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Yoruba
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 ethnic groups in Africa. Most Yoruba people speak the Yoruba language, which is the Niger-Congo language with the largest number of native or L1 speakers. In Africa, the Yoruba are contiguous with the Yoruboid Itsekiri to the south-east in the northwest Niger Delta, Bariba to the northwest in Benin and Nigeria, the Nupe to the north, and the Ebira to the northeast in central Nigeria. To ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yorùbá Language
Yoruba (, ; Yor. '; Ajami: ) is a language spoken in West Africa, primarily in Southwestern and Central Nigeria. It is spoken by the 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 ritual is also common, but they have gone through changes due ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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, 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 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 Osse (Ovia) river occupied by the Ilaje Yorubas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yoruba Religion
The Yoruba religion (Yoruba: Ìṣẹ̀ṣe), or Isese, comprises the traditional religious and spiritual concepts and practice of the Yoruba people. Its homeland is in present-day Southwestern Nigeria, which comprises the majority of Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Ondo, Ekiti, Kwara and Lagos States, as well as parts of Kogi state and the adjoining parts of Benin and Togo, commonly known as Yoruba land. It shares some parallels with the Vodun practiced by the neighboring Fon and Ewe peoples to the west and to the religion of the Edo people and Igala people to the east. Yoruba religion is the basis for a number of religions in the New World, notably Santería, Umbanda, Trinidad Orisha, and Candomblé. Yoruba religious beliefs are part of Itàn (history), the total complex of songs, histories, stories, and other cultural concepts which make up the Yoruba society. Term The Yoruba name for the Yoruba indigenous religion is Ìṣẹ̀ṣẹ, which also refers to the traditions a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oduduwa Flag
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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yoruboid Languages
Yoruboid is a 'megagroup' of 14 related language clades, composed of the Igala group of dialects spoken in south central Nigeria, and the Edekiri group spoken in a band across Togo, Ghana, Benin and southern Nigeria, including the Itsekiri of Warri Kingdom. Name The name ''Yoruboid'' derives from its most widely spoken member, Yoruba, which has around 55 million primary and secondary speakers. Another well-known Yoruboid language is Itsekiri (about 1,000,000 speakers). The Yoruboid group is a branch of Defoid which also includes the Akoko and Ayere-Ahan languages. The term Defoid itself is a derivative combination using the individual terms; "Ede" (meaning 'language' in most lects within the grouping), "Ife" - A city of profound cultural significance to speakers of the diverse lects, and ''oid'', a suffix meaning "to be like" or "In the same manner as". The ''Defoid'' group itself is a branch of the Benue–Congo subfamily of the wider Niger–Congo family of languages. Al ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oku People (Sierra Leone)
The Oku people or the Aku Marabout or Aku Mohammedans are an ethnic group in Sierra Leone and the Gambia, primarily the descendants of marabout, liberated Yoruba people who were released from slave ships and resettled in Sierra Leone as Liberated Africans or came as settlers in the mid-19th century. Some Oku historically have intermarried since then with the ethnic Sierra Leone Creole people. The Creole are primarily descendants of African-American former slaves, as well as some from Jamaica, Nova Scotia, and slaves liberated from illegal slave trading in the 19th century. The Oku people primarily reside in the communities of Fourah Bay, Fula Town, and Aberdeen. The official cemetery of Oku People from Fourah Bay is the Aku Mohammedan Cemetery on Kennedy Street as well as Circular Road Cemetery of Magazine. About 99% of the Oku are Muslim. A minority of Oku people have recently converted to Christianity. They are known for their inquisitive nature, adventurous spirit, and valu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Itsekiri
The Itsekiri (also called the Isekiri, ''i Jekri'', ''Itsekri'', ''Ishekiri'', or Itsekhiri) are one of the Yoruboid subgroup of Nigeria's Niger Delta area, Delta State. The Itsekiris presently number 2.7 million people and live mainly in the Warri South, Warri North and Warri South West local government districts of Delta State on the Atlantic coast of Nigeria. Significant communities of Itsekiris can be found in parts of Edo and Ondo states and in various other Nigerian cities including Lagos, Benin City, Port Harcourt and Abuja. Many people of Itsekiri descent also reside in the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada. The Itsekiris are closely related to the Yoruba of South Western Nigeria and also close to the Okpe people and Edo peoples. The Itsekiris traditionally refer to their land as the Kingdom of Warri or 'Iwere' as its proper name – which is geographically contiguous to the area covered by the three Warri local government districts. The area is a ke ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nagos
The word Nagos refers to all Brazilian Yoruba people, their African descendants, Yoruba myth, ritual, and cosmological patterns. ''Nagos'' derives from the word ''anago'', a term Fon-speaking people used to describe Yoruba-speaking people from the kingdom of Ketu, Toward the end of the slave trade in the 1880s, the Nagos stood out as the African group most often shipped to Brazil. The Nagos were important to the history of the slave trade at that time in the 19th century, as Brazil requested more enslaved persons as demand for products from this region grew and harsh conditions on plantations entailed a high turnover. This particular group of Africans comprises the largest ethnic group in Brazil, with much influence since it was the most recent group to immigrate to Brazil, and Brazilian-African enslaved persons greatly helped the Brazilian economy. High demand for labor in plantations led Brazil to import enslaved persons of the ''Nagos'' tribe. In colonial times, Brazili ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fon People
The Fon people, also called Fon nu, Agadja or Dahomey, are a Gbe ethnic group.Fon people Encyclopædia Britannica, undated, 1.7 million population, Retrieved June 29, 2019 They are the largest ethnic group in found particularly in its south region; they are also found in southwest and . Their total population is estimated to be about 3,500,000 people, and they speak the Fon language, a me ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ewe People
The Ewe people (; ee, Eʋeawó, lit. "Ewe people"; or ''Mono Kple Volta Tɔ́sisiwo Dome'', lit. "Ewe nation","Eʋenyigba" Eweland;) are a Gbe-speaking ethnic group. The largest population of Ewe people is in Ghana (6.0 million), and the second largest population is in Togo (3.1 million). They speak the Ewe language ( ee, Eʋegbe) which belongs to the Gbe family of languages. They are related to other speakers of Gbe languages such as the Fon people, Fon, Gen language, Gen, Phla Phera, Gun, Maxi, and the Aja people of Togo, Benin and southwestern Nigeria. Demographics Ewe people are located primarily in the coastal regions of West Africa: in the region south and east of the Volta River to around the Mono River at the border of Togo and Benin; and in the southwestern part of Nigeria (close to the Atlantic Ocean, stretching from the Nigeria and Benin border to Epe). They are primarily found in the Volta Region in southeastern Ghana, southern Togo, in the southwestern part of B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nupe People
The Nupe (traditionally called the ''Nupawa'' by the Hausas and ''Tapa'' by the neighbouring Yoruba) are an ethnic group native to the Middle Belt of Nigeria. They are the dominant ethnic group in Niger State and a minority in Kwara State. The Nupe are also present in Kogi State and The Federal Capital Territory. History The Nupe trace their origin to Tsoede who fled the court of Idah and established a loose confederation of towns along the Niger in the 15th century. The proximity of Nupe to the Yoruba Igbomina people in the south and to the Yoruba Oyo people in the southwest led to cross-fertilization of cultural influences through trade and conflicts over the centuries. Population and demography There are probably about 3.5 million Nupes, principally in Niger State. The Nupe language is also spoken in Kwara, Kogi and Federal Capital Territory. They are primarily Muslims, with some Christians and followers of African Traditional Religion. The nupe people have seve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tabom People
The Tabom People or Agudas are the Afro-Brazilian community in the South of Ghana who are mostly of Yoruba descent. The Tabom People are an Afro-Brazilian community of former slave returnees. When they arrived in Jamestown, Accra they could speak only Portuguese, and would conspicuously use the phrase “Tá bom” (“Okay”), so the Ga-Adangbe people who primarily inhabited the Jamestown neighborhood in Accra, South Ghana started to call them the Tabom. Origins of Afro-Brazilian Community in Ghana The Afro-Brazilian descendants and community in South Ghana dates back to one study from the 19th century that between an estimated 3,000 and 8,000 former slaves decided to return to Africa. Up to now, it is not very clear if the Tabom really bought their freedom and decided to immediately come back or if they were at that time free workers in Brazil who came after the Malê Revolt of 1835 in Bahia. A lot of Afro-Brazilians when persecuted found their way back to Ghana, Togo, Benin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
