History of the Yoruba People, A

A History of the Yoruba People is an audacious comprehensive exploration of the founding and growth of one of the most influential groups in Africa. With a population of nearly 40 million spread across Western Africa – and diaspora communities in Europe, the Caribbean, Latin America, and North America – Yoruba are one of the most researched groups emanating from Africa. Yet, to date, very few attempts have tried to grapple fully with the historical foundations and development of a group that has contributed to shaping the way African communities are analyzed from prehistoric to modern times. This commendable book deploys four decades of historiography research with current interpretation and analyses to present the most complete and authoritative volume to date. This exceptionally lucid account gathers and imparts a wealth of research and discourses on Yoruba studies for a wider group of readership than ever before. Reviews and Acclaims “A wondrous achievement, a profound pioneering breakthrough, a reminder to New World historians of what 'proper history' is all about – a recount which draws the full landed and spiritual portrait of a people from its roots up – A History of the Yoruba People is yet another superlative work of brilliant chronicling and persuasive interpretation by an outstanding scholar and historiographer of Africa”.~ Professor Michael Vickers. “[T]he book offers not only an interesting and engaging reflection on Yoruba history, but also a fascinating text on what it means to be Yoruba today." ~ Dr Insa Nolte, University of Birmingham, UK. “This book is more than a 21st century attempt to (re)present a comprehensive history of the Yoruba…shifting the focus to a broader and more eclectic account. It is a far more nuanced, evidentially-sensitive, systematic account. ~Prof Wale Adebanwi, USA “Stephen Akintoye links the Yoruba past with the present, broadening and transcending Samuel Johnson in scope and time, and reviving both the passion and agenda that are over a century old, to reveal the long history and definable identity of a people and an ethnicity, one of the most important in Africa and the African Diaspora…an accessible book, with the promise of being ageless, written by the only person who has sustained an academic interest in this subject for nearly half a century, providing the treasures of accumulated knowledge, robust encounters with received wisdom, and mature judgement about the future”. ~ Toyin Falola, USA. Contents: Preface – Acknowledgements – The Beginnings – The Development of Early Yoruba Society – Before Oduduwa: Ife in the Ninth to Tenth Century – The Revolution in Ife: Tenth to Eleventh Century – The Primacy of Ife: Eleventh to Fifteenth Century – Traditions of Kingdom Founders – The Kingdoms of Yorubaland – The Politics of Kingdom Rule – The Kingdoms and the Economy: Part I – The Kingdoms and the Economy: Part II – The Frontier Effect – The Great Oyo Empire – The Fall of the Oyo Empire – Yorubaland in the Nineteenth Century: The Wars of Change – Yorubaland in the Nineteenth Century: Other Agencies of Change – The Yoruba Diaspora – The Politics of the Twentieth Century – The Social Transformations in the Twentieth Century – Notes – Bibliography – Index.