Yoruba people of SW Nigeria, numbering about 13 million. They are unusual among Africans in their tendency to form urban communities. Today many of the largest cities of Nigeria, e.g., Lagos and Ibanda, are in Yorubaland. The old Yoruba kingdom of Oyo dominated both Benin and Dahomey, but after 1700 its power waned. In the early 19th cent. the Yoruba were divided among several smaller states.