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The term "Yoruba" refers to a language and various ethnic groups in a region in West Africa stretching from the middle Niger to the Atlantic coast, between Nigeria and Benin. Oduduwa, the original Yoruba divinity, ruled over the mythical city of Ife, where the world was created. He is the ancestor of all the sovereigns in the Yoruba kingdoms (Oyo, Owo, Ketu, etc.) and of the Edo kingdom in Benin after the fall of the Ogiso dynasty.
In the 16th century, the influence of the powerful kingdom of Benin (Benin City) extended from Ouidah (in Benin) to the delta of the Niger (Nigeria). The dynasty, which reigns again today, descends from the Ife prince Oranmiyan, sovereign of Benin City in the thirteenth century. In the fifteenth century, the Portuguese established a flourishing trade there: firearms, brass and luxury products were traded for slaves, peppercorns and ivory. Commercial and diplomatic relations with Europe ceased when the capital of the kingdom was burnt and pillaged by the British in 1897 and gave way to colonisation.
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