Oyo Empire: A Visual History

The Oyo Empire was a Yoruba state of south-western Nigeria that grew from the city of Oyo-Ile in the fifteenth century into the dominant power of the region by 1700, using cavalry bought with slaves and trade to conquer the savanna and force Dahomey and the Egba into tribute. Its king, the Alaafin, was checked by the Oyo Mesi council under the Bashorun, who could compel him to commit suicide. Constitutional crises after 1750, the revolt of the general Afonja at Ilorin in 1817, and the Fulani jihad from Sokoto destroyed the empire; Oyo-Ile was abandoned around 1835 and a new Oyo founded further south.

When it existed: the era ribbon

The bold bar is Oyo Empire. The lighter bars are empires and wars from the same era and the same part of the world. Click any bar to jump to its page.

Oyo territory

Timeline of the Oyo Empire

1. 1400
   Oyo established
2. 1550
   Nupe sack Oyo; exile
3. 1600
   Cavalry empire built
4. 1730
   Dahomey made tributary
5. 1774
   Abiodun overthrows Bashorun Gaha
6. 1789
   Abiodun diesDecline begins.
7. 1817
   Afonja's revolt at Ilorin
8. 1835
   Oyo-Ile abandoned

Rise

Oyo traced its founding to Oranmiyan, a prince of Ife. Sacked by the Nupe in the sixteenth century, it was rebuilt by Alaafin Orompoto and Ajagbo with a cavalry army modelled on the northern savanna states, and by 1650 dominated the Yoruba country and pushed south to the coast. Under Alaafin Ojigi, Oyo invaded Dahomey (1724-1730) and made it a tributary; slaves and cloth flowed through the port of Porto-Novo to European traders.

Constitution and crisis

The Alaafin was chosen by the Oyo Mesi, whose head, the Bashorun, could present him with parrot's eggs, an order to kill himself; the Ogboni society mediated. In the mid eighteenth century Bashorun Gaha dominated the state, deposing four kings, until Alaafin Abiodun destroyed him in 1774. Abiodun's reign was Oyo's peak of prosperity, but the army had been weakened by the struggle.

Fall

After Abiodun's death in 1789 provinces broke away, the Egba revolted, and Dahomey stopped paying tribute. Afonja, the Are Ona Kakanfo (field marshal) at Ilorin, rebelled around 1817 and invited Fulani and Hausa Muslims to help; they killed him and Ilorin became an emirate of Sokoto. Fulani cavalry ravaged the northern Yoruba country; the capital was abandoned around 1835 and Alaafin Atiba founded New Oyo far to the south. The wars of the Yoruba states filled the rest of the century.

Related empires and wars

Chosen automatically by overlap in time and geography, plus a few hand picked connections.

Empires of the same era and region

• Sokoto Caliphate (1804 to 1903)
• Kanem-Bornu Empire (1380 to 1893)
• Ashanti Empire (1701 to 1901)
• Songhai Empire (1464 to 1591)
• British Empire (1583 to 1997)
• Empire of Brazil (1822 to 1889)

Wars of the same era and region

• Seven Years' War (1756 to 1763)

8 surprising things about the Oyo Empire

1. The Alaafin could be ordered to commit suicide by his council, one of the earliest constitutional checks on a monarch in Africa.
2. Oyo's cavalry horses could not survive tsetse country, which is why the empire stopped where the forest began.
3. The Yoruba religion carried to Cuba, Brazil and Haiti by enslaved Oyo subjects became Santeria and Candomble; Shango, the thunder god, was an early Alaafin.
4. Old Oyo's ruins cover about 50 km2 inside multiple walls and are now a national park.
5. The Kingdom of Dahomey paid Oyo an annual tribute for over 80 years, including 41 men, 41 women and 41 guns.
6. Bashorun Gaha's power was such that four kings died at his word before Abiodun turned the tables.
7. The Yoruba wars that followed Oyo's fall supplied a large share of the slaves shipped from the Bight of Benin.
8. The office of Alaafin of Oyo still exists; the present Alaafin was installed in 2025.

Sources

• Oyo empire Encyclopaedia Britannica
• Oyo Empire Wikipedia
• Oyo Empire World History Encyclopedia
• Robin Law, The Oyo Empire c. 1600-c. 1836 (1977) Oxford University Press

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