CONSEQUENCIES OF THE FALL OF EMPIRE 1817-1899
CONSEQUENCIES OF THE FALL OF EMPIRE 1817-1899
The final breakdown of Oyo Empire following the Fulani conquest of Ilorin in
1817 resulted in long civil wars in Yorobaland. These wars which lasted
from 1821 to 1893 are too complex to be easily understood, the state of
civil strife in Yorobaland was aggravated by the struggle for supremacy
among the provincial kings or Obas to the south they took the opportunity
of the confused situation to expand their states at the expense of each
other. The Owu war 1829-1825 is a typical example. The Ijebu allied with
Ife to destroy Owu whose residents fled to Egba territory, and then the
Ijebu in alliance with Ife and Oyo destroyed several Egba towns. It was the
refugees from this town that founded Ibadan in 1829 and Abeokuta in 1830;
these two soon developed into powerhouse and soon joined the power struggle
in the region.
Some of the wars where caused by constitutional issues.
The Ibadan-Ijaye wars 1860-1864 was a typical example, when the Alaafin Atiba died in 1859, Adelu the Aremo or the crown prince was elected to succeed him as the new Alaafin, but according to Oyo custom, Adelu should have committed suicide on the death of his father the Alaafin, so Kurumi the Ka-kan-fo of Ijaye refused to recognised Adelu as the Alaafin. This led to war between the Ijaye and Ibadan which supported the new Alaafin. The war spread as Ijebu Ode and Egba which where allies of Ijeye attacked Ijebu remo which was Ibadan ally.
The Dahomey attack on the Yoroba towns in this century increased the confusion and tension and so contributed in the civil strife. Having achieved independence from Oyo rule in 1821 the Dahomeans began to expand their kingdom and to raid Yoroba towns for
slaves. In 1844, they captured Oke Odan, an important Oyo commercial centre, in 1848, they took Otta, and in 1851 and again in 1864, they marched through Egbado district and attacked Abeokuta. These attacks on Abeokuta though unsuccessful, increased the tension and confused state in Yorobaland.
Economic issues also were also responsible for the civil strife and tension in the Yorobaland, one of these was the slave trade. The demand for slave both for domestic use and for export was an important cause of the wars. Having been cut off from their northern market by the Fulani from which they have hitherto obtained supply of slaves, the Yoruba
states began to raid one another for slaves. In fact many of the wars of the century were fought mainly for the purpose of obtaining slaves. Ibadan which became the most powerful Yoroba town at this time raided and pillaged other Yoroba towns for instance Ijesha and Ekiti in the 1840s. as a result of the slave raiding wars, the port of Lagos, Badagry and Porto Novo became the greatest supplier of slaves to the European slave dealers in the century.
The Yoroba civil wars which lasted for over seventy years 1821-1893 led to the formation of new Oyo, the formal old Oyo empire fell to the Fulani hegemony, the Alaafin Atiba was forced to move over a hundred miles to establish his new settlement in Ago Oja, today nothing remain as the old metropolitan Old Oyo empire, the civil wars also was partly
responsible for the decline of the empire, since because of the tension in place in Yorobaland, the other Yoroba towns couldn’t rally to the defence of Oyo. They would have sent reinforcement to old Oyo, maybe Afonja and the Fulani army wouldn’t have won and the political map of Yoroba land would remain same throughout the 19th century.
The fall of old Oyo led to the emergence of new towns like Abeokuta, Ibadan, etc. these city states where founded by the refugees from the Owu wars and the conflict between Oyo and
the Fulani 1821-1825, those two state quickly developed into very powerful organized political cum military structure and thickly populated city state and soon joined the Egba state for the struggle for supremacy, Ibadan became the bulwark of the Yoroba defence against the Fulani and defeated the latter at Oshogbo in 1840.
By the fall of the old Oyo empire, the new state that were emerging began led to a sharp weaken of the Traditional, Social, Political and religious ideas and institution of the Yoroba.
According to J. F. A. Ajayi, The new towns and states were experimenting with new forms of government and military organisations, turbulent characters where challenging traditions in various ways. Confidence in the old gods were shaken at many point. This state of affairs together with war-weariness created an atmosphere which was to some extent favourable to missionary activities in Yorobaland.
Another consequence of the fall of the Oyo Empire is that slavery was intensified, since there is no dominant power bloc to check the slave raiders, when Ka-kan-fo Afonja sent an empty calabash to Alaafin Aole (Awole), mandating him to commit suicide, he carried a bow and three arrows which he was alleged to have place a curse on the Yoroba people he shot each arrow to three different dimension facing the North, East and West, and said that just as the arrow flew, so shall the people be carried away into slavery, shortly after his death, Yorubaland became a hub for slaves, the port of Lagos, Badagry and Porto Novo where the highest contributor of slaves, more than the figure of Ghana and the Gambia combined. And because of the British preventive squadron in capturing slave vessels on the West African coast, the Yoruba group had become the most predominant group of liberated slaves in the colony of Sierra Leone by the 1830s, an example of such is the slave boy who later became a bishop in person of Bishop Crowther.
Another consequence of the fall of the fall of the old Oyo Empire is that of the British interference in Yoruba affairs inevitable in the interest of British commerce, it was to put an end to the futile civil strife and encourage the “legitimate trade” from the hinterland to Lagos that the British Lagos administration intervened in the Yoroba politics. We saw how Akintoye signed a pact with the British who promised to end slave trade if Kosoko was disposed and he was imposed in Lagos which led to the bombardment of Lagos, the establishment of a British garrison in Illaro in 1890, the punitive expedition in Ijebu in 1892, the treaties with the Alaafin of Abeokuta, Oyo and the Olubadan of Ibadan in 1893, in effect converted Yoruba land to a British protectorate.
The final breakdown of Oyo Empire following the Fulani conquest of Ilorin in
1817 resulted in long civil wars in Yorobaland. These wars which lasted
from 1821 to 1893 are too complex to be easily understood, the state of
civil strife in Yorobaland was aggravated by the struggle for supremacy
among the provincial kings or Obas to the south they took the opportunity
of the confused situation to expand their states at the expense of each
other. The Owu war 1829-1825 is a typical example. The Ijebu allied with
Ife to destroy Owu whose residents fled to Egba territory, and then the
Ijebu in alliance with Ife and Oyo destroyed several Egba towns. It was the
refugees from this town that founded Ibadan in 1829 and Abeokuta in 1830;
these two soon developed into powerhouse and soon joined the power struggle
in the region.
Some of the wars where caused by constitutional issues.
The Ibadan-Ijaye wars 1860-1864 was a typical example, when the Alaafin Atiba died in 1859, Adelu the Aremo or the crown prince was elected to succeed him as the new Alaafin, but according to Oyo custom, Adelu should have committed suicide on the death of his father the Alaafin, so Kurumi the Ka-kan-fo of Ijaye refused to recognised Adelu as the Alaafin. This led to war between the Ijaye and Ibadan which supported the new Alaafin. The war spread as Ijebu Ode and Egba which where allies of Ijeye attacked Ijebu remo which was Ibadan ally.
The Dahomey attack on the Yoroba towns in this century increased the confusion and tension and so contributed in the civil strife. Having achieved independence from Oyo rule in 1821 the Dahomeans began to expand their kingdom and to raid Yoroba towns for
slaves. In 1844, they captured Oke Odan, an important Oyo commercial centre, in 1848, they took Otta, and in 1851 and again in 1864, they marched through Egbado district and attacked Abeokuta. These attacks on Abeokuta though unsuccessful, increased the tension and confused state in Yorobaland.
Economic issues also were also responsible for the civil strife and tension in the Yorobaland, one of these was the slave trade. The demand for slave both for domestic use and for export was an important cause of the wars. Having been cut off from their northern market by the Fulani from which they have hitherto obtained supply of slaves, the Yoruba
states began to raid one another for slaves. In fact many of the wars of the century were fought mainly for the purpose of obtaining slaves. Ibadan which became the most powerful Yoroba town at this time raided and pillaged other Yoroba towns for instance Ijesha and Ekiti in the 1840s. as a result of the slave raiding wars, the port of Lagos, Badagry and Porto Novo became the greatest supplier of slaves to the European slave dealers in the century.
The Yoroba civil wars which lasted for over seventy years 1821-1893 led to the formation of new Oyo, the formal old Oyo empire fell to the Fulani hegemony, the Alaafin Atiba was forced to move over a hundred miles to establish his new settlement in Ago Oja, today nothing remain as the old metropolitan Old Oyo empire, the civil wars also was partly
responsible for the decline of the empire, since because of the tension in place in Yorobaland, the other Yoroba towns couldn’t rally to the defence of Oyo. They would have sent reinforcement to old Oyo, maybe Afonja and the Fulani army wouldn’t have won and the political map of Yoroba land would remain same throughout the 19th century.
The fall of old Oyo led to the emergence of new towns like Abeokuta, Ibadan, etc. these city states where founded by the refugees from the Owu wars and the conflict between Oyo and
the Fulani 1821-1825, those two state quickly developed into very powerful organized political cum military structure and thickly populated city state and soon joined the Egba state for the struggle for supremacy, Ibadan became the bulwark of the Yoroba defence against the Fulani and defeated the latter at Oshogbo in 1840.
By the fall of the old Oyo empire, the new state that were emerging began led to a sharp weaken of the Traditional, Social, Political and religious ideas and institution of the Yoroba.
According to J. F. A. Ajayi, The new towns and states were experimenting with new forms of government and military organisations, turbulent characters where challenging traditions in various ways. Confidence in the old gods were shaken at many point. This state of affairs together with war-weariness created an atmosphere which was to some extent favourable to missionary activities in Yorobaland.
Another consequence of the fall of the Oyo Empire is that slavery was intensified, since there is no dominant power bloc to check the slave raiders, when Ka-kan-fo Afonja sent an empty calabash to Alaafin Aole (Awole), mandating him to commit suicide, he carried a bow and three arrows which he was alleged to have place a curse on the Yoroba people he shot each arrow to three different dimension facing the North, East and West, and said that just as the arrow flew, so shall the people be carried away into slavery, shortly after his death, Yorubaland became a hub for slaves, the port of Lagos, Badagry and Porto Novo where the highest contributor of slaves, more than the figure of Ghana and the Gambia combined. And because of the British preventive squadron in capturing slave vessels on the West African coast, the Yoruba group had become the most predominant group of liberated slaves in the colony of Sierra Leone by the 1830s, an example of such is the slave boy who later became a bishop in person of Bishop Crowther.
Another consequence of the fall of the fall of the old Oyo Empire is that of the British interference in Yoruba affairs inevitable in the interest of British commerce, it was to put an end to the futile civil strife and encourage the “legitimate trade” from the hinterland to Lagos that the British Lagos administration intervened in the Yoroba politics. We saw how Akintoye signed a pact with the British who promised to end slave trade if Kosoko was disposed and he was imposed in Lagos which led to the bombardment of Lagos, the establishment of a British garrison in Illaro in 1890, the punitive expedition in Ijebu in 1892, the treaties with the Alaafin of Abeokuta, Oyo and the Olubadan of Ibadan in 1893, in effect converted Yoruba land to a British protectorate.
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