Fall of the Oyo Empire

• Alaafin Abiodun was the last Alaafin who held effective power in old Oyo and he died in April 1789.
• Within two years of Alaafin Abiodun's death, the edifice he left behind was already showing signs of cracking.
• Aole succeeded Alaafin Abiodun and was described by Johnson as a weak and unscrupulous ruler, soon becoming involved in a serious constitutional crisis.
• Aole fell out with three key figures in civil and military administration:

Ashamu

• Ashamu was the Bashorun.
• He was offended by the manner in which Alaafin performed the task he had entreated Bashorun to perform.
• During this time, a Hausaman came to trade in old Oyo and the Bashorun had all his belongings including the Koran confiscated under the pretext that he was bringing bad charms to the city.
• The man appealed to the Alaafin who took him under his protection and commanded that his belongings should be restored to him.
• The Bashorun caused everything else less the Koran to be returned to the Hausa man, but Aole insisted that the Koran should be returned.
• The Bashorun refused, saying that he could not find it and the king interpreted this as an insult to his dignity.
• When lightning struck the Bashorun's house, he was enraged against the king for being accused of theft and lying, thus making him an enemy of the king.

Owota

One of the Esos (military captains).

• He was annoyed because the Alaafin inflicted punishment on an offender who after fleeing the kingdom for justice during Abiodun's reign returned to Oyo and took refuge in Owota's house.

Afonja

• He felt hurt because the Alaafin reluctantly gave him the title of Aare-Ona-Kakanfo, a post he was not normally allowed by tradition to hold, being a member of the royal family.
• Afonja's rebellion against Alaafin Aole was supported by leading provincial chiefs Adegun, the Onikoyi of Ikoyi, and Chief Opele of Gbogun.
• There was a growing spirit of disloyalty among some highly placed officials, aiming to make parts of the empire independent of the Alaafin.
• Unlike Bashorun Gaa in the 18th century these officials were not satisfied with making the Alaafin a puppet; instead, they had the ambition to carve out their independent separate empire.
• Afonja spearheaded a rebellion that had disastrous consequences for the Alaafin and the whole Oyo Empire.
• Aole recognized that Afonja had become a threat to the throne and sought a way of removing him.
• Aole's councillors advised him to send Afonja as the Kakanfo to lead his army against Iwere-Ile, a naturally fortified and impregnable place, with the plan to destroy Afonja; he had to conquer within three months or die.
• Afonja led the army sent against Iwere-Ile to mutiny, and after standing before Iwere-Ile for several days, Afonja led the army back to the capital.
• An empty covered calabash was sent to the king for his head, and knowing that some of his chiefs were in league with Afonja, he committed suicide in 1796.
• Aole's demise did not end the rebellion against the authority of the Alaafin, with the spirit of rebellion and independence beginning to spread throughout the kingdom.
• Tension within the capital with the Alaafin did not end; Adebo ascended the throne with the nominal title of a king but had no authority or power.
• He tried to fight some rebel towns like Gbogun, but died before the town could be captured, having reigned for only 120 days.
• Afonja, the Kakanfo, and Opele, the Baale of Gbogun, proclaimed their Independence, and other chiefs followed.
• This incident was described as 'the commencement of the breakup of the unity of the Yoruba kingdom and the beginning of tribal independence'.
• Maku, who succeeded Adebo, lacked confidence in the loyalty of the chiefs, decided to command the Oyo army in person, attacked a town called Iworo but was defeated.
• The Oyomesi demanded his suicide, and Maku complied, having reigned for only three months.
• The removal of Adebo and Maku was followed by a period of interregnum in Oyo.
• Political tension in the capital made it impossible for Oyo leaders to take effective measures against Afonja in Ilorin, allowing him to consolidate and expand his independent state unmolested.
• Afonja attacked several towns in the northeast of the kingdom including Iresa and Igbon and was the only chief who successfully sustained his rebellion.
• Afonja aimed to consolidate his position in Ilorin, incorporate some provinces of Old Oyo into his empire, and render the Alaafin powerless, then a new Alaafin was installed.
• A measure of central direction restored, an action was taken to restore the authority of the Alaafin in some areas but no action was taken against Ilorin.
• In 1814, Afonja invited Alimi, a Fulani Muslim priest, to Ilorin to prepare charms for him, believing in the superiority of Muslim charms.
• Alimi aimed to carry the Jihad underway north of Oyo to the Oyo kingdom itself, recruited more Hausa slaves into his army under Solagberu, a rich and powerful man from Kuwo.
• Solagberu had been converted to Islam before and shared the views of the leaders of the Fulani Jihad, and Alimi quartered himself at Oke-Suna.
• The Jamaa (Ummah) began to see themselves as forces fighting for the Jihad, marking a revolt against Afonja.
• Before this rebellion, Afonja's military operations had been confined to the eastern provinces, but his Fulani and Hausa allies extended their activities across the Ogun river into the western provinces.
• By 1821, Iseyin served as a base for raiding in the Ibarapa province, and Oshogun was destroyed.
• Afonja tried to remove the Hausa and Fulani from Ilorin, but it was too late, Alimi had died and Abudusalami had succeeded him.
• Alimi had attempted to persuade the Fulani to leave Ilorin and settle separately in the east of Ilorin, but they replied with an insurrection in which Afonja was killed in C.1823.
• Salami became the ruler of Ilorin, recognized by the Sokoto Caliphate as the ‘Emir of the Yoruba', aiming to carry the Jihad throughout Yorubaland to the sea coast, and the destruction of Old Oyo was affected in no more than thirteen years
• The jihadists began a systematic attack of the towns in the northern parts of the Old Oyo Empire and Igbomina territories with Ilorin as their base.
• Despite efforts in battles such as Ogele, the Mugbamugba, the Kanla, Bamu, and Eleduwe battle, Oyo was defeated, and the Alaafin Oluewu was killed.
• The capital of Old Oyo was deserted and then sacked in about 1835 and was never rebuilt.

Consequences Of The Fall Of The Old Oyo Empire

• The old Oyo Empire did not cover the whole of Yorubaland, it served as a stabilizing force and the fall of the empire had serious consequences on many parts of Yorubaland.
• Yoruba towns were destroyed during wars fought against the Jihadist
• Massive population movement occurred from ruined Yoruba towns such as Igboho, Igbeti, Ikoyi, Kisi, Igbon, Iresa and Oje
• Oyo refugees helped to swell the population of towns like Iwo, Ife, Iseyin, Gbongan, Apomu, Ilorin, and Ogbomosho.
• Some Oyo refugees founded new towns that converted small ones into big ones, such as Ago-Oja which became a new town of Oyo under Atiba and Ijaye became one of the largest towns in Yorubaland under Kurumi.
• Oyo migrants who originally took refuge at Ile-Ife were forced to found towns of Modakeke and Ode-Omu.
• Some refugees began to roam about intervening in local disputes, fomenting troubles, and acting as mercenaries, demonstrating that central authority in Oyo had broken down.
• The Northern part of the Old Oyo Empire had been rendered unsafe by the Fulani so the Oyo people were forced to move south.

Series of Wars

• Princes and chiefs of provincial Oyo in the south began to acquire territories for themselves, leading to a series of wars that plagued the whole of Yorubaland during most of the nineteenth-century.
• The Owu wars of 1813-1825 led to the destruction of Owu.
• The Ijaye war of 1860-1865 was fought between Ijaye and Ibadan, leading to the destruction of Ijaye and Ibadan emerging as the single greatest military power in Yorubaland.
• The Kiriji or Ekiti-Parapo war of 1878-1893 saw Ibadan establishing its own empire after the defeat of Ijaye, but Ekiti and Ijesha revolted in 1878, and the war was brought to an end in 1893 through British intervention.
• The events leading to the conquest and destruction of Owu were partly the consequences of the decline of the old Oyo Empire and the shift of the Atlantic Slave Trade from Porto-Novo eastwards to Lagos.
• The rise of Lagos as a slave port began in the 1790s, leading Oyo traders to take their slaves directly to Lagos or to Apomu to be sold to Ijebu traders who resold them to Lagos.
• Civil strife in Oyo after 1817 increased the supply of slaves.
• The Ijebu responded by inciting slave raiding in Apomu, causing kidnapping and Ife was unable to maintain law and order, so Owu tried to take over control by attacking western Ife towns.
• This led to a war with Ife in about 1813, and Owu was victorious before the Ijebu were drawn in on the side of Ife and enabled them to defeat the Owu in the battle
• The final siege of Owu was undertaken roughly from 1820-1825 with assistance from civil wars refugees.

Atiba's reign

• After an interregnum following the death of Alaafin Oluewu and the desertion of the old Oyo Empire, Atiba was made the Alaafin in 1837.
• instead made Ago-Oja the capital, sent for the Oyomesi to return from Kisi, built a royal palace, recovered royal properties, renamed it Ago di Oyo and planned revive The Oyo Empire.
• Atiba recognized that Oyo warriors in Ibadan and Ijaye were more powerful militarily, with leaders like Oluyole, the Bashorun, and Kurumi, the Aare-Ona-kakanfo.
• devised a scheme in the form of a pact between the Alaafin and the leaders, including an agreement to defend the old kingdom.
• No Alaafin should be allowed to go to war, the Alaafin should confine himself only to religious, civil and political matters.
• Oluyole of Ibadan was to protect all Yoruba towns to the north and northeast.
• Kurumi of Ijaye was to protect all Yoruba towns in the Western Province.
• The ancient town of upper Ogun had objected to being put under either Ibadan or Ijaye, some of these: Saki, Igboho and Kisi.
• The agreement would work and Ibadan checked Fulani aggression and advanced at the battle of Osogbo in c.1840
• Oyo was no longer a single kingdom but a collection of states over which Oyo, Ibadan and Ijaye had to contest for supremacy.
• Leaders capable of providing security became more important.
• Ijaye rose as a military power, Kurumi imposed military rule and discipline over Ijaye, and Oluyole died in 1847.
• Ibadan stabilized its internal political system, creating a republican system where access to office was based on leadership in war.

Rise of Ibadan

• Ibadan grew rapidly as a major city geared to war and poised for further expansion, with power in the Ibolo and Epo.
• Turned it's attention eastwards and challenged over its hold on Osogbo, invaded ljesha territory, and moved into Ekitiland.
• The Internal problem in the Benin kingdom had encouraged Ilorin troops to seek expansion in the more open parts of Northern Ekiti.
• Ibadan pursued Ilorin troops in a series of campaigns between 1851 and 1855 and had most Ekiti.
• Ibadan's imperialistic ambitions were pushed further into Akoko and Afemai areas where it encountered Benin and Nupe forces.
• The Alaafin remained powerless so a core of Ibadan became a center for military and political power in Yorubaland.
• Communication was poor and slow so in order to administer, a system was developed through the Ajele with a chief in Ibadan allotted to patron a subdued town for supervision.
• Once a town had been allocated to a chief, he became Ibadan's spokesman in that town and was responsible for keeping that town loyal to Ibadan
• The chief sent his Ajele to the town as his representative.
• The role of the Ajele was to enforce Ibadan's control in the subject town, and he was permanently resident in the subject town. Had juridical and tributarial power.
• Ibadan began to base military power on the war tributes of many captured towns.
• After consolidating hold on Ekiti, Ibadan attacked Ijaye that had become its chief rival.
• Ibadan support for Alaafin Adelu, Atiba's eldest son, was the trigger for the Ijaye vs Ibadan as Kurumi rejected Adelu.
• Ijaye had the support of Abeokuta, Ilorin and Ijebu vs. Ibadan and Oyo because Ijebu saw Ibadan becoming a dangerous military power. The city faced an eba blockade but prevailed.
• The people of Ijaye starved, and Ijaye burned

After Ijaye fell

• Ibadan wanted direct coast access
• Egbas fought with Remo people in Western Ijebu so after Ijaye, Ijebu and Egba together
• Feared Ibadan would secure routes or break up Ijebu
• Ibadan beat Egba/Ijebu as they attacked (Ikorodu) with British support
• By 1867 Brits/Egba broken up and the Egba expelled all Europeans in Abeokuta (missionaries)/traders from territories.
• Yoruba hinterland was scared for solidarity
• Abeokuta and Ijebu forbid Ibadan/Lagos from passing without specific permission
• Ibadan and Lagos worked to break blockade, by 1870 they were at the height of their power Ibadan was arbiter and administrator

EKITI PARAPO WAR (KIRIJI)

• ajeles were irresponsibly cruel and tributes were too high
• Ibadan very unpopular
• Ekiti violently revolted and declared independence to begin anti-Ibadan alliance
• Ilorin supported Ekiti
• Jalumi battle (1878) saw heavy Ibadan victory on the field of battle.
• Other anti-Ibadan peoples: Ogedengbe, and the force of what then made Ekiti Parapo. Many others.
• The Alafin joined the anti-Ibadan alliance after Ijaye fell.
• The Ekiti (with their allies) were then based at Imesi-Ipole, and Ibadan at Igbajo. Ife would later attack Ibadan.
• Modakeke was Ife/Ibadan supporter and so then the city was destroyed by the force of Ife
• Peace delegations sent, and negotiated by various clergy and some governors.
• Peace in Lagos

Consequences and results

• Peace treaty signed (all Yoruba but not Abeokuta and Ilorin)
• Ibadan given independence from Oyo and various Ekiti Parapo achieved independence
• Disputes of other towns like Offa and Igbajo
• 1893 British still fixing issues between Ibadan and Ilorin
• Consequences of wars: War serious and resulted in widespread insecurity.
• Areas deserted -> Jungle/reclaimed.
• People in bad conditions due to many battles and movement.
• Migrated and communities created.
• Some new towns: Ibadan/Abeokuta/Modakeke and Aiyede
• Wars led to new type Leaderships: Oluyole of Ibadan, Sodeke of Egba, Kurumi, Ogunmola, Latosa/Ogedengbe
• British given chance to conquer due to wars

Explore the reasons behind the fall of the Oyo Empire, including Afonja's rebellion. Understand the roles of key figures like Alimi and Solagberu, and the impact of events, such as Maku's suicide and the rise of Lagos as a major slave port.