Things you do not know about Ile-Ife. A Thread RT.

1. Ile-Ife, also called Ife or Ife-Lodun, town, Osun state, southwestern Nigeria. The town lies at the intersection of roads from Ibadan (40 miles [64 km] west), Ilesha, and Ondo.

2. It is one of the larger centres and probably the oldest town of the Yoruba people. Considered by the Yoruba to be a holy city and the legendary birthplace of humankind, it was held to have been founded by a son of the deity Oduduwa and was certainly the capital of a ...

... well-established kingdom (probably named for Ifa, the god of divination) by the early 11th century.

3. Ife had great political and cultural influence over the Edo kingdom of Benin to the southeast. Although Benin City and Old Oyo (Katunga) became the seats of political..

...kingdoms more important than Ife, the town remained the chief religious centre for the Yoruba.

4. Ife is world famous for its art.  Between 700 and 900 A.D. the city began to develop as a major artistic center.  By the 12th Century Ife artists were creating bronze, stone,..

...and terracotta sculptures, some of which are found today in museums in Nigeria, Europe, and North America.

5. As of today, some of the original artworks and sculptures of the great Ile-Ife artists can be found in museums across Nigeria, North America (including the...

...Brooklyn Museum in new York), and Europe (including the British Museum in London).

6. In January 1938, two feet below the ground of the Wunmonije Compound in Ife, a cache of bronze heads was uncovered while a foundation for a house was being dug. It would become one of the..

...most important chance finds in the history of African art.”

7. The city of Ife still serves as the spiritual home of the Yoruba people of Nigeria, and is home to one of the prestigious Academic Institutions in West Africa – the Obafemi Awolowo University. Today Ile-Ife...

...has an estimated population of half a million people and is home to the Natural History Museum of Nigeria.

8. Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), one of the leading academic institutions in West Africa, is the major institution of higher learning in the city. Founded in...

...1962 as the University of Ife, it was rechristened by the Federal Military Government of Nigeria as the Obafemi Awolowo University on May 12, 1987, in honor of one of its most distinguished founding fathers, eminent nationalist and former chancellor,...

...Chief Jeremiah Obafemi Awolowo (1909–1987).

9. Obafemi Awolowo University is One of Nigeria’s major universities, it is located north of the town; it operates a teaching hospital and has a major library.

10. The affiliated Institute of Agricultural Research and Training operates the Moor Plantation for agricultural research and has the country’s largest specialized agricultural library.

11. Institutes of education (operating a mobile library service) and physical education are also centred in the town and affiliated with the university.

12. Ile-Ife is the seat of the Historical Society of Nigeria (1955) and has several teacher-training colleges. In 1948...

...Ife was the site of the inaugural Conference of the Society of the Descendants of Oduduwa, a group of Yoruba nationalists who formed the core of the Action Group, a national political party.

13. Ile-Ife is a major collecting point for cocoa and cotton grown in the surrounding area. Palm oil and kernels, yams, cassava (manioc), corn (maize), pumpkins, and kola nuts are cultivated for local markets. Ile-Ife’s inhabitants are primarily town-dwelling farmers.

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