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1. Before the Yorùbá, there were already people living in the region
Many people assume that Yorùbá history began with Odùduwà. However, archaeological and oral evidence suggests that people had been living in present-day southwestern Nigeria for thousands of years before Odùduwà.
Think of it this way:
First came ancient hunter-gatherers.
Later came farming communities.
Then came villages and clans.
Much later, larger kingdoms emerged.
Eventually, these kingdoms became associated with what we now call the Yorùbá civilization.
So Odùduwà did not arrive in an empty land.
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2. What is Iho Eleru?
Iho Eleru is an archaeological site near Akure in present-day Ondo State.
Archaeologists discovered:
Human skeletons.
Stone tools.
Evidence of ancient habitation.
Some remains found there are thousands of years old.
This tells us that humans lived in the region long before kingdoms such as Ifẹ̀, Ọ̀yọ́, or Ìjẹ̀bú existed.
It does not mean those people were Yorùbá in the modern sense.
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3. What does "Stone Age Settlements" mean?
Before iron tools were invented, people used:
Stone axes
Stone knives
Stone scrapers
These communities:
hunted animals,
gathered fruits,
fished,
gradually learned farming.
This period lasted thousands of years.
Over time, these communities developed into more permanent settlements.
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4. What was "The Big Dry"?
The article refers to major climate changes that affected parts of West Africa.
When rainfall decreased:
Rivers shrank.
Grasslands changed.
Some areas became harder to live in.
As a result, people moved toward:
rivers,
forests,
fertile lands.
Southwestern Nigeria became attractive because it had:
water,
fertile soil,
forests,
wildlife.
These migrations helped increase the population of the region.
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5. Who were the "Original Igbo" of Ifẹ̀?
This is where many people become confused.
The "Igbo" mentioned in some Ifẹ̀ traditions does not necessarily mean the modern Igbo ethnic group of southeastern Nigeria.
In many Yorùbá traditions:
"Igbo" can simply mean forest, bush, or people living in the bush.
According to some Ifẹ̀ oral traditions:
indigenous communities already occupied the area,
these communities were sometimes collectively called "Igbo,"
Odùduwà later established political authority over them.
Different traditions tell this story differently.
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6. What was the Nok Culture?
The Nok civilization existed in parts of central Nigeria roughly between:
1000 BC and 300 AD.
They are famous for:
iron technology,
terracotta sculptures,
organized communities.
Most historians do not say Nok people were Yorùbá.
However, Nok demonstrates that advanced African civilizations existed in Nigeria long before European contact and before the rise of the major Yorùbá kingdoms.
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7. Did people call themselves "Yorùbá" at that time?
Probably not.
This is one of the most important points in the article.
Before the 18th and 19th centuries, people usually identified themselves as:
Ọ̀yọ́
Ẹ̀gbá
Ìjẹ̀bú
Ifẹ̀
Ìjẹ̀ṣà
Ekiti
Òwó
Ondo
Kétu
A person would often say:
> "I am an Ọ̀yọ́ man."
or
> "I am from Ìjẹ̀bú."
rather than:
> "I am Yorùbá."
8. Where did the name "Yorùbá" come from?
Many scholars believe the term became widespread through Hausa and Arabic-speaking traders.
Forms such as:
Yariba
Yarriba
Yoruba
were used to describe people associated with the Ọ̀yọ́ Empire.
Over time, the name expanded and became the common identity for related peoples sharing:
similar language,
culture,
traditions,
ancestry.
> The Yorùbá civilization did not suddenly appear from nowhere.
Instead, it developed gradually from many older populations, settlements, and cultures that existed in southwestern Nigeria for thousands of years before Odùduwà and before the name "Yorùbá" became common.
Odùduwà is therefore best understood as the founder (or symbolic founder) of the political and dynastic order that united many communities, not necessarily the first human being to live in Yorùbáland. This distinction is crucial when writing a historically grounded account of Yorùbá origins.
