Precolonial Yoruba States

Precolonial Yoruba States

Ayodeji Ogunnaike, Bowdoin College

https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.013.718
Published online: 18 July 2022

Summary
The Yoruba people, mostly found in modern-day southwestern Nigeria, created one of the most effective, stable,
and celebrated civilizations and political structures in sub-Saharan Africa, with the city of Ile-Ifẹ considered its
original source. The city’s founder and first sacred king, Oduduwa, was later deified as a mythic ancestor of all
Yoruba people. He established a robust system of limited monarchy that was re-created in city-states all over
contemporary Yorubaland and beyond. From about 1000 to 1500 CE, Ile-Ifẹ enjoyed a position as the political,
economic, and religious center of the entire region, cultivating one of the most famous artistic traditions in African
history and exporting its political structure to new city-states that formed their own kingdoms.

As trade routes began to shift, the city-state of Ọyọ started to eclipse Ile-Ifẹ in terms of prestige and power. Still
operating under the same general political schema, Ọyọ established the largest empire in the West African tropical
forest and dominated affairs in Yorubaland until the end of the 18th century. Internal power struggles crippled the
Ọyọ Empire, and its rapid collapse set off shock waves that destabilized the entire region. A century of almost
perpetual warfare ensued in which cities and states were created, abandoned, and destroyed. No resolution could
be found until British military power and intervention brokered peace and established a protectorate over most of
Yorubaland, beginning the colonial era in 1893.

Speaking of “Yoruba” states in precolonial history is a bit anachronistic in that the term Yoruba previously only
referred to the Ọyọ subgroup. Although all people known today as Yoruba were mostly united by similar linguistic
dialects, sacred history, and religious and political traditions, the broader term Yoruba came into usage in the 19th
century as a result of experiences in diaspora and missionary activity.

Keywords: Yoruba, Ile-Ifẹ, Ọyọ, Oduduwa, Ibadan, Nigeria, kingship, precolonial, states

Subjects: West Africa

Mythical Origins

The common myth of origin is perhaps the most central feature that has historically bound the
Yoruba people together. Despite variations on this overarching myth that have arisen as a result
of the shifting religious, political, and cultural landscapes of precolonial Yoruba society, the
following is the oldest and most widely accepted version.

At the beginning of time, God—Olodumare—lived in heaven (referred to as ọrun, or literally “the

sky”) and tasked Oriṣanla—the oldest of the oriṣa or deities—with the creation of the earth,
which at the time consisted only of water. Olodumare gave Oriṣanla a bag full of dirt or sand, a
chameleon, and a rooster with five toes, instructing him to spread the sand over the water and

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Precolonial Yoruba States

have the rooster kick it out in all directions to create dry land. Prior to his departure, Oriṣanla was
counseled to offer a sacrifice to Eṣu—the deity of chaos, communication, and morality—to
ensure the success of his mission. However, Oriṣanla failed to offer the sacrifice, and as he
climbed down a chain that led from heaven to earth, he became very thirsty. He stopped and
drank some palm wine, became drunk, and subsequently fell into a deep sleep. Oduduwa, another
resident of heaven, then went down the chain to see what had happened since it had taken
Oriṣanla so long to complete his task. Finding Oriṣanla drunk and asleep, Oduduwa took it upon
himself to climb down to the primordial waters, pour the sand on top of it, and allow the rooster
to spread the sand in all directions. The place where this took place is called Ile-Ifẹ because the
land (ilẹ) spread (fẹ) from that initial point. As the creator and owner of the land and the place
where the first human city was created, Oduduwa, although junior to Oriṣanla, became the first
1
king of the Yoruba, and his children became the subsequent kings of all other Yoruba kingdoms.

This myth contains a wealth of information, but from a historical perspective, there are several
important facts that have been drawn out and confirmed through methods analyzed in
subsequent sections. First and most important is the establishment of Oduduwa as the dominant
figure credited with the establishment of the contemporary Yoruba civilization as well as the
political institution of Yoruba sacred kingship. Second, this civilization and the entire Yoruba
world have their origins in the sacred city of Ile-Ifẹ. Third, while Oduduwa is credited with being
the founder of the Yoruba civilization, he is understood as somewhat of a usurper who seized the
divine right to rule—albeit for acceptable reasons—from one who held it before him.

This foundational myth is also significant because it constitutes the shared history around which
Yoruba—and even some non-Yoruba—people have long imagined their community.
Furthermore, all claims to traditional (and even some more modern) political power and
legitimacy have articulated themselves in reference to this sacred narrative and connection to
Oduduwa, Ile-Ifẹ, and the source of Yoruba kingship. Even when the hegemony of Ile-Ifẹ was
ultimately challenged beginning in the 17th century with the rise of the Ọyọ Empire, the challenge
was posed through an alteration of the myth of origin—specifically the inheritors of Oduduwa’s
throne moving to Ọyọ and leaving a servant in charge of Ile-Ifẹ—rather than challenging its
legitimacy. The pre-modern Yoruba did not tell and retell this myth with the interests of modern
history in mind but rather sought to articulate sacred and timeless truths about their society.
Instead of recording discrete facts that were accompanied by fixed dates in a linear past, the myth
of origin articulates events in a sacred time before or outside of time that are always present
within Yoruba society. As such, all aspects of social, economic, and religious organization have
taken place with reference to this backbone of the Yoruba world.

Early Period, 4000 BCE–1000 CE

Sadly, detailed and specific knowledge of ancient Yoruba history is very limited, but the fields of
linguistics and archaeology have provided a great deal of insight into the general themes of this
time period. From linguistic evidence, it is clear that the contemporary Yoruba people share
ancestry with several neighboring ethnic groups such as the Edo, Igbo, Igala, Nupe, and others
2
who together form a subset within the broader Kwa family of languages. The common ancestors

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Precolonial Yoruba States

of all of these groups initially lived near the confluence of the Niger and Benue Rivers, from which
3
the proto-Yoruba migrated beginning about 4000 BCE. Migrations likely happened in continuous
waves, and these earliest Yoruba people spread out to the west and south, ultimately reaching as
far as modern-day Togo in the extreme west and the Atlantic Ocean to the south. While still
roughly constituting the borders of contemporary Yorubaland, this large geographical area had
4
other, indigenous inhabitants going back at least as far as 9000 BCE. This meant that as the
proto-Yoruba migrants began to settle in these areas, they came into contact with foreign
cultures and peoples but largely assimilated them into the growing Yoruba civilization without
5
much, if any, conflict. This dispersal from what is the northeastern part of Yorubaland in the
early 21st century ultimately resulted in the entire area being populated by about 1000 to 500
6
BCE.

Figure 1. General map of Yorubaland from Horton, “Ancient Ife,” 96.

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Precolonial Yoruba States

Early Yoruba settlements were quite small in terms of size, and as they possessed mostly stone
tools, agricultural production was rather limited. Familial lineages were the building blocks of
these communities, and these descent groups—often called elu—remained the dominant social
7
political unit in Yorubaland for fifteen centuries. Individual lineages would often band together
for increased security as well as stability in the face of potential disease or crop failure. In such
arrangements, settlements would be close together surrounded by claimed farmland with clearly
defined boundaries. Within every settlement, each lineage head operated mostly autonomously,
acting as the political and spiritual leader of the entire elu, in charge of social organization,
resource distribution, and the spiritual activity around a lineage deity and ancestor(s). However,
political centralization within the broader community did not usually emerge in these combined
8
settlements, with lineages continuing to operate independently.

Sometime between 500 BCE and 500 CE, these mini-states began to transition from the Stone Age
9
to the Iron Age as iron smelting technology from West Africa spread to the region. Iron tools
provided the opportunity to create more open settlements and increased agricultural output. This
resulted in large population growth, allowing new homes to grow in size and capacity. Lineage
sizes swelled, and with their concentrations in specific compounds, or agbo ile, the physical
10
dwelling places became the center of cultural and political life. Next, the surplus in food
production and accompanying population growth resulted in greater specialization in occupation.
Professional hunters; palm tappers; hairdressers; weavers; sculptors of wood, pottery, and stone;
smiths; and healers emerged, many of whose occupations were dependent on the very iron
11
technology and tools that created the demographic shifts necessary for such specialization.

Specialized crafts and guilds naturally linked different lineages together, and trade became a
necessity given the importance of iron tools. Consequently, local markets emerged, often in four-
day rotations, in which those requiring the services of specialists in each settlement could come
12
to trade. Local cosmologies began to expand, resulting in a proliferation of deities and diverse
13
religious activity linked to spirits of each particular domain and social group. The most notable
religious change at this time was the widespread devotion to Ogun, the Yoruba deity of iron and
hunting, because his tradition transcended lineages and settlements. More significantly, Ogun is
also linked with the beginning of the process of political centralization and the establishment of a
14
new type of proto-kingship.

Shortly after the advent of the iron age, early kingship (with a few female “kings” as well) titles
such as Ọba, Olu, or Ọlọja were created; however, these proto-kings were more like elder
15
statesmen or lineage heads within a loose confederacy of settlements and lineages. New
chieftaincy symbols and sacred objects were crafted such as beads, precursors to the famous
16
Yoruba crowns, and minimalist stone carvings of important lineage heads and ancestors. The
resulting new state of affairs was the rapid growth of population, crafts, and religious activity in
the numerous and scattered mini-states throughout Yorubaland and the connections and trade
between them. During this transformation, one mini-state in particular began to undergo a
momentous revolution.

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Precolonial Yoruba States

That state was Ile-Ifẹ, and it enjoyed a uniquely high level of security, agricultural surplus,
deposits of iron ore, and ideal location along trade routes extending north to the trans-Saharan
trade and south to the east–west axis of a growing lagoon-based trade of forest and coastal
products in southern Yorubaland. Ifẹ quickly emerged as a major location for the production and
distribution of important regional trade items such as kola nuts, iron, beads, brass and bronze
work, salt, fish, horses, and cowrie shells. Given all these benefits, Ile-Ifẹ became a natural and
17
attractive meeting point for a wide range of newcomers.

This age of regional integration and demographic, economic, and technological growth in Ifẹ
occurred within a political establishment similar to the many other loosely confederated Yoruba
lineage-based mini-states. As expansion and development continued, a primus inter pares was
appointed for the many linked settlements with the office rotating between lineages and occupied
by the oldest lineage chief. This sociopolitical order grew out of lineage structures that had been
in place since the 5th century BCE, and the general society is referred to as “Igbo” in Yoruba oral
18
tradition—not to be confused with the Igbo ethnic group from southeastern Nigeria. As groups
of people were attracted to Ifẹ, some were incorporated into existing lineages as had been done in
the past, but other larger groups were allowed to settle only in newcomers’ quarters and had
restricted access to farmland.

The mythic Oduduwa is linked to one such group of outsiders associated with long-distance trade
that settled in Ifẹ. The Oduduwa group eventually clashed with the indigenous Igbo inhabitants in
a long and drawn-out political and military struggle. Newcomers were largely united under
strong political leadership, which also drew the support of some indigenous inhabitants. The
general lack of effective leadership and the loose control of the indigenous Igbo confederation led
by a man identified as Ọbatala, however, ultimately gave way to the new Oduduwa establishment.
The name Ọbatala is at times used interchangeably with Oriṣanla, and so the mythic descent of
Oduduwa and justified usurpation of the negligent Ọbatala’s mandate to rule in Yoruba
19
mythology and Ifẹ festival rituals, refer directly to this revolution. This conflict lasted perhaps
for centuries, so Ọbatala and Oduduwa were most likely the leading figures on each side at the
20
conclusion of the conflict rather than those who began it. With the success of Oduduwa’s
revolution, the political and physical structure of Ile-Ifẹ changed dramatically to reflect his
strong centralization of power within his lineage and the establishment of the tradition of Yoruba
sacred kingship that continues in contemporary Yorubaland.

Sacred Kingship, Ifẹ Hegemony, and the Classical Era, 1000–1500 CE

The genius of Oduduwa was not in creating a new and foreign system of government. Rather, he
welded the fragments of the previous order together in a more coherent and effective system
under the leadership of his own lineage. All the previous rulers of smaller settlements retained
their hereditary titles, were given a specific quarter within the new town of Ile-Ifẹ, and either
allowed to retain their traditional farmland outside of the city or had land allocated to them by
Oduduwa. Over this reconstruction of the previous—but now more consolidated—confederacy,
Oduduwa secured for his lineage the Are, or beaded, crown, symbol of authority that previously
marked the leader of the Ifẹ confederacy. Oduduwa’s lineage became the sole possessor of this

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Precolonial Yoruba States

symbol—which the current Ọọni or king of Ile-Ifẹ still wears at his annual festival—and of
ultimate political power within the kingdom. Oduduwa also appointed new specialist chiefs for
tasks outside of the administration of the various lineages residing in Ile-Ifẹ, and these chiefs
21
reported directly to the king rather than the other chiefs. Just as each lineage head was a type of
chief-priest for his community, Oduduwa became the leading priest and participant in the
religious rituals and festivals of all groups now in Ifẹ, making himself a divine being with a power
second only to that of the gods as the Yoruba saying ọba alaṣẹ ekeji oriṣa (“Ọba the possessor of
divine power like that of the deities” in English) articulates.

Figure 2. Ọọni wearing Are. Courtesy of Jacob K. Olupona.

To ensure political cohesion, Oduduwa allowed the new council of lineage chiefs to form a special,
secret council called the Ogboni, who served as watchdogs for the monarchy and had the ability to
22
check his power and, in rare circumstances, depose him as well. A group of the highest chiefs in
the kingdom were selected to serve as kingmakers who were charged with selecting the new king
from the eligible members of Oduduwa’s lineage. Furthermore, while the king was required to
approve such selections, each lineage was able to choose its own head chief, who, in turn, was
able to nominate other lineage members for lesser titles that they held for the administration of
their individual quarters. Major decisions were taken in consultation with the council of these
highest chiefs, ensuring that all factions of the new city-state had effective representation at all
levels of government.

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Precolonial Yoruba States

Ifẹ had been attractive to immigrants before Oduduwa’s revolution, and with the new era of
prosperity ushered in by Oduduwa, Ifẹ’s prestige rose faster than ever. Ifẹ’s great iron and bead
industries expanded rapidly, and, with the centralization of power, were even better suited for
23
long-distance trade. Skilled workers and immigrants streamed into Ifẹ, and by the 13th or 14th
century, it is estimated that the city reached a peak population of about 70,000, approximately
24
the size of London at the time. Some of the hallmarks of this classical period in Ifẹ were its
traditions of iron smelting, bead making, bronze work, and pottery.

Dispersal from Ifẹ

Oral traditions maintain that Oduduwa commanded his children to spread out from Ifẹ in all
directions to found new kingdoms. These princes, usually cited as seven or sixteen in number, are
believed to have taken large followings with them and recreated Ifẹ’s royal political structure
wherever they went. The most famous of such princes, Ọranmiyan, is said to have first traveled
east to the ancient city of Benin (not to be confused with the modern-day République du Bénin to
the west of Nigeria) in response to its request for a new king who could establish a more effective
political structure. After leaving his son to lead an ethnically Yoruba ruling lineage in Benin,
Ọranmiyan then returned to Ifẹ and set off to the north to found the Ọyọ kingdom, becoming the
25
first Alaafin or king of Ọyọ. Every major Yoruba kingdom has its own myth of origin related to a
member of Oduduwa’s lineage (most were his sons, but a few were daughters), and most of them
include an account of conflict between these newcomers and the indigenes of the area before the
26
Ifẹ model of kingship became established. What these traditions all indicate is that the migrants
from Ifẹ encountered culturally similar indigenous mini-states and managed by coercion and/or
force to unite them into a centralized entity, just as Oduduwa had done in Ifẹ. Consequently, the
spread of Oduduwa’s new order was “a process of state-formation from within a people in which
27
the leaders belonged to a dominant but probably not alien lineage.” Although the oral traditions
always refer to the children of Oduduwa, this may simply be a result of their drawing the ideology
and physical symbols of kingship from his descendants in Ifẹ rather than every one of them
28
coming from the royal lineage, although this is certainly a possibility. This process of creating
new city-states on the Ifẹ model likely took place within a few generations of Oduduwa’s reign as
29
the estimate for the foundation of Ọranmiyan’s ruling line in Benin is 1170 CE. There are,
however, a few examples of communities who were not drawn into these centralized kingdoms or
effectively resisted assimilation with some not linking themselves to the central myth of
30
Oduduwa’s descent from heaven and creation of the world.

At times, it took several waves of migration to establish these new Yoruba kingdoms and city-
states, and the communities that founded them often moved through several locations before
31
ultimately settling on a final site. When these city-states were firmly established, they drew in
the smaller settlements and lineages around them and attracted immigrants with special
32
professional skills just as had occurred in Ifẹ. Unsurprisingly, these new kingdoms were all
closely linked to Ile-Ifẹ. The earliest and most prominent of them, such as Ijẹbu-Ode, Ọwọ, Ileṣa,
and Ọyọ, became major trading hubs with Ifẹ lying at the center of the network. By 1500 to 1600
CE, the region of contemporary Yorubaland had been completely consolidated within these
33
emerging kingdoms with little to no room left for the establishment of new states. The most

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Precolonial Yoruba States

prominent of these kingdoms were Owu, Ketu, and Ṣabe in the west; Ijẹbu, Ẹgba, Ẹgbado and
Awori in the south; Ileṣa, Ọwọ, Ekiti, and Ondo in the east; and Ọyọ and Igbomina in the north.
Although not ethnically Yoruba, the Benin in the extreme east must be mentioned because they
drew their tradition of kingship from Ifẹ and were heavily involved in the religious, economic,
political, and military realities of the Yoruba world from the beginning of this period.

Figure 3. Trade networks from Horton, “Ancient Ife,” 104.

Political Structure
The new kingdoms largely recreated the political structure of Ifẹ by reenacting his revolution.
They drew in local lineages and settlements, concentrating them into city quarters and giving the
former rulers authority within those jurisdictions. Similar high councils with these highest chiefs
were established and given authority to check the power of the king as well as select new kings.
The kings in each new city-state were also the fathers of all people within their realms as well as
their religious traditions. However, each capital city often had a patron deity or oriṣa that was
closely associated with the king and whose annual festival became the most important civic event
as all citizens had equal claim to it in addition to those of their specific lineages or individual

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Precolonial Yoruba States

deities. Such festivals were usually linked with Ogun, but other oriṣa became more central in
some kingdoms such as Ṣango in Ọyọ. The system did allow for variation and improvisation to
suit local needs, as can be seen with the greater importance of age-grade societies rather than
lineages in some of the southern and eastern Yoruba kingdoms or the presence of patrilineal and
34
matrilineal avenues for inheritance and political organization in some regions.

As mentioned before, while the overwhelming majority of these kings were men, a few were
35
indeed women, and such female kings exercised just as much power as their male counterparts.
In general, the ruling elite within Yorubaland at the time were understood to be at least mythic, if
not biological, kin and cooperated as equals while respecting the position of Ile-Ifẹ as the
ultimate seat of power. As a result, in the rare instances of interstate conflict, other kings often
36
stepped in to mediate for each other. Centralized authority could at times emerge in multiple
city-states or kingdoms within the same region. At times, smaller states would simply accept the
protection and hegemony of larger cities that became the emergent regional capitals, but this was
not always the case. While there was always one leading ruler in each new Yoruba city, only a
select few were granted sacred crowns (ade) from Ile-Ifẹ in recognition of their link to Oduduwa’s
lineage and authority to rule. The cities of such “crowned kings” in each subregion naturally
possessed the greatest prestige and power and attracted the greatest number of immigrants.

As was the case in Ifẹ, the new kings focused on economic development, especially trade. Along
with the construction of new palaces, royal marketplaces were erected just outside their gates, a
37
feature that is still present in all Yoruba royal cities to this day. Kings increased their wealth in
trade by collecting tolls at gates constructed at the points where major roads led into their cities,
38
but traders were not the only mobile members of the community. A great deal of internal
movement of professional diviners and healers, artisans, entertainers, and warriors took place
between these newer kingdoms as they sought additional training with resident experts and to
39
ply their trades in more profitable locations.

Ifẹ’s Continued Prominence

Ifẹ sat at the political and geographic center of this highly urbanized network of city-states, but
because the majority of the population of each kingdom outside of the ruling lineages did not
come from Ifẹ, the new states were not understood as extensions or provinces of a large, single
Ifẹ state. Still, Ifẹ remained the paramount state at least until the end of this period, with its
prominence largely resting on its control of the most important Yoruba religious, political, and
cultural ideas and symbols.

The most significant of such symbols were the beads used in royal and chieftaincy paraphernalia.
These beads were necessary to create the royal insignia and for any claimant to a throne to be
40
recognized as a crowned king linked to Oduduwa’s lineage and tradition of sacred kingship.
Some of the glass used in such beads was produced locally, but the rest was imported from as far
41
away as the Islamic world and medieval Europe. This reinforced Ifẹ’s primacy as the center for

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Precolonial Yoruba States

regional and long-distance trade and the necessary participation in this trade network for any
kingdom. Consequently, the Ifẹ royalty intelligently came to monopolize the production and
42
distribution of these beads.

The widely celebrated bronze/brass industry of Ifẹ during this classical period operated in a
43
similar fashion as copper was brought to Ifẹ from as far away as across the Sahara Desert. The
industry was linked to the similarly famous artistic tradition of terracotta sculpture and the cire-
perdue or lost-wax technique of bronze/brass sculpture. This style was formalized sometime
around the 13th century as well, and from there spread by the 14th or 15th century to many other
44
prominent city-states such as Ọwọ and Benin that also became famous for such productions.
The impressive quality of these bronze sculptures and striking naturalistic style drew a great deal
of praise from later European archaeologists and artists in the early 20th century who often
compared them to the very best ancient Greece had to offer. In fact, the German archaeologist Leo
Frobenius was so taken aback by them that he believed they could not have been made by an
45
African civilization but instead by the long-lost civilization of Atlantis!

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Precolonial Yoruba States

Figure 4. Ori Olokun from British Museum <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/

File:Arte_yoruba,_nigeria,_testa_da_ife,_12-15mo_secolo.JPG>.

Ifẹ’s Decline and the Rise of Ọyọ, 1500–1796 CE

By the 16th century, changes in trade routes and the geopolitics of the region had drastic
repercussions on the relative power of individual states and the general political order of the
region at large. The success of Yoruba kingship in state formation during the classical era was so
great that certain city-states emerged as major trading centers that could deal directly with each
other, at least to a degree, without directing all resources and power toward Ifẹ. This was
facilitated in large part by the coming of Portuguese merchants to the Atlantic ports of Benin in
increasing numbers during the 16th century. Trade routes coming from the Niger River in the

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Precolonial Yoruba States

north shifted to the east, moving through the Ijeṣa and Ekiti kingdoms, opening direct lines of
access to Benin and Atlantic trade. Because major states had by this point expanded to the extent
that no unclaimed territory lay in between them and that all roads no longer lead to Ifẹ, military
expansion become a more rewarding possibility. The Nupe began military operations into Ijeṣa
territory from the north, the Benin invaded Ekiti territory from the east in the 15th century, and
despite Ifẹ’s efforts at intervention, the broader regional militaristic and commercial changes
46
had already begun.

The small cowrie shell epitomized the changing economic and political order in that its trade was
previously dominated by Ifẹ, and its use was primarily symbolic religious in nature. However, at
the beginning of the 16th century, the Portuguese began trading it in vast quantities, and it
quickly became the standard form of currency in the region. The implications of this shift were
enormous. The various kingdoms which began to rival Ifẹ in size could now determine their
power through access to a trade in objects and routes not controlled by Ifẹ. The strength and
prominence of other states grew with the cowrie in that “just as the production and control of
beads were intertwined with the process of state formation and status/power indexing, so did
47
cowries finance the post-16th century political entities and their harbingers.”

The most prominent of these ascendant political entities in Yorubaland was Ọyọ, whose initial
capital and seat of power were Ọyọ-Ile. As oral traditions of Ọyọ’s origin suggest by depicting the
founder Ọranmiyan as the youngest of Oduduwa’s children, Ọyọ-Ile was one of the later major
Yoruba city-states to be founded, likely in the late 12th to early 13th century. Located in the
extreme north and northwest of Yoruba territory, it enjoyed a position in very fertile savanna
grasslands. Its position on the Yoruba frontier placed it at the beginning of the trade route leading
to the Niger River and trans-Saharan trade that crossed the borders with the neighboring Nupe
and Bariba peoples. Initially, there appeared to be a fair amount of peaceful coexistence between
the Nupe, Bariba, and Ọyọ peoples who all inhabited the area, but as the Ọyọ-Yoruba contingent
continued to grow, the Bariba and Nupe began to resist this apparent incursion. By the 16th
century, the Ọyọ were the dominant group in the immediate area, although Ọyọ-Ile was not the
most prominent state within the broader region as its status as tributary to the greater Owu
indicates. Furthermore, just after the turn of the century, the Nupe successfully invaded the
48
capital.

Period of Exile
With the sacking of Ọyọ-Ile, the Alaafin Onigbogi took his court into exile in Bariba country to the
northwest. After regrouping and carrying out some raids in Ọyọ country with Bariba support,
successive Alaafin moved their seat of power to Kuṣu in the far east of Ọyọ territory, then to
Igboho, which was 40 miles away from Ọyọ-Ile, and from which they reorganized and prepared
to reconquer the capital. Several important factors contributed to this campaign. The Ọyọ military
was strengthened by domesticating the Nupe cavalry tradition and the royal city of Ikoyi was
established as the center for military training and attracted the willing support of other Yoruba
cities in the region. The Ọyọ adoption of the originally Nupe tradition of Egungun masquerades as
part of its official religious and military practice and its embracement of Ifa divination (the most
authoritative and widespread form of divination in Yorubaland today) during this period also
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Precolonial Yoruba States

brought divine favor to the Ọyọ. This preparation bore fruit when the Alaafin was able to drive the
Nupe out of Ọyọ-Ile and reestablish his court in the capital in the last quarter of the 16th
49
century.

Ọyọ Expansion
With its new military might and broader support from other Yoruba cities in the region, Ọyọ-Ile
wasted no time in extending its influence. It immediately checked the expansion of Benin in
northern Ekiti territory and began claiming territory previously held by the Nupe and Bariba to
the north. Ọyọ-Ile also gained greater influence—but not complete control—in Igbomina
territory to the immediate east as it was the only state powerful enough to protect the smaller
Igbomina states from Nupe aggression. Although Ọyọ-Ile had previously paid tribute to Owu, the
tables were turned and Owu became a vassal state of Ọyọ-Ile at this time as well. Within a
century, Ọyọ hegemony had been established to the south and southwest over Egbado country,
the Ẹgba, and the Anago. Ọyọ influence was expanded in a number of ways from voluntary
absorption of new communities, military conquest, political control through the appointment of
new rulers, sending members of royal lineages to govern preexisting towns, and in some cases
50
colonization of previously uninhabited or lightly inhabited areas.

In a series of wars and invasions between 1726 and 1748, Ọyọ subjugated Dahomey, made it a
tributary state, consolidated the Aja people within its territory, and effectively established control
51
over the important Atlantic ports of Ouidah and Porto Novo. The expansion of Ọyọ’s power
along this western corridor was made possible in large part because the savanna extends much
farther south, allowing the free operation of Ọyọ’s cavalry, which was of less effect in the dense
forests of most of Yorubaland because of mobility issues and the prevalence of tsetse flies that
caused horses to die of trypanosomiasis at a rapid rate. This corridor also gave Ọyọ privileged
access to the growing Atlantic trade in addition to the more ancient trans-Saharan trade. The
unique nature of Ọyọ’s position can be seen in the way used goods acquired through the Atlantic
trade in the south to buy horses from the northern trade, strengthening its military power. This
allowed Ọyọ to extend its control over both trade routes, increasing its prestige and wealth along
the way. As the empire grew, so did its participation in the slave trade, mostly buying slaves in the
north and selling them in the south but also acquiring a much smaller number through conquest
52
and selling convicted criminals. Linking the Saharan and Atlantic trades directly gave Ọyọ a
unique position of integration into both economic spheres without the need of referring to Ile-
Ifẹ.

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Precolonial Yoruba States

Figure 5. Ọyọ Empire at greatest extent (ca. 1780) in Law, Ọyọ Empire, 89.

Political Structure
As with all Yoruba states, the Alaafin was the head and center of the political structure as the
sacred king, and the high council of senior chiefs exercised a great deal of power as well. In Ọyọ,
the seven members of this council were called the Ọyọ Mesi, and the most senior of them, the
Baṣọrun, functioned as a type of prime minister. Underneath the Ọyọ Mesi were of course
numerous other quarter and lineage chiefs, but during the period of residence in Igboho, an
elevated cadre of seventy military chiefs named the Ẹṣọ was developed. The Ẹṣọ were appointed
by the Ọyọ Mesi on the basis of merit (but approved by the Alaafin), resided within the capital,
and were charged with command of the army. The Ẹṣọ also provided the chiefs with strong power
that could check the Alaafin, and they are cited as part of the reason why the Ọyọ Mesi were able
53
to depose ineffective or overreaching kings by forcing them to commit ritual suicide. During the
latter part of the 17th century when Ọyọ was in the middle of its imperial expansion, Alaafin
Ajagbo created the title of Arẹ Ọna Kakanfo. The Arẹ Ọna Kakanfo served as the head of the
provincial forces (troops contributed by all states from outside the capital), was appointed
54
directly by the Alaafin, and was usually the head of an Ọyọ town. Following the protracted

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Precolonial Yoruba States

conflict with the Nupe beginning in the 16th century, the military emerged as one of the most
central aspects of Ọyọ culture, as the state was effectively perpetually at war on some frontier,
and failure was severely punished.

Several other political figures were linked to and enhanced the power of the Alaafin. The Arẹmọ,
the eldest son of the Alaafin, was viewed as an extension of the Alaafin himself, but, unlike the
king, was allowed to leave the palace and conduct affairs of state wherever he saw fit. As the
empire grew, the Alaafin also amassed a growing number of servants and messengers called ilari,
some of whom formed a standing bodyguard for him and carried out his orders throughout the
empire. A new position of ajẹlẹ was also instituted, whose holders—usually slaves of the Alaafin
—were charged with the supervision of towns and territory outside of Ọyọ-Ile and the supply of
relevant information to the king. It is also significant that the religious tradition of Ṣango—the
deified former Alaafin and tutelary deity of Ọyọ-Ile—was centered on the royal shrine in the Ọyọ
55
city of Koso and served to centralize and enhance Ọyọ religious authority as well. As the Alaafin
was understood to be the reincarnation of Ṣango, this religious order was remarkably similar to
the way Oduduwa’s legend and tradition enhanced the ritual and symbolic centrality of Ile-Ifẹ
and the Ọọni as his reincarnation.

The expansion of the empire thus coincided with a great deal of centralization of power not only
in Ọyọ-Ile, but around the Alaafin himself. In 1754, at the height of Ọyọ’s prestige, a particularly
adept Baṣọrun named Gaha was appointed who recognized the shifting balance of power. A
shrewd politician, Gaha managed to consolidate enough power that he became the de facto ruler
of the empire, dominating and deposing a string of Alaafin until the reign of Abiọdun, one of the
most celebrated in Ọyọ history. In 1774 with the help of a friend who was the Are Ọna Kakanfo,
Abiọdun marched into Ọyọ-Ile with the provincial forces, attacked Gaha’s quarter of the town,
56
and utterly defeated him along with all Abiọdun’s other enemies in the capital.

While Abiọdun’s victory allowed him to exercise unprecedented power and lead the empire into
an era of economic prosperity, his actions greatly weakened both the military and Ọyọ Mesi,
ensuring a deleterious internal power struggle. Upon his death in 1789, the Ọyọ Mesi likely took
the opportunity to appoint a weaker Alaafin in his successor Awolẹ to balance power again and
57
attempt a resurgence in military might as they had recently suffered several defeats. Awolẹ
indeed proved to be an ineffective ruler and quarreled with Afọnja, his Are Ọna Kakanfo, by
sending him on an impossible and pointless military expedition. Afọnja rallied many provincial
chiefs, as well as many in Ọyọ-Ile itself, marched on the city and demanded Awolẹ’s suicide in
58
1796. With the fall of Awolẹ and the demonstrated weakness of the Alaafin, the empire began a
rapid disintegration, whose effects shaped the future of every corner of the Yoruba world.

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Precolonial Yoruba States

Interstate Wars, 1796–1893 CE

Dissolution of the Ọyọ Empire

At its height, the Ọyọ Empire had over half the total Yoruba population under its domain and
59
covered about half of the entire territory inhabited by the Yoruba. Consequently, the dissolution
of the empire had drastic effects on all other Yoruba states. Even before Awolẹ’s reign, Ọyọ
territory was frequently raided, and a string of Alaafin were completely unsuccessful in
addressing the situation. Given the need for the Arẹ Ọna Kakanfo to intervene in Ọyọ-Ile, by this
point, the provincial rulers realized that the Alaafin’s power was no longer as great as their own
and many of them began asserting their independence.

Afọnja, who had dreams of becoming the Alaafin based on a weak claim through his mother’s
lineage, was the strongest of such figures. After being passed over for the position a number of
times, he decided to attempt to restore the glory of Ọyọ at a new seat of power, his city of Ilọrin.
He strengthened the city and its population, forged important alliances with other rulers, and
emerged as the most powerful ruler and military commander in the region. In 1817 in a bid to
launch his ambitious project, Afọnja implemented a radical and novel policy of offering freedom
to any Muslim slaves who came to fight with him. He sought to draw highly motivated soldiers to
his army and to weaken Ọyọ cities that were not aligned with him since there was a large number
of Muslim slaves of mostly Hausa, Fulani, and Nupe origin all over Ọyọ territory and the capital in
particular. Furthermore, Usman dan Fodio’s highly successful revolution in northern Nigeria had
established the powerful Sokoto Caliphate by that time, and Afọnja had already convinced the
Fulani scholar Sāliḥ (called Alimi by the Yoruba) to come reside in Ilọrin. Finally, Islamic
talismans were highly prized for their protective power, and Afọnja sought to harness these
social, political, religious, and military forces for his own benefit. Large numbers of Muslim
slaves flocked to Ilọrin, and they collectively became known as the Jama’a. The Jama’a included
highly effective cavalrymen, and with their zeal to exact revenge on their former masters, they
helped Afọnja claim town after town from Ọyọ-Ile.

Ọyọ-Ile’s problems were far from limited to Afọnja’s rebellion, however. Just before 1800, an
Ẹgba man named Liṣabi managed to unite the three major and largely independent Ẹgba
kingdoms in declaring their independence, crushing the only military force Ọyọ sent to bring
60
them to heel. Because the previous roads to major ports like Porto Novo and Ouidah were now
threatened, Ọyọ was forced to shift its trade routes to the east, traveling through Owu and
crossing into Ijẹbu/Ifẹ territory at the market town of Apomu from which goods could be taken to
Lagos. However, increased slave kidnapping caused problems for the Ọyọ in this area, and Owu
was ordered to take military action against the Ifẹ. The first Owu war took place in 1812, and while
Ifẹ lost this war, in 1817 it forged an alliance with the Ijẹbu. The Ijẹbu were the first to implement
European muskets, and Ọyọ refugees from the conflict raging in the north came and happily
joined their cause. The combined Ifẹ-Ijẹbu force entered and destroyed Owu in 1822 and
continued the invasion through Ẹgba territory because some Ẹgba towns had offered support to
Owu. The three Ẹgba kingdoms were not unified at that time, and town after town was raided and

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Precolonial Yoruba States

destroyed by the Ifẹ, Ijẹbu, and Ọyọ forces. Many of the allied soldiers settled in an Ẹgba town
called Ibadan, but the Ọyọ faction soon took control of the town and ousted the Ijẹbu and Ifẹ
factions. At this point, the Ẹgba were in full flight, and a leader named Ṣodẹkẹ emerged who
managed to unite them for security purposes in 1830 at a town they named Abẹokuta. All three
kingdoms concentrated their populations in this new city as did the Owu who fled when their
61
capital was destroyed.

Farther west, the warlike Dahomey empire had been watching Ọyọ’s rapid decline, asserted its
own independence in 1823, and began invading some of the western Yoruba kingdoms that were
previously under Ọyọ rule and protection such as Ketu and Ṣabẹ. Heavy participants in the slave
trade, they soon began harassing the newly independent Ẹgba to their immediate east who lived
62
in constant fear of impending Dahomean invasion. Although the Jama’a had helped Afọnja to an
impressive string of victories in Ọyọ territory, they were not entirely aligned with his political
ambitions and became famous for their excesses, swelling the streams of refugees escaping
immediate or impending invasion and raiding. By the time Afọnja began looking for help to rein
them in, the Jama’a had become too strong for even him to control, and they managed to kill him
in a surprise attack in 1824. Eventually, Alimi’s son Abdusalami became the undisputed ruler of
Ilọrin and aligned himself with the Sokoto Caliphate, gaining the title Emir of Ilọrin in the
process. This meant that for the first time in history, a Yoruba city-state was openly
acknowledged to be ruled by a non-Yoruba who paid allegiance to another foreign leader, the
Sultan of Sokoto. This state of affairs shocked other Yoruba states, and Ilọrin’s power continued
to grow, even treating the Alaafin as one of its tributaries!

Successive Alaafin tried to raise enough support from their crumbling empire and the
neighboring Bariba, but all efforts to check Ilọrin’s ascendancy failed due to a lack of strength and
internal divisions amongst the Ọyọ leaders. After the final defeat of Ọyọ forces in 1835, the chiefs
and residents of Ọyọ-Ile decided to abandon the imperial city, convinced that Ilọrin would soon
63
destroy it. A new Alaafin, Atiba, was selected, and he chose to build a new palace and establish
court at Agọ-Ọja, where he resided at the time. With that, the old empire had come to an
unceremonious end. The result of the fall of the old Ọyọ Empire in 1836 was thus a massive
migration of people from the northern savannah to the southern forest for greater security, the
establishment of new city-states, shifting trade routes and patterns, and competition among old
and new states to control the new trade routes.

Interstate Wars and New Forest States

The political instability, massive migrations, and intense competition between states in the 19th
century created what are often called the “inter-tribal” or internecine wars, the presence of
which caused widespread changes across Yoruba states. I have chosen to call them “interstate
wars” because the various states did not yet understand their primary identities to be a pan-
Yoruba ethnicity, and each specific kingdom or city-state had more claim on its citizens,
particularly after the influence of Ifẹ began to wane. Although the Yoruba had embraced an urban
lifestyle following the establishment of the Oduduwa system of monarchy, the heightened need
for security and southward Ọyọ migrations swelled the size of most major urban centers. The use

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Precolonial Yoruba States

of guns had become widespread by 1840, which meant an increased importance of the Atlantic
64
trade and consequently higher population density for port cities like Lagos. Because warfare
was practically ubiquitous, war also became a full-time profession and offered great prospects for
65
social mobility for an emergent class of warlords or ologun. The emergence of each new state in
the tropical forest was a direct result of these new wars as well. Abẹokuta was founded after the
devastation of Ẹgbaland, the new city of Modakẹkẹ was founded next to Ile-Ifẹ for Ọyọ refugees,
and New Ọyọ (formerly Agọ-Ọja) was transformed after Ilọrin’s decisive victory. Two states in
particular had war at their very centers: Ibadan and Ijaye.

Like Ibadan, Ijaye was formerly an Ẹgba town, but a powerful group of Ọyọ warriors fleeing from
Ilọrin’s forces conquered it. Ijaye was ultimately controlled by the general and despot Kurumi
who managed to build up a strong following. Ibadan, however, developed a very novel republican
style of government in which power was not concentrated in one man, king, or group of lineages
but rather by charismatic leaders who could attract large followings of dependents. In this way,
the previous lineage-based system of government was abandoned, and ancestry mattered less
than ability and social influence. Civilian and military titles were open to all, and appointment
and promotion up the ranks were determined by merit and ability. This was a direct result of the
refugee status of Ibadan’s Ọyọ founders and the need to rally around powerful figures who could
ensure protection. It also had the secondary effect of attracting ambitious newcomers and
fostering a drive for success and glory through military exploits. Alaafin Atiba recognized the
power of these new states and conferred the titles of Baṣọrun and Arẹ Ọna Kakanfo on Kurumi of
Ijaye and Oluyole of Ibadan, respectively, charging each of them with the defense and expansion
of the new empire. While both men were happy to accept the prestigious titles of the former
empire, it quickly became clear that the Alaafin was only symbolically their ruler, and Ibadan and
Ijaye had become much more powerful than Ọyọ.

The Ibadan political experiment was so successful that in 1840, it was able to defeat Ilọrin’s forces
just outside of Oṣogbo, halting its advance, and making Ilọrin just one more Yoruba state among
66
many rather than a unifying enemy for the various sub-groups. Ibadan also emerged as the
strongest military power in the region and began extending its control to much of Ekiti, Ijẹṣa,
Igbomina, and Akoko territory in 1847, establishing an empire in the mold of the old Ọyọ
67
Empire. To the southwest, Ibadan was also fighting against Abẹokuta to get direct access to
Porto Novo and was often joined by the Ijẹbu. The Ifẹ also invaded Ondo in 1845 but were forced
to evacuate the great city of Ile-Ifẹ itself after a conflict arose in 1849 with the Ọyọ refugees in the
new city of Modakẹkẹ. With Modakẹkẹ’s close links to their fellow Ọyọ in Ibadan, Ifẹ fell under
Ibadan’s effective control as well. By the middle of the century, Ibadan had already emerged as
the preeminent power in Yorubaland controlling vast amounts of the region, and although it did
not fully control any trade routes leading to the Niger River or the coast, it was situated at the
confluence of most of these trade routes.

Kurumi, however, did not look favorably on Ibadan’s ambitions to succeed Ọyọ, and in 1860 a
dispute about the succession to Alaafin Atiba arose in which the new Alaafin, Adelu, allied himself
with Ibadan against Ijaye. One of Ibadan’s most famous generals, Ogunmọla, eventually managed
to lead the Ibadan forces to victory, completely obliterating Ijaye, and one of his lieutenants,
68
Latooṣa, soon became the greatest ruler in Ibadan’s history. With Ilọrin checked in the north,

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Precolonial Yoruba States

the Alaafin no longer able to play Ijaye off Ibadan, and the beginning of Ibadan’s expansion into
western territory previously controlled by Ijaye, the other Yoruba states realized it was only a
matter of time until Ibadan tried to establish control over them as well. The Ijẹbu decided to ally
themselves with the Ẹgba—against whom Ibadan had declared war again in 1877—closing the
trade routes to Lagos and Porto Novo. The next year, several Ekiti states revolted, forming a
confederacy called Ekitiparapọ. They ultimately drew in allies and support from the Ijẹṣa,
Igbomina, and Akoko as well and appointed a famous general, Ogedemgbe, as their paramount
leader. The Ekitiparapọ forces entrenched themselves just inside Ijẹṣa territory, beginning the
long Kiriji War with Ibadan. In 1882, Ifẹ decided to join the Ibadan resistance, but Ibadan sent
69
forces to join the Modakẹkẹ and drive the Ifẹ out of Ile-Ifẹ for a second time.

Although Ibadan was able to maintain war fronts on practically all sides, it was a precarious
situation, as guns and gunpowder had become essential for military operations, and they were
almost cut off from all major trade routes. While this weakened Ibadan’s position, no other state
or alliance could topple them, which left the entire region in a heightened state of war without
any immediate signs of resolution.

Christianity, Returnees, and Ethnogenesis

During Ibadan’s ascendancy, another player emerged on the scene in Lagos: the British. In 1833,
the British outlawed the slave trade and sent a naval force to patrol the West African coast,
stopping slave ships and “repatriating” the Africans aboard in their colony of Sierra Leone. The
Yoruba were among the most prominent ethnic groups brought to Sierra Leone and became
known there by the communal name “Aku” rather than by the names of their sub-ethnic groups
such as Ijẹṣa, Ekiti, or Ẹgba. Many Akus were given a Western education, converted to
Christianity, and some even became missionaries in the Anglican Church Missionary Society
(CMS). These Aku missionaries became the most important factor in the spread of Christianity
when the CMS began establishing missions in Yorubaland in 1842. The CMS had the benefit of the
services of Samuel Ajayi Crowther who was sold into slavery following his home being raided by
Ilọrin forces, rose through the ranks of the Anglican Church as the first ordained African,
ultimately became Bishop of the Niger Mission, and was responsible for the first translation of
the Bible into the Yoruba language.

The different regions of Yorubaland still spoke different but mostly mutually intelligible dialects
at this point, and there was no single Yoruba language or identity. The Aku in Sierra Leone had
come to live as one people in a way they had not previously done in Yorubaland, and the CMS
sought a common language that it could use to teach literacy and preach the Gospel. To that end
Crowther, with the help of others, crafted a new language based on mostly Ọyọ and Ẹgba dialects,
and referred to it as “Yoruba,” a term that had previously only been used to refer exclusively to
70
the Ọyọ. Following the establishment of a station there in 1846, Abẹokuta became home to the
largest Christian mission and number of “Saros,” as the Sierra Leonean returnees were called.
Others were soon established in Ibadan and Ijaye, and from there, missions spread quickly to

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Precolonial Yoruba States

other states as well. Many of the rulers of these states welcomed missionaries because they
believed the white men were representatives of the British and could help them secure support for
their respective conflicts.

The Saros were not the only bearers of Christianity or the only ones with a new understanding of a
broader Yoruba identity. Particularly in the latter half of the 19th century, returnees from Cuba
and Brazil called Amaros or Agudas returned in large numbers, mostly settling in Lagos. Much like
the Saros, they had come from the various Yoruba kingdoms, but following their shared mutual
identification of “Lukumi” and “Nago” in Cuba and Brazil respectively, they adopted a similar
pan-Yoruba identity. Having bought or been granted freedom, they returned with varying levels
of Western education, skill in modern crafts, and attachment to Roman Catholicism. Together,
these returnees were the first to participate in Yoruba identity as an imagined community, due to
their experience in diaspora and exposure to nationalism, and they occupied a privileged position
in the growing colonial interests in Lagos.

Lagos was initially under the control of Benin and a relatively minor regional port city until the
19th century. However, by this time, Lagos asserted its independence and became a prospering
trade center, attracting the British to get involved in a dispute between two claimants to the
crown, Akitoye and Kosọkọ. Akitoye agreed to ban the slave trade in Lagos in exchange for British
assistance in reclaiming the throne from his nephew Kosọkọ, who was positively disposed toward
the slave trade. When the British navy helped him retake Lagos in 1851, Akitoye promptly kept his
promise. The British, however, were not merely interested in suppressing the slave trade but
sought to expand their influence and engage in commerce in an area where they had previously
been largely excluded. By 1861, they had forced out the new ruler, Dosumu; annexed Lagos;
established a formal colony; and began expanding the territory under their control. The colonial
government sought to open all trade routes to maximize their profits and keep itself solvent,
71
which naturally aligned it with Ibadan’s interests.

With the help of literate Saro missionaries, who had ventured farther inland and knew Yoruba
language and customs, they set out on a series of diplomatic missions to negotiate peace. The first
major intervention was between the Ifẹ and Ondo in 1872, and its success opened a trade route
that bypassed the conflict between the Ibadan, Ẹgba, and Ijẹbu, allowing trade to flow from Lagos
72
to the rest of the region. The stalemate of the Kiriji War was mostly broken in 1886 when the
CMS mediated a peace treaty, although the anxious opponents would not break up their war
camps until 1893. Because of the Ijẹbu’s refusal to allow foreign traders to pass through their
territory and fierce resistance to missionary efforts, the colonial administration launched an
invasion of the kingdom in 1892. Carter, the governor general of Lagos, took advantage of these
events to go on a tour of the various Yoruba states in 1893, signing treaties ensuring that no
further wars would take place, specifically one treaty with Ibadan making provisions for a British
Resident and effectively establishing a British protectorate centered on Ibadan over most of
73
Yorubaland outside of Lagos. Only northern areas of the Igbomina and Ekiti, as well as Ilọrin,
did not fall under this jurisdiction, and they were incorporated into the territory claimed by the
Royal Niger Company and the Protectorate of Northern Nigeria. To the west, because other
Yoruba states such as Ketu and Ṣabẹ had been conquered by Dahomey, when the French

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Precolonial Yoruba States

subjugated Dahomey in 1892, they fell under French rule. Finally, a much smaller number of
Yoruba communities fell under German rule in their colony of Togo immediately to the west of
the French colony of Dahomey.

Discussion of the Literature

The historiography of precolonial Yoruba states is unique compared to many other African
societies in that it is fairly extensive and in that those who have contributed to it have been
predominantly Yoruba themselves as well. The history of Yoruba societies written in European
languages began in the mid-19th century with the first generation of mission-educated Yorubas.
The Rev. Samuel Ajayi Crowther was the first to include a short introduction to Yoruba history
74
along with his study of the language.

It was in the latter part of the century that educated cultural nationalists began reacting to racial
prejudice on the part of the British by revalorizing indigenous traditions, including compiling and
publishing oral histories. These were most common in Lagos and Abẹokuta as they were home to
the largest concentration of such figures, John Ọlawunmi George and J. A. Otonba Payne being the
pioneer and most prominent. These early amateur historians wrote in both English and Yoruba
for the benefit of their specific communities and to provide teaching material for the growing
number of modern schools in Yorubaland. Their relatively short, but numerous, works were
generally written about specific subgroups and kingdoms, and titled accordingly (i.e., History of
Abẹokuta, or Iwe Itan Ọyọ, “History of Ọyọ”). Although he adopted a more universal approach to
Yoruba identity than the “town chroniclers” who mostly came after him, the Rev. Samuel
Johnson’s magnum opus The History of the Yorubas emerged as the most robust, thorough, and
exhaustive work that formed the bedrock of the subsequent study of Yoruba history. Differing
significantly from modern, academic historiography in terms of their nature, function, and more
75
limited analysis, they do contain a great wealth of information that future historians enlisted.

In the 1950s, the University of Ibadan and its Institute of African Studies emerged as one of the
leading centers of modern African history in general and the Yoruba in particular. In conjunction
with the government, it spearheaded the Yoruba Historical Research Scheme that supported
collaboration between academic historians of all kinds and oral historians to enhance knowledge
of Yoruba history. The pioneering figures in this movement were S. O. Biobaku, J. F. Ade Ajayi, and
I. A. Akinjogbin with their groundbreaking books like The Egba and their Neighbors, Christian
Missions in Nigeria 1841–1891, and Dahomey and Its Neighbors. The periodicals Journal of the
Historical Society of Nigeria and Tarikh were produced by the newly formed Historical Society of
Nigeria at that time as well. These works fit the mold of modern historiography more than the
“town chroniclers” and enlist oral sources, colonial archives, written records of missionaries and
European travelers and traders, and some emerging archaeological evidence.

Subsequent work interestingly has also tended to focus on specific Yoruba kingdoms, with foreign
historians—many of whom worked at prominent universities in Yorubaland like the university of
Ibadan or University of Ifẹ (which became Ọbafẹmi Awolọwọ University in 1987)—playing a more
prominent role. Outstanding examples of such would be Robin Law’s The Ọyọ Empire c1600–1836

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Precolonial Yoruba States

and Robert Smith’s multiple editions of Kingdoms of the Yoruba. Research on the classical period
in Ile-Ifẹ and its prominence in Yoruba history drew a great deal of attention, as did the Ọyọ
76
Empire. This wave of scholarship was also able to place its analyses into broader contexts and
literature on regional themes like ecology, state formation, and trade present in contemporary
work on other civilizations in West Africa.

Following Structural Adjustment Programs and the decline in funding for Nigerian universities,
scholarship in this area began to lose much of its vibrancy. However, Yoruba scholars based in
American institutions such as historian Toyin Falọla and archaeologist Akinwumi Ogundiran have
produced important individual work and edited volumes with contributions from scholars from
77
Nigeria, the United States, and Europe. Most recently, Falọla and Usman published The Yoruba:
from Prehistory to the Present and S. A. Akintoye published A History of the Yoruba People, both of
which provide a comprehensive, panoramic view of the origins and development of Yoruba
society. In this way, these books function as timely and more contemporary and academic
counterparts of Johnson’s celebrated History of the Yorubas.

Far less attention is generally paid to the existence of Arabic historiography on the Yoruba,
although a decent amount of material does exist. Because of the relatively late spread of Islam in
Yorubaland (mostly beginning in the 17th century), there is not much material from the
precolonial period except for parts of larger works from non-Yoruba authors such as Muhammad
Bello in his Infāq al-Maysūr. During the colonial era, however, Abu Ikoroko (otherwise known as
Ahmad bin Abi Bakr) wrote the extensive T’alīf akhbār al-qurūn min marā’ bilād Ilurin (The History
of the Emirs of Ilọrin), chronicling the current traditional political establishment from the
foundation of the emirate with Abdusalami in 1823 until 1915. The most prolific author in Arabic
on Yoruba history is shaykh Adam al-Iluri. His book Aslu qaba’ili Yuruba (Origins of the Yoruba)
constitutes a response to Johnson’s account of the origins of the Yoruba with a more Islamic-
centered lens, and Nasīmu as-saba fī akhbāri al-Islam wa ulamā’ bilādi Yuruba (The East Breeze on
the History of Islam and Islamic Scholars in Yorubaland) is a lengthier work that covers the
spread of Islam and activity of prominent Muslim scholars in Yorubaland as the title suggests.
Both works draw on oral sources, Europhone literature, and Arabic literature, providing different
78
perspectives on the same events.

Primary Sources
The major body of primary sources on the history of precolonial Yoruba states is the oral history maintained by court
79
historians in major kingdoms as well as the preserved oriki (praise names/poetry) of specific towns and rulers. These
traditions are still actively continued in all parts of Yorubaland. Furthermore, there are several published accounts of
80
the travels of European missionaries and officials in Yorubaland in the early to mid-19th century. The CMS Archives
in Birmingham, England, has extensive records of all the missionary activity of the Anglican Church in the various
Yoruba states from 1842 on. Because the colonial administration in Lagos was established in 1861 several decades
before the protectorate, the National Archives in Ibadan also has information relating to its interaction with states that
81
were not under its control during that intermediate period as well. There are a few Arabic sources that address
Yoruba history as well, particularly Muhammad Bello’s Infāq al-Maysūr. Finally, the Rev. Samuel Johnson’s The History

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Precolonial Yoruba States

of the Yorubas contains a compilation of oral traditions on early Yoruba history, but it also contains contemporary
records of the events of the period immediately preceding the establishment of the British Protectorate as Johnson
was one of the instrumental players in resolving the various conflicts and extending British influence in the region.

Links to Digital Materials

Church Mission Society Archives <https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/archives/2b1fd1e6-ce21-3e7d-
b2f4-26776d68d76b>.

Further Reading
Abiodun, Rowland. Yoruba Art and Language: Seeking the African in African Art. New York: Cambridge University Press,
2014.

Ajayi, Jacob F. Ade. Christian Missions in Nigeria 1841–1891: The Making of a New Élite. Evanston: Northwestern
University Press, 1965.

Ajayi, Jacob F. Ade, and Robert Smith. Yoruba Warfare in the 19th Century. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1971.

Akinjogbin, Isaac A. “The Expansion of Ọyọ and the Rise of Dahomey 1600–1800.” History of West Africa. Edited by
Jacob F. Ade Ajayi and Michael Crowder, 374–412. New York: Columbia University Press, 1987.

Akinjogbin, Isaac A. War and Peace in Yorubaland: 1793–1893. Ibadan: Heinemann Educational Books, 1998.

Akintoye, Stephen Adebanji. Revolution and Power Politics in Yorubaland, 1840–1893: Ibadan Expansion and the Rise of
Ekitiparapo. S.A. Akintoye. New York: Longman, 1971.

Akintoye, Stephen Adebanji. A History of the Yoruba People. Dakar: Amalion Publishing, 2014.

Biobaku, Saburi O. The Egba and Their Neighbors. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1957.

Biobaku, Saburi O, ed. Sources of Yoruba History. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1973.

Horton, Robin. “Ancient Ife: A Reassessment.” Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria 9, no. 4 (June 1979): 69–149.

Johnson, Samuel, and Obadiah Johnson. The History of the Yorubas: From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the
British Protectorate. Lagos: CMS Nigeria Bookshops, 1921.

Law, Robin C. The Oyo Empire c. 1600-c. 1836: A West African Imperialism in the Era of the Atlantic Slave Trade. Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1977.

Obayemi, Ade. “The Yoruba and Edo-Speaking Peoples and Their Neighbours before 1600.” In The History of West
Africa. Edited by Jacob F. Ade Ajayi and Michael Crowder, vol. 1, 196–263. New York: Columbia University Press, 1976.

Obayemi, Ade. “Ancient Ile-Ife: Another Cultural Historical Reinterpretation.” Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria
9, no. 4 (June 1979): 151–185.

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Precolonial Yoruba States

Ogundiran, Akinwumi. “Chronology, Material Culture, and Pathways to the Cultural History of Yoruba-Edo Region, 500
B.C.–A.D. 1800.” In Sources and Method in African History: Spoken, Written, Unearthed. Edited by Toyin Falola and
Christian Jennings, 33–79. Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press, 2003.

Olusanya, Gabriel O., ed. Studies in Yoruba History and Culture: Essays in Honour of Professor S. O. Biobaku. Ibadan:
University Press Lmtd, 1983.

Roberts, Allen F., Tom Joyce, and Maria C. Berns, eds. Striking Iron: The Art of African Blacksmiths. Los Angeles: Fowler
Museum at UCLA, 2019.

Smith, Robert Sydney. Kingdoms of the Yoruba. 3rd ed. London: James Curry, 1988.

Usman, Aribidesi, and Toyin Falola. The Yoruba: from Prehistory to the Present. New York: Cambridge University Press,
2019.

Notes

1. For various and more detailed accounts of this myth of origin see Ulli Beier, Yoruba Myths (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1980), 7–10; or Harold Courlander, Tales of Yoruba Gods and Heroes: Myths, Legends, and Heroic Tales
of. The Yoruba People of West Africa (New York: Crown Publishers, 1973), 15–23.

2. Ade Obayemi, “The Yoruba and Edo-Speaking Peoples and Their Neighbours before 1600,” in The History of West
Africa, vol. 1, ed. Jacob F. Ade Ajayi and Michael Crowder (New York: Columbia University Press, 1976), 200; and
Abiọdun Adetugbọ, “The Yoruba Language in Yoruba History,” in Sources of Yoruba History, ed. Saburi O. Biobaku
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1973), 178–182.

3. Stephen Akintoye, A History of the Yoruba People (Dakar: Amalion Publishing, 2010), 22–24; and Obayemi, “The
Yoruba and Edo-Speaking Peoples,” 201.

4. Akinwumi Ogundiran, “Chronology, Material Culture, and Pathways to the Cultural History of Yoruba-Edo Region,
500B.C.–A.D. 1800,” in Sources and Methods in African History: Spoken, Written, Unearthed, ed. Toyin Falola and
Christian Jennings (Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press, 2003), 37.

5. Akintoye, A History, 22–24.

6. Ogundiran, “Chronology, Material Culture, and Pathways,” 38.

7. Akintoye, A History, 29.

8. Obayemi, “The Yoruba and Edo-Speaking Peoples,” 208.

9. Ogundiran, “Chronology, Material Culture, and Pathways,” 38.

10. Akintoye, A History, 37.

11. Akintoye, A History, 39–46.

12. Akintoye, A History, 55.

13. Akintoye, A History, 46.

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Precolonial Yoruba States

14. Sandra Barnes and Paula Girshick Ben-Amos, “Ogun, the Empire Builder,” in Africa’s Ogun: Old World and New, ed.
Sandra Barnes (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1997), 43; and Jacob Olupona, City of 201 Gods: Ile-Ifẹ in Time,
Space, and the Imagination (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2011).

15. The general Yoruba term for “king” (ọba) can apply to both men and women who hold the office, although the
majority have historically been men. Female “ọba” differ from common perceptions of “queens” in that they hold just
as much power as their male counterparts and need not be married to a king to occupy the position. Women married
to the ọba are instead usually referred to as olori; Akintoye, A History, 45; Ogundiran, “Chronology, Material Culture,
and Pathways,” 42–43.

16. Ogundiran, “Chronology, Material Culture, and Pathways,” 42–45.

17. Robin Horton, “Ancient Ife: A Reassessment,” Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria 9, no. 4 (1979): 100–111.

18. Ade Obayemi, “Ancient Ile-Ife: Another Cultural Historical Reinterpretation,” Journal of the Historical Society of
Nigeria 9, no. 4 (1979): 170.

19. See Olupona, City of 201 Gods, 144–173, 224–250.

20. Akintoye, A History, 72–73.

21. Akintoye, A History, 74–75.

22. Akintoye, A History, 75.

23. Akintoye, A History, 77–78.

24. Larwin Armstrong, Martin Elbl, and Ivana Elbl, Money, Markets and Trade in Late Medieval Europe: Essays in Honour
of John H. A. Munro (Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2007), 375.

25. Jacob U. Egharevba, A Short History of Benin (Ibadan: University of Ibadan Press, 1960), 6–8; and Robin Law, The
Ọyọ Empire c. 1600–c.1836: A West African Imperialism in the Era of the Atlantic Slave Trade (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 1977), 30–31.

26. For full accounts of these founding myths, see Johnson, The History of the Yorubas, 15–25; and Robert Smith,
Kingdoms of the Yoruba (London: James Currey, 1988).

27. Smith, Kingdoms of the Yoruba, 80.

28. Saburi O. Biobaku, The Egba and their Neighbours 1842−1872 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1957), 5.

29. Smith, Kingdoms of the Yoruba, 83

30. The city of Ire for example maintained its autonomy, and many of the subgroups from the northeast corner of
Yorubaland and periphery do not share this political history. Akintoye, A History, 114, 128; and Ulli Beier, “Before
Oduduwa,” Odu, no. 3 (1956): 25–32.

31. Obayemi, “The Yoruba and Edo-Speaking Peoples,” 222; Edward Parrinder, The Story of Ketu: An Ancient Yoruba
Kingdom (Ibadan: Ibadan University Press, 1956), 11–17; and John Bemberton III and Funso Afọlayan, Yoruba Sacred
Kingship: A Power Like That of the Gods (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institute Press, 1996), 28–38.

32. Obayemi, “The Yoruba and Edo-Speaking Peoples,” 254; and Akintoye, A History, 153.

33. Obayemi, “The Yoruba and Edo-Speaking Peoples,” 254–256.

34. Peter C. Lloyd, “Political and Social Structure,” in Sources of Yoruba History, ed. Saburi O. Biobaku (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1973), 205–223.

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Precolonial Yoruba States

35. Akintoye, A History, 140–141; and Smith, Kingdoms of the Yoruba, 92.

36. Akintoye, A History, 158–160.

37. Isaac A. Akinjogbin, “The Growth of Ifẹ from Oduduwa to 1800,” in The Cradle of a Race: Ife from the Beginning to
1980, ed. Isaac A. Akinjogbin (Port Harcourt, Nigeria: Sunray Publications, 1992), 51–61.

38. Smith, Kingdoms of the Yoruba, 87.

39. Akintoye, A History, 165–166.

40. Akinwumi Ogundiran, “Of Small Things Remembered: Beads, Cowries, and Cultural Translations of the Atlantic
Experience in Yorubaland,” The International Journal of African Historical Studies 35, no. 2/3 (2002): 435.

41. Ogundiran, “Of Small Things,” 433.

42. Robin Horton, “The Economy of Ife from c. A.D. 900–c. A.D. 1700,” in The Cradle of a Race: Ife from the Beginning to
1980, ed. Isaac A. Akinjogbin (Port Harcourt, Nigeria: Sunray Publications, 1992), 122–147.

43. Ogundiran, “Chronology, Material Culture, and Pathways,” 58.

44. Ogundiran, “Chronology, Material Culture, and Pathways,” 51–58.

45. Leo Frobenius, The Voice of Africa: Being an Account of the Travels of the German Inner African Exploration
Expedition in the Years 1910–1912 (London: Hutchinson, 1913).

46. Akintoye, A History, 156–158.

47. Ogundiran, “Of Small Things,” 455.

48. Law, The Ọyọ Empire, 37–39, 59; and Akintoye, A History, 245–248.

49. Although Law argues that the Alaafin who ruled in Kuṣu and Igboho and returned to Ọyọ-Ile were likely a new
Bariba dynasty and not ethnically Yoruba. Law, The Ọyọ Empire, 39–44; and Akintoye, A History, 249–252.

50. Law, The Ọyọ Empire, 90–93.

51. Akintoye, A History, 257–259.

52. Akintoye, A History, 264–265.

53. Law, The Ọyọ Empire, 73–74, 199–200.

54. Law, The Ọyọ Empire, 192–193.

55. Law, The Ọyọ Empire, 104.

56. Akintoye, A History, 273–275.

57. Law, The Ọyọ Empire, 245, 248.

58. Law, The Ọyọ Empire, 248–250.

59. Akintoye, A History, 299.

60. Biobaku, The Egba and Their Neighbours, 8–9.

61. Biobaku, The Egba and Their Neighbours, 13–17.

62. Law, The Ọyọ Empire, 274.

63. Law, The Ọyọ Empire, 117.

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Precolonial Yoruba States

64. Smith, Kingdoms of the Yoruba, 133.

65. See Toyin Falola and Gabriel O. Oguntomisin, Yoruba Warlords of the 19th Century (Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press,
2001).

66. Smith, Kingdoms of the Yoruba, 138.

67. Akintoye, A History, 309.

68. Akintoye, A History, 315.

69. Akintoye, A History, 320–323.

70. Jacob F. Ade Ajayi, “How Yoruba Was Reduced to Writing,” Odu, no. 8 (1960): 49–58; and John D. Y. Peel, Religious
Encounter and the Making of the Yoruba (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2003), 286–288.

71. Smith, Yoruba Kingdoms, 135–138.

72. Akintoye, A History, 318.

73. Johnson has a detailed and contemporary account of these events. The History of the Yorubas, 626–642.

74. Rev. Samuel Ajayi Crowther, A Vocabulary of the Yoruba Language (London: Church Missionary Society, 1843).

75. Robin Law, “Early Yoruba Historiography,” History in Africa 3 (1976): 69–89.

76. Horton, “Ancient Ife: A Reassessment,” 69–149; Obayemi, “Ancient Ile-Ife: Another Cultural Historical
Reinterpretation”; and Frank Willett, Ife in the History of West African Sculpture (London: Thames and Hudson, 1967).

77. For example, Toyin Falola and Gabriel O. Oguntomisin, Yoruba Warlords of the 19th Century; Toyin Falola, Yoruba
Historiography (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1992); Akinwumi Ogundiran, Precolonial Nigeria (Trenton, NJ:
Africa World Press, 2005); and Ogundiran, “Of Small Things”; Akinwumi Ogundiran, “Chronology, Material Culture, and
Pathways.”

78. For more on these authors and a few other works in Arabic, see Hakeem O. Danmole, “Arabic Historiography on the
Yoruba,” in Yoruba Historiography.

79. For an excellent example and analysis of such material, see Karin Barber, I Could Speak Until Tomorrow: Oriki,
Women, and the Past in a Yoruba Town (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1991)

80. Examples include Thomas Jefferson Bowen, Central Africa: Adventures and Missionary Labors in Several Countries in
the Interior of Africa from 1849 to 1856 (Charlestown, SC: Southern Baptist Publication Society, 1857); William H. Clarke,
Travels and Explorations in Yorubaland, 1854–1858 (Ibadan: Ibadan University Press, 1972); Hugh Clapperton, Journal
of a Second Expedition into the Interior of Africa from the Bight of Benin to Soccatoo (London: John Murray, 1829);
Richard Lander, Records of Captain Clapperton’s Last Expedition to Africa (London: Henry Colburn & Richard Bentley,
1830); and Richard Lander and John Lander, Journal of an Expedition to Explore the Course and Termination of the
Niger; with a Narrative of a Voyage down That River to Its Termination (London: John Murray, 1832).

81. Although there is no online catalogue of the holdings of this National Archive, Simon Heap has provided a good
reference of the available materials. Simon Heap, “Nigerian National Archives, Ibadan: An Introduction for Users and a
Summary of Holdings,” History in Africa 18 (1991): 159–172.

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