The Yorubas comprise of many tribes which, were tributaries to one sovereign at Ile-Ife, including Benin on the East and Dahomey on the West but are for long time independent. Yoruba-speaking people are divided into two main cultural groups, the Ife-Ijesha-Ekiti and the Oyo-Yoruba which, are differ in dialects, customs concerning marriage, burial and also in political organizations. The term Yoruba is sometimes said to have been derived from a foreign nickname, meaning cunning. The area traditionally inhabited by the Yorubas is within the rivers Mono in the West and the Niger in the East, stretching on the West from Badagry to around Warri and Inland until they almost reach the Niger around latitude 90 N. Around latitude 50 N, they spread Westwards cutting across the whole of Dahomey and reaching into the east of Togo. Yorubaland almost divides the whole country (Nigeria) into two. It has been generally known among the Yoruba themselves that Ile-Ife was the center from which, the whole world was created.Yoruba customs, cultures and religions are very complex and multifarious.

They discernibly differ from one part of Yorubaland to the other. However, there appears to be a common unity among these aspects of Yoruba life largely due to the myth and belief that they are all descendants of Oduduwa and that Ile-Ife was their spiritual or ancestral home. Religiously, the Yorubas believe in the existence of God as the name for the supreme deity in Yoruba Language is Olodumare who Yorubas direct their worship and supplications to through the lesser gods, among these divinities are Obatala, Orunmila, Esu, Ogun, Oya, Sango, Sanpona, Oro, Ela, Agemo and Egungun to mention but a few. Yorubas have long been in contact with Christianity and Islam and these world acclaimed religions manifest strongly in their ways of life.The major aspects of Yorubas customs include the initiation rites, births, marriage, and funeral ceremonies, divination, dancing, singing, drumming, story telling etc which, are now prevalent in the new world namely Brazil and Cuba as a fallout of the incidence of slavery.