Yoruba People

In his 2,000 page book entitled, ‘’Ile-Ife-The Source of Yoruba Civilisation’’, Prince Adelegan Adegbola wrote the following about the Yoruba people: “The Yoruba are the progeny of great kingship, efficient kingdom-builders and astute rulers.

They have been enjoying for centuries a well-organized pattern of society, a pattern which persists, in spite of all the changes resulting from modern contacts with the western world. Their kings have, from very long past, worn costly beaded crowns and wielded royal scepters.

No one remembers the time when the Yoruba people have not worn clothes. Their character of dignity and integrity is an ancient one. In reality, the Yoruba claim to be descendants of a great ancestor. There is no doubt at all that they have been a great race.

They are, and they appear in some ways to be detrimentally over-conscious of their great ancestry and long, noble traditions…..the Yoruba are one of the most researched races in the world. According to Professor S.O. Arifalo, by 1976, the available literature on the Yoruba, despite many omissions, numbered 3,488 items.

These vast amounts of works are quite substantial and unrivalled in sub-Saharan Africa. Also the artefacts showed that the Yoruba were intelligent, complex and wealthy people whose art and technological skills were unsurpassed in pre-historic Africa. Almost everything we know about the Yoruba people comes from Ile-Ife.’’

Professor Adegbola’s research is as fascinating as it is outstanding. It is a ‘’must read’’ for all those that are interested in finding out who the Yoruba are, where they came from, what they stand for and what their contribution to religion,culture, the arts and civilisation really is. Adegbola’a research into the history of the Yoruba and the various Yoruba kingdoms is second to none.

His findings certainly put a lie to the controversial assertion made by Sir Hugh Trevor-Roper, one of the best-known and most respected historians that ever...