Oyo Empire-gctid30034

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Oyo Empire
 

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 One of the most prominent examples of a West Kmtyw 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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