Yoruba People

Yoruba people and culture

The Yoruba people live mostly in Southwestern Nigeria. They have developed a variety of different artistic forms including pottery, weaving, beadwork, metalwork, and mask making.  Most artwork is made to honour the gods and ancestors and since there are more than 401 known gods to the Yoruba there is much sculpture and artwork made.


Yoruba history and culture

The Yorubas originated from people known as the Oyo who arose and became quite popular by their trading with the Portuguese, which gave them a large supply of guns.





People & Culture

Yoruba People

Yoruba people are a large ethno-linguistic group or ethnic nation in Africa, and the majority of them speak the Yoruba language. The Yoruba constitute approximately 21 percent of Nigeria’s total population, and around 40 million individuals throughout the region of West Africa. While the majority of the Yoruba live in western Nigeria, there are also substantial indigenous Yoruba communities in Benin, Ghana, Togo and the Caribbean.

A significant percentage of Africans enslaved during the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade in the Americas managed to maintain the Yoruba spiritual religion known as Aborisha.


The Yorubas are the main ethnic group in the states of Ekiti, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, and Oyo, which are subdivisions of Nigeria; they also constitute a sizable proportion of Kwara and Kogi states as well as of the Benin.

Major towns and cities

Traditionally, the Yorubas organized themselves into networks of related villages, towns and kingdoms; with most of them headed by an Oba (King) or Baale (a nobleman or mayor). The main Yoruba cities and towns are Ile-Ife, Ibadan, Lagos, Ijebu Ode, Abeokuta, Akure, Ilorin, Ijebu-Igbo, Ogbomosho, Ondo, Badagri, Ado-Ekiti, Osogbo, Ilesa, Oyo, Owo, Kabba, Offa Ilesa, Ilobu, Ede etc.


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