THE ORIGIN OF YORUBA PEOPLE (INHABITANTS OF SOUTHWESTERN NIGERIA)
The Yoruba people are the inhabitants of the Southwestern geo-political zone of Nigeria. A considerable number of the people are found in the northern region—precisely Kogi and Kwara states—some are also "the aborigines' of a part of Benin Republic. Today, many Yoruba speaking people are found in Brazil because their ancestors were victims of the Portuguese's slave trade which started in the fifteenth century. If not for the efforts of Granville Sharp, Thomas Clarkson and William Wilberforce—the men who led a body of Englishmen that laboured to convert the parliament then to their efforts of getting slave trade eradicated—the Yoruba nation would have almost been totally depopulated before the nineteenth century. Today, the states inhabited by the Yoruba people in Nigeria are all the Southwestern states—Oyo, Osun, Ogun, Ondo, Ekiti and Lagos states.
A lot of people [and scholars] have given their accounts of the origin of the Yoruba people. One of them is the legend which says the Yoruba descended from Lamurudu, one of the palaeolithic [or probably neolithic] kings of Mecca. From Lamurudu descended Oduduwa—the progenitor of the Yoruba people. While in Mecca, Oduduwa was said to have rejected the new religion—Islam—and worshipped idols. According to this legend, what later resulted was a civil war in which Lamurudu was killed and Oduduwa driven out. Oduduwa later headed westward and after long wanderings reached Ile-Ife—the city where all other Yoruba people first settled and later spread to other Yoruba cities, towns and villages—where he settled. Oduduwa certainly would not have been alone and notably, there would have been some inhabitants whom he conquered.
There are some possible errors in this account. Firstly, the Yorubas are certainly not of Arabian origin and could not have come from Mecca. Secondly, Arabians are thorough people that developed writings of their own before the neolithic ages, certainly they do keep records but no evidence of Oduduwa's migration have been found in Arabian records. Thirdly, i really believe "Lamurudu" is the Yoruba's corruption of "Nimrod". Nimrod is a biblical character renowned for hunting. He became so strong to the extent that he built cities of which Babylon—the mightiest city in history—is included.
Another account given by Dr. Olumide Lucas in his book—The Religion of the Yorubas—claims the Yoruba people migrated from Egypt. This is because the sculptures of Ile-Ife—the first city believed to have being inhabited by the Yoruba people from which all other village, town and city people emigrated—and the handi-work of the early ancestors—one of which Opa Oranmiyan is included—are Egyptian in nature. The account has been attacked on the ground that Egyptians are known for building pyramids; these pyramids were also built by the ancient Aztec empire in far-away Mexico and are till today found in some parts of Sudan. So the sculptures of the Yorubas resembling those of the Egyptians does not mean the people are from Egypt.
Deductively, the origin of the Yorubas is lost in obscurity precisely due to the lack of written records.
My own belief is that the Yoruba language evolved when God declared confusion of tongues within the people of the earth when they tried to build a tower that could reach heaven. Later, the people scattered round the universe.
After the confusion of tongues, Yoruba speaking people would have definitely gathered together—deciding to allow Oduduwa lead—and then migrated from the east to the present Ile-Ife and then to all other Yoruba towns, villages and cities.
CREDITS:
Nigeria in history
The story of Nigeria by Michael Crowder
A lot of people [and scholars] have given their accounts of the origin of the Yoruba people. One of them is the legend which says the Yoruba descended from Lamurudu, one of the palaeolithic [or probably neolithic] kings of Mecca. From Lamurudu descended Oduduwa—the progenitor of the Yoruba people. While in Mecca, Oduduwa was said to have rejected the new religion—Islam—and worshipped idols. According to this legend, what later resulted was a civil war in which Lamurudu was killed and Oduduwa driven out. Oduduwa later headed westward and after long wanderings reached Ile-Ife—the city where all other Yoruba people first settled and later spread to other Yoruba cities, towns and villages—where he settled. Oduduwa certainly would not have been alone and notably, there would have been some inhabitants whom he conquered.
There are some possible errors in this account. Firstly, the Yorubas are certainly not of Arabian origin and could not have come from Mecca. Secondly, Arabians are thorough people that developed writings of their own before the neolithic ages, certainly they do keep records but no evidence of Oduduwa's migration have been found in Arabian records. Thirdly, i really believe "Lamurudu" is the Yoruba's corruption of "Nimrod". Nimrod is a biblical character renowned for hunting. He became so strong to the extent that he built cities of which Babylon—the mightiest city in history—is included.
Another account given by Dr. Olumide Lucas in his book—The Religion of the Yorubas—claims the Yoruba people migrated from Egypt. This is because the sculptures of Ile-Ife—the first city believed to have being inhabited by the Yoruba people from which all other village, town and city people emigrated—and the handi-work of the early ancestors—one of which Opa Oranmiyan is included—are Egyptian in nature. The account has been attacked on the ground that Egyptians are known for building pyramids; these pyramids were also built by the ancient Aztec empire in far-away Mexico and are till today found in some parts of Sudan. So the sculptures of the Yorubas resembling those of the Egyptians does not mean the people are from Egypt.
Deductively, the origin of the Yorubas is lost in obscurity precisely due to the lack of written records.
My own belief is that the Yoruba language evolved when God declared confusion of tongues within the people of the earth when they tried to build a tower that could reach heaven. Later, the people scattered round the universe.
After the confusion of tongues, Yoruba speaking people would have definitely gathered together—deciding to allow Oduduwa lead—and then migrated from the east to the present Ile-Ife and then to all other Yoruba towns, villages and cities.
CREDITS:
Nigeria in history
The story of Nigeria by Michael Crowder
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