]Ife continues to be seen as the "[[Holy city|Spiritual Homeland]]" of the Yoruba. The city was surpassed by the [[Oyo Empire]]<ref>{{cite book|title= Peoples of Africa, Volume 1|first1=Fiona|last1=MacDonald|first2=Elizabeth|last2=Paren|first3=Kevin|last3=Shillington|first4=Gillian|last4=Stacey|first5=Philip|last5= Steele|page=385|publisher=Marshall Cavendish|year=2000|isbn=0-7614-7158-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=joh5yHfcF-8C&pg=PA385}}</ref> as the dominant Yoruba military and political power in the 17th century.<ref>[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/437048/Oyo-empire Oyo Empire] at Britannica.com</ref>

The Oyo Empire under its oba, known as the Alaafin of Oyo, was active in the [[African slave trade]] during the 18th century. The Yoruba often demanded slaves as a form of tribute of subject populations, who in turn sometimes made war on other peoples to capture the required slaves. Part of the slaves sold by the Oyo Empire entered the [[Atlantic slave trade]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Thornton |first=John |year=1998 |title=Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World, 1400–1800 |edition=2nd |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=122, 304–311 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Alpern |first=Stanley B. |year=1998 |title=Amazons of Black Sparta: The Women Warriors of Dahomey |publisher=New York University Press |page=34 |isbn= }}</ref>

Most of the city states were controlled by [[Oba (ruler)|Obas]] (or royal sovereigns with various individual titles) and councils made up of [[Oba (ruler)#Aristocratic titles among the Yoruba|Oloyes]], recognised leaders of royal, noble and, often, even common descent, who joined them in ruling over the kingdoms through a series of guilds and cults. Different states saw differing ratios of power between the kingships and the chiefs' councils. Some, such as Oyo, had powerful, autocratic monarchs with almost total control, while in others such as the Ijebu city-states, the senatorial councils held more influence and the power of the ruler or ''Ọba'', referred to as the Awujale of Ijebuland, was more limited.<ref name=civilisation/>

Yoruba settlements are often described as primarily one or more of the main social groupings called "generations":<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=cAoOAQAAMAAJ&q=|title=Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria (Volume 9, Issues 2-4)|author=Historical Society of Nigeria|publisher=The Society (Indiana University)|year=1978}}</ref>
* The "first generation" includes towns and cities known as original capitals of founding Yoruba kingdoms or states.
* The "second generation" consists of settlements created by conquest.
* The "third generation" consists of villages and municipalities that emerged following the internecine wars of the 19th century.

==Pre-colonial government of Yoruba society==
{{Main article|Yorubaland}}{{See also|Oyo Empire#Political Structure}}

===Government===
[[File:Oyoxviii.jpeg|right|thumb|280px|[[Oyo Empire]] and surrounding states.]]Monarchies were a common form of government in Yorubaland, but they were not the only approach to government and social organization. The numerous [[Ijebu]] city-states to the west of Oyo and the [[Egba people|Ẹgba]] communities, found in the forests below Ọyọ's savanna region, were 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. The notion of the [[divine king]] was so important to the Yoruba, however, that it has been part of their organization in its various forms from their antiquity to the contemporary era.

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]]. 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 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 the ''Church Military Intelligencer'' (1853),<ref name=Phillips>{{cite journal|pages=117–131|volume=10|number=1|work=Journal of African History|title= The Egba at Abeokuta: Acculturation and Political change, 1830–1870| year= 1969|author=Earl Phillips|publisher=Cambridge University Press|doi=10.1017/s0021853700009312|jstor=180299}}</ref> 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."<ref name=contributions>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=eiQHFrA7GUwC&pg=PR18&dq=Frederick+Forbes+on+Abeokuta&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CDgQ6AEwBmoVChMI-oeku73ByAIVhV0aCh121QGi#v=onepage&q=Frederick%20Forbes%20on%20Abeokuta&f=false|title=Contributions of Yoruba People in the Economic & Political Developments of Nigeria|author=Jacob Oluwatayo Adeuyan|publisher=AuthorHouse, 2011|isbn=978-1-4670-2480-8|page=18}}</ref> He described Abẹokuta and its system of government as "the most extraordinary [[republic]] in the world."<ref name=contributions/>

===Leadership===
[[Gerontocratic]] leadership councils that guarded against the monopolization of power by a monarch were a trait of the Ẹgba, according to the eminent Ọyọ historian Reverend [[Samuel Johnson (Nigerian historian)|Samuel Johnson]]. Such councils were also well-developed among the northern [[Okun people|Okun]] groups, the eastern [[Ekiti people|Ekiti]], and other groups falling under the Yoruba ethnic umbrella. In Ọyọ, the most centralized of the precolonial kingdoms, the ''Alaafin'' consulted on all political decisions with the prime elector or president of the House of Lords (the ''Basọrun'') and the rest of the council of leading nobles known as the ''Ọyọ Mesi''.

Traditionally kingship and chieftainship were not determined by simple [[primogeniture]], as in most monarchic systems of government. An electoral college of lineage heads was and still is usually charged with selecting a member of one of the royal families from any given realm, and the selection is then confirmed by an Ifá oracular request. The Ọbas live in palaces that are usually in the center of the town. Opposite the king's palace is the ''Ọja Ọba'', or the king's market. These markets form an inherent part of Yoruba life. Traditionally their traders are well organized, have various guilds, officers, and an elected speaker. They also often have at least one ''Iyaloja'', or Lady of the Market,<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=vf8VAQAAIAAJ&q=|page=112|title=Africa since 1914: a historical bibliography|volume=17|author=ABC-Clio Information Services|publisher=ABC-Clio Information Services|year=1985|isbn=978-0-87436-395-1}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=0VGBAAAAMAAJ&q=|title=Where Women Work: A Study of Yoruba Women in the Marketplace and in the Home, Issues 53-56 of Anthropological papers|author=Niara Sudarkasa|publisher=University of Michigan|year=1973|pages=59–63}}</ref> who is expected to represent their interests in the aristocratic council of oloyes at the palace.

===City-states===
[[File:Brooklyn Museum 1997.2.4 Torque Currency.jpg|thumb|300px|Traditional torque currency made from copper alloy was a form of collar money (mondua) used in the Yoruba country, 17th century. Brooklyn Museum 1997<ref>https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/156596</ref>]]
The monarchy of any [[city-state]] was usually limited to a number of royal lineages.<ref>A. Adelusi-Adeluyi and L. Bigon (2014) "City Planning: Yoruba City Planning" in Springer's Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures (third edition), ed. by Helaine Selin.</ref> A family could be excluded from [[monarch|kingship]] and chieftaincy 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. In Ilesa, Ondo, Akure and other Yoruba communities, there were several, but comparatively rare, traditions of female ''Ọbas''. The kings were traditionally almost always [[Polygamy|polygamous]] and often married royal family members from other domains, thereby creating useful alliances with other rulers.<ref>[http://www.royaldiadem.co.uk/yoruba.php, Royaldiadem.co.uk]{{dead link|date=July 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, Under "Culture"</ref> [[Ibadan]], a city-state and proto-empire founded in the 18th century by a [[Multilingualism|polyglot]] group of [[refugees]], soldiers, and itinerant [[Merchant|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 power 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. The [[Igbomina tribe|Ìgbómìnà]] were renowned for their [[agriculture|agricultural]] and [[hunting]] prowess, as well as their [[woodcarving]], leather art, and the famous Elewe masquerade.

===Groups, organizations and leagues in Yorubaland===
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.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=v4MYAAAAYAAJ&q=|title=Diversity of Creativity in Nigeria: A Critical Selection from the Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on the Diversity of Creativity in Nigeria|author1=Bolaji Campbell|author2=R. I. Ibigbami|publisher=Department of Fine Arts, Obafemi Awolowo University|year=1993|page=309}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=KGGTAAAAIAAJ&q=|title=Indigenous Organizations and Development Higher Education Policy Series (IT studies in indigenous knowledge and development)|author1=Peter Blunt|author2=Dennis M. Warren|author3=Norman Thomas Uphoff|publisher=Intermediate Technology Publications|year=1996|isbn=978-1-85339-321-1}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=ju5EAQAAIAAJ&q=|title=Africa, Volume 68, Issues 3-4|author1=Diedrich Westermann|author2=Edwin William Smith|author3=Cyril Daryll Forde|publisher=International African Institute, International Institut|page=364}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=fLIXAQAAMAAJ&q=|title=Memoirs of the American Anthropological Association, Issues 63-68|author=American Anthropological Association|published=|year=1944}}</ref> When the Ẹgba resisted the imperial domination of the [[Oyo Empire|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 and successfully managed to overthrow Ọyọ's ''Ajeles'' (appointed administrators) in the late 18th century.

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, [[Igbomina tribe|Ìgbómìnà]] and [[Okun people|Okun]] Yoruba in order to resist various imperial expansionist plans of [[Ibadan]], [[Nupe Kingdom|Nupe]], and the [[Sokoto Caliphate]].

==Society and culture==
[[File:Yoruba Mother and Child.jpg|thumb|right|Yoruba Mother and Child 1848]]
{{main article|Yoruba culture}}
In the city-states and many of their neighbors, a reserved way of life remains, with the school of thought of their people serving as a major influence in [[West Africa]] and elsewhere.

Today, most contemporary Yoruba are [[Christian]]s and [[Muslim]]s. Be that as it may, many of the principles of the traditional faith of their ancestors are either knowingly or unknowingly upheld by a significant proportion of the populations of Nigeria, [[Benin]] and [[Togo]]{{Citation needed|date=May 2011}}.

===Religion and mythology===
{{main article|Yoruba religion}}
{{further|Yoruba medicine}}
The Yoruba faith, variously known as Aborisha, Orisha-Ifa or simply (and erroneously) Ifa, is commonly seen as one of the principal components of the [[African traditional religions]].

Orisa'nla, also known as [[Obatala|Ọbatala]],<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=LF43BAAAQBAJ&pg=PA280&dq=Yoruba++art+sculpture&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CEIQ6AEwB2oVChMI5bbd4LSKxgIV8QfbCh12twAa#v=onepage&q=Yoruba%20%20art%20sculpture&f=false|page=281|title=Yoruba Art and Language: Seeking the African in African Art|author=Rowland Abiodun|publisher=Cambridge University Press, 2014|isbn=978-1-107-04744-0}}</ref> was the arch-divinity chosen by [[Olodumare]], the Supreme God, to create solid land out of the primordial water that then constituted the earth and populating the land with human beings.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Research on Wole Soyinka|first1= James | last1= Gibbs | first2=Bernth | last2= Lindfors|publisher= Africa World Press |year= 1993|isbn=0-86543-219-8|pages=103|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CoeBNzqlLT0C&pg=PA103&lpg=PA103&dq=Orisa'nla&source=web&ots=KDXUZedAJZ&sig=UdrF2k3F-ue8wf56VhYJ0S8JCjA&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=10&ct=result }}</ref>

====Traditional Yoruba religion====
The [[Yoruba religion|Yorùbá religion]] comprises the traditional religious and spiritual concepts and practices of the Yoruba people.<ref>{{cite book|title=Yoruba Hometowns: Community, Identity, and Development in Nigeria|author=Lillian Trager|date=January 2001|publisher=Lynne Rienner Publishers|isbn=978-1-55587-981-5|page=22|url=http://books.google.com.ng/books?id=DUznKhxaVxkC&hl=en|accessdate= February 28, 2014}}</ref> Its homeland is in Southwestern Nigeria and the adjoining parts of [[Benin]] and [[Togo]], a region that has come to be known as Yorubaland. Yorùbá religion is formed of diverse traditions and has no single founder.<ref name="Culture">{{cite book|title= Yoruba Culture: ''A Philosophical Account''|first=Kola|last=Abimbola|edition=Paperback|publisher= Iroko Academics Publishers|year= 2005|isbn=1-905388-00-4}}</ref> Yoruba religious beliefs are part of itan, the total complex of songs, histories, stories and other cultural concepts which make up the Yorùbá society.<ref name="Culture"/>

[[File:TAG Osun Detail.jpg|thumb|left|Cockerel on Osun chalice. In the Yoruba creation story, [[Olodumare]] the supreme God sent [[Obatala]] to earth to create mankind. One of the things he took with him was a rooster, which spread soil over the earth by using its clawed feet]] One of the most common Yoruba traditional religious concepts has been the concept of [[Orisha]]. '''Orisha''' (also spelled '''Orisa''' or '''Orixa''') are various godly forms, that reflect one of the various manifestations / avatars of [[Olorun|God]] in the Yoruba spiritual or [[religion|religious system]]. Some widely known Orisha are [[Ogun]], (God of metal, war and victory), [[Shango]] or '''Jakuta''' (God of thunder, lightning, fire and justice who manifests as a king always wielding a double-edged axe which conveys his '''Ashe''' or divine authority & power), [[Eshu|Esu/Eshu elegbara]] (The trickster and sole messenger to the pantheon, who conveys the wish of men to the gods. He understands every language / tongue spoken by humankind, and is also the guardian of the crossroads, ''Oríta méta'' in Yoruba). Eshu has two avatar forms which are manifestations of his dual nature- positive and negative energies; '''Eshu Laroye''', a teacher instructor and leader, and '''Eshu Ebita''', jesty, deceitful, suggestive and cunning,<ref name="Abimbola2006">{{cite book|last=Abimbola|first=Kola|title=Yoruba Culture: A Philosophical Account|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4G7Xv-wapEMC&pg=PA58|accessdate=23 May 2015|year=2006|publisher=iroko academic publishers|isbn=978-1-905388-00-4|page=58}}</ref> [[Orunmila]], The god of Infinite Knowledge, divination, wisdom and fortune-telling, who reveals the past, solution to problems in the present, and the future, consulted through the [[Ifá|Ifa divination system]] by oracles called [[Babalawo]]s.

[[File:Divination tapper (iroke ifa), Yoruba, Owo,Ondo state, Nigeria, probably 18th century, ivory - Brooklyn Museum - Brooklyn, NY - DSC08504.JPG|thumb|right|An '''Iroke''' or '''Irofa''' (Ìròkè Ifá) is the divination tapper of the Yoruba. It is long, slender and often slightly curved. Used in combination with the '''Opon Ifa''' or divination board. Traditionally made from Ivory, but also brass & wood.<ref name="Imo Dara">{{cite book|last=Imo|first=Dara|title=Connecting African art collectors with dealers, based on a foundation of knowledge about the origin, use & distinguishing features of listed pieces|url=http://www.imodara.com/discover/nigeria-yoruba-iroke-ifa-divination-tapper}}/</ref>]]
[[Olorun]] is one of the manifestations / avatars of the Supreme God of the Yoruba pantheon, the owner of the heavens, and is associated with the Sun known as '''Oòrùn''' in the Yoruba language. The other two avatar forms of the supreme God are; [[Olodumare]], the supreme creator and [[Olofi]]n, who is the conduit between Òrunn (Heaven) and Ayé (Earth), [[Oshumare]] a god that manifests in the form of a rainbow, also known as '''Òsùmàrè''' in Yorùbá, [[Obatala]] god of clarity and creativity Etc.<ref name="Bascom1969">{{cite book|last=Bascom|first=William Russell|title=Ifa Divination: Communication Between Gods and Men in West Africa|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CS0h4Ye9puUC&pg=PA3|accessdate=23 May 2015|year=1969|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=0-253-20638-3|page=3}}</ref> This religion has found its way throughout the world and is now expressed in practices as varied as [[Candomblé]] in Brazil, [[Lucumi religion|Lucumí/Santería]] in Cuba and North America,<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=Tndbo3yLEdcC&pg=PA2&dq=|title=Santeria from Africa to the New World (The Dead Sell Memories, Blacks in the diaspora)|author=George Brandon|publisher=Indiana University Press|year=1997|isbn=978-0-253-21114-9}}</ref> orisha or ifa in Trinidad ([[Trinidad Orisha]]), [[Kélé]] in Saint Lucia, Anago and [[Adefunmi|Oyotunji]],<ref name=voices/> as well as in some aspects of [[Umbanda]], [[Winti]], [[Obeah]], [[West African Vodun|Vodun]] and a host of others. These varieties, or spiritual lineages as they are called, are practiced throughout areas of Nigeria, the [[Republic of Benin]], [[Togo]], [[Brazil]], [[Cuba]], [[Guyana]], [[Haiti]], [[Jamaica]], [[Puerto Rico]], [[Suriname]], [[Trinidad and Tobago]], the [[United States]], [[Uruguay]], [[Argentina]] and [[Venezuela]], among others. As interest in African indigenous religions grows, Orisha communities and lineages can be found in parts of [[Europe]] and [[Asia]] as well. While estimates may vary, some scholars believe that there could be more than 100 million adherents of this spiritual tradition worldwide.<ref>Kevin Baxter (on De La Torre), [http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07182/798519-63.stm "Ozzie Guillen secure in his faith"], ''Los Angeles Times'', 2007</ref>

====Mythology====
{{Main article|Oduduwa}}[[File:WLA brooklynmuseum Yoruba Beaded Crown.jpg|thumb|250px|left|Beaded crown (Adé) of a Yoruba [[Oba (ruler)|Oba]], The Ogoga of [[Ikere-Ekiti|Ikere]], Ekiti state. According to Yoruba customs, only kings who are direct descendants of [[Oduduwa]] can wear a beaded crown]] Oral history of the [[Oyo Empire|Oyo]]-Yoruba recounts '''Odùduwà''' to be the Progenitor of the Yoruba and the reigning ancestor of their crowned kings.

''His coming from the east, sometimes understood from Ife traditions to be Oke-Ora and by other sources as the "vicinity" true East on the Cardinal points, but more likely signifying the region of [[Ekiti State|Ekiti]] and [[Okun people|Okun]] sub-communities in northeastern Yorubaland/central Nigeria. [[Ekiti State|Ekiti]] is near the confluence of the [[Niger River|Niger]] and Benue rivers, and is where the Yoruba language is presumed to have separated from related ethno-linguistic groups like [[Igala language|Igala]], [[Igbo language|Igbo]], and [[Edo language|Edo]]''.<ref>[http://www.coastalnews.com/profile/120-nigeria-news/592-oduduwa-the-ancestor-of-the-crowned-yoruba-kings.html Article: Oduduwa, The Ancestor Of The Crowned Yoruba Kings] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110205083827/http://www.coastalnews.com/profile/120-nigeria-news/592-oduduwa-the-ancestor-of-the-crowned-yoruba-kings.html |date=5 February 2011 }}</ref>

After the death of Oduduwa, there was a dispersal of his children from Ife to found other kingdoms. Each child made his or her mark in the subsequent urbanization and consolidation of the Yoruba confederacy of kingdoms, with each kingdom tracing its origin due to them to Ile-Ife.

After the dispersal, the aborigines became difficult, and constituted a serious threat to the survival of Ife. Thought to be survivors of the old occupants of the land before the arrival of Oduduwa, these people now turned themselves into marauders. They would come to town in costumes made of raffia with terrible and fearsome appearances, and burn down houses and loot the markets. Then came [[Moremi Ajasoro|Moremi]] on the scene; she was said to have played a significant role in the quelling of the marauders advancements. But this was at a great price; having to give up her only son Oluorogbo. The reward for her patriotism and selflessness was not to be reaped in one life time as she later passed on and was thereafter [[Immortality|immortalized]]. The Edi festival celebrates this feat amongst her Yoruba descendants.<ref>[http://www.yorubaalliance.org/Newsletter/newsletter74.htm Who are the Yoruba!]</ref>

====Philosophy====
{{See also|Yoruba religion}}
[[File:Iwori Meji.jpg|thumb|180px|'''Iwori Meji''', one of the Sixteen principal of '''256 Odus''' (Corpus of Ifa literature)]]
Yoruba culture consists of folk/cultural philosophy, religion and folktales. They are embodied in Ifa-Ife Divination, known as the tripartite Book of Enlightenment in Yorubaland and in its diaspora.

Yoruba cultural thought is a witness of two epochs. The first epoch is a history of cosmogony and cosmology. This is also an epoch-making history in the oral culture during which time Oduduwa was the king, the Bringer of Light, pioneer of Yoruba folk philosophy, and a prominent diviner. He pondered the visible and invisible worlds, reminiscing about cosmogony, cosmology, and the mythological creatures in the visible and invisible worlds. His time favored the artist-philosophers who produced magnificent naturalistic artworks of civilization during and pre-dynastic Yorubaland.The second epoch is the epoch of metaphysical discourse, and the birth of modern artist-philosophy. This commenced in the 19th century in terms of the academic prowess of Bishop Dr. Ajayi Crowther (1807–1891.)
Although religion is often first in Yoruba culture, nonetheless, it is the philosophy, the thought of man that actually leads spiritual consciousness (ori) to the creation and the practice of religion. Thus, it is believed that thought (philosophy) is an antecedent to religion.
Today, the academic and nonacademic communities are becoming more interested in Yoruba culture. More research is being carried out on Yoruba cultural thought as more books are being written on the subject.

====Islam and Christianity ====
The Yoruba are traditionally a very religious people, and are today, pluralistic in their religious convictions.<ref name = integration>{{cite book | url =https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=nkbYlltTi4sC&pg=PA103&dq=|title=Religion and National Integration in Africa: Islam, Christianity, and Politics in the Sudan and Nigeria (Series in Islam and society in Africa)|author=John O. Hunwick|page = 103|publisher=Northwestern University Press|year=1992|isbn= 978-0-8101-1037-3}}</ref> The Yoruba are one of the more religiously diversified ethnic groups in Africa. Many Yorubas can be found in different types of [[Christian]] denominations, Many others are Muslims, as well as the traditional Yoruba religion. Yoruba religious practices such as the [[Eyo festival|Eyo]] and [[Osun-Osogbo]] festivals are witnessing a resurgence in popularity in contemporary Yorubaland. They are largely seen by the adherents of the modern faiths, especially the [[Christianity|Christians]] and [[Islam|Muslims]], as cultural rather than religious events. They participate in them as a means to celebrate their people's history, and boost tourist industries in their local economies.

=====Christianity=====
[[File:Anna hinderer church and mission house at ibadan pic2.jpg|thumb|280px|[[Anna Hinderer]] church and mission house at [[Ibadan]], 1850s]]
The Yorubas were one of the first groups in West Africa to be introduced to Christianity on a large scale.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=DdFvbW5tWpYC&pg=PA77&dq=christianity+in+yorubaland&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CDIQ6AEwBWoVChMI0Puw16-CxwIVhqHbCh0CQADO#v=onepage&q=christianity%20in%20yorubaland&f=false|title=Pre-Colonial Africa in Colonial African Narratives: From Ethiopia Unbound to Things Fall Apart, 1911–1958|author=Dr Donald R Wehrs|publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.|year=2013
|isbn=978-1-4094-7495-1}}</ref>
Christianity (along with western civilization) came into Yorubaland in the mid-19th century through the [[Ethnic groups in Europe|Europeans]], whose original mission was commerce.<ref name = integration/><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=OdbBBwAAQBAJ&pg=PT74&dq=|title=Scientific Pilgrimage: 'The Life and times of Emeritus Professor V.A Oyenuga'. D.Sc, FAS, CFR Nigeria's first Emeritus Professor and Africa's first Agriculture Professor|author=Ádébáyò Ádésóyè|publisher =AuthorHouse|year=2015|isbn=978-1-5049-3785-6}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url =https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=m2V1AAAAMAAJ&q=|title=Western Yorubaland under European rule, 1889–1945: a comparative analysis of French and British colonialism. European Philosophy and the Human Sciences|author=A. I. Asiwaju|publisher=Humanities Press (Ibadan history series, the University of Michigan)|year=1976|isbn=978-0-391-00605-8}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | url =https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=fUqcAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA1162&lpg=PA1162&dq=|title=The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church|author1=Frank Leslie Cross|author2=Elizabeth A. Livingstone|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2005|page=1162|isbn= 978-0-19-280290-3}}</ref> The first European visitors were the Portuguese, they visited the Bini kingdom in the late 16th century, as time progressed other Europeans- such as the French, the British, and the Germans followed suit. British and French were most successful in their quest for colonies (These Europeans actually split Yorubaland, with the larger part being in British Nigeria, and the minor parts in French Dahomey, now [[Benin]], and German [[Togoland]]). Home governments encouraged religious organizations to come, and to Christianize the so-called "animist" Africans. Roman Catholics (known to the Yorubas as '''Ijo Aguda''', so named after returning former Yoruba slaves from Latin America, who were mostly Catholic, and were also known as the '''Agudas''', '''[[Saro (Nigeria)|Saros]]''' or '''Amaros''') started the race, followed by Protestants, whose prominent member- [[Church Mission Society]] (CMS) based in [[England]] made the most significant in-roads into the hinterland regions for evangelism and became the largest of the Christian missions. [[Methodism|Methodists]] (known as '''Ijo-Eleto''', so named after the Yoruba word for "method or process") started missions in [[Badagry|Agbadarigi / Gbegle]] by [[Thomas Birch Freeman]] in 1842. [[Henry Townsend (missionary)|Henry Townsend]], C.C.Gollmer, and [[Ajayi Crowther]] of the CMS worked in [[Abeokuta]], then under the Egba division of Southern Nigeria in 1846.

[[Anna Hinderer|Hinderer]] and Mann of CMS started missions in Ibadan / [[Ibarapa people|Ibarapa]] and Ijaye divisions of the present Oyo state in 1853. The [[Baptists|Baptist]] missionaries-Bowen and Clarke concentrated on the northern Yoruba axis-(Ogbomoso and environs). With their success, other religious groups- [[Salvation Army]], [[Evangelical Church of West Africa|Evangelists Commission of West Africa]] (ECWA) became popular among the [[Igbomina]] and other non-denominational Christian groups joined. The increased tempo of Christianity led to the appointment of [[Saro (Nigeria)|Saros]] and indigenes as missionaries, this move was initiated by Venn, the CMS Secretary. Nevertheless, the impact of Christianity in Yoruba land was not felt until fourth decade of 19th century, when a Yoruba slave boy, Samuel Ajayi Crowther had become a Christian convert, linguist, whose knowledge in languages would become a major tool and instrument to propagate Christianity in Yoruba land and beyond.<ref>{{cite web|website=Yorupedia|url=http://yorupedia.com/subjects/yoruba-religion/christianity-and-islam/|title=Christianity and Islam Introduction|accessdate=September 14, 2015}}</ref>
Today, there are a number of Yoruba Pastors and Church founders with large congregations, e.g. Pastor [[Enoch Adeboye]] of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor [[David Oyedepo]] of Living Faith Church World Wide also known as Winners Chapel, Pastor [[Tunde Bakare]] of Latter rain Assembly, Prophet [[T. B. Joshua]] of Synagogue of All Nations, [[William Kumuyi|William Folorunso Kumuyi]] of [[Deeper Christian Life Ministry]] and Dr Daniel Olukoya of the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries.

=====Islam=====
Islam came into Yorubaland centuries before Christianity and before the first Europeans ever set foot in Yorubaland. Yorubas first came in contact with Islam around the 14th century, as a result of trade with the [[Fula people|Fulanis]]<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=PjGx5PfSYacC&pg=PA81&dq=islam+in+yorubaland&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CEAQ6AEwB2oVChMI5umap7OCxwIVMAjbCh3Qzgn2#v=onepage&q=islam%20in%20yorubaland&f=false|title=The Roots of Political Instability in Nigeria: Political Evolution and Development in the Niger Basin|author=Dr E C Ejiogu|publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2013|isbn=978-1-4094-8921-4}}</ref> of the [[Malian Empire]], during the reign of [[Musa I of Mali|Mansa Kankan Musa]]. Hence, why Islam is traditionally known to the Yoruba as '''Esin Male''' or simply '''Imale''' i.e. religion of the Malians. In fact, Islam was practiced in Yorubaland so early on in history, that a sizable proportion of Yoruba slaves taken to the Americas were already Muslim.<ref>{{cite book | url =https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=NQwcAlYxP7sC&pg=PA157&dq=|title =Unfree Labour in the Development of the Atlantic World|author1=Paul E. Lovejoy|author2=Nicholas Rogers|publisher=Routledge|year=2012|page = 157|isbn = 978-1-136-30059-2}}</ref> Some of these Yoruba Muslims would later on stage the [[Malê Revolt]] (or The Great Revolt) which was the most significant slave rebellion in Brazil. On a Sunday during Ramadan in January 1835, in the city of [[Salvador, Bahia]], a small group of slaves and freedmen, inspired by Muslim teachers, rose up against the government. Muslims were called '''Malê''' in Bahia at this time, from Yoruba Imale that designated a Yoruba Muslim.

According to Al-Aluri, the first Mosque was built in '''Ọyọ-Ile / Katunga''' in 1550 A.D. although, there were no Yoruba Muslims at the time, the Mosque served the spiritual needs of foreign Muslims living in Ọyọ. Progressively, Islam started to gain a foothold in Yorubaland, and Muslims started building Mosques: [[Iwo, Osun|Iwo town]] led, its first Mosque built in 1655 followed by [[Iseyin|Iṣẹyin]], in 1760; [[Lagos|Eko/Lagos]] got its first mosque in 1774; [[Shaki, Nigeria|Shaki]], 1790; and [[Osogbo|Oṣogbo]], 1889. In time, Islam spread to other towns like [[Oyo, Nigeria|Oyo]] (the first Oyo convert was '''Solagberu'''), [[Ibadan]], [[Abẹokuta]], [[Ijebu Ode]], [[Ikirun]], and [[Ede, Nigeria|Ede]], all already had sizable Muslim communities before the 19th century Sokoto jihad. Several factors contributed to the rise of Islam in Yoruba land by mid 19th century. Before the decline of Ọyọ, several towns around it had large Muslim communities, however, when Ọyọ was destroyed, these Muslims (Yorubas and immigrants) relocated to newly formed towns and villages and became Islam protagonists.<ref>http://daudaayanda.blogspot.ca/2015/02/legacy-of-islam-in-yorubaland.html</ref>

Secondly, there was a mass movement of people at this time into Yoruba land, many of these immigrants were Muslims who introduced Islam to their hosts. According to Eades, the religion "differed in attraction" and "better adapted to Yoruba social structure, because it permitted polygamy", which was already a feature of various African societies; more influential Yorubas like (Seriki Kuku of Ijebu land) soon became Muslims with positive impact on the natives. Islam came to Lagos at about the same time as other Yoruba towns, however, it received royal support from Ọba Kosọkọ, after he came back from exile in [[Epe, Nigeria|Ẹpẹ]]. Islam, like Christianity also found a common ground with the natives who already believed in a Supreme Being [[Olodumare]] / [[Olorun]]. Without delay, Islamic scholars and local Imams started establishing Koranic centers to teach Arabic and Islamic studies, much later, conventional schools were established to educate new converts and to propagate Islam.
Today, the Yorubas constitute the second largest Muslim group in Nigeria, after the Hausa people of the Northern provinces. They are mostly [[Sunni Islam|Sunni Muslims]], with small [[Ahmadiyya]] communities.

===Traditional art and architecture===
{{Main article|Yoruba art}}
[[File:Brooklyn Museum L54.5 Fragment of a Head (3).jpg|thumb|208px|left|This terracotta head shows Yoruba sculpture was already highly developed a thousand years ago. Ife art exemplifies naturalism in African art.]]
Medieval Yoruba settlements were surrounded with massive mud [[city wall|walls]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=pMjHpEyDqJMC&pg=PA168&dq=Yoruba+adobe+mud+houses&hl=en&sa=X&ei=4vObVcuYMIKksAGPgJmIBw&ved=0CBsQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Yoruba%20adobe%20mud%20houses&f=false|title=Traditional Buildings: A Global Survey of Structural Forms and Cultural Functions Volume 11 of International Library of Human Geography|author=Allen G. Noble|publisher=I.B.Tauris|year=2007|isbn=978-1-84511-305-6}}</ref> Yoruba buildings had similar plans to the Ashanti shrines, but with [[verandah]]s around the court. The wall materials comprised puddled mud and palm oil<ref name=today>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=fwc5AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA40&dq=Yoruba+roofs&hl=en&sa=X&ei=qaqfVcLPMIKS-QHG44CwBQ&ved=0CCUQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Yoruba%20roofs&f=false|title=The Yoruba Today)|author=Jeremy Seymour Eades (Changing cultures)|publisher=Cambridge Latin Texts (CUP Archive)|year=1980|isbn= 978-0-521-22656-1}}</ref> while roofing materials ranged from [[thatching|thatches]] to aluminium and corrugated iron sheets.<ref name=today/> A famous Yoruba fortification, the [[Sungbo's Eredo]] was the second largest wall edifice in Africa. The structure was built in the 9th, 10th and 11th centuries in honour of a traditional aristrocat, the Oloye Bilikisu Sungbo. It was made up of sprawling mud walls and the valleys that surrounded the town of Ijebu-Ode in [[Ogun State]]. Sungbo's Eredo is the largest pre-colonial monument in Africa, larger than the Great Pyramid or Great Zimbabwe.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=ZPnDBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA144&dq=Sungbo%27s+Eredo+Yoruba+structure&hl=en&sa=X&ei=tPGbVZSNJMqgsAGEg7KwAQ&ved=0CBwQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Sungbo's%20Eredo%20Yoruba%20structure&f=false|title=The History of Africa: The Quest for Eternal Harmony|author=Molefi Kete Asante|publisher=Routledge|year=2014|isbn=978-1-135-01349-3}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=_dRnaZS9L3wC&pg=PA158&dq=Sungbo%27s+Eredo+Africa%27s+largest+monument&hl=en&sa=X&ei=8vKbVaeHF8K7sQH28JfQBg&ved=0CEgQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=Sungbo's%20Eredo%20Africa's%20largest%20monument&f=false|title=Cultural Heritage, Ethics and the Military Volume 4 of Heritage matters series|issn=1756-4832|author=Peter G. Stone|publisher=Boydell Press|year=2011|isbn=978-1-84383-538-7|page=158}}</ref>

The Yorubas worked with a wide array of materials in their art including; bronze, leather, terracotta, ivory, textiles, copper, stone, carved wood, brass, ceramics and glass. A unique feature of Yoruba art, is their striking realism-which unlike most African art, choose to create human sculptures in vivid realistic and life sized forms. The art history of the nearby [[Benin empire]] show that there was a cross - fertilization of ideas between the neighboring Yoruba and the Edo. The Benin court's brass casters learned their art from an Ife master named Iguegha, who had been sent from Ife around 1400 at the request of Benin's oba Oguola. Indeed, the earliest dated cast-brass memorial heads from Benin replicate the refined naturalism of the Yoruba sculptures from Ife.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/beni_2/hd_beni_2.htm|title=Origins and Empire: The Benin, Owo, and Ijebu Kingdoms|website=The Metropolitan Museum Of Art (Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History)|accessdate=9 July 2015}}</ref>

[[File:Yoruba peoples armlet (16th century).jpg|thumb|right|270px|Intricately carved Ivory [[bracelet]] from the Yoruba people of [[Owo, Nigeria|Owo]]]]
A lot of Yoruba artworks, including staffs, court dress, and beadwork for crowns, are associated with palaces and the royal courts.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=UQ1QAAAAMAAJ&q=Yoruba+palace+architecture&dq=Yoruba+palace+architecture&hl=en&sa=X&ei=LAWcVbqcO8alsAHMtY3gDw&ved=0CCUQ6AEwAg|title=Yoruba palaces: a study of Afins of Yorubaland|author1=G. J. Afolabi Ojo|publisher=University of Michigan|year=1966}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ajol.info/index.php/afrrev/article/view/60187|title=Risawe's Palace, Ilesa Nigeria: Traditional Yoruba Architecture as Socio-Cultural and Religious Symbols|website=Africa Journals Online|author=N Umoru-Oke}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=6bW41qkth0EC&pg=PA742&dq=Yoruba+architecture&hl=en&sa=X&ei=leWbVcT7Ica6sQGRq5SICg&ved=0CDMQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=Yoruba%20architecture&f=false|title=The Sustainable World Volume 142 of WIT transactions on ecology and the environment|issn=1746-448X|author=C. A. Brebbia|publisher= Wessex Institute of Technology (WIT Press)|year=2011|isbn=978-1-84564-504-5}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=9NcVAQAAIAAJ&q=Yoruba+palace+architecture&dq=Yoruba+palace+architecture&hl=en&sa=X&ei=LAWcVbqcO8alsAHMtY3gDw&ved=0CEMQ6AEwCA|title=Ornamentation in Yoruba folk architecture: a catalogue of architectural features, ornamental motifs and techniques|author=Cordelia Olatokunbo Osasona|publisher=Bookbuilders Editions Africa|year=2005|isbn=978-978-8088-28-8}}</ref> The courts also commissioned numerous architectural objects such as veranda posts, gates, and doors that are embellished with carvings. Yoruba palaces are usually built with thicker walls, are dedicated to the gods and play significant spiritual roles. Yoruba art is also manifested in shrines and masking traditions.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=fZwVAQAAIAAJ&q=Yoruba+art+and+architecture&dq=Yoruba+art+and+architecture&hl=en&sa=X&ei=n_-bVfGyOeTm7gaAlYLQAw&ved=0CB8Q6AEwATgK|title=Yoruba: nine centuries of African art and thought|author1=Henry John Drewal|author2=John Pemberton|author3=Rowland Abiodun|author4=Allen Wardwell|publisher=Center for African Art in Association with H.N. Abrams|year=1989|isbn=978-0-8109-1794-1}}</ref> The shrines dedicated to these gods are adorned with carvings and house and array of altar figures and other ritual paraphernalia. Masking traditions vary by region, and diverse mask types are used in various festivals and celebrations.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.afropedea.org/yoruba-architecture|title=Yoruba architecture|website=Afropedia|accessdate=7 June 2015}}</ref> Aspects of Yoruba traditional architecture has also found its way into the New World in the form of shotgun houses.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=zBumTdxwcMAC&pg=PA16&dq=|title=The Houses of Buxton: A Legacy of African Influences in Architecture|author=Patricia Lorraine Neely|publisher=P Designs Publishing|page=16|year=2005|isbn=978-0-9738754-1-6}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=G7kzQMytrMoC&pg=PA76&dq=Yoruba+architecture&hl=en&sa=X&ei=leWbVcT7Ica6sQGRq5SICg&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=Yoruba%20architecture&f=false|title=Common Places: Readings in American Vernacular Architecture|author1=Dell Upton|author2=John Michael Vlach|publisher=University of Georgia Press, 1986|isbn=978-0-8203-0750-3}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=zPgsAQAAIAAJ&q=Yoruba+architecture&dq=Yoruba+architecture&hl=en&sa=X&ei=vembVcGHGIWesgHt6aCwCQ&ved=0CCUQ6AEwAg|title=Architectures of Nigeria: Architectures of the Hausa and Yoruba Peoples and of the Many Peoples Between--tradition and Modernization|author=Kevin Carroll|publisher=Society of African Missions|year=1992|isbn=978-0-905788-37-1}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=Uk1Tbdsq99gC&pg=PA299&dq=shotgun+houses+yoruba&hl=en&sa=X&ei=8eubVYfgNombsAHH1YzAAw&ved=0CBsQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=shotgun%20houses%20yoruba&f=false|title=The Yoruba Diaspora in the Atlantic World (Blacks in the Diaspora)|author1=Toyin Falola|author2=Matt D. Childs|publisher=Indiana University Press, 2005|isbn=978-0-253-00301-0}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nps.gov/ethnography/aah/aaheritage/FrenchAm_pop11.htm|website=National Park Service: African American Heritage & Ethnography|title=Shotgun Houses|accessdate=3 December 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=nyzjBAAAQBAJ&dq=Reading+the+Architecture+of+the+Underprivileged+Classes&source=gbs_navlinks_s|title=Reading the Architecture of the Underprivileged Classes|author=Prof Nnamdi Elleh|publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.|year=2014|isbn=978-1-4094-6786-1|pages=86–88}}</ref> Today, however the traditional architecture has been greatly influenced by modern trends.

[[File:Gèlèdé divinités vodou.jpg|thumb|390px|left|Gèlèdé costumes from a '''Yoruba-Nago''' community in Benin]]Masquerades are an important feature of Yoruba traditional artistry. They are generally known as '''Egúngún''', singularly as '''Egún'''. The term refers to the Yoruba masquerades connected with ancestor reverence, or to the ancestors themselves as a collective force. There are different types of which one of the most prominent is the [[Gelede]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=IIqc3pizziAC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Yoruba+gelede+masquerades&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjkxqy3ts_JAhUEWw8KHR7lAmkQ6AEIGTAA#v=onepage&q=Yoruba%20gelede%20masquerades&f=false|title=Gẹlẹdẹ: Art and Female Power Among the Yoruba|series=Indiana University Turkish Studies, Midland books (Traditional arts of Africa)|volume =565|author1=Henry John Drewal|author2= Margaret Thompson Drewal|publisher=Indiana University Press|year=1983|isbn= 978-0-253-32569-3}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=o3o_-JwBwW4C&pg=PA15&dq=Yoruba+gelede+masquerades&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjkxqy3ts_JAhUEWw8KHR7lAmkQ6AEILTAD#v=onepage&q=Yoruba%20gelede%20masquerades&f=false|page=51|title=Playful Performers: African Children's Masquerades|author1=Simon Ottenberg|author2=David Aaron Binkley|publisher=Transaction Publishers|isbn=978-1-4128-3092-8}}</ref> An Ese Ifa (oral literature of orunmila divination) explains the origins of Gelede as beginning with [[Yemoja]], The Mother of all the orisa and all living things. Yemoja could not have children and consulted an Ifa oracle, who advised her to offer sacrifices and to dance with wooden images on her head and metal anklets on her feet. After performing this ritual, she became pregnant. Her first child was a boy, nicknamed "Efe" (the humorist/joker); the Efe mask emphasizes song and jests because of the personality of its namesake. Yemoja's second child was a girl, nicknamed "Gelede" because she was obese like her mother. Also like her mother, Gelede loved dancing.

After getting married themselves, neither Gelede or Efe's partner could have children. The Ifa oracle suggested they try the same ritual that had worked for their mother. No sooner than Efe and Gelede performed these rituals- dancing with wooden images on their heads and metal anklets on their feet- they started having children. These rituals developed into the Gelede masked dance and was perpetuated by the descendants of Efe and Gelede. This narrative is one of many stories that explains the origin of Gelede. An outdated theory stated that the beginning of Gelede might be associated with the change from a [[matriarchal]] to a [[patriarchal]] society among the Yoruba people.<ref name=understand/>

The [[Gelede|Gelede spectacle]] and the [[Ifá|Ifa divination system]] represent two of Nigeria's only three pieces on the United Nations [[UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists|Oral and Intangible Heritages of Humanity]] list, as well as the only such cultural heritage from [[Benin]] and [[Togo]].

===Festivals===
[[File:Arugba Osun.jpg|thumb|The '''Arugba''' leading the procession to the [[Osun-Osogbo|Osun grove]].]]
One of the first observations of first time visitors to Yorubaland is the rich, pomp and ceremonial nature of their culture, which is made even more visible by the urbanized structures of Yoruba settlements. These occasions are avenues to experience the richness of the Yoruba culture. Traditional musicians are always on hand to grace the occasions with heavy rhythms and extremely advanced [[Percussion instrument|percussion]] which the Yorubas are well known for world over.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://tribes.tribe.net/africanspirituality/thread/92f4fde8-0ddf-491a-aa47-47f0c0af0d6e|accessdate=10 June 2015|title=Yoruba Culture|website=Tribes|date=18 September 2007}}</ref> Praise singers and [[Griot]]s are there to add their historical insight to the meaning and significance of the ceremony, and of course the varieties of colorful dresses and attires worn by the people, attest to the aesthetic sense of the average Yoruba.

[[File:Récipients Yoruba-Musée ethnologique de Berlin.jpg|thumb|320px||left|Carved ceremonial Ivory containers from the Yoruba polity of [[Owo]], which flourished 1400-1600]]

The Yoruba are a very expressive people who celebrate major events with colorful festivals and celebrations (Ayeye). Some of these festivals (about thirteen principal ones)<ref name=mapping>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=cfftg4o77QIC&pg=PA60&dq=Yoruba+festivals+America&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CB8Q6AEwAWoVChMIl-ig7oqKxgIVB47bCh1J_wBM#v=onepage&q=Yoruba%20festivals%20America&f=false|title=Mapping Yorùbá Networks: Power and Agency in the Making of Transnational Communities|author=Kamari Maxine Clarke|publisher=Duke University Press|isbn=978-0-8223-3342-5|pages=59, 60}}</ref> are secular and only mark achievements and milestones in the achievement of mankind, these include wedding ceremonies ('''Ìgbéyàwó'''), Naming ceremonies ('''Ìsomolórúko'''), Funerals ('''Ìsìnkú'''), Housewarming ('''Ìsílé'''), New-Yam festival ('''Ìjesu'''), Odon itsu in Atakpame, Harvest ceremonies ('''Ìkórè'''), Birth ('''Ìbí'''), Chieftaincy ('''Ìjòyè''') and so forth.<ref name=understand>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=2c4VAQAAIAAJ&q=Yoruba+igbeyawo&dq=Yoruba+igbeyawo&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CDQQ6AEwBWoVChMI5fitzayKxgIVaBvbCh1hwgDL|title=Understanding Yoruba life and culture|author1=Nike Lawal|author2=Matthew N. O. Sadiku|author3=Ade Dopamu|publisher=Africa World Press (the University of California)|date=22 July 2009|isbn=978-1-59221-025-1}}</ref> Others have a more spiritual connotation, such as the various days and celebrations dedicated to Specific '''Orisha''' like the Ogun day ('''Ojó Ògún'''), The '''Osun''' festival, which is usually done at the [[Osun-Osogbo|Osun-Osogbo sacred grove]] located on the banks of the [[Osun river]] and around the ancient town of [[Osogbo]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=IKqOUfqt4cIC&pg=PA346&dq=Yoruba+festivals&hl=en&sa=X&ei=jNmbVZWdFoKfsgHK_5ewDQ&ved=0CBsQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Yoruba%20festivals&f=false|title=Traditional Festivals, Vol. 2 [M - Z]|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-57607-089-5|page=346}}</ref> The festival is dedicated to the river goddess '''Osun''', which is usually celebrated in the month of August ('''Osù Ògùn''') yearly. The festival attracts thousands of Osun worshippers from all over Yorubaland and The Yoruba diaspora in the Americas, spectators and tourists from all walks of life. The Osun-Osogbo Festival is a two-week-long programme. It starts with the traditional cleansing of the town called 'Iwopopo', which is then followed in three days by the lighting of the 500-year-old sixteen-point lamp called '''Ina Olojumerindinlogun''', which literally means ''The sixteen eyed fire'', the lighting of this sacred lamp, heralds the beginning of the Osun festival. Then comes the 'Ibroriade', an assemblage of the crowns of the past ruler, Ataojas of Osogbo, for blessings. This event is led by the sitting ''Ataoja'' of Osogbo and the Arugba Yeye Osun (who is usually a young maiden dressed in white, who carries a sacred white calabash that contains propitiation materials meant for the goddess Osun, she is also accompanied by a committee of priestesses.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.mynewswatchtimesng.com/behold-new-arugba-osun-wants-doctor/|publisher=Newswatch Times|title=Behold, new Arugba Osun, who wants to be doctor|date= 31 August 2013|accessdate=10 June 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://allafrica.com/stories/201408221221.html|title=Nigeria: Osun Osogbo 2014 - Arugba's Berth Tastes Green With Goldberg Touch|author=Gregory Austin Nwakunor|date=22 August 2014|publisher=AllAfrica|accessdate=10 June 2015}}</ref> A similar event holds in the New World as [[Odunde Festival]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=6p2aLo2kafMC&pg=PA32&lpg=PA32&dq=Odunde+Festival+Yoruba+United+States+America&source=bl&ots=BTetZXabet&sig=4pVYI7W2-UJT-12r1cX692mkRtQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CDYQ6AEwB2oVChMIwbGQ66OCxwIVQT0UCh0_ewlk#v=onepage&q=Odunde%20Festival%20Yoruba%20United%20States%20America&f=false|title=The United States and West Africa: Interactions and Relations Volume 34 of Rochester studies in African history and the diaspora|issn=1092-5228|author1=Alusine Jalloh|author2=Toyin Falola|publisher=University Rochester Press|year=2008|isbn=978-1-58046-308-9|page=32}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=mK147fnLIrAC&pg=PA44&lpg=PA44&dq=Odunde+Festival+Yoruba+United+States+America&source=bl&ots=if2po7O2xN&sig=BeWeFy8Bfp0Iinj3728XzTY3-HU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CEEQ6AEwCmoVChMIwbGQ66OCxwIVQT0UCh0_ewlk#v=onepage&q=Odunde%20Festival%20Yoruba%20United%20States%20America&f=false|title=Art in the Lives of Immigrant Communities in the United States Rutgers Series: The Public Life of the Arts|author1=Paul DiMaggio|author2=Patricia Fernandez-Kelly|author3=Gilberto Cârdenas|author4=Yen Espiritu|author5=Amaney Jamal|author6=Sunaina Maira|author7=Douglas Massey|author8=Cecilia Menjivar|author9=Clifford Murphy|author10=Terry Rey|author11=Susan Seifert|author12=Alex Stepick|author13=Mark Stern|author14=Domenic Vitiello|author15=Deborah Wong|page=44|publisher=Rutgers University Press, 2010|isbn=978-0-8135-5041-1}}</ref>

[[File:EyoFigure.jpg|thumb|280px|Eyo figure in [[Lagos]]]] Another very popular festival with spiritual connotations is the [[Eyo festival|Eyo Olokun festival]] or '''Orisha play''', celebrated by the people of [[Lagos]]. The Eyo festival is a dedication to the God of the Sea [[Olokun]], who is an Orisha, and whose name literally mean ''Owner of the Seas''.<ref name=mapping/> Generally, there is no customarily defined time for the staging the Eyo Festival, this leads to a building anticipation as to what date would be decided upon. Once a date for its performance is selected and announced, the festival preparations begin. It encompasses a week-long series of activities, and culminates in a striking procession of thousands of men clothed in white and wearing a variety of coloured hats, called '''Aga'''. The procession moves through Lagos Island '''Isale Eko''', which is the historical centre of the Lagos metropolis. On the streets, they move through various crucial locations and landmarks in the city, including the palace of the traditional ruler of Lagos, the Oba, known as the [[Iga Idunganran]]. The festival starts from dusk to dawn, and has been held on Saturdays (Ojó Àbáméta) from time immemorial. A full week before the festival (always a Sunday), the 'senior' eyo group, the Adimu (identified by a black, broad-rimmed hat), goes public with a staff. When this happens, it means the event will take place on the following Saturday. Each of the four other 'important' groups — Laba (Red), Oniko (yellow), Ologede (Green) and Agere (Purple) — take their turns in that order from Monday to Thursday.

[[File:Eyo Olokun.jpg|thumb|310px|left|Eyo Olokun]] The Eyo masquerade essentially admits tall people, which is why it is described as '''Agogoro Eyo''' (literally meaning the tall Eyo masquerade). In the manner of a spirit (An Orisha) visiting the earth on a purpose, the Eyo masquerade speaks in a ventriloquial voice, suggestive of its otherworldliness; and when greeted, it replies: ''Mo yo fun e, mo yo fun ara mi'' which in Yoruba means: (''I rejoice for you, and I rejoice for myself''). This response connotes the masquerades as rejoicing with the person greeting it for the witnessing of the day, and its own joy at taking the hallowed responsibility of cleansing. During the festival, Sandals and foot wears, as well as '''Suku''': A hairstyle that is popular among the Yorubas, one that has the hair converge at the middle, then shoot upward, before tipping downward, are prohibited. The festival has also taken a more touristic dimension in recent times, which like the Osun Osogbo festival, attracts visitors from all across Nigeria, as well as Yoruba diaspora populations. In-fact, it is widely believed that the play is one of the manifestations of the customary African revelry that serves as the forerunner of the modern carnival in Brazil and other parts of the [[New World]], which may have been started by the Yoruba slaves transplanted in that part of the world due to the [[Atlantic slave trade]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.spyghana.com/celebrating-eyo-festival-in-the-modern-way/|title=Celebrating Eyo the Modern Way|website=SpyGhana}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kingdomsofnigeria.com/eyolagosagog.php|title=Royalty in the news: Lagos agog for Eyo Festival today.|website=Kingdoms of Nigeria|accessdate=10 June 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aboutlagos.com/?p=654|title=Eyo Festival|website=About Lagos|accessdate=10 June 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=IKqOUfqt4cIC&pg=PA346&dq=Yoruba+festivals+America&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CBsQ6AEwAGoVChMIl-ig7oqKxgIVB47bCh1J_wBM#v=onepage&q=Yoruba%20festivals%20America&f=false|page=346|title=Traditional Festivals, Vol. 2 [M - Z]|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-57607-089-5|accessdate=10 June 2015}}</ref>

===Music===
{{See also|Yoruba music|Batá drum}}
[[File:Bata drums.jpg|thumb|270px| The [[Batá drum]] – From left: Okónkolo, Iyá, Itótele.]]
The music of the Yoruba people is perhaps best known for an extremely advanced [[drummer|drumming]] tradition,<ref>{{cite book|title=Yorùbá Music in the Twentieth Century Identity, Agency, and Performance Practice|author=Bode Omojola|date=December 4, 2012|publisher=University Of Rochester Press|accessdate=February 28, 2014|url=http://www.urpress.com/store/viewItem.asp?idProduct=14012|isbn=978-1-58046-409-3}}</ref> especially using the dundun<ref name="Turino pg. 43">Turino, pgs. 181–182; Bensignor, Fran&ccedi;ois with Eric Audra, and Ronnie Graham, "Afro-Funksters" and "From Hausa Music to Highlife" in the ''Rough Guide to World Music'', pgs. 432–436 and pgs. 588–600; Karolyi, pg. 43</ref> hourglass tension drums.
The representation of musical instruments on sculptural works from Ile-Ife, indicates, in general terms a substantial accord with oral traditions. A lot of these musical instruments date back to the classical period of [[Ile-Ife]], which began at around the 10th century A.D. Some were already present prior to this period, while others were created later. The hourglass tension drum (Dùndún) for example, may have been introduced around the 15th century (1400's), the [[Benin Bronzes|Benin bronze plaques]] of the middle period depicts them. Others like the double and single iron clapper-less bells are examples of instruments that preceded classical Ife.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://drum.lib.umd.edu/bitstream/1903/3919/1/umi-umd-3770.pdf|year=2006|format=pdf|publisher=University of Maryland Libraries|title=SYMBOLS AND RITUAL: THE SOCIO-RELIGIOUS ROLE OF THE ÌGBÌN DRUM FAMILY|author=Professor Renée Ater|accessdate=8 July 2015}}</ref> Yoruba [[folk music]] became perhaps the most prominent kind of [[Music of West Africa|West African music]] in [[Afro-Caribbean music|Afro-Latin and Caribbean musical]] styles. '''Yorùbá music''' left an especially important influence on the music of [[Trinidad]], the [[Lucumi religion|Lukumi]] religious traditions,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.scribd.com/doc/85753/Bata-Drumming-Notations-Discographies-Glossary|title=Bata Drumming Notations Discographies Glossary (''Bata Drumming & the Lucumi Santeria BembeCeremony'')|website=Scribd Online|accessdate= September 14, 2015}}</ref> practice and the [[music of Cuba]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.descarga.com/cgi-bin/db/archives/Article17|website=Conunto Folkorico Nacional De Cuba Música Yoruba, Soul Force 101|title=Yoruba Sacred Music, Old World and New by John Gray|accessdate=September 14, 2015}}</ref>

[[File:Slit drum, Yoruba, Nigeria, 1900 - Staatliches Museum für Völkerkunde München - DSC08553.JPG|thumb|left|350px|Yoruba hollow slit drum]]
Yoruba drums typically belong to four major families, which are used depending on the context or genre where they are played. The [[Talking drum|Dùndún / Gángan family]], is the class of hourglass shaped talking drums, which imitate the sound of Yoruba speech. This is possible because the Yoruba language is tonal in nature. It is the most common and is present in many Yoruba traditions, such as [[Apala]], [[Jùjú music|Jùjú]], [[Sekere]] and [[Afrobeat]]. The second is the [[Sakara drum|Sakara family]]. Typically, they played a ceremonial role in royal settings, weddings and [[Oriki|Oríkì]] recitation; it is predominantly found in traditions such as [[Sakara music]], Were and [[Fuji music]]. The [[Gbedu|Gbedu family]] (literally, "large drum") is used by secret fraternities such as the [[Ogboni]] and royal courts. Historically, only the Oba might dance to the music of the drum. If anyone else used the drum they were arrested for sedition of royal authority. The Gbèdu are conga shaped drums played while they sit on the ground. '''Akuba''' drums (a trio of smaller conga-like drums related to the gbèdu) are typically used in afrobeat. The '''Ogido''' is a cousin of the gbedu. It is also shaped like a conga but with a wider array of sounds and a bigger body. It also has a much deeper sound than the conga. It is sometimes referred to as the "bass drum". Both hands play directly on the Ogido drum.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lagbaja.com/drums/ogido.php|website=Lagbaja|title=Ogido|accessdate=September 14, 2015}}</ref>

Today, the word ''Gbedu'' has also come to be used to describe forms of Nigerian Afrobeat and Hip Hop music. The fourth major family of Yoruba drums is the [[Batá drum|Bàtá family]] which are well decorated double faced drums, with various tones. They were historically played in sacred rituals. They are believed to have been introduced by [[Shango]], an Orisha, during his earthly incarnations as a warrior king. Traditional Yoruba drummers are known as '''Àyán'''. The Yoruba believe that '''Àyángalú''' was the first drummer. He is also believed to be the spirit or muse that inspires drummers during renditions. This is why some Yoruba family names contain the prefix 'Ayan-' such as Ayangbade, Ayantunde, Ayanwande.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://rateyourmusic.com/genre/Yoruba+Music/|title=Yoruba music|accessdate=September 14, 2015}}</ref> Ensembles using the [[Talking drum|dundun]] play a type of music that is also called ''dundun''.<ref name="Turino pg. 43"/> The [[Ashiko]] (Cone shaped drums), '''Igbin''', [[Gudugudu]] (Kettledrums in the Dùndún family), [[Agidigbo]] and [[Bembe (West African drumming)|Bèmbé]] are other drums of importance. The leader of a dundun ensemble is the '''oniyalu''' meaning; ' ''Owner of the mother drum'' ', who uses the drum to "talk" by imitating the [[tonality]] of Yoruba. Much of this music is spiritual in nature, and is often devoted to the [[Orisa]]s.

[[File:AgogoChrome-2tons.JPG|thumb|[[Agogô|Agogo]] metal gongs]]
Within each drum family there are different sizes and roles; the lead drum in each family is called Ìyá or '''Ìyá Ìlù''', which means "Mother drum", while the supporting drums are termed '''Omele'''. Yoruba drumming exemplifies West-African cross-rhythms and is considered to be one of the most advanced drumming traditions in the world. Generally, improvisation is restricted to master drummers. Some other instruments found in Yoruba music include, but are not limited to; The [[Goje|Gòjé]] ([[violin]]), [[Shekere|Shèkèrè]] (gourd rattle), [[Agidigbo]] (thumb piano that takes the shape of a plucked [[Lamellophone]]), '''Saworo''' (metal rattles for the arm and ankles, also used on the rim of the bata drum), '''Fèrè''' ([[whistle]]s), '''Aro''' ([[Cymbal]])s, [[Agogô]] ([[Bell (instrument)|bell]]), different types of [[flute]]s include the '''Ekutu, Okinkin & Igba'''
[[File:TalkingDrum.jpg|thumb|180px|left|The [[Talking Drum|Talking drum]]]]

[[Oriki]] (praise singing), a genre of sung poetry, which contains a series of proverbial phrases, praising or characterizing the respective person is of [[Egba people|Egba]] and [[Ekiti people|Ekiti]] origin, is often considered the oldest Yoruba musical tradition. Other Yoruba vocal traditions include Ijala (hunter chants), Ewi (poetry), and Odu (Ifa worship songs).<ref name=Olarinmoye2013>{{cite journal|last1=Olarinmoye|first1=Adeyinka Wulemat|title=The Images of Women in Yoruba Folktales|journal=International Journal of Humanities and Social Science|date=February 2013|volume=3|issue=4|page=138|url=http://www.ijhssnet.com/journals/Vol_3_No_4_Special_Issue_February_2013/15.pdf|format=pdf|accessdate=14 September 2015}}</ref> Yoruba music is typically [[Polyrhythm]]ic, which can be described as interlocking sets of rhythms that fit together somewhat like the pieces in a jigsaw puzzle. There is a basic timeline and each instrument plays a pattern in relation to that timeline. The resulting ensemble provides the typical sound of West African Yoruba drumming. Yorùbá music is regarded as the most important components of the modern Nigerian popular music scene. Although traditional Yoruba music was not influenced by foreign music, the same cannot be said of modern-day Yoruba music which has evolved and adapted itself through contact with foreign instruments, talent and creativity.
{{clear}}

===Twins in Yoruba society===
{{Main article|Ibeji}}
[[File:Yoruba Ibeji figures, representing twins Wellcome L0035694.jpg|thumb|Wooden '''Ere Ibeji''' figures representing twins. Yorubas have the highest [[twin]]ning rate in the world.]]
The Yoruba present the highest [[dizygotic]] twinning rate in the world (4.4% of all maternities).<ref name=rand>{{cite journal|url=http://www.randafricanart.com/Yoruba_Customs_and_Beliefs_Pertaining_to_Twins.html|title=Yoruba Customs and Beliefs Pertaining to Twins|volume=5|issue=2|pages=132–136|author=Leroy Fernand |author2=Olaleye-Oruene Taiwo |author3=Koeppen-Schomerus Gesina |author4=Bryan Elizabeth}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=UT5iQgAACAAJ&dq=Yoruba+twin+art&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CBsQ6AEwAGoVChMI9vbr0LSKxgIVBS_bCh11GwDp|title=Ibeji: The Cult of Yoruba Twins Volume 2 of Hic sunt leones|author1=George Chemeche|author2=John Pemberton|author3=John Picton|publisher=5 Continents|year=2003|isbn=978-88-7439-060-1}}</ref> They manifest at 45–50 [[twin]] sets (or 90–100 twins) per 1,000 live births, possibly because of high consumption of a specific type of yam containing a natural phytoestrogen which may stimulate the ovaries to release an egg from each side. Twins are very important for the Yoruba and they usually tend to give special names to each twin.<ref name=Knox>{{cite journal|url=http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/119755283/abstract |title=Twinning in Yoruba Women|journal=BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology|volume=67|issue=6|pages=981–984|date=December 1960|author=Knox George|author2=Morley David |doi=10.1111/j.1471-0528.1960.tb09255.x}}</ref> The first of the twins to be born is traditionally named ''Taiyewo'' or ''Tayewo'', which means 'the first to taste the world', or the 'slave to the second twin', this is often shortened to ''Taiwo'', ''Taiye'' or ''Taye''. ''Kehinde'' is the name of the last born twin. ''Kehinde'' is sometimes also referred to as ''Kehindegbegbon'' which is short for; ''Omo kehin de gba egbon'' and means, 'the child that came behind gets the rights of the elder'.

===Calendar===
{{Main article|Yoruba calendar}}
Time is measured in '''ìṣẹ́jú '''(minutes), '''wákàtí '''(hours), '''ọjọ́ '''(days), '''ọ̀sẹ̀ '''(weeks), '''oṣù''' (months) and '''ọdún '''(years). There are 60 '''ìṣẹ́jú '''in 1 '''wákàtí'''; 24 '''wákàtí '''in 1 '''ọjọ́'''; 7 '''ọjọ́ '''in 1 '''ọ̀sẹ̀'''; 4 '''ọ̀sẹ̀ '''in 1 '''oṣù''' and 52 '''ọ̀sẹ̀ '''in 1 '''ọdún'''. There are 12 '''oṣù''' in 1 '''ọdún'''.<ref>[http://www.jolome.com/yoruba/calendar/ ''Yorùbá Language: Research and Development''] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101207061015/http://www.jolome.com/yoruba/calendar/ |date=7 December 2010 }}, 2010 Yorùbá Calendar (Kojoda 10052)#2,3,4,5,6,7</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
!Months in [[Yoruba calendar]]: || Months in [[Gregorian calendar]]:<ref>[http://www.ralaran.com Ralaran Uléìmȯkiri Institute]</ref>
|-
|'''Ṣẹrẹ''' || January
|-
|'''Erélé''' || February
|-
|'''Erénà''' || March
|-
|'''Igbe''' || April
|-
|'''Èbìbí''' || May
|-
|'''Okúdù''' || June
|-
|'''Agẹmọ''' || July
|-
|'''Ògún''' || August
|-
|'''Owérè''' (Owéwè) || September
|-
|'''Ọwàrà''' (Owawa) || October
|-
|'''Belu''' || November
|-
|'''Ọ̀pẹ''' || December
|}

The Yoruba week consist of five days. Of these, only four have names. Traditionally, the Yoruba count their week starting from the Ojó Ògún, this day is dedicated to Ògún. The second day is Ojó Jákúta the day is dedicated to Sàngó. The third day is known as the Ojó Òsè- this day is dedicated to Òrìshà ńlá (Obàtálá), while the fourth day is the Ojó Awo, in honour of [[Orunmila|Òrúnmìlà]].
{| class="wikitable"
!Yoruba calendar traditional days
|-
!Days:
|-
|'''Ojó Ògún''' (Ògún)
|-
| '''Ojó Jákúta''' (Shàngó)
|-
|'''Ojó Òsè''' (Òrìshà ńlá / Obàtálá)
|-
|'''Ojó Awo''' (Òrúnmìlà / Ifá)
|}

The Yoruba calendar (Kojoda) year starts from 3 June to 2 June of the following year.<ref>[http://www.jolome.com/yoruba/calendar/ Yorùbá Language: Research and Development] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101207061015/http://www.jolome.com/yoruba/calendar/ |date=7 December 2010 }}, 2010 Yorùbá Calendar (Kojoda 10052) #1</ref> According to this calendar, the Gregorian year 2008 CE is the 10,050th year of Yoruba culture.<ref>[http://www.jolome.com/yoruba/calendar/ Yorùbá Kalenda] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101207061015/http://www.jolome.com/yoruba/calendar/ |date=7 December 2010 }}</ref> To reconcile with the [[Gregorian calendar]], Yoruba people also often measure time in seven days a week and four weeks a month:

{| class="wikitable"
!Modified days in Yoruba calendar || Days in [[Gregorian calendar]]
|-
|'''Ọjọ́-Àìkú''' || Sunday
|-
|'''Ọjọ́-Ajé''' || Monday
|-
|'''Ọjọ́-Ìṣẹ́gun''' || Tuesday
|-
|'''Ọjọ́-'Rú''' || Wednesday
|-
|'''Ọjọ́-Bọ̀''' || Thursday
|-
|'''Ọjọ́-Ẹtì''' || Friday
|-
|'''Ọjọ́-Àbámẹ́ta''' || Saturday<ref>[http://yourtemple.net/spirit/2008.03/yoruba_calendar.jsp Yourtemple.net] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090116185921/http://yourtemple.net/spirit/2008.03/yoruba_calendar.jsp |date=16 January 2009 }}</ref>
|}

===Cuisine===
Solid food, mostly cooked, pounded or prepared with hot water are basic staple foods of the Yoruba. These foods are all by-products of crops like [[cassava]], [[Yam (vegetable)|yams]], [[cocoyam]] and forms a huge chunk of it all. Others like [[Cooking bananas|Plantain]], [[corn]], [[beans]], [[meat]], and [[fish]] are also chief choices.<ref name="Yoruba Cuisine">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Kudeti_book_of_Yoruba_cookery.html?id=IIIOAQAAIAAJ&redir_esc=y|title=The Kudeti Book of Yoruba Cookery|last1=Mars|first1=J.A.|last2=Tooleyo|first2=E.M.|publisher=CSS|year=2003|isbn=978-978-2951-93-9}}</ref>

Some common Yoruba foods are iyan (pounded yam), [[Amala (food)|Amala]], [[eba]], semo, [[fufu]], [[Moin moin]] (bean cake) and [[akara]].<ref name=understand/> [[Soup]]s include [[egusi]], ewedu, [[okra]], vegetables are also very common as part of diet. Items like [[rice]] and [[beans]] (locally called ewa) are part of the regular diet. Some dishes are also prepared for festivities and ceremonies such as [[Jollof rice]] and [[Fried rice]]. Other popular dishes are Ekuru, [[stew]]s, corn, cassava and flours – e.g. maize, yam, plantain and beans, [[Eggs (food)|eggs]], [[Chicken (food)|chicken]], [[beef]] and assorted forms of meat (pumo is made from cow skin). Some less well known meals and many miscellaneous staples are arrowroot gruel, sweetmeats, fritters and coconut concoctions; and some [[bread]]s – yeast bread, rock buns, and palm wine bread to name a few.<ref name="Yoruba Cuisine"/>

<gallery class=center caption="Yoruba cultural dishes" mode=packed heights=165>
File:Amala.jpg|alt=Picture of a brown doughy Yoruba dish known as Amala on a plate|Àmàlà is a brown doughy dish made from Yam and Cassava flour usually eaten with stews, soups and other recipes.
File:Akara.jpg|[[Acarajé|Akara]] is a recipe by the Yoruba, which has been adopted by the rest of Nigeria. It is present in the Americas as [[Acarajé]]
File:Eba Eforiro and asoorted meat.png|Eba, is a doughy dish made by processing [[Garri]] in hot water, and turning till it becomes a consistent dough (shown combined with other dishes).
File:A Plate of Pounded Yam (Iyan) served in Birmingham UK.JPG|alt=Picture of pounded yam known as Iyan in Yoruba on a plate|Iyan or pounded yam with mixed vegetables and fish stew
File:Moin Moin.jpg|Cut [[Moin Moin]];"Ewe eran" leaves (Thaumatococcus daniellii) are traditionally used to improve flavoring.
</gallery>

==Dressing and clothing==
[[File:Kwarastatedrummers.jpg|thumb|210px|[[Yoruba music|Yoruba]] [[drum]]mers: they are wearing very basic traditional clothing.]]

The Yoruba have legendary types of clothes that make them distinct from other cultures around them. They take immense pride in their attire, for which they are well known. Clothing materials traditionally come from processed cotton by traditional weavers. They believe that the type of clothes worn by a man depicts his personality and social status, and that different occasions require different clothing outfits.

Typically, The Yoruba have a very wide range of materials used to make clothing, the most basic being the [[Aso Oke fabric|'''Aṣo-Oke''']], which is a hand loomed cloth of different patterns and colors sewn into various styles.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Makinde|first1=D. Olajide|last2=Ajiboye|first2=Olusegun Jide|last3=Ajayi|first3=Babatunde Joseph|title=Aso-Oke Production and Use Among the Yoruba of Southwestern Nigeria| publisher=The Journal of Pan African Studies|volume=3|number=3|date=September 6, 2009|url=http://www.jpanafrican.com/docs/vol3no3/3.3AsoOke.pdf|format=pdf|accessdate=May 1, 2014}}</ref> and which comes in very many different colors and patterns.
Aso Oke comes in three major styles based on pattern and coloration;
* '''Alaari''' - a rich red Aṣọ-Oke,
* '''Sanyan''' - a brown and usual light brown Aṣọ-Oke, and
* '''Ẹtu''' - a dark blue Aṣọ-Oke.

Other clothing materials include but are not limited to:
* '''Ofi''' - pure white yarned cloths, used as cover cloth, it can be sewn and worn.
* '''Aran''' - a velvet clothing material of silky texture sewn into Danṣiki and Kẹmbẹ, worn by the rich.
* [[Adire (textile art)|'''Adirẹ''']] - cloth with various patterns and designs, dye in indigo ink (Ẹlu or Aro).

[[File:African Lace VLM 14.jpg|thumb|320px|left|'''Agbada''' clothing historically worn by Yoruba men]]
Clothing in Yoruba culture is gender sensitive. For menswear, they have ''Bùbá, Esiki'' and ''Sapara'', which are regarded as '''Èwù Àwòtélè''' or underwear, while they also have ''Dandogo, Agbádá, Gbariye, Sulia'' and ''Oyala'', which are also known as '''Èwù Àwòlékè / Àwòsókè''' or overwear. Some fashionable men may add an accessory to the Agbádá outfit in the form of a wraparound (Ìbora).<ref>{{cite news|url=http://fashion-history.lovetoknow.com/clothing-types-styles/agbada-clothing|title=Agbada Clothing|author=Babatunde Lawa|work=Beauty and Fashion|publisher=Lovetoknow|accessdate=10 June 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=zqkYAAAAIAAJ&q=Agbada+Yoruba+men%27s+fashion+clothing&dq=Agbada+Yoruba+men%27s+fashion+clothing&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAWoVChMI7eCImo6KxgIVKyzbCh1QowAF|website=Scribner library of daily life (Gale Virtual Reference Library)|title=Encyclopedia of Clothing and Fashion (Vol. 1: Academic Dress to Eyeglasses)|author=Valerie Steele|publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons (University of Michigan)|pages=31–32|date=29 December 2006|isbn=978-0-684-31395-5}}</ref>
[[File:Aso Oniko.jpg|thumb|right|320px|Finished '''Adire''' clothing material]]
They also have various types of '''Sòkòtò''' or native trousers that are sown alongside the above-mentioned dresses. Some of these are '''Kèmbè''' (Three-Quarter baggy pants), ''Gbáanu'', '''Sóóró''' (Long slim / streamlined pants), ''Káamu'' & ''Sòkòtò Elemu''. A man's dressing is considered incomplete without a cap '''(Fìlà)'''. Some of these caps include, but are not limited to; '''Gobi''' (Cylindrical, which when worn may be compressed and shaped forward, sideways, or backward), ''Tinko'', '''Abetí-ajá''' (Crest-like shape which derives its name from its hanging flaps that resembles a dog's hanging ears. The flaps can be lowered to cover the ears in cold weather, otherwise, they are upwardly turned in normal weather), ''Alagbaa, Oribi, Bentigoo, Onide'', and '''Labankada''' (a bigger version of the Abetí-ajá, and is worn in such a way as to reveal the contrasting color of the cloth used as underlay for the flaps).

Women also have different types of dresses. The most commonly worn are '''Ìró''' (wrapper) and '''Bùbá''' (blouse-like loose top). Women also have matching '''Gèlè''' (head gear) that must be put on whenever the Ìró and Bùbá is on. Just as the cap (Fìlà) is important to men, women's dressing is considered incomplete without Gèlè. It may be of plain cloth or costly as the women can afford. Apart from this, they also have '''ìborùn''' ([[Shawl]]) and '''Ìpèlé''' (which are long pieces of fabric that usually hang on the left shoulder and stretch from the hind of the body to the fore). At times, it is tied round their waists over the original one piece wrapper. Unlike men, women have two types of under wears (Èwù Àwòtélè), called; ''Tòbi'' and ''Sinmí''. Tòbi is like the modern day apron with strings and spaces in which women can keep their valuables. They tie the tòbi around the waists before putting on the Ìró (wrapper). Sinmí is like a sleeveless T-shirt that is worn under before wearing any other dress on the upper body.

There are many types of beads ('''Ìlèkè'''), hand laces, necklaces (Egba orùn), anklets (Egba esè) and bangles (Egba owó) that are abound in Yoruba land, that both males and females put on for bodily adornment. Chiefs, priests, kings or people of royal descent, especially use some of these beads, often. Some of these beads include ''Iyun, Lagidigba, Àkún'' etc. An accessory especially popular among royalty and titled [[Babalawo|Babalawos / Babalorishas]] is the '''Ìrùkèrè''', which is an artistically processed animal tail, a type of [[Fly-whisk]]. The horsetail whiskers are symbols of authority and stateliness. It can be used in a shrine for decoration but most often is used by chief priests and priestess as a symbol of their authority or Ashe.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.templeoduduwa.org/the-orisha/orisha|title=Orisha|website=Oduduwa|accessdate=10 June 2015}}</ref> As most men go about with their hair lowly cut or neatly shaven every time, the reverse is the case with women. Hair is considered the ' ''Glory of the woman'' '. They usually take care of their hair in two major ways; They plait and they weave. There are many types of plaiting styles, and women readily pick any type they want. Some of these include ''kòlésè, Ìpàkó-elédè, Sùkú, Kojúsóko, Alágogo, Konkoso'', Etc. Traditionally, The Yoruba consider tribal marks ways of adding beauty to the face of individuals. This is apart from the fact that they show clearly from which part of Yorubaland an individual comes from, since different areas are associated with different marks. Different types of [[Yoruba tribal marks|tribal marks]] are made with local blades or knives on the cheeks. These are usually done at infancy, when children are not pain conscious.{{medical citation needed|date=March 2017}} Some of these tribal marks include ''Pélé, Abàjà-Ègbá, Abàjà-Òwu, Abàjà-mérin, Kéké, Gòmbò, Ture, Pélé Ifè, Kéké Òwu, Pélé Ìjèbú'' etc. This practice has almost faded into oblivion.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.africa.uga.edu/Yoruba/unit_06/cultureunit.html|website=Africa UGA|title=Traditional Clothes: Clothing and Fashion|accessdate=10 June 2015}}</ref>

The Yoruba believe that development of a nation is akin to the development of a man or woman. Therefore, the personality of an individual has to be developed in order to fulfill his or her responsibilities. Clothing among the Yoruba people is a crucial factor upon which the personality of an individual is anchored. This belief is anchored in Yoruba [[proverb]]s. Different occasions also require different outfits among the Yoruba.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Akinbileje|first1=Yemisi Thessy|last2=Igbaro|first2=Joe|url=http://www.ncsu.edu/aern/TAS10.2/TAS10.2Yemisi.pdf|format=pdf|work=the African Symposium|publisher=African Educational Research Network|date=December 2010|volume=10|issue=2|title=Proverbial Illustration of Yoruba Traditional clothings: a cultural analysis}}</ref>

<center><gallery class=center caption="Yoruba clothing" mode=packed heights=200>
File:African Lace VLM 31.jpg| Simple '''Iro & Buba''' with [[Head tie|Gele]]
File:African Lace VLM 02.jpg| '''Agbádá àti Fìlà''' from [[Iseyin]], [[Oyo State]]
File:African Lace VLM 04.jpg| '''Iro & Bùbá''', with '''[[Head tie|Gele]] & Ipele''' blouse, wrapper & headgear
File:African Lace VLM 34.jpg| '''Bùbá àti Kèmbè''' shirt and short baggy pants for men
File:African Lace VLM 83.jpg| Embroidered [[Aso Oke fabric|Aso Òkè fabric]] for women
File:African Lace VLM 74.jpg| '''Agbádá àti Sóró''', Agbada and long slim pants for men
File:African Lace VLM 75.jpg| '''Ìró & Bùbá''' made from African lace material
</gallery></center>

==Demographics==
===Benin===
Estimates of the Yoruba in Benin vary from around 1.1 to 1.5 million people. The Yoruba are the main group in the [[Benin]] department of [[Ouémé Department|Ouémé]], all Subprefectures including Port Novo (Ajase), Adjara; [[Collines Department|Collines Province]], all subprefectures including Save, Idasa-Zoume, Bante, Tchetti; [[Plateau Department|Plateau Province]], all Subprefectures including Ketou, Sakete, Ipobe; [[Borgou Department|Borgou Province]], Tchaourou Subprefecture including Tchaourou; [[Zou Department|Zou Province]], Ouihni and Zogbodome Subprefecture; [[Donga Department|Donga Province]], Bassila Subprefecture and [[Alibori]], Kandi Subprefecture.

====Places====
The chief Yoruba cities or towns in Benin are: [[Porto-Novo]] (Ajase), [[Ouèssè]] (Wese), [[Kétou, Benin|Ketu]], [[Savé]] (Sabe), [[Tchaourou]] (Shaworo), [[Bantè]], [[Bassila]], [[Ouinhi]], [[Adjarra]], [[Adja-Ouèrè]] (Aja Were), [[Sakété]] (Itakete), [[Ifangni]] (Ifonyi), [[Pobè]], [[Dassa-Zoumé|Dassa]] (Idasha), [[Glazoue]] (Gbomina) etc.

===West Africa (Other)===
The Yoruba in [[Burkina Faso]] are numbered around 70,000 people, and around 60,000 in [[Niger]]. In the [[Ivory Coast]], they are concentrated in the cities of Abidjan (Treichville, Adjamé), Bouake, Korhogo, Grand Bassam and Gagnoa where they are mostly employed in business retail at major markets.<ref>http://www.ajol.info/index.php/afrrev/article/viewFile/43614/27137</ref><ref>https://blogdesproductions.wordpress.com/2016/05/23/cote-divoire-commerce-les-secrets-de-la-reussite-des-femmes-yoruba/</ref> Otherwise known as "Anago traders", they dominate certain sectors of the retail economy.

===Nigeria===
[[File:Nigeria Yoruba Area.png|thumb|150px|Yoruba area in Nigeria.]]
The Yorubas are the main ethnic groups in the Nigerian federal states of [[Ekiti State, Nigeria|Ekiti]], [[Lagos State, Nigeria|Lagos]], [[Ogun State, Nigeria|Ogun]], [[Ondo State, Nigeria|Ondo]], [[Osun State, Nigeria|Osun]], [[Kwara State|Kwara]], [[Oyo State, Nigeria|Oyo]] and the western third of [[Kogi State|Kogi]].<ref>http://omojuwa.com/2014/03/a-plea-for-the-creation-of-okun-state-olukoya-obafemi/</ref>

====Places====
The chief Yoruba cities or towns in Nigeria are: [[Abeokuta|Abẹokuta]], [[Ado-Ekiti]], [[Agbaja]], [[Ago Iwoye]], [[Akungba Akoko]], [[Akure|Akurẹ]], [[Atan Ota|Atan Otta]], [[Ayetoro]], [[Ayetoro Gbede]], [[Badagry]], [[Ede, Nigeria|Ede]], [[Effon-Alaiye|Efon Alaaye]], [[Egbe]], [[Ejigbo]], [[Epe, Nigeria|Epe]], [[Eruwa]], [[Esa-Oke]], [[Esie]], [[Afijio|Fiditi]], [[Gbongan]], [[Ibadan]], [[Idanre]], [[Ido Ekiti]], [[Idoani]], [[Igboho]], [[Igbo-Ora]], [[Idiroko]], [[Ifo]], [[Igbeti]], [[Ijebu Igbo|Ijẹbu-Igbo]], [[Ijebu Ode]], [[Ijebu-Jesa|Ijebu-Ijesha]], [[Ijero|Ijero Ekiti]], [[Ikare|Ikare Akoko]], [[Ikenne]], [[Ikere-Ekiti]], [[Ikire]], [[Ikirun]], [[Ikole|Ikole Ekiti]], [[Ikorodu]], [[Ila Orangun]], [[Ilaje]], [[Ilaro]], [[Ilawe Ekiti]], [[Ife|Ilé-Ifẹ]], [[Ile Oluji/Okeigbo|Ile Oluji]], [[Ilesa]], [[Illah Bunu]], [[Ilobu]], [[Ilorin|Ilọrin]], [[Inisa]], [[Imota]], [[Iperu Remo|Iperu]], [[Ipetu-Ijesha]], [[Ipetumodu]], [[Iragbiji]], [[Yagba East|Isanlu]], [[Ise Ekiti]], [[Iseyin]], [[Iwo, Osun|Iwo]], [[Ijumu|Iyara]], [[Kabba]], [[Kisi, Nigeria|Kishi]], [[Lagos|Eko/Lagos]], [[Lokoja]], [[Mopa, Nigeria|Mopa]], [[Obajana]], [[Ode-Irele]], [[Odeomu|Ode-Omu]], [[Odigbo|Ore]], [[Odogbolu]], [[Offa, Kwara|Offa]], [[Ogbomoso]], [[Ogidi, Kogi State|Ogidi-Ijumu]], [[Oka Akoko]], [[Kajola|Okeho]], [[Okitipupa]], [[Okuku, Osun State|Okuku]], [[Irepodun, Kwara|Omu Aran]], [[Omuo]], [[Ondo City]], [[Osogbo]], [[Ota, Nigeria|Sango Otta]], [[Obafemi Owode|Owode]], [[Moba, Nigeria|Otun Ekiti]], [[Owo]], [[Oyo, Oyo|Ọyọ]], [[Shagamu]], [[Shaki, Oyo|Shaki]], and [[Share, Kwara|Share]].

===Togo===
Estimates of the Yoruba in Togo vary from around 500,000 to 600,000 people. There are both immigrant Yoruba communities from Nigeria, and indigenous ancestral Yoruba communities living in [[Togo]]. [[Emmanuel Adebayor]], who plays for [[Crystal Palace F.C.|Crystal Palace]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cpfc.co.uk/news/article/adebayor-joins-the-eagles-2922393.aspx|title=Adebayor Joins The Eagles|accessdate=26 January 2016|publisher=Crystal Palace F.C.}}</ref> is an example of a Togolese from an immigrant Yoruba background. Indigenous Yoruba communities in Togo, however can be found in the Togolese departments of [[Plateaux Region, Togo|Plateaux Region]], Anie, Ogou and Est-Mono prefectures; [[Centrale Region, Togo|Centrale Region]] and [[Tchamba Prefecture]]. The chief Yoruba cities or towns in Togo are: [[Atakpame]], [[Anié]], [[Morita, Togo|Morita]], [[Ofe]], [[Kambole]].

===The Yoruba diaspora===
{{See also|Yoruba American|Nigerian American|Nigerian diaspora|British Nigerian|Nigerians in Ireland|Nigerian Australian}}
[[File:Kru, Ibo, Yoruba USC2000 PHS.svg|thumb|Distribution of [[Kru people|Kru]], [[Ibo language|Ibo]] and Yoruba speakers in the United States, US Census 2000<ref>[http://www.census.gov/main/www/cen2000.html US Census 2000], census.gov</ref>]]

Yoruba people or descendants can be found all over the world especially in the [[Nigerian British|United Kingdom]], [[Canada]], the [[Nigerian American|United States]], [[Cuba]], [[Brazil]], [[Latin America]], and the [[Caribbean]].<ref name=gender/><ref name=history/><ref name=pedia>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=pY8YAAAAIAAJ&q=Nago+Lucumi+Yoruba+United+States&dq=Nago+Lucumi+Yoruba+United+States&hl=en&sa=X&ei=3rLaVP2sMontUvy3gAg&ved=0CBkQ6AEwADge|title=Encyclopedia of Black studies|page=481|author=Molefi K. Asante|author2=Ama Mazama|date=26 December 2006|publisher=Sage Publications; University of Michigan|isbn=978-0-7619-2762-4}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|work=Penn Language center|title=Yoruba|url =https://plc.sas.upenn.edu/yoruba|publisher=University of Pennsylvania|accessdate=February 28, 2014}}</ref> Significant Yoruba communities can be found in [[South America]] and [[Australia]]. The migration of Yoruba people all over the world has led to a spread of the Yoruba culture across the globe. Yoruba people have historically been spread around the globe by the combined forces of the [[Atlantic slave trade]]<ref name = saunders/><ref name=cabrera>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=5i5ZBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA43&dq=|title=Lydia Cabrera and the Construction of an Afro-Cuban Cultural Identity Envisioning Cuba|author=Edna M. Rodríguez-Plate|publisher=University of North Carolina Press|year=2005|isbn=978-0-8078-7628-2|page = 43}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=TFpiCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA250&dq=|title=African Traditional Religion in the Modern World|page=258|author=Douglas E. Thomas|publisher=McFarland|year=2015|isbn=978-0-7864-9607-5}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=TJ3vI7ryh8cC&pg=PA134&dq=|title=Yoruba Creativity: Fiction, Language, Life and Songs|author1=Toyin Falola|author2=Ann Genova|publisher=Africa World Press|year=2005|isbn=978-1-59221-336-8|page=134}}</ref> and voluntary self migration.<ref name=nicholas/> Their exact population outside Africa is unknown, but researchers have established that the majority of the African component in the ancestry of [[African American]]s is of Yoruba and/or Yoruba-like extraction.<ref name="Lovejoy 2003 92–93"/><ref name="Isichei 2002 81"/><ref name="Rucker 2006 52"/><ref>{{cite book|last1=Falola|first1=Toyin|last2=Childs|first2=Matt. D.|title= The Yoruba Diaspora In The Atlantic World|year=2005|url=https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Yoruba_Diaspora_in_the_Atlantic_Worl.html?id=Uk1Tbdsq99gC&redir_esc=y|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=978-0-253-21716-5}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=http://med.stanford.edu/tanglab/publications/PDFs/CharacterizingTheAdmixedAfricanAncestryOfAfricanAmericans.pdf|title=Characterizing the admixed African ancestry of African Americans|format=pdf|author1=Fouad Zakharia|author2=Analabha Basu|author3=Devin Absher|author4=Themistocles L. Assimes|author5=Alan S. Go|author6=Mark A. Hlatky |author7=Carlos Iribarren|author8=Joshua W. Knowles|author9=Jun Li|author10=Balasubramanian Narasimhan|author11=Stephen Sydney|author12=Audrey Southwick|author13=Richard M. Myers|author14=Thomas Quertermous|author15=Neil Risch|author16=Hua Tang|date=22 December 2009|work=Genome Biology|volume=10|number=12|doi=10.1186/gb-2009-10-12-r141|publisher=Stanford University School of Medicine and the University of California, San Francisco|accessdate=13 April 2015|pages=R141}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://phys.org/news/2015-03-complex-genetic-ancestry-americans-uncovered.html|title=Complex genetic ancestry of Americans uncovered|date=24 March 2015 |publisher=Science X Network|accessdate=13 April 2015}}</ref> In their Atlantic world domains, the Yorubas were known by the designations: "Nago/Anago", "Terranova", "Lucumi" and "Aku", or by the names of their various clans.

The Yoruba left an important presence in Cuba and Brazil,<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=HwcdAQAAMAAJ&q=|title= Orient Occident. News of Unesco's Major Project on Mutual Appreciation of Eastern and Western Cultural Values, Volumes 5-8|page=9|publisher=UNESCO (University of Michigan)|year=1962}}</ref> particularly in [[Havana]] and [[Bahia]].<ref name = urban>{{cite book | url =https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=Vxx0F6zZUfwC&pg=PA50&dq=|title = Black Urban Atlantic in the Age of the Slave Trade (The Early Modern Americas)|author1=Jorge Canizares-Esguerra|author2=Matt D. Childs|author3=James Sidbury|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|year=2013|isbn=978-0-8122-0813-9|page = 50}}</ref> According to a 19th-century report, "the Yoruba are, still today, the most numerous and influential in this state of [[Bahia]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=owVmcTlC-oIC&pg=PA24&dq=Yoruba+slaves+Brazil&hl=en&sa=X&ei=IkkrVfmLFcTbPd3EgNgI&ved=0CCAQ6AEwATgK|page=24|isbn=978-0-8263-4051-1|title=From Slavery to Freedom in Brazil: Bahia, 1835–1900 (Dialogos Series)|author=Dale Torston Graden|year=2006|publisher=The University of New Mexico}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=JsCYBgAAQBAJ&dq=Yoruba+in+Bahia&source=gbs_navlinks_s|title=The Development of Yoruba Candomble Communities in Salvador, Bahia, 1835–1986 Afro-Latin@ Diasporas|author=Miguel C. Alonso|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|year=2014|isbn=978-1-137-48643-1}}</ref> The most numerous are those from [[Oyo, Nigeria|Oyo]], capital of the Yoruba kingdom".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.novaera.blog.br/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&catid=6:candomble&id=17:presenca-dos-iorubas-no-conjunto-de-influencias-africanas-no-brasil&Itemid=2|title= Presence of the Yoruba African influences in Brazil|language=Portuguese|website=Nova Era|accessdate=May 1, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal| title= THE DIASPORA OF SPEAKERS OF YORUBA, 1650–1865: DIMENSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS |format=pdf|url=http://www.revistatopoi.org/numeros_anteriores/topoi13/Topoi%2013_artigo%201.pdf|year=2006|volume=7|number=13|author=David Eltis|language=Portuguese|publisher=Topoi|accessdate=May 1, 2014}}</ref> Others included Ijexa (Ijesha), Lucumi Ota (Aworis), Ketus, Ekitis, Jebus (Ijebu), Egba, Lucumi Ecumacho (Ogbomosho), and Anagos. In the documents dating from 1816 to 1850, Yorubas constituted 69.1% of all slaves whose ethnic origins were known, constituting 82.3% of all slaves from the Bight of Benin. The proportion of slaves from West-Central Africa (Angola - Congo) dropped drastically to just 14.7%.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.ca/books/about/The_Yoruba_Diaspora_in_the_Atlantic_Worl.html?id=Uk1Tbdsq99gC&redir_esc=y|title=The Yoruba Diaspora in the Atlantic World (Blacks in the Diaspora)|author1=Toyin Falola|author2=Matt D. Childs|publisher=Indiana University Press, 2005|isbn=978-0-253-00301-0}}</ref>

[[File:Individual ancestry estimates for 128 African Americans (African components).png|thumb|left|500px|Ancestry estimates for African Americans using discrete African populations as index show that African Americans have a majority African component most similar to that of the Yorubas of the Lower-Guinea general region]] Between 1831 and 1852 the African-born slave and free population of [[Salvador, Bahia]] surpassed that of free Brazil born Creoles. Meanwhile, between 1808 and 1842 an average of 31.3% of African-born freed persons had been '''Nagô (Yoruba)'''. Between 1851 and 1884, the number had risen to a dramatic 73.9%.

Other areas which received a significant number of Yoruba people and are sites of Yoruba influence are: [[Puerto Rico]], [[Saint Lucia]], [[Grenada]], Santa margarita and [[Belize]], British Guyana, Saint-Domingue (Now Haiti), Jamaica<ref name="Jamaica"/>(Where they settled and established such places as Abeokuta, Naggo head in [[Portmore, Jamaica|Portmore]], and by their hundreds in other parishes like [[Hanover Parish|Hanover]] and [[Westmoreland Parish|Westmoreland]], both in western Jamaica- leaving behind practices such as Ettu from ''Etutu'', Yoruba for Atonement among other customs of people bearing same name, and certain aspects of Kumina such as Sango veneration),<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=e3mdhCNLo9cC&pg=PA105&lpg=PA105&dq=|page=105|title=Jamaica in Slavery and Freedom: History, Heritage and Culture|author1=Kathleen E. A. Monteith|author2=Glen Richards|publisher=University of the West Indies Press|year=2001|isbn=978-976-640-108-5}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=9M4Wtsh8di4C&pg=PT18&dq=|title=A Comparative Analysis of Jamaican Creole and Nigerian Pidgin English|author=Pamela Odimegwu|year= 2012|isbn= 978-1-4781-5890-5}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=qXavxrsgZ2AC&pg=PA59&dq=|title=The Language, Ethnicity and Race Reader, Ben Rampton|author1=Roxy Harris|author2= Ben Rampton|publisher=Psychology Press|page=59|year=2003}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=-r1qAAAAMAAJ&q=|title=Freedom to be: The Abolition of Slavery in Jamaica and Its Aftermath|author=Urban Development Corporation (Jamaica)|publisher=University of Texas (National Library of Jamaica)|year=1984|isbn=978-976-8020-00-0}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=r0gYAAAAYAAJ&q=|page=91|title=Jamaica Journal, Volumes 27-28|publisher=Institute of Jamaica (the University of Virginia)|year=2000}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=tF0YAAAAYAAJ&q=|title=Roots of Jamaican culture|author =Mervyn C. Alleyne|publisher=Pluto Press (the University of Virginia)|year=1988|isbn= 978-0-7453-0245-4}}</ref><ref>http://www.geocities.ws/shandycan/Africanretentions_Jamaica.html</ref> [[Barbados]], [[Dominican republic]], [[Montserrat]] E.tc.

==Genetics==
Genetic studies have shown the Yoruba to cluster most closely with other West African Niger-Congo-speaking peoples, especially the [[Igbo people|Igbo]].<ref>{{cite journal|author1=Michael C. Campbell|author2=Sarah A. Tishkoff | title=African Genetic Diversity: Implications for Human Demographic History, Modern Human Origins, and Complex Disease Mapping, Annual Review of Genomics and Human Genetics |volume= 9|website=sciencemag|date=September 2008|url=http://www.sciencemag.org/content/suppl/2009/04/30/1172257.DC1/Tishkoff.SOM.pdf|format=pdf|accessdate=22 December 2013}}</ref>

==Notable people of Yoruba origin==
{{main article|List of Yoruba people}}
<!--Please, place new additions to conform with the chronological order-->
{{columns-list|colwidth=18em|
* [[9ice]]
* [[Abraham Adesanya]]
* [[Adebayo Faleti]]
* [[Adebayo Ogunlesi]]
* [[Adekunle Fajuyi|General Adekunle Fajuyi]]
* [[Sheikh Adelabu|Sheikh Abu-Abdullah Adelabu]]
* [[Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje]]
* [[Akinwumi Adesina]]
* [[Ameyo Adadevoh|Ameyo Stella Adadevoh]]
* [[Angélique Kidjo]]
* [[Anthony Joshua]]
* [[Asisat Oshoala]]
* [[Ayọ]]
* [[Ayodele Awojobi]]
* [[Aṣa]]
* [[Babatunde Kwaku Adadevoh]]
* [[Babatunde Olatunji]]
* [[Babajide Collins Babatunde]]
* [[Babatunde Fashola]]
* [[Benjamin Adekunle|General Benjamin Adekunle Rtd]]
* [[Beko Ransome-Kuti]]
* [[Bernardine Evaristo]]
* [[Best Ogedegbe]]
* [[Biyi Bandele]]
* [[Bola Tinubu]]
* [[Bukola Saraki]]
* [[Carlton E. Brown]]
* [[Chamillionaire]]
* [[Clarence Peters]]
* [[Daley Thompson]]
* [[David Alaba]]
* [[Davido]]
* [[David Oyedepo|Bishop David Oyedepo]]
* [[David Oyelowo]]
* [[Dayo Okeniyi]]
* [[D'banj]]
* [[Dele Momodu]]
* [[Desmond Elliot]]
* [[Donald Adeosun Faison]]
* [[Dotun Adebayo]]
* [[Enoch Adeboye|E.A. Adeboye]]
* [[Ebenezer Obey]]
* [[Eedris Abdulkareem]]
* [[eLDee]]
* [[Emmanuel Adebayor]]
* [[Enoch Adeboye|Pastor Enoch Adeboye]]
* [[Ernest Shonekan|Chief Earnest Shonekan]]
* [[Fatai Rolling Dollar]]
* [[Femi Gbaja Biamila]]
* [[Femi Kuti]]
* [[Femi Ogunode]]
* [[Femi Oke]]
* [[Femi Otedola]]
* [[Fela Kuti]]
* [[Festus Onigbinde]]
* [[Fola Adeola]]
* [[Folorunsho Alakija]]
* [[Funke Akindele]]
* [[Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti]]
* [[Gabriel Afolayan]]
* [[Gani Fawehinmi|Chief Gani Fawehinmi]]
* [[Ganiyu Akanbi Bello]]
* [[Gbenga Akinnagbe]]
* [[Hakeem Kae-Kazim]]
* [[Hakeem Olajuwon]]
* [[Helen Oyeyemi]]
* [[Herbert Macaulay]]
* [[Hubert Ogunde]]
* [[Ibeyi]]
* [[Ilesanmi Adesida]]
* [[Isaach de Bankolé]]
* [[Jarome Iginla]]
* [[John Dabiri]]
* [[Joke Silva]]
* [[Joseph Ayo Babalola]]
* [[Joseph Oladele Sanusi]]
* [[Jme (MC)]]
* [[Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila]]
* [[Kareem Abdul-Jabbar]]
* [[Karim Olowu]]
* [[Kehinde Bankole]]
* [[Kehinde Wiley]]
* [[Kemi Adeosun]]
* [[Kemi Adesoye]]
* [[Keziah Jones]]
* [[King Sunny Ade]]
* [[Kofoworola Ademola]]
* [[Kunle Afolayan]]
* [[Kunle Olukotun]]
* [[Lagbaja]]
* [[Latunde Odeku]]
* [[Lawan Gwadabe]]
* [[Majek Fashek]]
* [[Matthew Ashimolowo]]
* [[Michael Olowokandi]]
* [[Mike Adenuga]]
* [[Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola|Chief Moshood Abiola]]
* [[Mosunmola Abudu]]
* [[Mudashiru Lawal]]
* [[Nas]]
* [[Nicolas Grunitzky]]
* [[Obafemi Awolowo|Chief Obafemi Awolowo]]
* [[Obafemi Martins]]
* [[Oladipo Diya|General Oladipupo Diya]]
* [[Olamide]]
* [[Olajide Olatunji]]
* [[Ola Rotimi]]
* [[Olikoye Ransome-Kuti]]
* [[Olu Falae|Chief Olu Falae]]
* [[Olu Jacobs]]
* [[Olusegun Aganga]]
* [[Olusegun Obasanjo|General Olusegun Obasanjo]]
* [[Olusoji Fasuba]]
* [[Omotola Jalade Ekeinde]]
* [[Orishatukeh Faduma]]
* [[Orlando Owoh]]
* [[Patrick Owomoyela]]
* [[Ramsey Nouah]]
* [[Rasheed Yekini]]
* [[Razaq Okoya]]
* [[Richard Ayoade]]
* [[Rockmond Dunbar]]
* [[Rotimi Williams|Chief Rotimi Williams]]
* [[Sade Adu]]
* [[Samuel Ajayi Crowther]]
* [[Samuel Akintola]]
* [[Samuel Johnson (Nigerian historian)|Samuel Johnson]]
* [[Samuel Oshoffa]]
* [[Segun Odegbami]]
* [[Seun Kuti]]
* [[Sir Shina Peters]]
* [[Sound Sultan]]
* [[Stephen Adebanji Akintoye]]
* [[Taio Cruz]]
* [[Taye Taiwo]]
* [[Thomas Boni Yayi]]
* [[Tiwa Savage]]
* [[Tosin Abasi]]
* [[Tunde Baiyewu]]
* [[T. B. Joshua|Prophet T.B. Joshua]]
* [[Toks Olagundoye]]
* [[Tosin Ogunode]]
* [[Tunde Idiagbon|General Tunde Idiagbon]]
* [[Tunde Kelani]]
* [[Victor Oladipo]]
* [[Wale (rapper)]]
* [[William Kumuyi|W.F. Kumuyi]]
* [[Winston Wole Soboyejo]]
* [[Wizkid (musician)|Wizkid]]
* [[Wole Soyinka]]
* [[Yemi Odubade]]
* [[Yemi Osinbajo]]
* [[Yemi Tella]]
* [[Yemisi Ransome-Kuti]]
* [[Yusuf Grillo]]
* [[Yusuf Olatunji]]

}}

==See also==
{{Portal|Yoruba}}
* [[Oduduwa]]
* [[Egba people|Egba]]
* [[Ijebu]]
* [[Igbomina tribe]]
* [[Oyo Empire]]
* [[Esiẹ Museum]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Bibliography==
*{{cite book|first=Stephen|last=Akintoye|year=2010|title=A History of the Yoruba People|publisher=Amalion|isbn=978-2-35926-005-2}}
*{{cite book|last=Bascom|first=William|year=1984|title=The Yoruba of Southwestern Nigeria|publisher=Waveland Pr Inc|isbn=978-0-88133-038-0}}
*{{cite book|last=Blier|first=Suzanne Preston|year=2015|title=Art and Risk in Ancient Yoruba: Ife History, Power, and Identity, c.1300|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-107-02166-2}}
*{{cite book|last=Johnson|first=Samuel|title=The History of the Yorubas|year=1997|publisher=Paperpack|isbn=978-978-32292-9-7}}
* {{cite book|title=The Religion of the Yorubas|last=Lucas|first=Jonathan Olumide|year=1996|publisher=Athelia Henrietta Press|isbn=978-0-9638787-8-6}}
* {{cite book|last=Law|first=Robin|title=The Oyo Empire, c. 1600 – c. 1836: A West African Imperialism in the Era of the Atlantic Slave Trade|year=1977|publisher=Clarendon Press|isbn=978-0-19-822709-0}}
*{{cite book|last=Ogunyemi|first=Yemi D.|title=The Oral Traditions in Ile-Ife|publisher=Academica Press|isbn=978-1-933146-65-2}}
*{{cite book|last=Smith|first=Robert|title=Kingdoms of the Yoruba|publisher=Paperpack|year=1988|isbn=978-0-299-11604-0}}
*{{cite book|last=Falola|first=Toyin|author2=Childs, Matt D |title= The Yoruba Diaspora In The Atlantic World|year=2005|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=978-0-253-21716-5}}
* Olumola, Isola; et al. ''Prominent Traditional Rulers of Yorubaland'', Ibadan 2003.

==External links==
{{Commons category|Yoruba people}}
* [http://vid.ly/p2r1j4?content=video&format=webm The Osun Osogbo Festival of Nigeria]
* [http://yoruba.org Yoruba.org]
* [http://oroede.sourceforge.net/ Ọrọ èdè Yorùbá (Words of the Yoruba Language)] promotes the digital presentation of Yorùbá orthography through the creation and modification of Opensource software.
* [http://www.yorubaweb.com yorubaweb.com]
* [http://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007%2F978-94-007-3934-5_10203-1 The Yoruba City]
* [http://rwm.macba.cat/en/sonia/john-mason/capsula Yoruba priest Baba John Mason talks about the Yoruba diaspora and culture and the Orisha religion (2017)]

{{Yoruba topics}}
{{Ethnic groups in Nigeria}}
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{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2010}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Yoruba People}}
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Africa]]
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[[Category:Ethnic groups in Benin]]
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[[Category:Yoruba people| ]]

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