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The constitutional troubles of Ọyọ in the eighteenth century

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2009

R. C. C. Law
R. C. C. Law
Affiliation:
University of Birmingham
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Extract

This paper examines the internal disputes which the Ọyọ kingdom suffered during the eighteenth century, and which had as their ultimate issue a coup d'état in ca. 1796 which is traditionally held to mark the beginning of the disintegration of the kingdom. The troubles began with a conflict within the capital of the kingdom, between the Alafin (king) and the Ọyọ Mesi, a group of non-royal chiefs led by the Baṣọrun, and the first phase of the troubles culminated in 1754 in a seizure of power by the Baṣọrun. It is suggested that this struggle between the Alafin and his chiefs had its origins in competition for control of the new sources of wealth derived from the expansion of the kingdom. In 1774 the Alafin overthrew the Baṣọrun and recovered power in the capital by calling in the assistance of the subject towns of the kingdom. It is argued that this action proved fatal to the Ọyọ kingdom, by involving the rulers of the provincial towns in the political disputes of the capital and revealing the military impotence of the divided capital. In ca. 1796 the provincial rulers intervened at the capital on the other side, assisting the Baṣọrun to overthrow the Alafin. But the coalition of dissident metropolitan chiefs and dissident provincial chiefs immediately broke up, and many of the latter began to disregard the divided capital and make themselves independent.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of African History , Volume 12 , Issue 1 , January 1971 , pp. 25 - 44
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1971

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References

1 The Yoruba did not constitute any sort of political unit: even the name ‘Yoruba’ was not originally applied to the whole linguistic group, but before the nineteenth century designated only the Ọyọ kingdom.

2 For the boundaries of the Ọyọ kingdom and its tributaries, see Map.

3 On this period of Ọyọ history, see Smith, R. S., ‘The Alafin in Exile: a study of the Igboho period in Ọyọ history’, J. Afr. Hist., vi (1965), 57–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

4 The Ọyọ first established contact with the Europeans at the coast during the reign of Alafin Ọbalokun, in the first half of the seventeenth century: Johnson, S., The History of the Yorubas (Lagos, 1921), 168.Google Scholar

5 Ajagbo, grandson of Ọbalokun, is credited with campaigns in Ẹgba country and against the Egun state of Wemẹ: Johnson (1921), 569.

6 For details of these wars, cf. Akinjogbin, I. A., Dahomey and its Neighbours 1708–1818 (Cambridge, 1967).Google Scholar

7 For the Ọyọ colonization of Ẹgbado, see Morton-Williams, P., ‘The Oyo Yoruba and the Atlantic Trade 1670–1830’, Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria, iii (1964), 25–45;Google Scholar cf. however, Fọlayan, K., ‘Ẹgbado to 1832: the Birth of a Dilemma’, J. Hist. Soc. Nigeria, iv (1967), 15–33,Google Scholar who puts the Ọyọ colonization of southern Ẹgbado back to the sixteenth or early seventeenth century.

8 The earliest reference to Ọyọ ‘protection’ of Badagry and Porto Novo appears to be of 1777: Baud-Dauchiron, Memorandum, 23 July 1777 (Archives Nationales, Paris, C.6/26); cf. however, Akinjogbin, , Dahomey and its Neighbours (1967), 91–2,Google Scholar who argues on presumptive grounds that they became tributary with Dahomey in 1730.

9 Mahi country was first invaded by Ọyọ in 1787/8: Norris, R., Memoirs of the Reign of Bossa Ahadee, King of Dahomy (London, 1789), 138–9.Google Scholar

10 For the chronology of the collapse of the Ọyọ kingdom, see Law, R. C. C., ‘The Chronology of the Yoruba Wars of the Early Nineteenth Century: a Reconsideration’ (forthcoming), J. Hist. Soc. Nigeria, v, no. 2.Google Scholar

11 Johnson, , op. cit. (1921): for his sources, see pp. viiGoogle Scholar, 3. (Though published only in 1921, this work was actually completed in 1897.)

12 Crowther, S. A., A Vocabulary of the Yoruba Language, Part I (London, 1843), pp. iii–vii;Google ScholarEllis, A. B., The Yoruba-Speaking Peoples of the Slave Coast of West Africa (London, 1894), 9–12.Google Scholar

13 Johnson (1921), 40–74; Morton-Williams, P., ‘The Yoruba Ogboni Cult in Ọyọ’, Africa, xxx (1960), 362–74;CrossRefGoogle Scholar‘An Outline of the Cosmology and Cult Organisation of the Ọyọ Yoruba’, Africa, xxxiv, (1964), 243–61;Google Scholar‘The Yoruba Kingdom of Ọyọ’, in Forde, D. and Kaberry, P. M. (eds), West African Kingdoms in the Nineteenth Century (Oxford 1967), 32–69.Google Scholar

14 Johnson (1921), 42, 68.

15 Johnson (1921), 41.

16 Johnson (1921), 174.

17 At New Ọyọ, where the custom of requiring the suicide of the Arẹmọ was abolished, the Arẹmọ, if rejected for the succession, had to go into exile: Johnson (1927), 42, 398.

18 Johnson (1921), 173.

19 The last instance was that of Oluodo, the predecessor of Ajagbo, who was killed in a campaign against the Nupe: Smith, , ‘The Alafin in Exile’ (1965), 74, n. 52.Google Scholar

20 It is, however, disputed whether the Ogboni society in fact existed at Ọyọ Ile. Agiri, B. A., ‘The Development of Local Government in Ogbomọṣọ 1850–1950’ (1966), M.A. Thesis (University of Ibadan), 46–7,Google Scholar cites statements by informants at New Ọyọ that the Ọyọ only adopted the Ogboni cult after moving south to the new capital: cf. a similar tradition reported by Frobenius, L., The Voice of Africa, i (London, 1913), 172–3.Google Scholar Against this, the Apena (one of the principal Ogboni chiefs) of New Ọyọ claims that his ancestors held the title at Ọyọ Ile, and the Ogboni of several Ẹgbado towns claim derivation from Ọyọ Ile (information from P. Morton-Williams).

21 Certainly by 1923 (when, of course, the number of towns under Ọyọ had been greatly reduced) the only non-royal chief serving as a patron was the Baṣọrun, and he held only one town: List of Native Authorities, submitted by the District Officer, Oyo, to the Senior Resident, Oyo Province, 27 Aug. 1923 (National Archives, Ibadan, Oyoprof. 3.1329).

22 Johnson, (1921), 74: hence the Arẹ ọna Kakamfo is often referred to as ẹru Alafin, ‘a slave of the Alafin’, but the statement sometimes made that he was appointed from among the ilari of the palace seems to be incorrect.Google Scholar

23 Johnson (1921), 269–77.

24 During the period 1754–ca. 1836 there were eleven Alafin, i.e. an average for each Alafin of 7·45 years. If this average is assumed to be applicable to the nine Alafin before 1754 back to and including Odarawu, a date for Odarawu's accession of ca. 1688 is obtained. (These calculations ignore the complications of regencies and interregna.)

25 His cruelty is commemorated in the Ọyọ proverb: O nika ninu ju Karan lọ, ‘He is as cruel as Karan’.

26 Johnson is not explicit on this point, but ChiefOjo, S., Iwe Itan Ọyọ, Ikoyi, ati Afijio (Ọyọ, n.d.), 57, states that Olusi was Arẹmọ.Google Scholar

27 Allegations in the traditions of death by poison (or magic) should be treated with some caution: in a politically tense situation, such charges are apt to be made whenever anybody dies without a previous prolonged illness.

28 The fact that the Baṣọrun served as Regent on this occasion perhaps indicates an advance in his power, as on two earlier occasions when an Alafin succeeded as a minor the Regency was exercised by the Alafin's mother: Johnson (1921), 256; Smith, , ‘The Alafin in Exile’ (1965), 64.Google Scholar

29 On the lineages of the successive Baṣọrun, see Johnson (1922), 72–2.

30 Cheif Ojo, Iwe Itan Ọyọ, 62, and ‘Report on Ọyọ Yoruba History’ (n.d.), typescript in files of Yoruba Historical Research Scheme (University of Lagos). These events are recalled in two Ọyọ proverbs: Ọdun mẹta ni Jambu ṣe l'oye;, o dabi ogun ọdun, ‘Jambu ruled for three years, it felt like twenty years’; Jambu ko ku, Ọyọ ko roju, ‘While Jambu lived, Ọyọ knew no peace’.

31 Johnson (1921), 178–83.

32 W. Devaynes to T. Melvil, 22 Oct. 1794, quoted in T. Melvil to African Committee, 30 Nov. 1754 (Public Record Office, London, T.70/1523): cf. Akinjogbin, , Dahomey and its Neighbours (1967), 146, n. 1.Google Scholar

33 Johnson (1921), 178.

34 Johnson (1921), 180.

35 Johnson (1921), 199–200.

36 The Ọyọ Mesi are said to have opposed the reoccupation of Ọyọ Ile by Alafin Abipa at the beginning of the seventeenth century, and Abipa's predecessor Ajiboyede is said to have executed some ‘Ọyọ nobles’ and to have averted an insurrection only by a public apology: Johnson (1921), pp. 164–6.

37 Morton-Williams, P., ‘The Fulani Penetration into Nupe and Yoruba in the Nineteenth Century’ (1968), in Lewis, I. M. (ed.), History and Social Anthropology (London), ii.Google Scholar

38 Akinjogbin, I. A., ‘The Oyo Empire in the Eighteenth Century: a Reassessment’, J. Hist. Soc. Nigeria, iii (1966), 449–60.Google Scholar

39 At one point (p. 454) Akinjogbin glosses the ‘commercial families’ as ‘the Parakoyi’, but this seems to be an error. In some Yoruba states (e.g. in Ifẹ and among the Ẹgba) the Parakoyi are a group of chiefs connected with trade, but at Ọyọ there is only one Parakoyi, who is a military chief, unconcerned with trade (Chief Asiru Alabi, the Parakoyi of Ọyọ, interviewed 3 April 1969).

40 Johnson (1921), 182–3.

41 Johnson, (1921), 169 (Odarawu), 187 (Abiọdun), 189 (Awolẹ).Google Scholar

42 Dalzel, A., A History of Dahomy (London, 1793), 213–14;Google Scholar cf. Morton-Williams, , ‘The Oyo Yoruba and the Atlantic Trade’ (1964).Google Scholar

43 Johnson (1921), 179–80.

44 Akinjogbin himself observes (p. 455): ‘Why it proved impossible to carry out simultaneously the two policies of military and economic expansion is not quite clear’. It might, indeed, be argued that the two were interdependent: some at least of the slaves sold at the coast were captives taken in war, and it is likely that one motive in Ọyọ expansion towards the coast was a desire to control important trade routes; moreover, the military power of Ọyọ rested principally on cavalry, whose mounts were obtained by trade, being purchased in the north with European goods and salt obtained at the coast in exchange for slaves.

45 Gaha is, in fact, credited with the colonization of the Ẹwọn area of northern Ẹgbado, while Abiọdun colonized the Ilaro area further south (according to some traditions, but cf. n. 7 above): this argues a measure of continuity in the policies of Gaha and Abiẹdun.

46 Lloyd, P. C., ‘Conflict Theory and Yoruba Kingdoms’ (1968), in Lewis, (ed.), op. cit. 56Google Scholar; The Political Development of Yoruba Kingdoms in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries (forthcoming).

47 This is the Ajaṣẹ in the Ẹkun Osi (see Map), cf. Oyerinde, N. D., Iwe Itan Ogbomọṣọ (Jos, 1934), 58:Google Scholar not Porto Novo (which is called Ajaṣọ by the Yoruba), as is usually assumed e.g. by Morton-Williams, , ‘The Oyo Yoruba and the Atlantic Trade’ (1964), 42;Google Scholar nor Ajaṣọ Ipo in Igbomina, as the present writer once suggested to Smith, R. S., Kingdoms of the Yoruba (London, 1969), 594, n. 30.Google Scholar

48 Johnson implies that the massacre was total, but sections of Gaha's lineage were evidently spared, for the Baṣọrun appointed by Abiọdun to succeed Gaha was of the same lineage: cf. Johnson (1921), 72.

49 Johnson (1921), 183–5.

50 Johnson (1921), 186.

51 The parrot's eggs were more probably receptacles for poison: cf. Clapperton, H., Journal of a Second Expedition into the Interior of Africa (London, 1829), 49.Google Scholar

52 DaIzel, (1793), 12–13: this passage is an elaboration of a passage in Norris (1789), 11–12. (This section of Norris's work was written in 1773, cf. p. 1.)Google Scholar

53 Dalzel, (1793), 156–7: Dalzel's source for this passage was L. Abson, Governor of the British fort at Whydah 1770–1803.Google Scholar

54 Ochenoo probably represents Ọṣọrun, a shorter form of Baṣọrun, as suggested by Akinjogbin, , Dahomey and its Neighbours (1967), p. 145, no. 5.Google Scholar

55 Akinjogbin, , ‘The Oyo Empire in the Eighteenth Century’ (1966), 456.Google Scholar

56 On the organization of the Ẹgbado province, see Morton-Williams, , ‘The Oyo Yoruba and the Atlantic Trade’ (1964).Google Scholar

57 Johnson, (1921), 186–7 (‘Popo’ is the Yoruba name for the Egun). But this story is dubious: Johnson states that the bodyguard was under the command of a son of Abiọdun who was given the title Agunpopo, but at New Ọyọ the function of the Agunpopo has been to mix medicines for the Alafin's wives, and ‘Agunpopo’ means ‘Mixer of Medicines’.Google Scholar

58 The death of a king of Ọyọ in early April 1789 is reported in a contemporary French account: Gourg to Ministre de Marine, 8 June 1789 (Archives Nationales, Paris, C.6/26), cf. Akinjogbin, , Dahomey and its Neighbours (1967), 175, n. 1.Google Scholar Before the discovery of this reference, Abiọdun's death was usually dated to ca. 1810, and this date is still preferred by Morton-Williams, , ‘The Yoruba Kingdom of Ọyọ’ (1967), 66, n. 1: see further Law, ‘The Chronology of the Yoruba Wars’ (forthcoming).Google Scholar

59 Johnson (1921), 187: cf. Oyerinde (1934), 23–4, records that the ruler of Ogbomọṣọ was deposed for warning Adeṣna that the Ọyọ Mesi did not intend to make him Alafin.

60 Adeyẹmi, M. C., Iwe Itan Ọyọ-Ile ati Ọyọ Isisiyi (Ibadan, 1914), 9:Google ScholarJohnson, (1921), 188, calls Awolẹ a ‘cousin’ of Abiọdun.Google Scholar

61 As suggested by Morton-Williams, , ‘The Yoruba Kingdom of Ọyọ’ (1967), 42;Google Scholar ‘The Fulani Penetration into Nupe and Yoruba’ (1968), 11.

62 Johnson (1921), 190–1.

63 Johnson (1921), 594 (Alagbin), 199–200 (Paṣin).

64 Different versions are given by Hermon-Hodge, H. B., Gazetteer of Ilorin Province (London, 1929), 64,Google Scholar and ChiefOjo, S., Short History of Ilorin (Ọyọ, n.d.), 9;Google Scholar Johnson (1921) at one point calls Afọnja ‘a Prince (through the mother)’ (p. 189) but later denies that he was of royal birth and claims that his mother was merely a palace slave (p. 200).

65 ChiefOjo, , Short History of Ilorin, 10.Google Scholar

66 So Crowther (1843) and Ellis (1894), loc. cit.; Johnson is not clear on this point.

67 ChiefOjo, , Short History of Ilorin, 10.Google Scholar

68 If Afọnja was related to the royal lineage only in the female line, his claim to the throne was very weak. Royal succession seems never to have passed in the female line at Ọyọ, though there are instances of this in other Yoruba kingdoms. Cf. however, the case of Oluyọle of Ibadan, a son of a daughter of Abiọdun, who put forward an unsuccessful claim to the Ọyọ throne in the 1840s: Johnson, (1921), 297. Johnson, it should be noted, denies that Afọnja aspired to be Alafin (p. 193)Google Scholar.

69 Akinjogbin, I. A., ‘The Prelude to the Yoruba Civil Wars of the Nineteenth Century’ (1965), Odu, 2nd ser., i no. 2, 34–7.Google Scholar

70 Johnson (1925), 189.

71 D. A. Adeniji, ‘History of Apomu’ (n.d.), in files of Y.H.R.S. (University of Lagos).

72 Crowther, Ellis, and Johnson (p. 592) all agree on this.

73 This is the Iwere in the Ẹkun Ọtun (see Map), which was originally situated on the summit of an inselberg (the present town is at the foot of the inselberg). The traditions of Iwere seem not to recall the Afọnja episode, but claim that Iwere is the home of Abiọdun's mother: the Oniwere and Chiefs of Iwere, interviewed 4 Feb. 1969; S. W. Doherty, Journal, 22 May 1876 (Church Missionary Society Archives, London, C.A.2/035)—cf. Crowther (1843) states that Afọnja gave as his excuse for refusing the attack Iwere the fact that it was the town of Abiọdun's mother.

74 According to Chief S. Ojo, interviewed 7 Mar. 1968, Ọpẹlẹ held the title of Osi Kakamfo, commander of the left wing under the Arẹ ọna Kakamfo.

75 Johnson (1921), 189–92. T. Bowdich seems to have heard a garbled account of the coup against Awolẹ when at Kumasi in 1817: ‘The military in Hio [Ọyọ] are despotic, they always intercept the new King on his way to the palace, and demand his naming some neighbouring country for their invasion and plunder, before they confirm him. The King before the present, had named Dahomy, but after three years' neglect of the fulfilment, he ordered the army against a northern neighbour. The army went, wasted and pillaged the country, but when within a day's march of the capital on their return, they sent deputies to enjoin his abdication … he was obstinate; they came and cut off his head’, A Mission from Cape Coast to Ashantee (London, 1819), 209.Google Scholar

76 For the date of the Ẹgba revolt, see Smith, , Kingdoms of the Yoruba (1969), 84–5.Google Scholar

77 Johnson (1921), 193; ChiefOjo, , Short History of Ilorin, 15.Google Scholar

78 Johnson (1921), 194–5.

79 Johnson (1921), 196, says merely that he ‘died at home’; Crowther (1843) that ‘it is supposed that he was poisoned’; Ellis (1894) that ‘he died suddenly, from which it was supposed that he was poisoned’; ChiefOjo, , Short History of Ilorin, 16, that he ‘poisoned himself.’Google Scholar

80 Johnson, (1923), 196: Maku's campaign was against Iworo, a town apparently situated in the south of the Ọyọ kingdom; it is not known why this campaign was undertaken at this time.Google Scholar

81 Crowther (1843) and Ellis (1894) agree that the interregnum lasted for five years, but Akinjogbin, I. A., ‘A Chronology of Yoruba History 1789–1840’ (1966), Odu, 2nd ser., ii, no. 2, 81–2, suggests that it in fact lasted for between 20 and 25 years: see further, Law, ‘The Chronology of the Yoruba Wars’ (forthcoming).Google Scholar

82 This explanation is given by ChiefOjo, , Short History of Ilorin, 17.Google Scholar

83 For details, see Johnson (1921), 72.

84 Johnson (1921), 212–16.

85 Johnson (1921), 260–1.

86 Johnson (1921), 264.

87 Burton, R. F., A Mission to Gelele, King of Dahomey, 1 (London, 1864), 198–9.Google Scholar

88 Johnson (1921), 248–50.

89 This article is a somewhat revised version of a paper presented at a seminar in the School of African and Asian Studies of the University of Lagos on 31 Oct. 1968. The writer's thanks are due to those who have assisted at various stages with comments and suggestions, in particular to Professor R. S. Smith, Mr 'Wande Abimbọla, Dr P. C. Lloyd (who kindly allowed me to read the typescript of his forthcoming The Political Development of Yoruba Kingdoms in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries), and Dr P. Morton-Williams.