Yoruba

BioDun J. Ogundayo

The Yoruba are among the largest ethnolinguistic groups in Africa, numbering between 25 million and 40 million. The Yoruba are a nationality. Today, they are to be found mainly in southwestern Nigeria, West Africa. They constitute the majority ethnic group in about a third of Nigeria's federal republic of 36 states. Their current homeland is also known among the Yoruba people as He Yooba, or Yorubaland. The Yoruba at home share borders and are culturally contiguous with other Nigerian ethnic groups such as the Nupe, Ibariba, Igbirra, and Igala in Kwara State (northeast of Yorubaland); and the Itsekiri, Esan, and Edo in the Niger Delta area. To the northwest of Yorubaland are related groups such as the Egun, Fon, Mahi (Benin Republic), and Ewe, as well as other Gbe-speaking people in Togo and Benin, and the Ga in Ghana. Outside of Yorubaland, there are sizable communities that collectively form a ...

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