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Nairaland Forum / Nairaland / General / Culture / 50 Reasons Why Yoruba Never Had An Empire But Civilized By Benin (1442 Views)
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50 Reasons Why Yoruba Never Had An Empire But Civilized By Benin by thekingisback: 4:12pm On Feb 10, 2016 |
OYO EMPIRE...A YORUBA KINGDOM CREATED ON PAGES OF YORUBA HISTORIANS TEXTBOOKS AMIDST, GLARING CONTRADICTIONS AND PALPABLE FALSEHOOD: (1). Their story of kingship began with an Edo prince called Izoduwa as recorded by unimpeachable historical records and corroborated by Benin recorded History. (2). Ayayi Crowder,a recaptured Yoruba Slave who later became a bishop said, little were know about yoruba existence, clearly meaning they were not originally part of the Nigeria of today and neither were they settlers within its geographical boundaries but were in small settlements close to Dahomey. Most Yorubas today are either Muslims or Christians and those with African traditions copied or got them from Benin civilization. It doubtful if they are not immigrants from dahomy mixed with Benins or other fulani-hausa from Niger . Bishop Samuel Adjayi Crowther (c. 1809 – 31 December 1891) Was the first African Anglican bishop in Nigeria. Born in Osogun (in today's Iseyin Local Government, Oyo State, Nigeria). His grandson was Herbert Macaulay (3). Yoruba have dublicity of kingships with the process highly polarized than being traditional.A system they tried to copy from Benin but have not been able to get right like the Benin Kingdom. Edo Obaship is one of the most revered institutions in the world because of the way it has sustained its awesome prestige with strict and meticulous attention to ancient traditions of valour, discipline and integrity. Edo chieftaincy titles cannot be bought or conferred on non-indigenes or frivolously. Every Edo chief performs a peculiarly sacred duty and responsibility to the people of Edo. It does not make sense, therefore, to think that a people who would not and have never conferred their chieftaincy titles on non-indigenes, would voluntarily invite, accept, or surrender to non-indigenes as their kings. Note that due to celestial and customary taboos,the Edo monarch cannot eat out and cannot be diverted from full time palace duties to hustle things that have no beneficial value to his domain. (4). Most traditional religions being practiced by the Yorubas today are of Benin Origins.Olokun, Ogun, Iha oguega(ifa), oronmila, Esago(shango), Ayelala etc.Benin traditions,mystic and spirituality are stillfully documented and yorubanized by Yorubas in positions of affluence. Edo people today are predominantly Christians with some denying their traditional religious origins. But,it has not been possible to exterminate our traditional practice because it is embedded firmly in our ways of life. Although the Great Edo (Benin) Kingdom was not major participant in the trans-Atlantic slave trade, because the Obas (Kings) believed that their subjects were too valuable to sell away, and their noblemen had need of war captives on their own farms, the influence of Edo religion and medicine have still been substantial on the people of the Americas. According to Mason (1996), it has been widely accepted that Olokun (god of the sea) worship originated with the Edos and spread to the Yoruba (p.2). In fact, the most prominent part of Edo cultural traditions that has made its mark in the New World is Olokun worship. Olokun (god of the Waters, known as Osiris in Egypt) worship originated from Urhonigbe and then became prominent at Ughoton,around the Ethiope (Olokun) River. The priesthood and rituals were firmly established at the time. Some of the possible points of contact happened early. During the Ogiso Period, trade with the Yoruba and Igbos was quite extensive. Olokun worship may have spread to those areas through traders. Prior to the Oba Period,Ekaladerhan Izoduwa was initiated into Olokun as a chief Priest while he stayed at Ughoton, before his moving westward with his followers to establish Ilefe (Ero,1999,p.108-109). Once he arrived, Ekaladerhan Izoduwa brought Edo traditions to those areas and was a King of his new community called Ilefe, which could be what yoruba call IFE. . From Ekaladerhan Izoduwa’s loins, the Yoruba dynasties may have began. However, it is certain that Olokun is an Edo divinity whose worship spread to the outlying Yoruba areas. During the trans-Atlantic slave trade, slave raids were launched upon Yoruba and Ibo territories. Europeans were able to obtain some of the greatest amounts of West Africans from both Yoruba and Ibo land (Crosby,1992, p.136). In the 18th century in Iboland at Isseke, slave raiders took a famous Edo subject named Olaudah Equiano, who later wrote about the encounter. Olaudah traveled to the New World and then to England, learned to read and write English, and shared his religious and cultural experiences. Many Edo traditions were directly and indirectly incorporated into the New World through its far reaching colonies. The Edo Kingdom extended from the boundary with Oyo in the north (Otun) to the Atlantic in the south, beyond Asaba to River Niger, and up to Eko (Lagos) in the west. Both Edo religion and medicine have already been taken to those domains, following traditional practices originating in Edo land. (5). Benin ruled over what today known as Yorubaland, IFE, EKITI, LAGOS, OGUN, OWO, ONDO ETC (6). Benin through Oba Orhogbuan founded lagos and ruled Lagos through royal viceroys whose descendants are today the traditional rulers of Lagos.The rights of who owns Lagos is not disputable.Lagos was a Benin town with a Benin Duke who paid tribute to the Oba of Benin indeed his chiefs were the descendants of noble Benin families. The Benin empire ran Lagos for over 400 years before the colonial powers took over. Though there were some migrant yorubas from togo during british presence in lagos, but they formed not the rulers of the town but the subjects of the Oba just like we find in the United Kingdom today where people are subjects of the queen of England and not citizens. We will explain citizenship rights to you later in another treatise. (7). Benin first to meet Europeans (. "Oba" is a word adopted from Benin and not Yoruba as many made us to believe. There is no king of Yoruba's people. and if there is, what was his title?;how many Yoruba prominent traditional leaders/rulers carried the title Oba? since when?.if Yoruba calls their king Oba,it doesn't mean we derived our king's name (N'Oba) from them. Everyone has a name for king in the their native language/tongue. The Oba of Lagos is Eleko of Eko not Oba, the British change it to Oba. the Origin of word "oba" is Benin (9). They never conquered any territory but rather struggle with their neighbours before and after the first encounter with Europeans slave hunters. (10). "Edo" have no linguistic relationship with Yoruba. Words like Eko,Idu Ganran,Yaba,Oshodi,Osa,Eti-Osa,idu-magbo,Idu-mota have no Yoruba origin but Edo's. (11). Note history is subject to scientific diagnosis and many historic writtings in the past about Benin-yoruba have been proved by archaeologies and scientist as erroneous and false. (12). Many Yoruba being those in the forefront of Nigeria history writers wrote history textbooks used in Nigeria institutions and thus had the benefit of making their yoruba look like leading culture with the richest history for nigerians. (13). Yorubas exploiting their privilege of imbibing the whiteman's education first have been peddling falsehood in Nigeria,British and other western universities misleading Africans with grammar and academic titles. They confuse other external scholars about the true realities of African history, implanting those false history into African -America books without the knowledge of the Edo King. (14). Yorubas engaged the highest in slave raiding in their togo-oyo region which stretched to lagos during slave trade. see http://ihuanedo.ning.com/…/to…/yoruba-enslavement-of-african (15) Yoruba never colonized Benin but Benin colonized many Yoruba settlements. (16) Yoruba is not in anyway related to Igbo ancestral history (17) Yoruba was not in anyway related to itsekiri history. There could be later migrants during the European exploration and commerce but not related to the itsekiri ancestral lineage. Never mind all the title of "Olu" in the region,it is a title contrived to replace the original which is "Ode" of Itsekiris. (18) Bishop Ajayi crowder and Obafemi Awolowo made Yoruba known today as an ethnic group in Nigeria (19) How can an Empire be inside an Empire? Many so called yoruba territories of today never existed in the past but were invented and stillfully documented into dubious historical records. (20) Most of their books and publications are mere opinions of the writers concocted inside their rooms without scientific researches or facts-finding visits to Ancient Benin for archaeological veracity. Covered up with self hate, jealousy and envy of the Great Benin, bias and leftish in many of their so called Nigerian history,they tried to re-invent a history that diminishes our political greatness. (22) Many Yorubas in Lagos today came as migrant workers for British companies and their construction projects.That is why you have a lot of their photographs with whites. Britain also used them as colonial officers. (23) Before Britain or before the punitive expedition of 1897, Yorubas have no mega state to be found as the recognized major ethnic group in lagos were Edos. (24) Where is Yoruba ancient flag or before 1897? (25) Their loyalty to slave masters, British merchant gave them the huge presence in lagos, Americas and England (26) The word Yoruba has it's roots in Yoruba.The fulani used to call the Oyo people Yoruba.There was no really united Yoruba nation till awolowo came with a cooked up Oduduwa myth with the intention of uniting them under them with advent of Egbe omo Oduduwa clearly for political mileage.The ones that came to the Americas were identified as lucumi which is corrupted from olukumi. (27) The Ooni of Ife,the Alake of Abeokuta ( Egba), the Olubadan of Ibadan,the Oba of Oshogbo, the Deji of Akure,the Oba of Lagos,the Ugbo of Ugboland,the Owu of Owo etc have no historical records that they were ever ruled by an empire with such name. Rather,the Oba of Lagos,the Deji of Akure and all the traditional rulers in present day ondo and Ekiti states have indubitable records that they were once part of the old Benin empire. (28) The capital of the fathom Oyo empire is alleged to be Oyo-Ile. This is a community that is not as big as Uromi township. It is smaller than many headquarters of south western city states currently existing. It is not as big as Eyaen in Benin city. How come the capital of such great empire ( sic!) is so small and a far cry from any that is known in history? The false historians failed woefully to cover this jigsaw puzzle. (29) The Kingdom of Nupe was an acephalous community but in the 17th century,it sacked Oyo . Evicted it from Borgu and made it to relocate its capital to OYO Igoho, another hamlet community that can never qualify as capital of a dukedom let alone an empire. Now, most of the communities of Nupe were tribute payers to the Benin empire and never Benin conquerors. (30) It is on incontrovertible record that,the colonialist never met an empire called Oyo when they came to Nigeria but they did meet the Benin Empire in all her glory having Suzerainty over many Yoruba speaking city states like Lagos,Akure,Ado,Idoani,Ondo,Igbokoda,Owo,Ifon,Ekiti,Owu etc. infact, it is the admission of the fact by many of these coastal states that their overlord is the Oba of Benin that led to the European interest to visit the Oba and settle supremacy once and for all. Oba Ovoramwen Nogbaisi was the one they eventually clashed with. Recall that as early as the 14th century, the Oba of Benin has had positive and co-equals interactions with the Portuguese Empire. |
Re: 50 Reasons Why Yoruba Never Had An Empire But Civilized By Benin by midehi2(f): 4:17pm On Feb 10, 2016 |
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Re: 50 Reasons Why Yoruba Never Had An Empire But Civilized By Benin by thekingisback: 4:18pm On Feb 10, 2016 |
(31) Look closely at the map in pix one hereto. That is the colonial Map of Benin. It is less than half of what it was before the whiteman came. Still at that, it shows the whole of the current Midwest,nearly the whole western states including the whole Lagos, some eastern states and north central communities as part of the empire of Benin they met. Now, tell me, where is the geo-political delineation of the mythical oyo empire created by Ola Biola,Olatun Bonsun et al? (32) How come Oyo-Ile the capital of the contrived OYO is today not the most important city in Yorubaland as Benin city is in Edo. Many old cities that survive still remain the seats of governments. Sokoto,Benin city etc. but the alleged Capital of old oyo hardly ranks as a local government headquarters. This is not consistent with the Yoruba nature which accords much respect to traditional authority and culture. The explanation is simple. There never was such an empire with such a small community as capital city. The proud Yoruba man can never accept such scandal. The capital of their city states like Ibadan,Abeokuta etc is enough to take care of their territorial pride,not the scandalous hamlet of OYO-Ile. (33) Do you know that there is hardly a Yoruba community except the much mentioned Oyo-Ile,that has no exclusive language of its own that is not Yoruba. These various Yoruba languages are mutually unintelligible to each other. The current general Yoruba evolved from markets that was then mainly that of slave trading. (34) Now, unlike the Benins and most indigenous Nigerian kingdoms,the Yorubas have the most exported slaves in diaspora. They are very many in the Caribbeans and in Brazil. Do you know why? This is because,it is easy to sell people who are not from the same stork with you.except for criminals,Benin and other kingdoms do not sell their citizens. This again clearly show that a monolithic oyo empire was a lie. The Yorubas had warring and hostile city states and were never united under one pre-colonial power. Chief Awolowo was once rejected by them at the polls as Ijebu( fake) Yoruba. Ironically, it was the same man that came out with the concept and in fact united them as one common political people. That is why they worship him second only to Oduduwa. (35) Do you know that even their historians admitted the truth in their text books that Oramiyan after leaving Benin founded OYO empire. It is very obvious that Benin is older by far than the fathom Oyo Empire. What is however curious is that, if Ajaka,Shango,Ogun all later children of Oramiyan were deified to be worshipped by the Yorubas, how come Oramiyan's eldest son ( Eweka) who established the most powerful dynasty on earth was not included in their list of deities. This further lend weight to the argument that the history of the Yoruba empire was all about tribal glorification. Anyway, Oduduwa their alleged founder was actually Prince Izoduwa ( Ekhalederan) the only son of the last Ogiso of the first Benin dynasty-Owodo who was banished so that his father could have other children. This is a story for another day. (36) It still beat me why other Africa historical states only have Benin on their record not OYO empire. Dahomey the alleged neighbour of old OYO recognized Benin as not only its cradle but its main powerful neighbour. Find this extract from Wikipedia interesting.. (37) According to the Wikipedia article on the People’s Republic of Benin, the new name was chosen to reflect the Benin Empire “that had once flourished in neighboring Nigeria.” Most sources, however, maintain that the new name referenced not the Empire but the Bight of Benin, the adjacent stretch of the Atlantic Ocean. The country’s new leaders rejected the name “Dahomey” because they considered it too ethnically exclusive, since the old kingdom of that name had been closely identified with the Fon people of the coastal zone. The new name, based on physical geography, seemed less divisive—even though the term “Benin” ultimate derives from the former Benin Kingdom of the Edo people in what is now Nigeria. The capital of that state, Ubinu, gave rise to the term “Benin City,” which was generalized to cover the entire kingdom, and was subsequently applied to the adjacent sea. We have never doubted our relationship with the Yorubas. Everything natural points to the fact that they are our cousin. What We however disapprove is their attempt to use their privileged premier schooling by the whiteman to re-write history by distorting the true one and concocting a fake one that undermines the superiority of the old Benin empire over their city states. (38) Here is a beautiful example of Rigobert Bonne's 1770 decorative map of West Africa. Covers from the Gold Coast (modern day Ghana), south around the Bight of Benin to Gabon, Congo and Angola. Includes the modern day countries of Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Congo and Angola. As with most maps of Africa, this map shows excellent detail along the coast and only speculation in the interior. Give evidence of significant Belgian mapping activities throughout the Congo. Names numerous African Kingdoms including Anzico, Mujaco, Bembe, Lubolo, Pemba, Dembi, Calbongo, Bake-Bake, Benin and others. Attempts to map the Niger River as to flows into the Desert de Seth or Saghara, but most of this cartography is speculative at best. Drawn by R. Bonne in 1770 for issue as plate no. B 30 in Jean Lattre's 1776 issue of the Atlas Moderne ." here there was no mention of any empire or people called yoruba or oyo empire Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/…/File:1770_Bonne_Map_of_West_… (39) All European explorers arriving West Africa Maps have no record of Yoruba as a people or Empire but have that of Benin (40) Real Yorubas are from dahomey while others from the north, never was an Empire of that name in any time of West Africa history. (41) Language is a legitimate tool for constructing history and all the names associated with Oduduwa have deeper roots in Edo language than in the Yoruba. The Arabs or the Yoruba, do not have words like ‘Uhe’ (the sacred name for Edo and Ile-Ife, or words ending with ‘duwa,’ ‘noyan’ or ‘miyan,’ which are typical Edo vowels. ‘Uhe’ is perhaps the most powerful and revealing of all the Edo names associated with Ile-Ife because depending on how it is pronounced, it could refer to something sacred or taboo (such as Virgin or Virginity or Vagina), interpreted as innocence, source, birth canal. (42) "Eko" in every Edo dialect means settlement or military camp. And Eko is the indigenous name of Lagos. It was in 1974 that approval was granted Dahomey by Oba Akenzua II to change the name of the country to Republic of Benin. This shows that Benin Empire stretched beyond the entire Yorubaland!. why did Republic of Benin not go to yoruba their closer Neighbours? (43) YORUBA NEVER HAD ANY CIVILIZATION, BUILT ANY MONUMENT OR ANY WORLD SITE THAT TELLS OF AN EMPIRE OR GREAT KINGDOM LIKE BENIN. An Empire is always self evidence (44) Benin and Yoruba people obviously have same roots but in this case as evidenced by true historical records,it is the younger Yoruba settlers that migrated from the far older benin empire. (45) YORUBA WAS NEVER AN ETHNIC RACE!!!!!! PRE-BRITISH HISTORY OF NIGERIA We will leave the Yoruba to defend themselves about questions concerning origins of the name "Yoruba." As far as Usman is concerned, that name was an imperial donation from the North. We are intrigued by Usman’s argument on this score. Note his words. He said " The fact is that, the earliest record we have of the use of the very name "Yoruba" was in the Hausa-Fulani language and it seems to have applied to the people of the Alafinate of Oyo. This came from the writings of the seventeenth century Katsina scholar, Dan Masani (1595-1667), who wrote a book on Muslim scholars of the 'Yarriba.' But it was from a book of the Sarkin Musulmi Bello, written in the early nineteenth century, that the name became more widely used. The Bishop Ajayi Crowther, the Reverend Samuel Johnson, and his brother Obadiah Johnson, among others, came, in the nineteenth century, to widely spread this Hausa name to the people who now bear it, in their writings. Usman’s proof that the name "Yoruba" is an "Hausa name and It is so, the earliest record we have of the use of the very name 'Yoruba' was in the Hausa-Fulani language. (46) ETYMOLOGY OF THE WORD YORUBA (Yoruba) is revealed in the 19th Century.: The word 'Yoruba' was first recorded in reference to the Oyo people only, in a treatise written by the 16th-century Songhai scholar Ahmed Baba. It was popularized by Hausa usage and ethnography written in Arabic and Ajami during the 19th century, in origin referring to the Oyo exclusively. The extension of the term YORUBA to all speakers of dialects related to the language of the Oyo (in modern terminology North-West Yoruba) dates to the second half of the 19th century. It is due to the influence of Samuel Ajayi Crowther, the first Anglican bishop in Nigeria. Crowther was himself a Yoruba and compiled the first Yoruba dictionary as well as introducing a standard for Yoruba orthography.It's like classifying all of Northern Nigeria as Hausa. The presence of yoruba inflence in most places today claimed as yorubaland can be traced back to the propaganda of Ajayi Crowther and most Yoruba historians. (47) Do you believe ODUDUWA is the ancestral father of the Yoruba people? Many Yoruba scholars claim oduduwa fell from the sky to Yoruba land. Where actually did he land? , Any sign ?. Others say he came from the east, ok, did he meet people in the so called Yoruba land? If yes, then how can oduduwa now be their ancestral father? (48) Do Yorubas have any historic monument like the pyramid structures in Old Benin, Great Benin Moat, Zimbabwe and Timbuktu in Mali? Not talking about clay molded or primitive bronze artifacts many claim dating back to 10BC), or the story of slave raiding westward, east ward or northward. I mean physical structures that tell of an ancient civilization?.The two most relevant structures in Oyo-lle, the Alaafin palace and his village market as claimed by Yoruba Historians ? (49) When and where was Yoruba presence first felt in West African history? Why no reflection of Yoruba in many ancient maps of West Africa? (50) Was Yoruba territory in British pre- Nigeria creation-1600-1900, same with, 1914 and again in 1960 to 1967? What expanded it and why? Were there aborigines in those territories say owo, kwara, ondo and Lagos before their presence during the British colonial period? If there were aborigines, then who were they? (51) “Edo are not in Yorubaland. To be frank, it is because many of them are not willing to come up with the truth, the word Oba is alien to Yoruba monarchy; it is not part of their title from time immemorial. “For instance, the one they call the Oba of Lagos, these are recent adaptations. In the 50s, there was no Oba of Lagos, what we had was the Eleko of Eko. That is the title of the King there. In Ibadan, you have the Olu Ibadan. You come to Abeokuta, you have the Alake of Egba land. You come to Oyo, you have the Alaafin of Oyo. In Ilesha, you have the Owa-Obokun of IIesha. So no Yoruba monarch had as part of his titles the word Oba except the Oba of Benin. “That word Oba is indigenous to Benin. It is only in recent times you find everybody bearing Oba. When the Western Regional conference of traditional rulers took place in Benin City in 1942, go and check the attendance, there was no other monarch in the whole of the Western Region then that bore the title of Oba, except the Oba of Benin. “So it is an unnecessary excursion, an unnecessary attempt to turn history upside down by the Alake by classifying the Oba of Benin as third in the hierarchy of kings. “Our own traditional history says that the Ooni of Ife was a Benin Prince who wandered from here to Ife, settled there and became the ruler there. That is the position, if they don’t know, they should send people here; we will teach them. “We will show them landmarks. So this is unnecessary misrepresentation of history. Maybe the Alake wanted to mention a different place and not Benin. “The monarchical rulership in this part of the world started from Benin during the era of the Ogisos. It was the son of the last Ogiso, Owodo, that wandered from here to Ife and he became a ruler there, carrying everything about the Benin monarchical system to that place. There is no basis for such classification. “The Ooni of Ife by historical facts, is a son of the Oba of Benin, so they are not in the same class |
Re: 50 Reasons Why Yoruba Never Had An Empire But Civilized By Benin by Godfullsam(m): 4:28pm On Feb 10, 2016 |
Pointless, baseless and meaningless episode. Coming from an embittered, frustrated, myopic and shallow minded OP. 1 Like |
Re: 50 Reasons Why Yoruba Never Had An Empire But Civilized By Benin by Emyben(m): 1:36pm On Feb 13, 2016 |
Educative. Lets wait for the Yoruba scholars to counter it if possible. But, all my years growing up and reading history, one thing i can deduce is the fact that the Yoruba have their origin at Benin. Yoruba was never a kingdom, Benin was. And in age? Benin is older than even Oyo. 1 Like 1 Share |
Re: 50 Reasons Why Yoruba Never Had An Empire But Civilized By Benin by KingTom(m): 1:42pm On Feb 13, 2016 |
Emyben:the truth of the matter is that since none of us were there and these historical accounts were mostly by white men and were based on places first encountered in their sojourn then one may say one thing and the other may say another even the local scholars then who were not wide travellers would pen down accounts based on surrounding environs thus the arguments are pointless. For example in Princess moremi story the enemies were the igbos now these igbos were actually yorubas living in the forest (igbo) In one account and in another they were people from Sudan one bizarre lunatic even claimed they were the current south easterners so you see it is important to note that history is very very difficult to comprehend. Someone may see this in 2016 and say emyben and Kingtom had a fight 50 years ago. Thank God for the internet Sha ![]() |
Re: 50 Reasons Why Yoruba Never Had An Empire But Civilized By Benin by daveP(m): 2:39pm On Feb 13, 2016 |
Can i send this to GarbageCity? ![]() |
Re: 50 Reasons Why Yoruba Never Had An Empire But Civilized By Benin by Emyben(m): 3:40pm On Feb 13, 2016 |
KingTom: Lol....abi. U made some sense |
Re: 50 Reasons Why Yoruba Never Had An Empire But Civilized By Benin by KingTom(m): 3:44pm On Feb 13, 2016 |
Emyben:thanks sir |
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