page_title: Yoruba people
section_title: Oyo and Ile-Ife
hierarchical_section_title: Yoruba people / History / Oyo and Ile-Ife
caption_attribution_description: Español: Cabeza de latón que representa un rey. Se pueden apreciar detalles de los tatuajes o escarificaciones faciales y el tocado, además del realismo del rostro. Altura: 35 cm. Ifé, ciudad yoruba, siglo XIII.Arte popular africano
context_page_description: The Yoruba people are an ethnic group that inhabits western Africa, mainly Nigeria, Benin, Togo and part of Ghana. The Yoruba constitute around 57–60 million people worldwide. The vast majority of this population is from Nigeria, where the Yoruba make up 21% of the country's population 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 speakers.
  The Yoruba share borders with the very closely related Itsekiri to the south-east in the North West Niger delta, Bariba to the north in Benin and Nigeria, the Nupe also to the north and the Ebira to the northeast in central Nigeria. To the east are the Edo, Ẹsan and the Afemai groups in mid-western Nigeria. Adjacent to the Ebira and Edo groups are the related Igala people found in the northeast, on the left bank of the Niger River. To the southwest are the Gbe speaking Mahi, Gun, Fon and Ewe who border Yoruba communities in Benin and Togo. Significant Yoruba populations in other West African countries can be found in Ghana, Benin, Ivory Coast, and Sierra Leone.
context_section_description: Ife continues to be seen as the "Spiritual Homeland" of the Yoruba. The city was surpassed by the Oyo Empire as the dominant Yoruba military and political power in the 11th century.
  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.
  Most of the city states were controlled by Obas (or royal sovereigns with various individual titles) and councils made up of 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.
  Yoruba settlements are often described as primarily one or more of the main social groupings called "generations":
  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.
caption: Brass head from Ife, 12th century
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