The oldest known textual reference to the name Yoruba is found in an essay (titled – Mi‘rāj al-Ṣu‘ūd) from a manuscript written by the Berber jurist, Ahmed Baba in the year 1614. The original manuscript is preserved in the

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As an ethnic description, the word "Yoruba" has roots in a term borrowed by Europeans in the earlier part of the 19th century and incorporated into usage in reference to the Oyo Empire of the time. In his book, Hugh Clappertonbegan to subject the word to early changes

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As of the 7th century BCE the African peoples who lived in Yorubaland were not initially known as the Yoruba, although they shared a common ethnicity and language group. By the

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Yoruba people form their sense of group identity around a number of cultural references and practices recognizable by members of the group both within and outside their region of

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Government
Monarchies were a common form of government in Yorubaland, but they were not the only approach to government and social organization. The numerous Ijebu kingdom city-states to the west of Oyo and the Egba people

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In the city-states and many of their neighbours, a reserved way of life remains, with the school of thought of their people serving as a major influence in West Africa and elsewhere.

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The Yoruba culture was originally an oral tradition, and the majority of Yoruba people are native speakers of the Yoruba language. The number of speakers is roughly estimated at about 30 million in 2010. Yoruba is classified

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