Yorubas
The Yorubas are an ethnic group that live mostly around South Western Nigeria. History tells that the Yorubas origniated from Ile-Ife as descendants of Oduduwa. Oduduwa was the father of Oranmiyan the king of the Yorubas who was attributed to founding Oyo around 1170. One of Oranmiyan's sons Eweke migrated to Benin and became the first Oba of the Benin Empire. The influence and spread of the Yorubas is evident in surrounding West African countries like Republic of Benin, Togo, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Sierra Leone who have large number of Yorubas as citizens or residents. The Yorubas constitute one of the major ethnic groups in Nigeria. The Yoruba Language is a rich mixture of several dialects which include Egba, Ekiti, Ibadan, Ijebu, Ile-Ife, Osogbo, Oyo, Saki and several others. Some prominent Yorubas in history are Bishop Ajayi Crowder who translated the The Holy Bible into Yoruba "Bibeli Mimo", Obafemi Awolowo who was as key player in securing Nigeria's independence from the British in 1960. The Yorubas are well known for the rich culture and traditions. The Yorubas and Yoruba culture are found in diaspora in many countries in West Africa, the Carribeans and South America. A lot of Yorubas in diaspora live in UK, USA, Canada, Ireland and several other European countries. Our organization Isokan Yoruba based in Ottawa Canada's capital is one of such diaspora groups.