INTRODUCTION Oyo empire, Yoroba State north of Lagos, in present-day south-western Nigeria, that dominated, during its apogee (1650–1750), most of the states between the Volta River in the west and the Niger River in the east. It was the most important and authoritative of all the early Yoroba principalities. According to traditions, Oyo derived from a great Yoroba ancestor and hero, Oduduwa, who likely migrated to Ile Ife and whose son became the first alaafin (alafin), or ruler, of Oyo. Linguistic evidence suggests that two waves of immigrants came into Yoruba-land between 700 and 1000, the second settling at Oyo in the open country north of the Guinea forest. This second state became preeminent among all Yoruba states because of its favourable trading position, its natural resources, and the industry of its inhabitants.1 The second prince of the Yoruba Kingdom of Ile-Ife also known as Ife, Oranyan (also known as Oranmiyan), made an agreement with his brother to launch a punitive raid on their northern neighbours for insulting their father Oba (King) Oduduwa, the first Ooni of Ife. On the way to the battle, the brothers quarrelled and the army split up.2 Oranyan's force wasn't large enough to make a successful attack, so he wandered the southern shore until reaching Bussa. It was there that the local chief entertained him and provided a large snake with a magic charm attached to its throat. The chief instructed Oranyan to follow the snake until it stopped somewhere for seven days and disappeared into the ground. Oranyan followed the advice and founded Oyo where the serpent stopped. The site is remembered as Ajaka. Oranyan made Oyo his new kingdom and became the first 'Oba' (meaning 'king' or 'ruler' in the Yoruba language) with the title of 'Alaafin of Oyo' (Alaafin means 'owner of the palace' in Yoruba), leaving all his treasures in Ife and allowing another king named Adimu to rule there.3 Oranyan, the first oba (king) at Oyo, was succeeded by Oba Ajaka, Alaafin of Oyo. This oba was deposed, because he lacked Yoruba military virtue and allowed his sub-chiefs too much independence. Leadership was then conferred upon Ajaka's brother, Shango (also spelt as 'Sango', and also known in various parts of the world as Xango, Chango, Nago Shango and Jakuta), who was later deified as the deity of thunder and lightning. Ajaka was restored after Sango's death. Ajaka returned to the throne thoroughly more warlike and oppressive. His successor, Kori, managed to conquer the rest of what later historians would refer to as metropolitan Oyo.4 The heart of metropolitan Oyo was its capital at Oyo-Ile, (also known as Katunga or Old Oyo or Oyo-Oro).5 the two most important structures in Oyo-Ile was the 'afin' or palace of the Oba and his market. The palace was at the center of the city close to the Oba's market called 'Oja-Oba'. Around the capital was a tall earthen wall for defense with 17 gates. The importance of the two large structures (the palace and the Oja Oba) signified the importance of the king in Oyo. Oyo had grown into a formidable inland power by the end of the 14th century. For over a century, the Yoruba state had expanded at the expense of its neighbours. Then, during the reign of Onigbogi, Oyo suffered military defeats at the hands of the Nupe led by Tsoede.6 Sometime around 1535, the Nupe occupied Oyo and forced its ruling dynasty to take refuge in the kingdom of Borgu.7 The Nupe went on to sack the capital, destroying Oyo as a regional power until the early 17th century.8 Oyo went through an interregnum of 80 years as an exiled dynasty after its defeat by the Nupe. Oyo then re-emerged, more centralized and expansive than ever. It would not be satisfied with simply retaking Oyo but with the establishment of its power over a vast empire.6 during the 17th century Oyo began a long stretch of growth, becoming a major empire.7 Oyo never encompassed all Yoruba-speaking people but it was by far the most populous kingdom in Yoruba history.9 MAP 1: YORUBA ETHNIC GROUPS, c.1820 The key to Yoruba re-conquest of Oyo would be a stronger military and a more centralized government. Taking a cue from their Nupe enemies (whom they called "Tapa"), the Yoruba rearmed not only with armour but cavalry.10 Oba Ofinran, Alaafin of Oyo, succeeded in regaining Oyo's original territory from the Nupe.11 A new capital, Oyo-Igboho, was constructed, and the original became known as Old Oyo.12 The next Oba, Egunoju, conquered nearly all of Yoruba-land.13 After this, Oba Orompoto led attacks to obliterate the Nupe to ensure Oyo was never threatened by them again.14 During the reign of Oba Ajiboyede was the first Bere festival, an event that would retain much significance among the Yoruba long after the fall of Oyo.15 And it was under his successor, Abipa, that the Yoruba were finally compelled to repopulate Oyo-Ile and rebuild the original capital.16 Despite a failed attempt to conquer the Benin Empire sometime between 1578 and 1608,17 Oyo continued to expand. The Yoruba allowed autonomy to the southeast of metropolitan Oyo where the non-Yoruba areas could act as a buffer between Oyo and Imperial Benin. By the end of the 16th century, the Ewe and Aja states of modern Benin were paying tribute to Oyo. The Oyo Empire developed a highly sophisticated political structure to govern its territorial domains. It is unknown precisely how much of this structure existed prior to the Nupe invasion. Some of Oyo's institutions are clearly derivative of early accomplishments in Ife. After re-emerging from exile in the early 17th century, Oyo took on a noticeably more militant character. The influence of an aggressive Yoruba culture is exemplified in the standards placed on the Oba (king) and the roles of his council.18 The Oyo Mesi was seven principal councillors of the state. They constitute the Electoral Council and possess legislative powers close to that of America's Congress. The Bashorun, Agbaakin, Samu, Alapini, Laguna, Akiniku and an Ashipa are the seven members of this council. They represent the voice of the nation and on them rest the chief responsibility of protecting the interest of the empire. The Alaafin must take council with them whenever any important matter affecting the state occurs. Each of them has a state duty to perform at court every morning and afternoon and a special deputy, attached to them whom they send to the Alaafin at the other times when their absence is unavoidable.19 Their political power was tied to their control of the military. The head of the council, The Bashorun, consulted the Ifa oracle for approval from the gods. Thus, new Alaafins of Oyo were seen as appointed by the gods. They were regarded as "Ekeji Orisa" meaning "companion of the gods." The Bashorun was a sort of prime minister. He has the final say on the nomination of the new Alaafin. The Oyo Mesi was organized in order to have a check on the Alaafin’s power. Before making a political decision, the Alafin was required to consult first with the Oyo Mesi. The control of the Oyo Mesi was so great that the Bashorun's power rivalled that of the Alaafin himself. For example, the Bashorun served as the commander in chief of the army and orchestrated many religious festivals, positions which granted him both militaristic and religious authority above the king. The most important job of the Oyo Mesi was the selection of the Alaafin20 THE EXPANSION OF THE KINGDOM OF OLD OYO, c. 1600-1816 Robin Law has defined Oyo’s imperial period from c. 1600 until 1816. Matory refers to this period, although without providing a timeframe, as the “Age of Sango,” which did not consist of complete overrule by the Aláàfin, but a period of “recurrent challenges and royal ritual strategies.”21 According to Law, the subject kingdoms under Oyo rule at its greatest extent fell into the following three categories: The area that ‘owed direct allegiance to the Alaafin,’ and was subject to a relatively centralized administration from the capital. The Oyo Yoruba formed the core of this area, but it also came to include some of the Igbomina and Ekiti Yoruba to the east and some of the Ibapara, Owu, Egbado, Awori, and Anago Yoruba to the south. The kingdoms whose dynasties were traditionally supposed to be descended from Oduduwa, the legendary king of Ile Ife, and over whom the Alafin claimed authority as the legitimate successor to Oduduwa’s kingship. Of these perhaps only the Egba were in any real sense subject to Oyo, but others (such as the Ijesa) were prepared to acknowledge loosely the suzerainty (or at least the senior status) of the Alaafin. States outside the Ife dynastic system, i.e. non-Yoruba speaking ethnic groups, which paid tribute to Oyo, such as Dahomey, Mahi, Borgu and Nupe.22 Beyond the limits of the Old Oyo Empire, for example, local founding myths trace the origins of kingdoms directly to the town of Ife, including, Benin, Ondo, Ijebu, Ijesa, among others. These kingdoms, among others, maintained their political independence from Oyo throughout the imperial period. There were, of course, other non-Yoruba speaking ethnic groups, such as the Hausa States, which held no allegiance to Oyo. Oyo expansionism was largely attributed to its unique location in the fertile grassland of the Savannah, which facilitated agricultural production and easier transportation; thus a wider sphere of political and social interactions. The northern part of this region was a tsetse fly free zone, which is important because it made breeding horses possible.23 Oyo’s cavalry was a major instrument of its imperial success and the iconography related to Sango would have been heavily represented therein. The principal war chiefs of the capital were the Eso (officers of the main field army) who recruited men from his personal retainers (many of whom were slaves of northern origin). This title was not hereditary, but earned by personal merit. The Eso were selected and came under the immediate authority of the Oyo Mesi. In Johnson’s narrative, the Basorun (head of the Oyo Mesi) was in charge of the military forces of the capital. The Aláàfin’s royal kinsmen were excluded from holding this military title – “lest they take the crown through martial force.”24 According to Law, “the Alaafin was in a weak position vis-à-vis the Oyo Mesi [and] the balance of military power inside the capital lay in favour of the Oyo Mesi.”25 Beside the military at the capital, there were also sizable provincial forces of the subordinate towns which could be called to bear arms with the Oyo army. The provincial armies were under the command of the Oba or bale of each town (or a war-chief appointed by them). According to Law, Beyond this, it appears that the principal rulers of the various ekun (provinces) of the Oyo kingdom, such as the Onikoyi of Ikoyi, the Sabiganna of Iganna in the Ekun Onko, each commanded the forces from the towns within his own ekun. The Onikoyi of Ikoyi, as the senior provincial ruler, was regarded as the commander-in-chief of the provincial army.26 During the imperial period, a new system was imposed on the old military order. In the latter half of the seventeenth century, Aláàfin Ajagbo created the highest ranking military title. The Aláàfin reserved the right to select the Are Ona Kakamfo, the highest military title of the provincial armies, which helped keep the balance of military power with the Oyo Mesi in check. The holder of this title was stationed in Ilorin, one of Oyo’s most important provincial towns because the bulk of the provincial army was stationed there.27 While Sango was certainly an important prop of royal power, it was not only Òrìsà that was worshipped in the city, let alone the entire kingdom. Many of the Oyo Mesi would have resided in separate quarters and revered some of the Òrìsà other than Sango. In addition, there was also a Muslim quarter in Old Oyo and many Hausa slaves were cavalrymen.28 Gbadamosi describes that by the early-eighteenth century; Muslims were “propagating Islam as far afield as Porto Novo and Dahomey.”29 Peel has since cautioned scholars not to treat “traditional” religion, i.e. òrìsà worship 30 As a purely indigenous cultural baseline, an entity wholly independent of Islam. Ifa divination, both in its form and procedures and in the traditions of its origins, shows traces of early Muslim influence. The adage seems to have an Oyo provenance, and certainly does not apply to the eastern and South-Eastern forest regions, where Islam only came with Oyo (or in parts of the far Northeast, Nupe) migrants and was sometimes preceded by Christianity. Consequently, an Oyo-centric ritual field and Islam, at the least, had been undergoing processes of transculturation in the deep interior of the Bight of Benin. The history of Oyo, Nupe and Borgu were intertwined in part because of the exposed location of Oyo’s capital in the extreme northern part of Yorubaland.31 There was, for example, creation myths claiming Oduduwa migrated to Ife from Mecca.32 Even Sango’s mother, according to some Oyo centric legends, was from Nupe and quite possibly Muslim.33 Law has demonstrated that horses came from the Muslim states far to the north of Old Oyo.34 According to Fremont E. Besmer, “Horses, musicians, and gods: these are three of the essential elements of the Hausa cult of possession-trance... the image they have of themselves as mounts for the spirits which possess them.”35 in Orisa based religious group spirit possession was common figuratively “mounted” (montado). It is not my intention to argue that the origin of òrìsà worship had any connection with Islam, which it might have; only that òrìsà worship and Islam were “transculturating” in West Africa before Europeans arrived at the coast and Christopher Columbus went to the Americas. In the Mi’râj al-Su’ûd, Ahmad Baba (1556-1627) used بري (YRB) as an acceptable ethnicity of people Muslims traders could buy and sell. 36 Thomas Hodgkin translated this Passage from Baba’s writings into English, Whoever is taken prisoner in a state of unbelief may become someone’s property, whoever he is, as opposed to those who have become Muslims of their own free will, such as the people of Kano, Bornu, Songhay, Katsina, Gobir and Mali and part of the people of Zaria; they are Muslims and may not be possessed at all. So also most of the Fulani, except that we have heard of a group of them beyond Jenne who are said to be unbelievers, though I do not know whether through apostasy or birth…All those who are brought to you from the following groups are unbelievers and remain so to the present day: Mossi, Gurma, Busa, Borgu, Kotokoli, Yoruba, Tabango, and Bobo. There is nothing against your taking possession of them without further question.37 At the time, Baba was in Timbuktu, which was connected by the Niger River to the capital of Old Oyo. The distance between the site of Old Oyo and Timbuktu are well over 1,000 miles (1600 km) apart. While people from Oyo were enslaved by Muslims and transported north across the Sahara, Muslim may have traded people from Oyo at the coast as well.38 The French captain Chevalier Des Marchais reported that, in the 1720s, Muslim traders called “Mallais” (Male) were bringing slaves from the interior for sale at Ouidah.39 Paul E. Lovejoy and Robin Law state The term “Male” means merely “Muslim” generically in Fon, the language of Dahomey (and also in Yoruba), and has no particular ethnic connotation. The Muslims who traded in Porto- Novo from the late eighteenth century, according to local tradition, were Yoruba; and in Brazil in the nineteenth century the term “Male” was applied to Muslims who originated for the most part from Yorubaland, Nupe, Hausaland, and Borno. But the “Male” who came to Ouidah in the early eighteenth century could well have had distinct origins.40 P. Lovejoy has also argued that some of “the Muslim traders who brought slaves to Ouidah were Wangara, or Dendi, from Borgu.”41 According to Ivor Wilks, since the eleventh century the Wangara were “Malians who specialized in the management of long-distance commerce,” which “extended from Gambia to the Hausa states.”42This evidence illustrates the ethnic diversity of traders at Ouidah since the early-eighteenth century. It also suggests that the people they sold to the Europeans at the coast could have included anyone between Gambia and Hausa, including Oyo and other non-Yoruba ethnolinguistic groups such as those in Borgu.43 Samuel Ajayi Crowther reported in 1844: All the Mohamedans learn to understand and speak the Hausa language and through it the Koran is explained and interpreted in their mosques throughout Yoruba [country]. So that from Lagos, Badagry, and Porto Novo, and upwards to the Niger where Mohamedans are found, the Hausa is spoken by them.44 P. Lovejoy has effectively argued that the “use of Hausa reflected not only the extent of Muslim commerce but also the relative ease of communication between the interior and the coast.”45 By the time the Fulani jihad had spread into Nupe, Usman Dan Fodio (d. 1817), as P. Lovejoy has argued, encouraged Muslim “slaves to escape or otherwise assert their Islamic identities.”46 Muhammad Bello (1781-1837), son of the first Caliph of Sokoto was still using Baba’s spelling of بري. As Peel has argued, Islamic (and later-on Christian) “inculturations” into Yoruba history and culture is case and point about how designations, such as “Oyo,” cannot be “pure” ethnolinguistic categories. Apter has stated There is a general historiographical tendency to see Yoruba gods like Ogun (of war and iron) and Ifa (of divination) recorded in Dahomey as Gu and Fa, suggesting a regional Yoruba diaspora to the west. But one equally finds the Yoruba trickster Eshu referred to as Eshu- Elegbra as far east as the Ekiti region of Yorubaland, suggesting a complementary infusion of Fon deities into Yoruba pantheons.47 The trickster epitomizes shared cultural identities among various socio-religious schemes which extend beyond Africa. Henry Louis Gates Jr. has compared Esu-Elegbara (the Fon/Yoruba messenger god) and the “Signifying Monkey” (a recurrent character in African-American literary traditions). He has argued that this deity “serves as a figure for the nature and function of interpretation and double-voiced utterances… [He] connects the grammar of divination with its rhetorical structures [and the] Fon call Legba the divine linguist, he who speaks all languages.”48 Oyo territory at its greatest extent was a large swath of land that would have been difficult to oversee, especially in consideration of the multiple and singular identities associated with Islam, the infinite òrìsà religious groups among the many Yoruba city-states, hamlets, towns, wards, lineages and family compounds. Various other òrìsà religious groups, including those that opposed Oyo-centric values, would have been in a constant state of re-invention, especially as Oyo hegemony was reaching its peak. According to Law, there was a constant shift of power between the Oyo Mesi and Aláàfin at the capital, which Culminated in the usurpation of effective power by Basorun Gaha from 1754 to 1774. It is probable the armed forces played a crucial role in determining the course and outcome of these troubles. As has been seen above, the main military forces of the capital itself (the Eso and their retainers) came under the immediate authority of the Basorun and other Oyo Mesi. This control of the principal strength of the metropolitan army, it may be suggested, helps to explain the success of the Oyo Mesi throughout the eighteenth century in compelling unpopular Alaafin to commit suicide, since in the last resort the Oyo Mesi could enforce their will by force of arms.49 Gaha was responsible for the rejection and suicides of several Aláàfin including: Onisile, Labisi, Awonbioju and Agboluaje. He was also reported to collect all royal revenues and he compensated the Aláàfin with “ten heads of cowries (equivalent to about 10 dollars) per day.” Aláàfin Abiodun organized Gaha’s overthrow with the aid of the provincial armies under the Are Ona Kakanfo Oyabi of Ajase.50 SOME ACHIEVEMENT OF THE OLD OYO EMPIRE Though the Oyo Empire finally collapsed in the first half of the 19th century, we should not fail to recognise the significant achievement of this great Negro forest state. In the first place, Oyo rose from a small and insignificant Yoroba town on the northern border of the Yoroba land to a great Empire. By the middle of the 17th Century, the empire achieved a high degree of efficient imperial administration based upon a well fashioned political institution. Secondly, the Oyo Empire achieved a high standard of military efficiency. She owes her rise to the status of a great empire to her well organised which was well effective instrument and suppression of external threat or internal revolt. Thirdly, the Oyo Empire achieved a sound economy based on very productive agriculture, trade with Sudan lucrative industries and wealth from taxes and tribute. This sound economy enables the Alaafin to maintain the elaborate imperial administration and also maintain and equip its large army. Fourthly, the Oyo empire achieved social and cultural unity for Yorobaland by promoting a feeling of kinship based on common Yoroba language, common religion such as the worship of Sango, common culture and ancestry, thus, though the Oyo Empire is no more, the idea of Yoroba unity which it engendered is still strong as it was during the days of the Empire Fifthly, under the long period of peace imposed on the Yoroba by Oyo rule, the Yoroba people attained a high level of artistic skills. This is evident in the famous Ife work of art that survived the collapse of the Empire. Some scholars have attributed the period of the beginning of the empire’s decline when the Aláàfin Awole was overthrown in c. 1796, which subsequently led to an interregnum period.51 Meanwhile, Oyo’s power at its periphery, which was in constant flux, began to deteriorate slightly in the last decades of the eighteenth century. By implication, slaves from Borgu and other places in the neighbouring interior were brought to Porto-Novo via Oyo.52 Law has argued that the internal crisis at Oyo’s periphery did very little to affect the inner workings of the political administration because the Oyo Mesi and Basorun maintained control of the capital city and military. The jihad had overthrown the Hausa states by 1808 and spread into Nupe by 1810. It reached Ilorin in 1817, where Majotu’s government was no longer firmly in control of the military stationed at Ilorin, under the leadership of Afonja, who held Are Ona Kakanfo, Oyo’s highest military title. According to Jamie Bruce Lockhart and P. Lovejoy, Afonja had ambitions of dominating the state and he “embarked on a campaign to increase his independence.” Due to ritual restrictions of the Aláàfin and his confinement to his palace, Majotu could not engage in war directly and had to rely on the cavalry “which relied on slave soldiers, many of whom were at least nominally Muslims and who responded to the call for jihad then issuing from Sokoto and Gwandu and currently tearing apart Nupe.” The collapse of Oyo can therefore be “attributed to a constitutional crisis, which ultimately pitted Ilorin against the capital, and resulting in the disintegration of central authority.”53 THE COLLAPSE OF OLD OYO, C. 1817 – C. 1836 After the death of Alaafin Abiodun, the internal crisis in Oyo took a new dimension as the succession rate to the throne was so high, the situation created political instability that weakened the stool of Alaafin. Records show that some Alaafin stayed less than six months on the throne, even there was a period of political interregnum. More worrisome, was the conspiracy and distrust that engulfed the entire Oyo. As Oyo was struggling with the domestic/internal problems, insurrections became the order of the day as people became resentful of Oyo’s hegemony. Yoruba-Egba revolted, declared independence under its leader, Lisabi Agbongbogbo Akala. In 1818, Abomey revolted and stopped paying tributes to Alaafin, other sub-groups within Oyo Empire joined in the race to become independent. This spirit of independence in the air showed that Oyo’s authority and influence, made possible by political and military power, would soon be gone. The immediate cause of the fall of Oyo was the rivalry between Arẹ-Ọna-Kankan-Fo Afọnja and Alaafin Aolẹ. Earlier, Aolẹ had ordered Afọnja to attack Iwere-Ile (a Yoruba town and maternal home of Alaafin Ajagbomogun-Ileti Are-Elemele), the order was not only ignored by Afọnja, but created distrust between Aolẹ and Afọnja. Within a short period of time the supremacy battle and suspicion (between the duo) resulted in attack on Ọyọ by Afọnja with the help of the Fulanis (under Alimi)-the new settlers in Ilọrin. Ọyọ was destroyed and a new location was sought at Ago-Oja to form a new Oyo under Alaafin Atiba.54 Shortly thereafter, Afọnja was killed in a political intrigue that followed in Ilọrin. Yoruba lost Ilorin its northern gateway to the Fulani-led-Islamic-administration in Sokoto to Malam Alimi, Usman-Dan-Fodio’s representative. The destruction of Ọyọ spelt a doom for entire Yorubaland as there was no more central or unified defense system, more important, there was a radical shift in power in Yorubaland. Four different power blocs emerged-(two military powers, one economic power, and a confederate/multi-kingdom power). Besides, several towns and communities were formed to care for hundreds of thousand Yoruba refugees;  more pathetic was the social and political dislocations (intra-tribal wars) Yoruba witnessed between 1826/1827 when Ọyọ fell and 1885, when the British-led armistice treaty was signed by various warring groups in Yoruba land.55 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.56 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.57 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.58 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 Yoroba 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.59 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.60 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 1840.61 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 point62 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 they 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, Yoroba land 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 Yoroba 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.63 Another consequence of the fall of the fall of the old Oyo Empire is that of the British interference in Yoroba 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 Yoroba land to a British protectorate.64 CONCLUSION The history of the great Oyo Empire just like every other Great Empire has its own sunset. In 470A.D the Roman Empire witnessed decline, vassal state like Gaul, Cathage etc. started fighting for independence as cost of government grew. The Roman Empire declined in 476A.D and that gave rise to the formation of a new political actor in the politics of Europe known as the Byzantine Empire, such is the fate of the old Oyo Empire in 1817-21. The history of the Old Oyo Empire started with their progenitor Oranmiyan or Oranyam, the son of the Patriarch Oduduwa who founded the Oyo Kingdom, and it was later captured by the Nupe soldiers across the Niger River by Tseode in 1535. After 80 years exile, the Alaafin Onigbolo defeated the Nupe forces and brought the Yoroba to look after her own affairs from the land of TAPA as they call the Nupe kingdom. The Oyo Empire has a working quasi federalist state with the Alaafin as the King, Aremo as the crown prince, Bashorun as the prime minister, Oyo Mesi as the council of senate, Baale provincial chiefs, Are Ona Ka-Kan-Fo as the military commander. They was a certain name Bashorun who disposed and imposed Alaafin at will named as Bashorun Ga. During his time as Bashorun he disposed 4 Alaafin but met his waterloo when he Alaafin Abiodun came to the throne. Friction between Alaafin Awole and Ka-Kan-fo Afonja when he was asked to carry out an infamous attack on Ife-Ille, Afonja declined insisting that the place is the home town of the wife of Oduduwa, and The attack on Apomu was an impregnable, its a taboo for the Ka-kan-fo to resides in same town with then Alaafin, so when the Alaafin sent solders to enforce the of Suicide, he killed the bodyguard and sent an empty calabash to the Alaafin, he complied with the order and cursed the Yoroba race for the betrayal of Afonja. This act of Afonja set the Yoroba nation to the caprices of the Fulani jihadist and paved way to the disintegration of the Oyo Empire and instituted the Yoroba civil Wars and led to the formation of town. END NOTES Samuel Johnson, the history of the Yoroba: From the earliest times to the British Protectorate C.M.S Publisher, Lagos, 1921, p.2 Thornton, John Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World, 1400-1800 (Second Edition). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998, p. 340 G. T.Stride, & C. Ifeka, Peoples and Empires of West Africa: West Africa in History 1000-1800, Edinburgh, Nelson publisher,1971, p.290 Goddard Stephen, Ago That became Oyo: An Essay in Yoruba Historical Geography, “The Geographical Journal (Blackwell Publishing”, Jun 1971,pp. 207-208 G. T.Stride, & C. Ifeka, Peoples and Empires of West Africa: West Africa in History 1000-1800, Edinburgh, Nelson publisher,1971, p.290 Oliver, Roland, Anthony Atmore, Medieval Africa 1250-1800. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001,p.89 Oliver, Roland, Anthony Atmore, Medieval Africa 1250-1800. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001,p.89 Oliver, Roland, Anthony Atmore, Medieval Africa 1250-1800. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001,p.89 G. T.Stride, & C. Ifeka, Peoples and Empires of West Africa: West Africa in History 1000-1800, Edinburgh, Nelson publisher,1971, p.300 G. T.Stride, & C. Ifeka, Peoples and Empires of West Africa: West Africa in History 1000-1800, Edinburgh, Nelson publisher,1971, p.290 J. K. Thornton, Warfare in Atlantic Africa 1500-1800. London and New York: Routledge, 1999, p.292 J. K. Thornton, Warfare in Atlantic Africa 1500-1800. London and New York: Routledge, 1999, p.293 J. K. Thornton, Warfare in Atlantic Africa 1500-1800. London and New York: Routledge, 1999, p.2995 J. K. Thornton, Warfare in Atlantic Africa 1500-1800. London and New York: Routledge, 1999, p.292 J. K. Thornton, Warfare in Atlantic Africa 1500-1800. London and New York: Routledge, 1999, p.291 J. K. Thornton, Warfare in Atlantic Africa 1500-1800. London and New York: Routledge, 1999, p.281 J. K. Thornton, Warfare in Atlantic Africa 1500-1800. London and New York: Routledge, 1999, p.299 Dr. L. Easley, "The Four Forest States of Africa." Oyo Empire. Southeast Missouri State University, Cape Girardeau, 2009, p.22 Kehnide Salami, Yunusa Ph.D. "The Democratic Structure of Yoruba Political-Cultural Heritage." Department of Philosophy Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife. 29 Apr. 2009 J. K. Thornton, Warfare in Atlantic Africa 1500-1800. London and New York: Routledge, 1999, p.299 Matory, J. Lorland. Sex and the Empire that Is No More: Gender and Politics of Metaphor in Oyo Yoruba Religion. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1994, p.8-13 Law, Robin and Paul E. Lovejoy. “Borgu in the Atlantic Slave Trade.” African Economic History, 27,1999, 69-92 Robin Law, “A West African Cavalry State: The Kingdom of Oyo,” Journal of African History 16, 1, 1975, 1-15 and Law, Oyo Empire, 184.The incidence of the tsetse fly, the vector of trypanosomiasis, over most of Yorubaland makes it difficult to maintain horses in health, and uneconomic to attempt local breeding. There are tsetse-free areas in northern Yorubaland, in the heart of the Oyo kingdom. Matory, J. Lorland. Sex and the Empire that Is No More: Gender and Politics of Metaphor in Oyo Yoruba Religion. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1994, p.8-13 Law, Robin and Paul E. Lovejoy. “Borgu in the Atlantic Slave Trade.” African Economic History, 27, 1999, 69-92 Law, Robin and Paul E. Lovejoy. “Borgu in the Atlantic Slave Trade.” African Economic History, 27, 1999, 69-92 Law, Robin and Paul E. Lovejoy. “Borgu in the Atlantic Slave Trade.” African Economic History, 27, 1999, p.190 Sandra T. Barnes, Africa’s Ogun: Old World and New, 2nd ed., (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, [1989] 1997) and Joseph M. Murphy and Mei-Mei Sanford, ed., Osun Across the Waters: A Yoruba Goddess in Africa and the Americas (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2001). Gbadamosi, T. G. O. The Growth of Islam among the Yoruba, 1841-1908. New Jersey: Humanities Press, 1978, p.4 Peel, J.D.Y. Religious Encounter and the Making of the Yorùbá. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2000, p.187 Lovejoy, Henry B. “The Proyecto Orunmila Texts of Osha-Ifá in Regla, Cuba.” Studies in the History of the African Diaspora – Documents 3 (2002): 1-3. See www.yorku.ca/nhp/shadd Samuel Johnson, the history of the Yoroba: From the earliest times to the British Protectorate C.M.S Publisher, Lagos, 1921, p.23 Samuel Johnson, the history of the Yoroba: From the earliest times to the British Protectorate C.M.S Publisher, Lagos, 1921, p.2 and Law, Robin and Paul E. Lovejoy. “Borgu in the Atlantic Slave Trade.” African Economic History, 27, 1999,p. 180 Law, Robin and Paul E. Lovejoy. “Borgu in the Atlantic Slave Trade.” African Economic History, 27, 1999, p.184 Fremont E. Bresmer, Horses, Musicians & Gods: The Hausa Cult of Possession- Trance (Zaria: Ahmadu Bello University Press, 1983), 1 and David W. Ames and Anthony King, Glossary of Hausa Music and Its Social Contexts (Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1971). Barber, Karin. “How Man Makes God in West Africa: Yoruba Attitudes Toward the Òrìsà.” Africa 51, 3 (1981): p.724-45. Tubman Institute, Manuscripts, Martin, B. G., Ahmad Baba, “Belief, Unbelief, and Slavery in Hausaland,” in Nigerian Perspectives: An Historical Anthology, trans. Thomas Hodgkin, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1960 1975), 155-56 P. E. Lovejoy, Transformations in Slavery: A History of Slavery in Africa, 3rd ed., New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012, p.23 BNP, FF 24223, Journal du voiage de Guinee et Cayenne. See also Law, Ouidah and Robin Law and Paul E. Lovejoy, “Borgu in the Atlantic Slave Trade,” African Economic History 27 (1999): 76-7. Des Marchais was a cartographer who traveled along the west coast of Africa, the West Indies and the northwest coast of South America between 1704 and 1727. His maps and manuscripts were published posthumously by Père J. B. Labat in Amsterdam in 1730-31. The original journal describes conditions in the specific year 1725, but clearly incorporates information collected on earlier visits to Ouidah, back to 1704. I was able to access digital copies of the original manuscript at The Harriet Tubman Institute, Toronto in 201. Law, Robin and Paul E. Lovejoy. “Borgu in the Atlantic Slave Trade.” African Economic History, 27, 1999, p.76 P. E. Lovejoy, Caravans of Kola Zaria: Ahmadu Bello University Press, 1980, p.34 Ivor Wilks, Forests of Gold: Essays on the Akan and the Kingdom of Asante, Athens: Ohio University Press, 1993, p.2-4. John Kofi Fynn, Asante and Its Neighbours, 1700-1807, Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1971, Wilks, Forests of Gold and, Kwasi Konadu, the Akan Diaspora in the Americas, New York: Oxford University Press, 2010, p.288 Cited in Mahdi Adamu, The Hausa Factor in West African History Zaria: Ahmadu Bello University Press, 1978, p. 129 P. E. Lovejoy, Caravans of Kola Zaria: Ahmadu Bello University Press, 1980, p.221 Paul E. Lovejoy, “The Bello-Clapperton Exchange: The Sokoto Jihad and the Transatlantic Slave Trade,” in The Desert Shore: Literatures of the Sahel, ed. Christopher Wise “Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers”, 2001, p.207 Apter, Andrew. “The Historiography of Yoruba Myth and Ritual.” History in Africa 1987, 1-25 Abimbola, Wande. Ifá: An Exposition of Ifá Literary Corpus. Ibadan: Oxford University Press Nigeria, 1976, p.43 Abimbola, Wande. Ifá: An Exposition of Ifá Literary Corpus. Ibadan: Oxford University Press Nigeria, 1976, p.45 Akinjogbin, “Prelude to the Yoruba Civil Wars,” Folayan, “Egbado to 1832” and Akinjogbin, Dahomey and Its Neighbours Akinjogbin, “Prelude to the Yoruba Civil Wars,” Folayan, “Egbado to 1832” and Akinjogbin, Dahomey and Its Neighbours K. Onwubiko, History of West Africa book two1800-Present Day, Onisha, Africana press, 1985, p.88-89 K. Onwubiko, History of West Africa book two1800-Present Day, Onisha, Africana press, 1985, p.88-89 Yoropedia, “After the fall of Oyo” www.yorupedia.com/subject/yoruba-from-19th-to-date/after-the-fall/ Yoropedia, “After the fall of Oyo” www.yorupedia.com/subject/yoruba-from-19th-to-date/after-the-fall/ K. Onwubiko, History of West Africa book two1800-Present Day, Onisha, Africana press, 1985, p.88-89 K. Onwubiko, History of West Africa book two1800-Present Day, Onisha, Africana press, 1985, p.88 K. Onwubiko, History of West Africa book two1800-Present Day, Onisha, Africana press, 1985, p.89 K. Onwubiko, History of West Africa book two1800-Present Day, Onisha, Africana press, 1985, p.90 K. Onwubiko, History of West Africa book two1800-Present Day, Onisha, Africana press, 1985, p.90-91 K. Onwubiko, History of West Africa book two1800-Present Day, Onisha, Africana press, 1985, p.92 K. Onwubiko, History of West Africa book two1800-Present Day, Onisha, Africana press, 1985, p.93 K. Onwubiko, History of West Africa book two1800-Present Day, Onisha, Africana press, 1985, p.94 K. Onwubiko, History of West Africa book two1800-Present Day, Onisha, Africana press, 1985, p.94 20