The Yoruba people are an ethnic group in the southwestern and north-central region of Nigeria, as well as southern and central Benin. Most Yoruba people live in Nigeria and only a small portion reside in Benin and Tongo.(4) The Yoruba are one of the largest African ethnic groups south of the Sahara Desert. They are not a single group, but rather a collection of diverse people bound together by a common language, history, and culture.(5) Since the 5th century, Yoruba people had lived in urban societies and produced magnificent art works. The Yoruba began to use iron to create metal tools and and weapons like axes and hoes. Around the 11th century, there were about 20 Yoruba kingdoms at one time and Ife was known to be the center for religious and cultural life.(6) Ife was a kingdom founded by Oduduwa and Obatala whom later became the kings for Yoruba people. Today there are over fifty individuals who claim kingship as descendants of Odua.(7) Ife united all the 20 kingdoms and that was when people first viewed the people who speak the Yoruba language as a collective. In 1884, European nations granted the right for Britain to colonize Yorubaland and in 1960, when Nigeria became independent, around 10 million Yoruba people reside in Nigeria. Today, the Yoruba still continue many of their traditional ways of life. Many Yoruba live in large towns and cities, and many towns are still based on the extended family dwellings in compounds.(8)

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