Ife and the rise of Yoruba states

Dates for the foundation of the city of Ife vary, but it is generally accepted that an urban settlement on the present site existed 1200 years ago. Ife has always had a pre-eminent religious position for all those who now call themselves Yoruba. It is the place of origin of the nation. Before the rise of the state of (Oyo, it was also the political centre of Yorubaland. It was certainly a flourishing artistic and political centre from the 11th to 15th centuries.

The primacy of the city of Ife is embodied in the myth of Oduduwa descending from heaven at the behest of his spiritual father Olorun, the sky god, to Ife. He created dry land, founded the city and eventually sent out princes (seven or 16 of his children or grandchildren, depending on the version) to form settlements in the surrounding region. Their connection with the royal line was legitimised and symbolised by the possession of beaded crowns.

The number of Oni or rulers of Ife since Oduduwa is disputed, ranging from 48 to over 400. Ife' appears always to have existed on the same site, although suffering changing fortunes. Evidence comes from an examination of the town walls, the stone monuments in the vicinity and increasingly from the archaeological record.

European incursions

First contact by Europeans with this part of the West African coast under Yoruba and Benin control was by the Portuguese in 1472, followed soon after by visits to Benin City itself, for the purposes of trade. This was initially in peppers and ivory, but was soon replaced by the far more lucrative trade in slaves, both directly from Benin and via the island of Sao Tome'. Other ports were established along the coast during the following two centuries, within the region of Yoruba influence, at Lagos and Badagry, as well as in the Niger Delta.

The Atlantic slave trade, a crucial element in the so-called three-cornered trade between Europe, West Africa and the eastern seaboard of the Americas, grew and flourished between about 1500 and 1800 into a forced migration of at least 11 million people. It is impossible to over-emphasise the catastrophic consequences the removal of this number of able-bodied people from West Africa has had on the economy of the region. It affected the Yoruba states as all other regions. All the states were either capturing slaves, dealing in slaves, suffering from the political instability which resulted from slave-raiding or becoming debilitated by the reduction in productive population, both male and female, which slave-raiding brought about. The break-up of the Oyo Empire in the early 19th century destabilised surrounding states.

About the Yoruba • Objects from Yoruba Culture • E-Toys • Poetry • Activity sheets to use at home

Search Yoruba

Produced by The Telematics Centre at Exeter University © 2001