The Yoruba People The Yoruba people can be found in Nigeria and parts of Togo and Benin. As a collective region, these places are referred to as Yorubaland. There are over 40 million Yoruba people today, making them one of the largest ethnic groups in Africa. About twenty percent of this large population still follows traditional Yoruba religion. Traditionally an agricultural-based society, the Yoruba are known for their staple crop of yams.
Benin is a French-speaking country in West Africa. It is a fascinating place and is the birthplace of the vodun or “voodoo” religion. It’s also home to the former Dahomey Kingdom dating from 1600 – 1900. Even though it is a small country it does have a few large cities and beckons to tourist to explore its impressive architecture, museums and markets. A trip here will bring you many adventures, a look at amazing wildlife and relaxing on great beaches.
advanced pottery arts, housing arts and had storage built quarters. The Pueblo had traditionally built pit houses that they used for their families to live in, had semi-subterranean kivas and storage rooms built aboveground referred to as Jackals. The Yoruba had metal artwork at the time of their existence, though it was old and out-fashioned, their metal work, as compared to others from that time such as the Greece and the Pueblos, was world class artwork. The Yoruba Culture was similar to the Pueblos Culture in the way of making the artwork as they both used the natural resources and materials that were available to them to make artwork they used on a daily basis.
Culture is one of the most relevant elements that can define not only a society but also a country’s cumulative beliefs and system. Often noted as the origins of a country, culture is definitive in the sense that it harbors all the elements that can provide justification on the traditions and norms set by the society for its members. More often than not, the society members follow norms in order to create a harmonious community, and the beliefs and the traditions serve as the poles or grounding rules for each member to follow. Culture is very dynamic in the way that it can change over a variety of foreign influences but what is permanent about it is that original elements about it often lingers with the influences, therefore making it multi-faceted and broad. More importantly, culture serves as an individual and unique trait each society has, and therefore sets it apart from other countries and other societies.
The most populous country in Africa with a population of more than 160 million people is Nigeria. Nigeria is home to more than 300 tribes, one of the largest tribes being the Igbo tribe. In the novel Things Fall Apart the igbo culture partly consists of the practice of Polygyny and father-son inheritance. The Igbo tribe are still considered to be harmonious to land through festivals and are famous for their culture around Yams.
Togo The slave coast, Togo has it is roots in slavery. There are also a number of relatively small lakes, the largest of which is Lake Togo, a shallow Lagoon, separated from the ocean by a narrow strip of land. The network of protected areas in Togo covers about twenty eight percent of the national territory. Togo is a country of the West Africa. First Togo, officially the Togolese Republic is bordered by Benin, Burkina Faso and Ghana, and by the Gulf of Guinea and Atlantic Ocean. Southern Togo's landmass begins with extensive lagoons and mangrove-covered marshes that sweep Northward into savanna (flat grassland) and a wooded plateau.
The Benin Kingdom was situated on the West Coast of Africa in present day Nigeria and
Many communities have expressed that consultation processes left them with feelings of tokenism and powerlessness to affect decision making. A report by Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry in 2002 suggests a need to move away from consultation towards negotiation, as a process which enables equal power relationships to develop. The notion of negotiation as opposed to consultation is not new in global literature. Many models of engagement cite Arnstein’s original ‘ladder of participation’, which ranged from citizen control to tokenism (Arnstein 2011; Cornwall 2008). The UK Health for All Network describes in depth this scale of engagement, describing a continuum in which the community has control, has some delegated powers, is
The Togolese Republic is a country on the South coast of West Africa that borders Ghana to the West, Burkina Faso up North and Benin is on the East. To the South of Togo is the Gulf of Guinea.
Africa, a place of diversity and culture. A land that is filled with beautiful landscape and some of the most inspiring people. We are so taken away by the idea of Africa but we never take the time to soak in the smaller pieces of Africa, the things that make Africa what it is. I decided to take a deeper look into Africa. Togo, a small chunk of land that is filled with breathtaking sites and some of the most interesting culture that sits on the south coast of west Africa.Togo is so small it is often taken for granted. The people of Togo currently live in minor poverty and gain most of their income from exports of cocoa, cotton and coffee. The current population of Togo is 6.18 million. Togo speaks a total of 39 different languages, though a
“What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.” A statement from Pericles who says that imperialism has a great effect on countries. During the Age of Imperialism, many nations began to imperialize smaller countries for raw materials and land. With conquering land came the influence of education and religion, which shaped the country as it is today. European nations, Great Britain in particular, are not guilty of abuse of power as seen in the imperialized countries of Nigeria, India, and Singapore.
The Igbo people of Nigeria were in dismay when the British imperialism took over their tribe. Like many instances of a larger group overthrowing people there is bound to be backlash from those people. The British completely overturned their traditional way of life to the point that many of the people were leaving such as the sons of Umuofia who have “gone their several ways”. At the start the British provided a new language, allowed Nneka to keep her twins due to the new religion, and introduced trade into their non-existent economy, but as they began to use the tribe Okwonkwo turned on them. They ended up having a negative impact on the tribe rather than a positive one. Forcing them into their own government and violating their religion was
There were many medieval African civilizations that were significant. The few that I am going to discuss are the Nok, the Benin Empire and the Ghana Empire. Evidence shows that the Nok culture existed as early as 1000 BC. The Nok culture is known for their terracotta sculptures. Most Nok sculptures are hollow and made from local clay. They used a mixture of clay and water called slip, to give the pottery an even surface and glossy finish. The sculptures were usually human or animals with large heads. Some of the detail on the human sculptures give us an idea of what the people looked like in the Nok society. The art of the Benin Empire is known as royal art. The Oba or King was very involved in the art of this time. Bronze casting was the art
Among the many tribes found in Africa, the Yoruba People of Nigeria are among the most popular and well known. The Yoruba are the tribe that many Africans confess that their family roots started from and therefore follow the religion and culture of the Yoruba. These people are indigenous to the Southwestern parts of Nigeria and Benin. They may not be the only tribe in Africa, but they certainty have an interesting culture along with one of the oldest ancestry lines.
What is surprising by most is how Africa is one of the largest known continents and being one of the richest when it comes to natural resources. However, the countries that make up Africa and the people living in these countries are known to be living in devastating poverty. How can it be that this plentiful continent of natural resources, Africa’s people are living in poverty and living in the poorest conditions? With Africa being such a rich continent of natural resources why are the countries within Africa so poor? Take for instance, the countries Ghana and Nigeria There are many countries within Africa but the main focus will be on the country of Ghana and the country of Nigeria. Both countries are poor and the people there are in poverty. Ghana has been struggling with poverty and being poor for quite some time and has been slowly trying to work its way out of poverty. In an article called “Microenterprise financing preference” There have been some laws now put in place to try and reverse the poverty and help Ghana. (Osei‐Assibey, E., Bokpin, G. A., & Twerefou, D. K., 2012). Nigeria has also been quit poor for some time and the people struggling with poverty.
The Igbo, one of the largest ethnic groups in Africa,they had to work hard to make sure that their culture was not lost. Southern Nigeria is where most of the Igbo culture is still located. It is believed that the Igbo originated in Niger and Benue Rivers, about a hundred miles north of their current location. The Igbo language can be categorized into the Congo language. Specifically, it is a part of the Kwa subfamily. Their language is difficult to understand due to the wide range of dialects, and the complicated system of high and low tones, which indicate different meanings and grammatical relationships. Even with the difficulties that the Igbo constantly faced, they were able to remain the longest lasting and largest ethnic group in Nigeria.