People of the coast

PEOPLE OF THE COAST (THE YORUBA KINGDOM)
The people of the coast are a large group of people in Africa that is greatly larger than any group in Africa. They are breeding ground for slave trade, authentic artwork and a very complex society. These people or simply the people of the coast are the Yoruba people. They make up one of the most influential language in the West Africa region. They range up to 20 million of real inhabitants. They are remembered for their remarkable contribution in the African art and myths. The people of Yoruba at 17th to 18th century were conquerors of great kingdoms. One example was the Dahoemy kingdom. The people are relatively strong enough with the help of their courageous men most of which were great and highly remembered rulers such as king Odudua, King Oranyan( city of Benin), King Ogun( city of Edo), Evian( the great monster slayer).
The Yoruba kingdom had many cities, they constitutes southwest regions of Nigeria ranging from the coast of West Africa along the Atlantic ocean to the uppermost region of the Niger-delta belt where the borgu people live to the regions of far west to the south west of the Delta in Nigeria. The Yoruba people share the common “Ifa” practice divination with the Dahoemy Kingdom. In this region of the Yoruba kingdom, slave trade was highly practice. Travelers knew this region as where practice of slave trade is common. However, it was as reason of slave trade that made the practice of voodoo in the Yoruba kingdom to spread to the Caribbean lands outside Africa. Moreover, the spread of the black religion was very effective and had common shared practice with the rest of the world.
Northward to the Yoruba kingdom lies the borgu people. The people of the Yoruba kingdom had no influence on the Borgu people nor did the Hausa People. They Borgu people lived very independent from both sides. Also in the west of the Dahoemy kingdom was modern states of Ghana and Ivory Coast. They are the Akan- speaking people that formed the Ashanti kingdom. The Ashanti speaking people moved west to become baule at around 17th and 18th century. The vegetation of West Africa influenced this movement. The open region of the West Africa was greatly effective to the spread of culture, goods, and occasional armies and the movement of the Ashanti kingdom. This movement had made the Yoruba people one of the most highly recognize speaking group in Africa. However, the Yoruba people did not at all influence this movement.
The Yoruba Myth about themselves lies considerably in their culture and those of others it had influenced. There were mostly other regions in West Africa that had similar things in common with the Yoruba kingdom because of dim influence by the Yoruba kingdom. An example is the Benin city Kingdom. The kingdom lies in the Niger-delta region in Nigeria. History suggests that the people of the Benin city Kingdom were Egyptian travelers who had travelled across Ife (the holy land of the Yoruba kingdom). The people also had a great artwork similar to the reputation of the Yoruba people and Africa as a whole. The bronze casting craftwork was a great example to the kingdoms artwork. The people of the Benin City kingdom called there kings or Ogiso (rulers), “Oba” and was similar to the Yoruba kingdom.
They had many kings that ruled them. Most of these kings were wicked ones and some respected and greatly remembered for their work. The people had strong dynasty for ruling. Every Kings son or descendant was prone to be successors to their fathers whom were king. However, they did not marry from each other as if it were form the Egyptian ways of the pharaohs. During the reigns of the early kings in the Benin City kingdom, there were great men whom did positively courageous and are remembered for their greatness. An example for one of those men was Evian. Evian was a slayer of a flying monster that troubled the people of the kingdom. He defeated the monster with his iron hammer. They Benin People acknowledged his courage by the acrobatic dance of the people.
In addition, the kingdom-experienced kings who brought bareness to the women of the kingdom. An Example was the last Ogiso (king), Owodo who ruled the kingdom before he died. The king banished his son, killed his wife, Eshago, and later deposed for killing a pregnant woman. After the deposition of the king, the people sent words to the a great king in ife( Yoruba kingdom), King Odudua asking for the king to bring one of his son to rule the them. However, this king knew of the people complains and decided to send his eldest son, Oranyan to rule the people. His son married and had a child in the Benin kingdom during his rule as a king. Although, the people were quarrelsome, thus the king became tired and decided to stop ruling them. King Oranyan, in his own words said – “Ile Bini” or people vexation. It was from King Oranyan own words that the city Benin took its name.
However, his son, Ohen who was dump, ruled the people but died. Later many sons of King Ohen ruled. Many died and just few lived. One example was King Ogun who went into exile with his younger brother (fourth son of Ohen). He killed his Younger brother for lying against him before the kingdom and taking of his throne. The people of the Benin kingdom saw a great rule they had long experience in the kingdom. King Ogun was a very good ruler of the Benin kingdom. Many of his stories in exile were told. However, the king changed the name of the city to Edo city, which had now become the second name of the kingdom. He lost his son whom was poisoned by his deceased general son when he asked him to foster the sons of the dead general. The king was very sad and decreed a long mourning period for the death of his son. However, the people were not happy and decided to leave. It was at these instant that king Ogun ordered the giving of marks on faces of every man and woman in the kingdom. However, he later subdued his decree when an old man came known as the Chameleon man spoke to the king about the effect of the decree he imposed.
In conclusion, the people of the Yoruba kingdom had greatly been influential with their culture and rule. They had witnessed great men that had fought with their blood for the kingdom and had shown little or more impact on the people of other kingdoms. The Kingdom thus, remains a fundamental myth for the African people.