Oyotunji African Kingdom is a village patterned after the traditional customs and traditions of the Yoruba people of Nigeria, Benin and Dahomey, located near Sheldon, Beaufort County, South Carolina that was founded by Oba Efuntola Oseijeman Adelabu Adefunmi I in 1970. Oyotunji is named after the Oyo empire, and its name literally means Oyo returns or Oyo rises again. The village covers 27 acres (11 ha) and has seven Yoruba temples which were relocated from Harlem, New York to its present location in 1970. During the 1970s, the era of greatest population growth at the village, the number of inhabitants grew from 5 to between 200 and 250. The population is rumored to fluctuate between five and nine families as of the last 10 years. It was originally intended to be located in Savannah, Georgia, but was eventually moved to its current position after disputes with residents over drumming and tourists. The village is constructed to be analogous to the villages of the traditional Yoruba city-states in modern-day Nigeria, although modernization of the village's public works have been carried out under Adefunmi II. It has become one of the premier tourists spots in the Low Country of South Carolina. Following Adefunmi I's death in 2005, he was succeeded by his son, Oba Adejuyigbe Adefunmi II. In July 2024, Adefunmi II was fatally stabbed to death by his sister after a "heated argument". Adefumni II was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.
References Sources Goldstein, Joshua (May 27, 1978). "A King in South Carolina". The New Republic. Vol. 18. ISSN 0028-6583. OCLC 67075715. Hunt, Carl M (1980) 1977. Oyotunji village : the Yoruba movement in America (Thesis). Ann Arbor: University Microfilms International. OCLC 38348866. McCray, Kenja R (2002). Black gods, Black power : life at Oyotunji Village 1970-1990 (Thesis). Clark Atlanta University. OCLC 875481079.
Further reading Capone, Stefania (2005). Les Yoruba du nouveau monde : religion, ethnicité et nationalisme noir aux Etats-Unis (in French). Paris: Karthala. pp. 151–178. ISBN 2845867034. OCLC 607667095. Clarke, Kamari Maxine (2004). Mapping Yorùbá networks : power and agency in the making of transnational communities. Durham: Duke University Press. ISBN 9780822385417. OCLC 652107996. Retrieved April 29, 2018. Davis, Rod (2000). American voudou : journey into a hidden world. Denton, TX: University of North Texas Press. pp. 177-190. ISBN 1574410814. OCLC 475183846. Lefever, Harry G. (2000). "Leaving the United States". Journal of Black Studies. 31 (2). SAGE Publications: 174–195. doi:10.1177/002193470003100203. ISSN 0021-9347. OCLC 5723831040. S2CID 143803474. McCray, Kenja; Brown-Waithe, Antionette B. (2025). "Place, Space, and Identity Formation at Oyotunji Village". In Bridges, Eric M.; Smith McKoy, Sheila; Simpson-Wilkey, LaJuan (eds.). The wisdom of Ifá : an ancient paradigm for the twenty-first century and beyond. Lanham: Lexington Books. ISBN 978-1-6669-3141-9. OCLC 1464598634. Partial preview at Google Books. Ogunyemi, Yemi D, ed. (2004). Literatures of the African diaspora. Gival Press. ISBN 1-928589-22-7. OCLC 55952884.
External links Official website An Oral History of the West African Village That Has Been in South Carolina for Four Decades Ile Ifa Jalumi - Oyotunji Outpost RoadsideAmerica.com article Òyötùnjí Village: Making Africans in America - Anthropology Master's Thesis by Antionette B. Brown-Waithe Welcome to the Kingdom Oyotunji African Village via Internet Archive About Oyotunji African Village "Against the Odds, A 40-Year Old West African Village in South Carolina Has Thrived"