Dr Umar Johnson speaks on Black Economics at PACM 40th ALD 2015 in Birmingham, UK.
My road is a long road. But I will live to see the day, will you? The day my enemies are destroyed, my people avenged, and my people prospering in their own mighty empire. Greetings, My name is Baba Ejiogbe. I am your ancient ancestor. I was sent not because I'm greater than you, but because you are lost and I want to show you the way home. Do you want to come home? Do you want to live in a golden age? Well the rise of West Africa is here!
H.R.M Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi III (born 15 October 1938) is the Alaafin, or traditional ruler, of the Yoruba state of Oyo and righful heir to the throne of its historic empire.
Royal bloodline descendant of Oduduwa and Sango
King of Kings of West Africa, Chairman of the Nigerian Council of Obas/Kings/Ayabas/Queens, Traditional Rulers
The Oyo Empire Dominates the Trans-Saharan Trade: Seventeenth Century
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Key Facts
Global Context
Africa
In 1603 the ruler of the West African state of Bornu, Idris Aloma, dies after a thirty-three year reign in which he helped build his country into a major Islamic state.
Asia and Oceania
Dutch explorer Abel Tasman (1603–1659) is the first European to reach present-day Tasmania and New Zealand in 1642.
Central and South America
Northeastern Brazil suffers from a severe drought in 1603. Conditions are so bad that Portuguese monarch Felipe III (1578–1621) sends food to starving Portuguese colonists.
Europe
In 1600 the British East India Company is founded by merchants in London to challenge the Dutch spice trade in the East Indies.
Middle East
In 1603 Ottoman sultan Mehmed III (1566–1603) dies of the plague. He is succeeded by his fourteen-year-old son Ahmed I (1590–1617).
North America
The Mayflower brings the first group of Pilgrims to the coast of present-day Cape Cod from England in 1620. They later settle in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
Key Figures
Military Leaders
Basorun Gaha (c. eighteenth century), military leader of the Oyo Empire.
Political Leaders
Abiodun (c. eighteenth century), alafin of the Oyo Empire.
Awole (c. eighteenth century), alafin of the Oyo Empire.
Orompoto (c. sixteenth century), alafin of the Oyo Empire.
Oranmiyan, also known as Oranyan (c. twelfth century), founder of the Oyo Empire.
Background
Located in present-day southwestern Nigeria, the Oyo Empire was established by the Yoruba people, a West African ethnic group. Oral traditions of the Yoruba people offer two stories of their origin. According to the first story, the founder of the Yoruba was Oduduwa, a migrant invader from a location in the east, most likely Egypt, Yemen, or Arabia. Oduduwa founded the Yoruba nation, as well a monarchical system, in the city of Ile-Ife. The second story states that the city of Ile-Ife was the first habitable place on Earth and the center of earthly creation. According to this legend, an almighty god called Olodumare sent heavenly beings down to make solid ground on Earth. These deities included Obatala, the Yoruba god of creation, and Oduduwa, who led the group once it arrived on Earth.
Odudwa’s son, Oranmiyan, often referred to as Oranyan, is believed by many to be the founder of the Oyo Empire. It is generally agreed that he was the first alafin, or leader, of the empire, beginning his reign sometime around 1170. The alafin was considered a divine king, chosen by the Supreme Being and living separately from ordinary people, and all Oyo alafins were said to be direct descendants of Oranmiyan. (Oranmiyan is also credited with establishing the royal dynasty of Benin.)
Based on linguistic evidence, scholars believe that two waves of immigrants came to southwestern Nigeria between the years 700 and 1000. The first wave of settlers founded the Kingdom of Ife, which laid the foundation for other Yoruba kingdoms. The traditional ruler of Ile-Ife was known as the Ooni of Ife, and Ile-Ife was regarded as the spiritual homeland of the Yoruba.
The second wave of settlers, inhabiting the open country north of the Guinea forest, formed the second Yoruba state, Oyo, which was ultimately the most successful, becoming the foundation of the Oyo Empire. The region was primed for growth because of its natural resources, the productiveness of its inhabitants, and its favorable position for trade. Oyo was located in the grassland region of present-day Nigeria, a fertile area suitable for intensive agriculture that was also near the coast and bordered forest regions. Food was produced in abundance, and the economy was further sustained by crafts and ironworking.
In addition to being the initial ruler of the royal house of Oyo, Oranmiyan was purportedly the first to introduce horses to Oyo society. The royal house of Oyo became linked with keeping horses, which appeared early in Yoruba culture, even though the details concerning the animal’s introduction to West Africa are unclear. The Oyo imported horses from the north and used them for nonmilitary purposes, such as during festivals and state ceremonies. Horses were considered status symbols in their society.
By the early sixteenth century, Oyo was still only a minor state with little power. In 1550 it was conquered by two societies located to the north: Borgu and Nupe. By the end of the 1500s, however, Oyo was growing in power due to trade. The alafin Orompoto used the wealth gained from trade to found a cavalry force and maintain a trained army. From this point forward, the Oyo used horses for military purposes. The cavalry was important in the development of Oyo’s imperial power. The commander of the army was the Aare Ona Kakanfo. He was responsible for personally leading a war of expansion once every three years. If he failed to return to Oyo victorious, it was expected that his corpse would be brought home from the expedition.
The Event
During the seventeenth century, the Oyo Empire had grown to become a dominant force in Yoruba military and political power. By this time, Oyo was the southern trade center of the trans-Saharan trade, that is, the trade that took place across the Sahara Desert between the countries of the Mediterranean region, including North Africa, and sub-Saharan locations in West Africa. Such trade had been going on since ancient times and was a source of wealth to traders. Once goods had reached North Africa from the sub-Saharan regions, they could be transported to Europe, Arabia, India, and China. The same was true of incoming goods from these regions that could be transported via North Africa to sub-Saharan destinations. Goods were transported by means of caravan camels, which consisted of a thousand or more camels. It would take three months to make the hazardous journey.
Successive West African empires, beginning with the Ghana Empire in the ninth century, followed in the thirteenth century by the Mali Empire and the Songhai Empire in the fifteenth century, had thrived by means of the trans-Saharan trade routes. During the period of Oyo ascendancy, traders from states in the Western Sudan, from forest regions, North Africa, and Europe traded kola nuts, slaves, salt, cloth, leather, and horses in Oyo. The supply of horses was particularly important for Oyo, since it depended on its cavalry for its supremacy. Yoruban craft and ironwork created in Oyo continued to play a major role in the local economy.
Reaching its peak between 1650 and 1750, the empire dominated much of the area between Togo to the west and the Niger Delta to the east. By 1680 Oyo was the most powerful state in the region and considered a threat to nearby countries. In two phases, which lasted from 1724 to 1730 and from 1738 to 1748, Oyo conquered a western neighbor, the kingdom of Dahomey. With this subjugation, Oyo controlled a territory larger than present-day France.
Oyo sold manufactured goods to Hausa and Fulani traders. These traders came to have a larger presence in Oyo’s capital city. The Hausa, in particular, brought horses from the north to trade with Oyo. The empire also conducted a successful trade with European merchants through the port of Ajase (present-day Porto-Novo, Benin).
One reason for the success of the Oyo Empire was a government based on a system of checks and balances. Although the alafin was highly venerated among the people and held significant authority, a group of councilors known as the Oyo-mesi served as a check on his power. They advised the alafin and controlled the military. The alafin could not be deposed, but the Oyo-mesi could compel him to commit suicide. As the Oyo Empire grew wealthier, two types of alafins emerged. Some focused on amassing wealth, while others used their riches to expand the empire’s territory.
By the late eighteenth century, the Oyo Empire had begun to decline as its governmental checks and balances system started to break down. This degradation was due in large part to the abuse and ill-advised actions of Basorun Gaha, an influential military leader. Basorun Gaha’s actions led to a jostling of power and a weakening of the army. He is thought to have murdered all four of the alafins under whom he served.
After the alafin Abiodun, who reigned from 1770 to 1789, defeated his opponents in a civil war, he pursued a policy of economic development that focused primarily on conducting a coastal trade with European merchants. In his pursuit of economic gain, however, Abiodun ignored every other aspect of the government, including maintaining governmental checks and balances. This neglect included the army, and, in turn, the central government, as the army was the means by which the government maintained control. Consequently, the Oyo Empire eroded further.
The glory of the Oyo Empire had faded by the end of Abiodun’s reign. He was succeeded by Awole, who faced many difficulties as a result of his predecessor’s choices. In addition to dealing with local revolts, he struggled to lead an administration that was barely maintained by a complex public service system. The power of chiefs who offered tribute to the alafin had waned. The Oyo Empire was in serious decline, a situation exacerbated by the fact that Awole was often in dispute with his advisors. The once mighty empire had nearly reached its end.
Global Effect
Oyo began losing control of its trade routes to the coast by the end of the eighteenth century. Furthermore, there was entrenched conflict between the alafin and his provincial and lineage chiefs and councilors. Even as the Oyo Empire faced external threats from many groups, unresolved internal conflicts abounded.
In the early nineteenth century, the Oyo Empire was invaded by militant Fulani Muslims from the northeast, specifically Hausaland. Fulani dominance at Ilorin, a city founded in the late 1700s by Yorubas that had become the capital of a vassal state of the Oyo Empire, disrupted the supply of horses to Oyo. The Fulani also made impossible the defense of the Oyo capital, Oyo Ile, located about 40 miles (64 kilometers) away. A number of people left Oyo to move south, founding new cities along the way, including Ibadan and Ijaye.
A civil war eventually broke out, pitting Oyo Muslims and Islamic traders against the alafin and his remaining supporters. By 1836 the capital of Oyo Ile had been completely destroyed, and Ibadan had conquered the territory still held by the formerly mighty Oyo Empire. The end of the Oyo Empire resulted in a widespread distribution of Yoruba people in West Africa. It also fed a series of wars among the Yoruba over the control of trade routes, lasting until 1886. By 1900 all Yoruba land had become part of a British colony.
Black West Africa
A map of Africa, showing
what is considered politically as West Africa, and
other countries not considered politically as Western Africa, but geographically part of West Africa.
10 Great African Empires
I love this brother's historical knowledge but his timeline is what is so wizardry. Slavery and colonialism started at the decline of African Empires. So the conclusion is clear to me, as it should be to anyone, Pan African, Black Nationalist, and Traditional that we need a West African Empire. The notion of uniting the entire African world without a starting point speaks to the misdirection in Pan African thinking. Africa needs infrastructure to accommodate the migration of African Diaspora, those committed to rebuilding Africa, like where would they live? The water sources are an issue in Africa as Africa's very arid environmentally in the Northern parts of many states. There is drought, poor drinking water, poor sewage, and other issues related to plant and animal growth due to lack of water. We will need an organized labor force to reconstruct these area of infrastructure as well as many others, like roads, houses, trade and market centers, farms and tourist accommodations. There is no empire without cheap labor or slave labor, I might add. Therefore, with us not being enslavers, we require a different type of economy that would provide greatly the benefits needed to hire and maintain such labor. Africa is the youngest continent in the world with over 40% of its population 30 and under. This is to our advantage because we now have viable and pliable labor in our reach. This is how come I support Dr. Umar Johnson's Pan African school, yet FDMG isnt the priority that would change Pan Africanism's past failures. The solution is an Empire. A West African Empire. But you need a royal head to accomplish that. A royal head that other Kings and rulers would respect and support as the Imperial head. It would spark the East, South and North to follow suit. But in the last days the sun rises out of the West. Stay tuned. Oh! Enjoy the video. Ase, ase, ase, ooo!
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