The Yoruba have been the dominant group on the west bank of the Niger as far as historical memory extends.

Of mixed origin, they are the product of the assimilation of periodic waves of migrants who evolve a common language and culture.

The Yoruba are organized in patrilineal descent groups that occupy village communities and subsist on agriculture, but from about the eleventh century, adjacent village compounds, called ile, began to coalesce into a number of territorial city-states in which loyalties to the clan became subordinate to allegiance to a dynastic chieftain.

This transition produces an urbanized political and social environment that is accompanied by a high level of artistic achievement, particularly in terra-cotta and ivory sculpture and in the sophisticated metal casting produced at Ife.

The brass and bronze used by Yoruba artisans is a significant item of trade, made from copper, tin, and zinc imported either from North Africa or from mines in the Sahara and northern Nigeria.