Ile Ife or Ife is an ancient Yoruba city in south-western Nigeria. The meaning of the word "ife" in Yoruba is "expansion"; "Ile-Ife" is therefore in reference to the myth of origin "The Land of Expansion". Due to this fact, the city is commonly regarded as the cradle of not just the Yoruba culture, but all of humanity as well, especially by the followers of the Yoruba faith.Evidence of habitation at the site has been discovered to date back to as early as 600 BCE. It is located in the present day Osun State. Ife is about 218 kilometres (135 mi) northeast of Lagos
Ancient African historians claim that it was in Ile-Ife that civilisation began. This amazing town is the birth-place and some say the spiritual home of the Yoruba tribe. It is very neatly placed between the Niger River and the Atlantic Ocean.
It was the people of Ile-Ife that taught the Benin peoples the art of sculpting in bronze and terracotta. The ancient sculptors of Ife are world famous for their bronze and terracotta figures.
Ile-ife is of course most famous for its amazing bronze heads. These incredible works of art are in museums and private collections all over the world. Art historians are without doubt that it equals anything found in Ancient Rome or works of European antiquity. The manner in which they were made is still a source of mystery to many, To the ancient Yorubas however this was a skill that ws handed down from generation to generation. The survival of these works links us to a great and ancient past with echoes of deep wisdom and intelligence.
An anthropologist by the name of Leo Frobenius discovered 13 of these bronze heads in Ife in 1910. He couldnt bring himself to believe that these amazing works of art were made by Africans and instead declared that he had discovered the Lost City of Atlantis.
The ancient peoples of Ile-Ife also created tools for farming,hunting,cooking and agriculture. An important advancement in civilisation is without doubt the art of tool-making. It elevates Man above beast,brings him from the age of barbarism into the Iron Age. Apart from tool-making Ile-Ife was also home to bead-making,metal and wood industries.
Herodotus, the father of History who lived from 4824 BC until 424 BC said about Ife: " According to history there were five ancient cities in Africa between 3000 and 1000 BC of which one was Ife".
History has often been defined as the story of the past and that which we come to know as the result of an enquiry. The ancient history of Ile-Ife is still being written and discovered. It is our hope here at Virgo Foundation that many will undertake enquiries of their own to know more about the history of Ile-Ife and in so doing learn more about the vast culture of the Yoruba people. The result,we are sure,would be an enlightening one.
Ile-Ife is a town steeped in mystery and myth. All around the town are dotted mysterious stone sculptures and obelisks, the most famous being the stone obelisk known as Oranmiyan's staff. The Yoruba race cite Ile-Ife in oral traditions as the original birth-place of mankind,the primal Eden as it were. Yoruba culture and religion can be found in South America, Brazil, Cuba and the United States of America.
Some historians have claimed that the Yorubas have a cultural link with the ancient Mayan civilization. They claim that intrepid adventurers set sail from Ife and discovered the Americas before Colombus. Evidence of this can be seen in the various stone heads with decidedly negroid features found in many parts of Mexico and Peru.
Lady Lugard, wife of Lord Lugard who was Governor-General of Nigeria during the colonial era,wrote a book titled "A Tropical Dependency". Here is a very apt passage from the book: "When the history of the Negroland comes to be written in detail,it may be found that the kingdoms lying towards the eastern end of the Sudan were the home of races who inspired rather than races who recieved. If this should prove to be the case and the civilised world be forced to recognize in a black people the fount of its original enlightenement,it may happen that we shall have to revise entirely our view of the black races and regard those who now exist as the decadent representatives of an almost forgotten era, rather than as the embryonic possibility of an era yet to come".
Ancient African historians claim that it was in Ile-Ife that civilisation began. This amazing town is the birth-place and some say the spiritual home of the Yoruba tribe. It is very neatly placed between the Niger River and the Atlantic Ocean.
It was the people of Ile-Ife that taught the Benin peoples the art of sculpting in bronze and terracotta. The ancient sculptors of Ife are world famous for their bronze and terracotta figures.
Ile-ife is of course most famous for its amazing bronze heads. These incredible works of art are in museums and private collections all over the world. Art historians are without doubt that it equals anything found in Ancient Rome or works of European antiquity. The manner in which they were made is still a source of mystery to many, To the ancient Yorubas however this was a skill that ws handed down from generation to generation. The survival of these works links us to a great and ancient past with echoes of deep wisdom and intelligence.
An anthropologist by the name of Leo Frobenius discovered 13 of these bronze heads in Ife in 1910. He couldnt bring himself to believe that these amazing works of art were made by Africans and instead declared that he had discovered the Lost City of Atlantis.
The ancient peoples of Ile-Ife also created tools for farming,hunting,cooking and agriculture. An important advancement in civilisation is without doubt the art of tool-making. It elevates Man above beast,brings him from the age of barbarism into the Iron Age. Apart from tool-making Ile-Ife was also home to bead-making,metal and wood industries.
Herodotus, the father of History who lived from 4824 BC until 424 BC said about Ife: " According to history there were five ancient cities in Africa between 3000 and 1000 BC of which one was Ife".
History has often been defined as the story of the past and that which we come to know as the result of an enquiry. The ancient history of Ile-Ife is still being written and discovered. It is our hope here at Virgo Foundation that many will undertake enquiries of their own to know more about the history of Ile-Ife and in so doing learn more about the vast culture of the Yoruba people. The result,we are sure,would be an enlightening one.
Ile-Ife is a town steeped in mystery and myth. All around the town are dotted mysterious stone sculptures and obelisks, the most famous being the stone obelisk known as Oranmiyan's staff. The Yoruba race cite Ile-Ife in oral traditions as the original birth-place of mankind,the primal Eden as it were. Yoruba culture and religion can be found in South America, Brazil, Cuba and the United States of America.
Some historians have claimed that the Yorubas have a cultural link with the ancient Mayan civilization. They claim that intrepid adventurers set sail from Ife and discovered the Americas before Colombus. Evidence of this can be seen in the various stone heads with decidedly negroid features found in many parts of Mexico and Peru.
Lady Lugard, wife of Lord Lugard who was Governor-General of Nigeria during the colonial era,wrote a book titled "A Tropical Dependency". Here is a very apt passage from the book: "When the history of the Negroland comes to be written in detail,it may be found that the kingdoms lying towards the eastern end of the Sudan were the home of races who inspired rather than races who recieved. If this should prove to be the case and the civilised world be forced to recognize in a black people the fount of its original enlightenement,it may happen that we shall have to revise entirely our view of the black races and regard those who now exist as the decadent representatives of an almost forgotten era, rather than as the embryonic possibility of an era yet to come".
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