Yoruba people

==== Christianity ====
The Yorubas were one of the first groups in West Africa to be introduced to Christianity on a very large scale.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DdFvbW5tWpYC&q=christianity+in+yorubaland&pg=PA77|title=Pre-Colonial Africa in Colonial African Narratives: From Ethiopia Unbound to Things Fall Apart, 1911–1958|author=Dr Donald R Wehrs|publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.|year=2013|isbn=978-1-4094-7495-1}}</ref> Christianity (along with western civilization) came into Yorubaland in the mid-19th century through the [[Ethnic groups in Europe|Europeans]], whose original mission was commerce.<ref name="integration" /><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OdbBBwAAQBAJ&pg=PT74 |title=Scientific Pilgrimage: 'The Life and times of Emeritus Professor V.A Oyenuga'. D.Sc, FAS, CFR Nigeria's first Emeritus Professor and Africa's first Agriculture Professor |author=Ádébáyò Ádésóyè |publisher=AuthorHouse |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-5049-3785-6}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m2V1AAAAMAAJ |title=Western Yorubaland under European rule, 1889–1945: A Comparative Analysis of French and British Colonialism. European Philosophy and the Human Sciences |author=A. I. Asiwaju |publisher=Humanities Press (Ibadan history series, the University of Michigan) |year=1976 |isbn=978-0-391-00605-8}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fUqcAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA1162 |title=The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church |author1=Frank Leslie Cross |author2=Elizabeth A. Livingstone |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2005 |page=1162 |isbn=978-0-19-280290-3}}</ref> The first European visitors were the Portuguese, they visited the neighboring [[Kingdom of Benin|Bini kingdom]] in the late 16th century. As time progressed, other Europeans – such as the French, the British, the Dutch, and the Germans, followed suit. The British and the French were the most successful in their quest for colonies (these Europeans actually split Yorubaland, with the larger part being in British Nigeria, and the minor parts in French Dahomey, now Benin, and German [[Togoland]]). Home governments encouraged religious organizations to come. Roman Catholics (known to the Yorubas as Ijo Aguda, so named after returning former Yoruba slaves from Latin America, who were mostly Catholic, and were also known as the [[Aguda people|Agudas]] or [[Amaro people|Amaros]]) started the race, followed by Protestants, whose prominent member – [[Church Mission Society]] (CMS) based in England made the most significant in-roads into the hinterland regions for evangelism and became the largest of the Christian missions. [[Methodism|Methodists]] (known as Ijo-Eleto, so named after the Yoruba word for "method or process") started missions in [[Badagry|Agbadarigi / Gbegle]] by [[Thomas Birch Freeman]] in 1842. Agbadarigi was further served by [[Eugene Celadon Van Cooten|E. C. Van Cooten]], E. G. Irving, and A. A. Harrison. [[Henry Townsend (missionary)|Henry Townsend]], C. C. Gollmer, and [[Ajayi Crowther]] of the CMS worked in [[Abeokuta]], then under the Egba division of Southern Nigeria in 1846.<ref>{{Citation|last=Adebanwi|first=Wale|title=Seizing the Heritage: Playing Proper Yorùbá in an Age of Uncertainty|work=Yorùbá Elites and Ethnic Politics in Nigeria|year=2014|pages=224–243|publisher=Cambridge University Press|doi=10.1017/cbo9781107286252.011|isbn=978-1-107-28625-2}}</ref>

[[Anna Hinderer|Hinderer]] and Mann of CMS started missions in Ibadan / [[Ibarapa people|Ibarapa]] and [[Ijaye of Kurunmi|Ijaye]] divisions of the present Oyo state in 1853. [[Baptists|Baptist]] missionaries – Bowen and Clarke – concentrated on the northern Yoruba axis – (Ogbomoso and environs). With their success, other religious groups – the [[Salvation Army]] and the [[Evangelical Church of West Africa|Evangelists Commission of West Africa]] – became popular among the [[Igbomina]], and other non-denominational Christian groups joined. The increased tempo of Christianity led to the appointment of [[Saro (Nigeria)|Saros]] (returning slaves from Sierra Leone) and indigenes as missionaries. This move was initiated by Venn, the CMS Secretary. Nevertheless, the impact of Christianity in Yorubaland was not felt until the fourth decade of the 19th century, when a Yoruba slave boy, Samuel Ajayi Crowther, became a Christian convert, linguist and minister whose knowledge in languages would become a major tool and instrument to propagate Christianity in Yorubaland and beyond.<ref>{{cite web|website=Yorupedia|url=http://yorupedia.com/subjects/yoruba-religion/christianity-and-islam/|title=Christianity and Islam Introduction|access-date=14 September 2015|archive-date=21 July 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150721043138/http://yorupedia.com/subjects/yoruba-religion/christianity-and-islam/}}</ref>