Man has been living in West Africa for a reasonably long time, probably before the differentiation of the ethnic groups which now inhabit the region.1 Within Yorùbáland, some archaeological data demonstrate the antiquity of human settlements;2 and inferences from linguistic studies suggest that the Yorùbá occupied their present habitat thousands of years ago.3 The Yorùbá have well authenticated traditions which buttress these inferences from ancillary studies. These could serve as the starting point for a discussion of the nature of the early inhabitants of western Yorùbáland.

The traditions of human habitation in Yorùbáland in ancient times are woven around the personality of Odùduwà and the idea of Ilé-Ifè as the immediate centre from which the Yorùbá dispersed. Although these traditions are many and varied, they can be grouped into two major versions. The first states that the Yorùbá migrated from outside their present homeland, from across the eastern Sudan, and settled in Ilé-Ifè under the leadership of Odùduwà.4 The other version sees them as originating in Ilé-Ifè itself and states that it was there that Odùduwà created the world out of primordial water.5

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