The Culture And The People Of Southern Nigerian.

This history of nigerian culture is a very interesting and exciting story which will helps and develops your interest, knowledge and understanding about nigeria, the people and more about their culture in the pre-colonial times.
Nigeria is divided into three(3) major ethnics groups which are the Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa and the southern and northern  part of Nigeria.


The southern part of nigeria are divided into six(6)  major ethnic group these are

• Yoruba
• Bini
• Igbo
• Itsekiri
• Urhobo
• Ijaw

THE YORUBA

The yoruba is one of the  major ethic groups in the southern part of nigeria and the yoruba people can be found everywhere around the world but they are mostly located or found in some western and central state of nigeria stretching across Oyo, Ondo, Osun, Ogun, Lagos, Kwara, and Kogi.
They practice both Islamic and the Christianity but most of them are still traditionalist till date.
The yoruba ethnic has been in existence between 2000-1000Bc the yoruba originated from mecca down to ile-ife and later through the western and the southern part of Nigeria.
There are different cultures among the yoruba such as the Egungun festivals, Oro, Fishing festival and many more.
The yorubas have the most interesting and also educative s  culture and mostly their strong believe in anything they worship they practices some traditional rite such as the Ogun which is the god of iron, Sango the god of  thunder, Osun the river goddess which is mostly practice in Osun State called the osun oshogbo festival where people from different country come together to celebrate the festival, during the festive period the river rituals are performed to cleanse the whole land of osun the arugba and also different and interesting cultural songs and dances form different groups for entertainers.

 The Bini Also Played Major Roles In The History Of Nigeria.

Bini  was the first to be visited by the Europeans as early as 1472A.D, under the bini we have the benin kindom which was also the first in the west coast of African to exchange ambassadors with a major European power i.e
The Portuguese which was between 1481 and 1504 under the origins of Benin Kingdom we have different version which comprises of the Igbafa, Ogiso and the Egharevba's version.
The Bini Society Is Classified Into Two Classes Namely  

1. The nobility known as the Adesotu which is also classified into three(3) groups of title hold which are (i) The Uzama (ii) The Eghaevbon'ogbe [palace chiefs] (iii) The Eghaevbon'ore [town chiefs]
2. The commoner known as the ighiotu.

The major occupation of the ordinary people in the Bini Kindom are the Carvers, Brass-workers, Blacksmiths, Doctors, Butchers etc.
The Bini mostly practice Christianity and Idol worshipers and they also have different culture and rulers from their pre-colonial times till date.

THE IGBO

The igbo people are best known for their segmentary way of life.It is because the had no centralized states since their ancient times.
The igbo can be categorized into five sub-cultures namely;

• The igbo of the eastern Nigera.
• The igbo of the south-eastern Nigeria.
• The igbo of the north-eastern Nigeria.
• The western igbo.
• The Northern igbo.

The origins of the igbo people is a longed and heated disagreement as that of the yoruba and the bini.There are many versions and it is very difficult to choose which is unacceptable.
The versions include;

• The middle east version.
• The igboland centered version.
• The Awka or orlu version.
• The Nri version.
• The idah version.
• The Benin version.
• The Isreali version.

Their predominantly occupation is farmers and traders.They share a common basic culture in their dialects and political system based on power and authority enforced by the holders of staff of authority,the ofo.In Igboland king is called The Igwe who the people serve with much respect and honour.