Before Lagos was the largest city in Africa, there was Ile-Ife — a city the Yoruba believe is the centre of the world.
The Yoruba are one of Africa’s most influential peoples. Over 50 million strong in Nigeria alone, tens of millions more across the Americas and the world. Their ancient city of Ile-Ife was producing technically advanced bronze sculptures while much of Europe was in the Middle Ages. In this video, TheKognos tells the entire Yoruba story — from the founding myths of Ile-Ife to the rise and fall of the Oyo Empire, from the horror of the slave trade to the birth of Nollywood and Afrobeats.
In this video:
🔹 The origin of the Yoruba: Ile-Ife and the god Oduduwa
🔹 Yoruba religion: Ifa, the Orisha, and UNESCO-recognised intangible heritage
🔹 The Oyo Empire: cavalry power, the Alaafin, and the Oyo Mesi
🔹 How the Yoruba built constitutional checks on royal power — centuries before Europe
🔹 The Atlantic slave trade: over 3 million Yoruba transported to the Americas
🔹 How Yoruba culture survived slavery and transformed religion in Brazil, Cuba, and Haiti
🔹 The Yoruba Wars, the rise of Ibadan, and British colonialism
🔹 Samuel Ajayi Crowther: the formerly enslaved man who became Africa’s first Anglican Bishop
🔹 Lagos, Nollywood, and Afrobeats: the Yoruba in the modern world
This is one of the richest stories in all of African history.
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