Encyclopedia of Yoruba Culture
Language,History &Culture.
Our aim is to preserve, illuminate and share the richness of Yoruba heritage—because the story belongs to all of us.
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Seven Pillars of
Yoruba Heritage
History & Civilizations
Ìtàn & Ilú
From the sacred city of Ile-Ife through the Oyo Empire, the pre-colonial kingdoms, colonial resistance, the transatlantic diaspora, and the living global Yoruba community.
Language & Literature
Èdè & Àròkọ̀
Tonal system, dialects, orthography, proverbs, Oriki praise poetry, naming philosophy, and the linguistic structure that gives Yoruba its melodic and intellectual soul.
Arts & Aesthetics
Ọ̀nà & Ìmọ̀ Ẹwà
Sculpture, beadwork, the design of sacred crowns, Aṣọ-Oke and Àdìrẹ textiles, Bàtá and Dùndún music, masquerade, dance, and the visual symbolism woven through all Yoruba material culture.
Society & Social Order
Àjọṣe & Ilé-Àiyé
The Oba institution and kingship, lineage and kinship networks, naming traditions, gender roles, markets, guilds, and the social structures of one of Africa's great urban civilisations.
Knowledge Systems & Worldview
Ìmọ̀ & Ìṣe
Herbal medicine, divination methodology, ethics and moral philosophy, the Yoruba calendar, agricultural knowledge, and the political philosophy that governed a sophisticated civilisation.
Cosmology & Spiritual Thought
Ìmọ̀ Ọ̀run & Ayé
The metaphysical backbone of Yoruba civilisation — Olódùmarè, the Orishas, Ifá divination, Àṣẹ, Orí, and the spiritual system that has shaped religion across the Atlantic world.
Owe Yoruba — Proverb
Bi a ba n je igi,
a n wo ese re.
When we are eating the fruit of a tree, we look at its roots — we must consider the origins and foundations of things.
Featured Entries
Essential
Starting Points
Begin your journey with these foundational entries, selected for their breadth and significance.