History of the Yoruba people
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The documented history begins when
Before Oyo Empire
The history of the Yoruba people begins in Ile-Ife(Ife Empire). This kingdom was founded by the deity Oduduwa, who is believed to have created the world. Oduduwa was the first divine king of the Yoruba people. It is said the Yoruba people believe that their civilization began at Ile-Ife where the gods descended to earth.[1]
The ethnic group became popular internationally due to their trading with the Portuguese who gave them guns for their trade. The Yoruba were invaded by the
The people who lived in
Archaeologically, the settlement at Ile-Ife can be dated to around the 10th to 6th century BC, with urban structures appearing in the 4th-7th Centuries. "Between 700 and 900 A.D., the city began to develop as a major artistic center," And "by the 12th Century Ife artists were creating luxury and religious bronze, stone, and terracotta sculptures." The phase of Ile-Ife before the rise of Oyo, ca. 1100–1600, is sometimes described as a "golden age" of Ile-Ife.[4]
Oyo Empire
Ife was surpassed by the
Oyo developed in the 17th century and become one of the largest Yoruba kingdoms, while Ile-Ife remained as a religiously significant rival to its power at the site of the divine creation of the earth in Yoruba mythology. After Oduduwa's ascension in Ile-Ife, he had a son. This son later became the first ruler of the Oyo empire.[5]
The Oyo kingdom subjugated the kingdom of Dahomey. It traded with European merchants on the coast through Ajase. The wealth of the empire increased, and its political leader's wealth increased as well. This state of affairs continued until Oba Abiodun, Oyo's last great ruler, engaged his opponents in a bitter civil war that had a ruinous effect on economic development and the trade with the European merchants. The downfall of the kingdom came soon after, as Abiodun became concerned with little other than the display of royal wealth. Oyo's empire had collapsed by the 1830s.[6]
Like Oyo itself, most of the surrounding city states were controlled by Obas, elected priestly monarchs, and councils made up of Oloyes, recognised leaders of royal, noble, and often even common descent, who joined them in ruling over the kingdoms through a series of guilds and cults. Different states saw differing ratios of power between the kingship and the chiefs' council. Some, such as Oyo, had powerful, autocratic monarchs with almost total control, while in others such as the Ijebu city-states, the senatorial councils were supreme and the Ọba served as something of a figurehead.
In all cases, however, Yoruba monarchs were subject to the continuing approval of their constituents as a matter of policy, and could be easily compelled to abdicate for demonstrating dictatorial tendencies or incompetence. The order to vacate the throne was usually communicated through an àrokò or symbolic message, which usually took the form of parrots' eggs delivered in a covered calabash bowl by the Oloyes.
Modern history
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Yorùbá people |
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The Yoruba eventually established a federation of city-states under the political ascendancy of the city state of Oyo, located on the Northern fringes of Yorubaland in the savanna plains between the forests of present Southwest Nigeria and the Niger River.
Following a
Following this, Ọyọ-Ile was abandoned, and the Ọyọ retreated south to the present city of
However, the Oyo hegemony had been dealt a mortal blow. The other Yoruba city-states broke free of Oyo dominance, and subsequently became embroiled in a series of internecine conflicts that soon metamorphosed into a full scale
Major towns, cities, and the diaspora
Many
The
Much like in the case of Yorubaland itself, many people who belong to the Yoruba diaspora are Muslims or Christians.[10] Yoruba traditional worship remains influential in diaspora communities, however.
References
- ^ "Ile Ife, Nigeria (ca. 500 B.C.E.- ) | The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed". blackpast.org. 16 March 2011. Retrieved 2018-10-25.
- ^ "Yoruba People of Nigeria – Yoruba People History & Culture". Guide to Nigeria tourism, local culture & investments. Retrieved 2018-10-05.
- ^ Zerbo, J.KI (1981). "General history of Africa, I: Methodology and African prehistory". unesdoc.unesco.org. Retrieved 2020-05-29.
- ^ "Ile Ife, Nigeria (ca. 500 B.C.E.- ) | The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed". blackpast.org. 16 March 2011. Retrieved 2018-10-25.
- S2CID 165444099.
- ^ "Oyo empire | historical kingdom in western Africa". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2018-10-25.
- ^ Gat, Azar. "War in human civilization" Oxford University Press, 2006, pg 275.
- ^ Gat, Azar. "War in human civilization" Oxford University Press, 2006, pg 275.
- ^ "Yoruba People Towns and Cities - Ekimogun Descendant United Kingdom & Northern Ireland". Ekimogun Descendant United Kingdom & Northern Ireland. Retrieved 2018-10-25.
- ISSN 1749-5032.
Bibliography
- Adebayo Kayode "After Oduduwa"???
- Akintoye, Stephen Adebanji: A History of the Yoruba People, Dakar, 2010.
- Idowu, Bolaji E. : "Olodumare: God in Yoruba Belief" Wazobia, New York, NY 1994 ISBN 1-886832-00-5.
- Idowu, Bolaji: Olodumare: God in Yoruba Belief, London 1962.
- Johnson, Samuel: History of the Yorubas, London 1921.
- Lucas, Jonathan Olumide "The Religion of the Yorubas", Lagos 1948.
- Law, Robin: The Oyo Empire, c. 1600 – c. 1836, Oxford 1977.
- Smith, Robert: Kingdoms of the Yoruba, 1st ed. 1969, 3rd ed. London 1988.