Many Yoruba people do not know that there is absolutely nothing like Yoruba as a people or as a language. Yoruba is a modern creation from a mispronounced Fulani derogatory term that may have been used further back.
As a language, today’s Yoruba is like English, which was created as a mixture of several Germanic languages, including German, Danish and Dutch, when a mixed mash of Saxons came to Britain in the 4th Century and mixed in with the Angle tribe that was native to Britain.
When Samuel Ajayi Crowther was captured by Fulani slave traders from his village of Osogun in 1821 at the age of 12, he reported that he could neither speak nor understand the language of the villages they passed through on the way to Lagos.
These were villages in present-day Ogun and Oyo. Google it yourself. Please don’t take my word for it. At that time, there was Egba, Ijebu, Owu, Awori, Ijesha, and Ondo languages, etc.
So, how did Yoruba come about? When the Portuguese entered Eko and changed the name to Lagos, it became a prominent trading post and attracted a variety of Edekiri peoples (Edekiri is the actual name for the group of languages now referred to as Yoruba). Gradually, they evolved a mixture of their various dialects and thus began the origins of the modern language now known as Yoruba.
As Lagos grew in importance under the British, so did the new language grow in vocabulary and spread. But if you understand the pure root Edekiri language, you will understand bits and pieces of all languages spoken from modern-day Kwara, to Kogi, to Edo, to parts of Delta, and the Southwest states, all the way to Benin Republic.
When I visited Egypt, a land that was known as Kemet by the original Black inhabitants who were pushed deeper into Africa by wave after wave of invaders, my Egyptologist guide kept on mentioning names that would sound familiar to anyone aware of the pure Edekiri language, before it was diluted in Lagos.
One such names is Tiye, wife of Pharaoh Amenhotep III and daughter of Yuya and Tuya. Tiye was Black. This is undisputed in Egyptology. You ought to research this, or at least Google it. Her DNA was tested. The interesting thing is that the root word of Tiye’s name and the name of her parents (Yuya and Tuya) is Iye or Iya, which is the pure Edekiri word for mother.
Do you still doubt me? Okay. Let’s go deeper. Tiye’s son, who succeeded his father as Pharaoh, was Smenkhkare. Google it. That is a pure Edekiri name that is still being used as a name amongst the Edo of Benin (also called Bini). You have such similar names as Nosakhare and Nehikhare being used today.
Another of Queen Tiye’s son’s name is Akhenaten. He also became Pharaoh. This is also a root Edekiri name that is still being used in Benin to this very day. In fact, the Binis had a king (Oba) named Oba Akenzua. You will also notice a strong similarity between the ancient Egyptians and the Edekiri people- they did not write their history in words. They carved it in wood, stone, and metal, using symbols, just like the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics.
Now, let’s talk about the pyramids of Egypt, built 4600 years ago. By who? Google the Groundnut Pyramids of Nigeria. They were not built under the direction of the British. Native Hausas built them under the direction of Alhaji Alhassan Dantata, Aliko Dangote’s great-grandfather, just like Black people once built the pyramids in Egypt.
Do you know that there was a pyramid in the ancient Benin kingdom? They were in front of the Oba’s palace. They are gone because they were bombed in 1897 by the British. But not before a Christian missionary took a photo of it. That is the photo you are seeing with this post.
Gospeller. Deep Thinker. #1 Bestselling author of Facts Versus Fiction: The True Story of the Jonathan Years. Hollywood Magazine Film Festival Humanitarian of the Year, 2019. Business Insider Most Influential Influencer in Africa
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