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Oduduwa
Oduduwa was a Yoruba divine king. According to tradition, he was the holder of the title of the ''Olofin'' of Ile-Ife, the Yoruba holy city. He ruled briefly in Ife, and also served as the progenitor of a number of independent royal dynasties in Yorubaland. His name, phonetically written by Yoruba language speakers as Odùduwà and sometimes contracted as ''Ooduwa'', ''Odudua'' or ''Oòdua'', is today venerated as that of "the hero, the warrior, the leader and father of the Yoruba race". Through conflict and mostly, through diplomacy lasting many years, Oduduwa was able to temporarily usurp the throne of Ife to become King. Oduduwa held the praise name ''Olofin Adimula''. Following his posthumous deification, he was admitted to the Yoruba pantheon as an aspect of a primordial divinity of the same name. His grandson became the first Oba (also known as Alaafin) of Oyo. Etymology The etymological derivation of the Yoruba name “Oduduwa” is: Odu-ti-o-da-uwa (i.e. Odu-ti-o-d ...
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Oduduwa Groove Where Oduduwa Is Believed To Have Descended
Oduduwa was a Yoruba divine king. According to tradition, he was the holder of the title of the ''Olofin'' of Ile-Ife, the Yoruba holy city. He ruled briefly in Ife, and also served as the progenitor of a number of independent royal dynasties in Yorubaland. His name, phonetically written by Yoruba language speakers as Odùduwà and sometimes contracted as ''Ooduwa'', ''Odudua'' or ''Oòdua'', is today venerated as that of "the hero, the warrior, the leader and father of the Yoruba race". Through conflict and mostly, through diplomacy lasting many years, Oduduwa was able to temporarily usurp the throne of Ife to become King. Oduduwa held the praise name ''Olofin Adimula''. Following his posthumous deification, he was admitted to the Yoruba pantheon as an aspect of a primordial divinity of the same name. His grandson became the first Oba (also known as Alaafin) of Oyo. Etymology The etymological derivation of the Yoruba name “Oduduwa” is: Odu-ti-o-da-uwa (i.e. Odu-ti-o ...
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Ooni
The Ooni of Ile-Ife (Ọọ̀ni of Ilè-Ifẹ̀) is the traditional ruler of Ile-Ife and the spiritual head of the Yoruba people. The Ooni dynasty existed before the reign of Oduduwa which historians have argued to have been between the 7th-9th centuries A.D. After the demise of Oduduwa and Ogun’s loss of the throne, Oduduwa's support base dispersed out of Ile-Ife. Another account but not in tandem with existing evidences states that Ogun purposely sent all Oduduwa's children on different journeys to effect Yoruba territory expansion. Whatever the case, after Oduduwa’s short reign, Obatala re-emerged as the king of Ile-Ife and the throne was rotated between Obatala and Obalufon houses until the return of Oranmiyan who briefly interrupted the succession pattern. Popular history as associated Ooni Lajamisan with Oranmiyan as his son. However, Ife tradition shows that Lajamisan was indeed a descent of Oranfe lineage. Nevertheless, Lajamisan is often said to have opened ...
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Yoruba People
The Yoruba people (, , ) are a West African ethnic group that mainly inhabit parts of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. The areas of these countries primarily inhabited by Yoruba are often collectively referred to as Yorubaland. The Yoruba constitute more than 42 million people in Africa, are a few hundred thousand outside the continent, and bear further representation among members of the African diaspora. The vast majority of the Yoruba population is today within the country of Nigeria, where they make up 21% of the country's population according to CIA estimations, making them one of the largest List of ethnic groups of Africa, ethnic groups in Africa. Most Yoruba people speak the Yoruba language, which is the Niger–Congo languages, Niger-Congo language with the largest number of native or L1 speakers. In Africa, the Yoruba are contiguous with the Yoruboid languages, Yoruboid Itsekiri to the south-east in the northwest Niger Delta, Bariba people, Bariba to the northwest in Benin a ...
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Yorubaland
Yorubaland () is the homeland and cultural region of the Yoruba people in West Africa. It spans the modern-day countries of Nigeria, Togo and Benin, and covers a total land area of 142,114 km2 or about 60% of the land area of Ghana. Of this land area, 106,016 km2 (74.6%) lies within Nigeria, 18.9% in Benin, and the remaining 6.5% is in Togo. Prior to European colonization of the Americas, European colonization, a portion of this area was known as Yoruba country. The geo-cultural space contains an estimated 55 million people, the majority of this population being ethnic Yoruba people, Yorubas. Geography Geo-physically, Yorubaland spreads north from the Gulf of Guinea and west from the Niger River into Benin and Togo. In the northern section, Yorubaland begins in the suburbs just west of Lokoja and continues unbroken up to the Ogooué River tributary of the Mono River in Togo, a distance of around 610 km. In the south, it begins in an area just west of the Benin and ...
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Yoruba Language
Yoruba (, ; Yor. '; Ajami script, Ajami: ) is a language spoken in West Africa, primarily in South West (Nigeria), Southwestern Middle Belt, and Central Nigeria. It is spoken by the Ethnic group, ethnic Yoruba people. The number of Yoruba speakers is roughly 50 million, plus about 2 million second-language speakers. As a pluricentric language, it is primarily spoken in a dialectal area spanning Nigeria and Benin with smaller migrated communities in Côte d'Ivoire, Sierra Leone and The Gambia. Yoruba vocabulary is also used in the Afro-Brazilian religion known as Candomblé, in the Caribbean religion of Santería in the form of the liturgical Lucumí language and various Afro-American religions of North America. Practitioners of these religions in the Americas no longer speak or understand the Yorùbá language, rather they use remnants of Yorùbá language for singing songs that for them are shrouded in mystery. Usage of a lexicon of Yorùbá words and short phrases during ritua ...
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Kingdom Of Benin
The Kingdom of Benin, also known as the Edo Kingdom, or the Benin Empire ( Bini: '''') was a kingdom within what is now southern Nigeria. It has no historical relation to the modern republic of Benin, which was known as Dahomey from the 17th century until 1975. The Kingdom of Benin's capital was Edo, now known as Benin City in Edo State, Nigeria. The Benin Kingdom was "one of the oldest and most developed states in the coastal hinterland of West Africa". It grew out of the previous Edo Kingdom of Igodomigodo around the 11th century AD, and lasted until it was annexed by the British Empire in 1897. Oral traditions The original people and founders of the Benin Kingdom, the Edo people, were initially ruled by the Ogiso (Kings of the Sky) who called their land Igodomigodo. The first Ogiso (Ogiso Igodo), wielded much influence and gained popularity as a good ruler. He died after a long reign and was succeeded by Ere, his eldest son. In the 12th century, a great palace intrigue eru ...
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Orisa
Orishas (singular: orisha) are spirits that play a key role in the Yoruba religion of West Africa and several religions of the African diaspora that derive from it, such as Cuban, Dominican and Puerto Rican Santería and Brazilian Candomblé. The preferred spelling varies depending on the language in question: òrìṣà is the spelling in the Yoruba language, orixá in Portuguese, and orisha, oricha, orichá or orixá in Spanish-speaking countries. According to the teachings of these religions, the orishas are spirits sent by the supreme creator, Olodumare, to assist humanity and to teach them to be successful on ''Ayé'' (Earth). Rooted in the native religion of the Yoruba people, most orishas are said to have previously existed in òrún - the spirit world - and then became Irúnmọlẹ̀ - spirits or divine beings incarnated as human on Earth. Irunmole took upon a human identity and lived as ordinary humans in the physical world, but because they had their origin in the d ...
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Ijesa
The Ijesha (written as Ìjẹ̀ṣà in Yoruba orthography) are a sub- ethnicity of the Yorubas of West Africa. Ilesha is the largest town and historic cultural capital of the Ijesha people, and is home to a kingdom of the same name, ruled by an Oba locally styled as the Owa Obokun Adimula. The present ruling family of Ijesha is the Aromolaran family with the current reigning Owa Obokun being Oba Gabriel Adekunle Aromolaran. Geography Ijeshaland is located at latitude 8.92°N and Longitude 3.42°E. It lies in a forested region at the heart of the Yoruba country west of the Effon ridge which separate the Ijeshas from the Ekitis to their east, and at the intersection of roads from Ile-Ife, Oshogbo, Ado Ekiti and Akure. The Ijesa cultural area presently covers six local government councils within Osun state and Okemesi currently the headquarter of Okemesi/Ido-ile LCDA in Ekiti State of Nigeria. The Ijesha territory is adjoined by the Ekiti on the east, the Igbomina to the no ...
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Orisha
Orishas (singular: orisha) are spirits that play a key role in the Yoruba religion of West Africa and several religions of the African diaspora that derive from it, such as Cuban, Dominican and Puerto Rican Santería and Brazilian Candomblé. The preferred spelling varies depending on the language in question: òrìṣà is the spelling in the Yoruba language, orixá in Portuguese, and orisha, oricha, orichá or orixá in Spanish-speaking countries. According to the teachings of these religions, the orishas are spirits sent by the supreme creator, Olodumare, to assist humanity and to teach them to be successful on ''Ayé'' (Earth). Rooted in the native religion of the Yoruba people, most orishas are said to have previously existed in òrún - the spirit world - and then became Irúnmọlẹ̀ - spirits or divine beings incarnated as human on Earth. Irunmole took upon a human identity and lived as ordinary humans in the physical world, but because they had their origin in the ...
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Moremi Ajasoro
Moremi Ajasoro ( Yoruba: ''Mọremí Àjàṣorò'') was a legendary Yoruba queen and folk heroine in the Yorubaland region of present-day southwestern Nigeria who is fabled to have assisted in the liberation of the Yoruba kingdom of Ife from the neighbouring Ugbo Kingdom. Moremi was married to Oranmiyan, the son of Oduduwa, the first king of Ife. Biography The Ayaba (Queen Consort) Moremi lived in the 12th century, hailed from Offa, and was married to Oranmiyan, the heir to the king of Ife and son of the founding father of the Yoruba people, Oduduwa Ile-Ife was a kingdom that was said to have been at war with an adjoining tribe who were known to them as the ''Forest people''. (Ugbò in the Yoruba language, though the said tribe is believed by scholars to have had no relation to the contemporary Ugbòs of modern Nigeria). Scores of Ife citizens were being enslaved by these people, and because of this they were generally regarded with disdain by the Yoruba city-states. Al ...
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Alaafin
Alaafin, or ''The Owner of the Palace'' in the Yoruba language, is the title of the emperor of the medieval Oyo empire and present-day Oyo town of West Africa. He ruled the old Oyo Empire which extended from the present day Benin republic to Nigeria originating from states in the South East and West to the North. The people under him are called Yoruba people and spoke the Yoruba Language. The Alaafin of Oyo in Yoruba mythology and history is said to be one of Oduduwa seven grandsons who later became Kings, forming the bedrock of the Yoruba Civilization /sup> . The title was retained after the fall of the Oyo Empire as the official title of the ceremonial ruler of the contemporary natives of Oyo, Nigeria. The Alaafin is the political head of the Yoruba people and the only monarch with the pre-requisite power to appoint a chieftain representing the entire Yorubaland Yorubaland () is the homeland and cultural region of the Yoruba people in West Africa. It spans the modern-d ...
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Ogun
Ogun or Ogoun (Yoruba: Ògún, Portuguese: Ogum, Gu; also spelled Oggun or Ogou; known as Ogún or Ogum in Latin America) is a spirit that appears in several African religions. He attempted to seize the throne after the demise of Obatala, who reigned twice, before and after Oduduwa, but was ousted by Obamakin (Obalufon Ogbogbodirin) and sent on an exile - an event that serves as the core of the Olojo Festival. Ogun was a warrior and a powerful spirit of metal work, as well as of rum and rum-making. He is also known as the "god of iron" and is present in Yoruba religion, Haitian Vodou, and West African Vodun. Yoruba religion In Yoruba religion, Ogun is a primordial orisha in Yoruba Land. In some traditions, he is said to have cleared a path for the other orisha to enter Earth, using a metal axe and with the assistance of a dog. To commemorate this, one of his praise names, or ''oriki'', is ''Osin Imole'' or the "first of the primordial Orisha to come to Earth". He is the god of ...
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