Yorubaorigin

Yorubaorigin refers to the ethnogenesis and linguistic development of the Yoruba people, one of West Africa's largest ethnic groups. Yoruba communities are concentrated in southwestern Nigeria, with substantial populations in Benin and Togo, and a global diaspora resulting from migration and the Atlantic slave trade.

Linguistically, Yoruba is part of the Niger-Congo language family, within the Volta-Niger group, and comprises a number of mutually intelligible dialects transmitted through a shared cultural tradition. The term Yoruba is both a linguistic designation and an umbrella identity that encompasses several city-based polities, chief among them Ife, Oyo, and Ibadan.

Historically, Ife is regarded in Yoruba tradition as the cradle of Yoruba civilization, with archaeological finds and oral histories pointing to early urban centers by the first millennium CE. By the second millennium, regional kingdoms and city-states emerged, such as Oyo Empire in the 14th–15th centuries. Migration, trade, and politics tied these polities into a broader Yoruba ethnolinguistic sphere.

Yoruba origin stories emphasize Oduduwa as a progenitor figure and the divine origin of kingship, though there are regional variations. Yoruba identity also developed through religious and cultural systems such as Ifa divination, Olodumare (God), and Orisha worship, which have influenced neighboring peoples and the African diaspora.

In modern times, Yoruba communities are active across Nigeria, Benin, and Togo, and the Yoruba language and cultural practices have contributed to global art, music, literature, and religious movements in the African diaspora, including Caribbean and Afro-Latin religious traditions.