History of Nigeria city-states. A state council (the "Oyo Mesi") named the "Alaafin" (king) and acted as a check on his authority. Their capital city was situated about 100 km north of present-day Oyo. Unlike the forest-bound Yoruba kingdoms, Oyo was in the savanna and drew its military strength from its cavalry forces, which established hegemony over the adjacent Nupe and the Borgu kingdoms and thereby developed trade routes farther to the north. The Benin Empire (1440–1897; called "Bini" by locals) was a pre-colonial African state in what is now modern Nigeria. It should not be confused with the modern-day country called Benin,
History of the Yoruba people main groupings. The first one is the recent immigrants that moved to the United States and the United Kingdom after the political and economic changes in the 1960's and 1980's. The second group of people are the slaves who migrated to South America countries like Cuba, Trinidad, Brazil, Grenada, and other countries. Many people today who are part of the Yoruba culture are Muslims and Christians. History of the Yoruba people The documented history of the Yoruba people begins with the Oyo Empire, which became dominant in the early 17th century. The older traditions of the formerly dominant Ile-Ife kingdom