Edo people

The Edo people, also referred to as the Benin people, are an Edoid-speaking ethnic group. They are prominently native to the Edo South senatorial district which make up seven local government areas of Edo State, conquered and influenced wide and far all the way to Eko (camp) now called Lagos and down to Dahomey during the old days before the British invasion. Although Edo state is cut short to how it is today, history never forget. The Edo people speaks the Edo language and are the descendants of the founders of the Benin Kingdom, the Ogiso. Even other Edoid ethnic groups, such as the Esan, the Etsakọ, the Isoko, the Owan and the Urhobo as well as other southern ethnic groups migrated from the Benin kingdom.

The names Benin and is a Portuguese corruption, ultimately from the word Ubini, which came into use during the reign of Oba (ruler) Ewuare, c. 1440. Ubini is an Edo word meaning 'livable', used by Pa Idu, the progenitor of the Edo state people, to describe the area found as a livable locale during their sojourn from Egypt. Ubini was later corrupted to Bini by the mixed ethnicities living together at the centre; and further corrupted to Benin around 1485, when the Portuguese began trade relations with Oba Ewuare giving them some coral beads, which the Edo people call 'Ivie'.