Author: tope_litcaf
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Ajagbo was Alaafin of Oyo who ruled the longest. The length of his reign contrasted sharply with most of his close successors. Ajagbo’s love for martial planning led him to create a special office, the Aare Ona Kakanfo, to be occupied by the most accomplished soldier in the empire. He made his friend from Iwoye, Kokoro…
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History of the Yorubas is a book of history by Samuel Johnson, covering the earliest times of Oduduwa to the beginning of the British protectorate. Although the writing of Yoruba history dates back to the late 19th Century and many Yoruba sub-groups also have their own oral histories and chronicles, Johnson’s account was naturally attended…
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Oranmiyan obelisk‘s creation was influenced by some artistic principles of the ancient Yoruba. These principles serve as pointers to the importance of the obelisk in the royal burial rites of the Yoruba. Scribner’s Sons in 2002 observes “In one type of African art, forms that have known meanings are used in creating images of figures…
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Adimu was in Oyo-biased account, one of Oduduwa’s trusty servants who, by circumstance, became the sovereign at Ile Ife, thereby occupying one of the most important offices in the entire old Yoruba nation. Oranyan left Adimu in charge of royal treasures when he set out for a retaliatory military action against his father’s adversaries in Egypt.…
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Oranyan was the last son of Oduduwa, whose disposition to war earned for him the rights to the throne of Ile Ife. His empire extended beyond present South West Nigeria further north, and to Dahomey and even some areas in Ghana. Oranyan was the second sovereign in Ile Ife, after Oduduwa and the first Alafin…
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Oyo in pre-annexation times, have had its people organized into a complex, highly structured society, having rules and unwritten constitutions. Had the British met them in this state, they would have marveled on how this people, considered to have lived in the Dark Continent could have evolved a system so pragmatic. The truth lives one…
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Ooni is the title of the occupier of the Oba of Ile-Ife town; mother town of the Yoruba people. The Ooni is taken as the direct descendant of Oduduwa, who was the first suzerain of the people. In Samuel Johnson’s varied account, the title was originated from Adimu, who was a servant of Oduduwa. In any…
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Oba is the Yoruba traditional title meaning “King”. The head of a town might be an Oba (crowned head) if descended from an Ooni of Ife, regarded in ancient times as the spiritual head of the Yorubas. Otherwise they are called Baale (headman). Usually, the first Oba for each town was a migrant who left…
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Alaafin is the title for the traditional ruler, or Oba of Oyo town, whose authority from the fifteenth to the seventeenth century extended to great parts of the western Yoruba territory of old. For over a hundred years, starting from the early 18th Century, the Alaafins employed their great names and aura in upholding order…