Yoruba people in the Atlantic slave trade

The Yoruba people contributed significant cultural and economic influence upon the Atlantic slave trade during its run from approximately 1400 until 1900 CE.^[1][2][3]

Oyo Empire

From 1400 onward, the Oyo Empire's imperial success made the Yoruba language a lingua franca almost to the shores of the Volta.^[4][5] Toward the end of the 18th century, the Oyo army was neglected as there was less need to conquer.^[6][7] Instead, Oyo directed more effort towards trading and acted as middlemen for both the trans-Saharan and trans-Atlantic slave trades.^[6] Europeans bringing salt arrived in Oyo during the reign of King Obalokun.^[8] Due to its domination of the coast, Oyo merchants were able to trade with Europeans at Porto Novo and Whydah.^[9] Here the Oyo Empire's war captives and criminals were sold to Dutch and Portuguese buyers.^[10][11] In the early 19th century, the Oyo Empire collapsed as a result of internal conflicts and foreign invasions. Consequently, Yoruba people, largely of Oyo origin, became a principal ethnic group exported as slaves from the bight of benin, mainly through the Dahomean coast.^[12] This led to the high importation of Yoruba people to Brazil and Cuba, in the last few decades of the Atlantic Slave Trade. ^[13]

Cultural influence

In addition to the influence on slavery, and later Afro-American cuisine and language, the importation of Yoruba culture was most heavily evidenced in such manifestations of Yoruba religion as Santería, and Candomblé Ketu. Other traditional spiritualities, such as Trinidad Orishas and Haitian Vodou, are also largely derived from Yoruba religion.