T he Yoruba peoples form one of the largest tribal groups in Nigeria and in the census taken in 1952 they numbered about 5,000,000. Most of them live in the Western Region where the provinces of Abeokuta, Ibadan, Ijebu, Ondo and Oyo are predominantly Yoruba, and in the Federal Territory of Lagos. In all these areas they account for more than 70 per cent of the total population. They are the dominant element in the population of Kabba and Ilorín provinces in the Northern Region, while outside Nigeria there are important groups in Dahomey. One of the most distinctive features of the Yoruba is their high degree of urbanization. Almost half of Nigeria’s total urban population (5·66 million) is concentrated in Yorubaland (2·77 million). Both the size and number of their towns are unique in tropical Africa. Of the Western Region’s 128 towns, 107 are in the Yoruba provinces; five of these have populations of over 100,000, and Ibadan, with a population of 459,196, is the largest town in tropical Africa (Fig. XXIII, p. 280). In addition, the Federal Territory has 7 towns including Lagos with a population of 286,407. Outside Yorubaland, Kano is the only town in Nigeria with a population exceeding 100,000, while the largest town in the Eastern Region is Onitsha with 76,921. Yoruba towns are even more remarkable in view of the fact that urbanization is indigenous. With the possible exception of Lagos, there are no new towns which follow the more usual colonial pattern of growth through administration, trade and mining, as in other parts of Nigeria. Instead, these functions have been added to the existing towns which were established before the colonial era.