Category: History
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Efunsetan Aniwura was the 19th Century Ibadan merchant born 1827 circa in Egbaland. Efunsetan began trading as a young woman and later expanded her operations to Ibadan, Badagry Lagos, and Port Novo. By 1860 she had decided Ibadan to be the headquarters of her growing business empire. Her local business was focused on foodstuffs, livestock,…
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Eguguoju was the Alaafin who temporarily moved the headquarters of the Oyo Empire to a desert place, Iju Sayan, which he named Oyo Ighoho. Eguguoju was the son of Ofinran, the king who died in Kusu, a place in which Oyo people were encamped on their way back to their city, after the raid by…
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Emmanuel Solomon Ajayi was an Ijebu leader, born 1896 in Sagamu. E.S. Ajayi was the son of Ajayi Jegede, a privileged local merchant. Although his father was a Muslim, he was allowed to practice as a Christian for educational purpose. Ajayi was one of the fourteen foundation students of Ijebu Ode Grammar School. Having passed examinations that…
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Garveyism was the Pan-African philosophy of the Jamaican political leader, Marcus Garvey, in the early 20th Century, aimed at precipitating a global movement of economic empowerment. Garvey preached the unity of all blacks, claiming that liberty would come about only through the return of all Afro-Americans to their ancestral home. Although the Universal Negro Improvement…
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Gberu was the Alaafin of Oyo after Ojigi, the indulgent father who died with his son, and immediate predecessor of Amuniwaiye, the king disgraced because of his affairs with his medicine man’s wife. Gberu hardly performed better than any of these two, for he was recorded as a wicked and superstitious king, whose delight was magic. His…
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Jaguna was an Egba military rank that existed prominently in the pre-1827 times. This was before the tribe fell under the influence of the Oyo/Ibadan army under the warlord, Maye who acted like the Field Marshal in the war against the tribe. The Jaguna title is virtually exclusive to the Egba, but it has lost…
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Jean Marie Coquard was the Missionary of the Holy Catholic Church to Abeokuta who established the first hospital in Nigeria in 1859. Marie Coquard was trained as a sailor and destined for the French naval service but accident brought his ship to the Slave Coast about which he read at school and in ships’ cabins. Unfolded before…