Oyo Empire

[Ɔkyeame Kwame]

Oyo Empire

One of the most prominent examples of a West African people
claiming an origin in the East comes from the Yoruba whose
tradition has intrigued those who have seen influences from ancient
Egypt in Yoruba art, customs, and religious practice. According to
Yoruba myth, the national origin is traceable to Ife where Oduduwa,
a prince of Mecca, came seeking refuge from Muslim persecution and
remained to live among the local people. Oduduwa's children became
the progenitors of the several Yoruba nations, including the Oyo
who later became the founders of a large and powerful empire.

What can be inferred from this tradition is that there were invasions of
the forest country from the north, one of these being associated
with the name of Oduduwa and occurring about l000 A.D. At a site
called Ife. It is very probable that there were people already
living in the forest and that the intruders came in a series of
discrete waves, deferring to Ife as the spiritual source of the
Yoruba people but granting it no political primacy. That Ife was an
important center may be inferred from the splendid art she produced
at this early period, but there could have been no genuine unity among
the Yoruba who never even provided themselves with a national
name--the term, Yoruba, originating during the nineteenth century,
applied not by the Yoruba themselves but by outsiders to describe a
series of city-states where variations of the same language were
spoken.

Tradition began to give way to historical fact with the formation and
development of the state of Old Oyo. Founded according to tradition
by Oranmiyan, a son or grandson of Oduduwa, it probably dates from
the late fourteenth or early fifteenth century A.D., after which it
quickly became politically predominant throughout Yorubaland, its
authority extending at its height during the eighteenth century
north to the Niger, south to the sea, east as far as Benin, and west
to include the kingdom of Dahomey. The Oyo empire was not a centralized
monolith but consisted rather of layers of states with varying
loyalties to the center. Most closely connected was metropolitan
Oyo, which was directly administered. Next came provinces closely
allied with Oyo, then provinces with considerable local
independence where Oyo exercised only suzerainty, and finally autonomous
states, which had been conquered by Oyo and were forced to pay tribute.

Clearly, this empire functioned as effectively as its system of
communication, the vigor of its rulers, and the efficiency of its
army. At the head of the state was the alafin of Oyo, a powerful
monarch but by no means a thoroughgoing autocrat. Surrounded by a
complex of palace and state officials, the alafin was considered
sacred, but was in important respects the creature of the people,
or at any rate, of those who wielded political power. These were the Oyo
Mesi, the aristocratic leaders of the seven wards of the capital
city who formed a council of state and were responsible for
selection of each new alafin. This enormous authority also worked
in reverse for the Oyo Mesi could condemn a deficient king to death
by suicide, thus placing a powerful check on any tendency toward
royal tyranny. Furthermore there was the Ogboni, a secret society
of religious and political leaders who had the power to review decisions
of the Oyo Mesi, including the repudiation of the alafin. In the
provinces were obas, or princes, drawn from the local ruling
lineages and exercising considerable autonomy provided it was
accompanied by regular payment of tribute.

That the Oyo empire remained virile until late in the eighteenth century
is tribute to the ability of numerous kings who, like the legendary
Sango or Ojigi, the eighteenth century conquerer of Dahomey, were
able to govern effectively despite the customary limitations placed
upon their rule. There were other factors contributing to imperial
strength, however; for example, the tradition that decreed death to
defeated generals, a strong system of administration at least
within metropolitan Oyo, a steady stream of revenue in tribute and
taxes to feed the treasury, and a certain degree of cultural and
linguistic cohesion among the people living near the capital.

Despite their imperial status, the people of Oyo lived simply. Their mud
houses were roofed with foliage and modestly furnished. Dress was
rudimentary, although personal cleanliness was scrupulously
observed, and whenever a dirty or unkempt person was encountered it
was sure to be a sign of mourning. The people were of an unassuming
and virtuous disposition; crime was consequently rare and
submissiveness to one's superiors was a standard rarely violated. Being
compliant by nature, the Oyos were more diplomatic than forceful,
even appearing in extreme circumstances to lack
straightforwardness . This characteristic was accompanied by an
ambiguity in speech as well as a shrewdness in commercial dealings
for which they were widely renowned.

It was during the seventeenth century that the Oyo empire began to
develop on a large scale, and under the warlike alafin, Ajagbo,
reached out toward the coast. With the eighteenth century came the
conquest of the kingdom of Dahomey when Dahomey attempted to
dispute Oyo's coastal outlets. Under Ojigi (c.1698 c.1732) and his
successors, first the slaving center of Allada and then Dahomey
proper were invaded and devastated, but Oyo was unable to occupy
the enemy territory and had to be content with tribute which consisted
of men and women as well as military supplies and cash payments in
cowries. Apparently at the height of her powers, Oyo was in fact
already overextended and began to lose strength when the royal line
came under the domination of Gaha, the bashorun, or head, of the
Oyo Mesi, who seized power in 1754 and held it until he was
overthrown about 1774. Although with Alafin Abiodun (1754-1789), the
royal line had managed to re-establish itself and to maintain domination
over an increasingly restive Dahomey, the Egba subgroup of the
Yoruba successfully asserted their independence toward the end of
the eighteenth century as did others including the Bariba people of
Borgu, and the Nupe. By the opening of the nineteenth century, Oyo
was facing a protracted civil war which was to sap the energies of
the Yoruba throughout the century, and which was brought to an end
only with the British intervention in Yorubaland in 1893.

Though there were complex factors at work, the decline of Old Oyo was
the result of basic weaknesses within the Yoruba community. In the
first place, the empire had become too unwieldy and its lines of
communication and supply overextended, thus inviting revolt in the
provinces. Such defections might have been off set by strong
leadership within Oyo itself but in fact it was at this very time
that internal dissension robbed the administration of its essential
vigor. The rule of Gaha seriously weakened the web of authority
around the alafin, and this in turn meant indecision within the
government and a decline in the effectiveness of the army. Other
pressures took their toll. For example, there was the rise of
coastal trade, particularly in slaves, which swung the center of
economic gravity southward away from Oyo; another factor was the
growing influence of Islam in the north, but essentially the fault
was internal. In the final analysis, as they were to demonstrate during
their nineteenth-century civil wars, the Yoruba had little internal
cohesion and were incapable of living and working together in
peace.

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