The fall of the Oyo Empire

Résumé du document

The Oyo kingdom is located in the south of the actual territory of Nigeria. It expanded from the 16th to the 18th century to become the Oyo Empire, reaching its peak (around 47570km2) in the middle of the 18th century. Less than a century later, in 1836, its capital, Oyo Ile, had been abandoned, and the new Alafin (literally "owner of the palace", the King, or the Emperor) was struggling to get his Empire back: The Oyo Empire had completely fallen. How did an empire, that was known to be the most stable and prosperous one in Western Africa for the preceding two centuries, fall so suddenly? History indicates that the beginning of its collapse took place just as the Empire was reaching its peak. Could this then be seen as just another case of over-expansion that was not viable in a traditional political system? The collapse also coincided almost perfectly with the arrival of a reformist, jihadist, Islam. Could it be that the empire fell because its traditional, simplistic, system of belief could not ever compete against the more complex and organized Islam? The third coincidence was the corresponding end of the Atlantic slave trade. At the first glance thus, everything seems to indicate, that the Oyo Empire was bound to collapse and that little of what they did had any real impact on their fate.

Extraits

[...] If Oyo had been faced by either one of those, things might have gone back to normal. But the conjunction of both made it almost impossible to escape. The end of the Atlantic Slave-Trade acted more as an amplifier of an existent crisis than as a 3 direct cause. The fall of Oyo was not caused by a tragic fate, but by the conjunction of mistakes and error when faced with new phenomena. The Yorubas living in Oyo were not the passive spectators of their own History, as my first assumptions implied, but were its actors. [...]

[...] This assumed passivity is, in my opinion, typical of the way peoples of Africa are usually thought of as being in a “half-child” state and dependent on the first master to pass by. This representation, dating back to the Colonial Era, influences the way we act towards Africa as well as the way they act towards themselves, at an individual level or in International Relations. The study of African History is thus very important, and even more so now that Africa increasingly appears as “hopeless” Bibliography : - Atanda, J A., The new Oyo empire: indirect rule and change in Western Nigeria 1894-1934 (Longman, 1973) - Balogun, Kolawole, Government in Old Oyo Empire (Apapa, Lagos : Africanus Pubs., 1985) - Eltis, D., Welfare trends among the Yoruba in the early nineteenth century: the anthropometric evidence Journal of Economic History, Volume 50, Issue Pages 521-540 - Fisher, H.J, The juggernaut's apologia: conversion to Islam in black Africa Africa, vol no pp. [...]

[...] How did such an empire, the most stable and prosperous one in Western Africa for the preceding two centuries, fall so suddenly? The beginning of its collapse took place just as the Empire was reaching its peak. Is it then just another case of over-expansion that could not be viable in a traditional political system? The collapse also coincides almost perfectly with the arrival of a reformist, jihadist, Islam. Did it fall because its traditional, simplistic, system of belief could not ever compete against complex and organised Islam? [...]

[...] They used it this power for the first time with Alafin Odarawu, in the late 17th century , and forced 6 Alafins to commit suicide . They then forced the Aremo, the Alafin's son, to commit suicide with his father , officially to limit parricides , but probably more to let the Oyo Mesi choose the successor. Alafin Gberu, in the 1730s, tried to go back to normal and to refuse to commit suicide, but an insurrection forced him to obey . This struggle for power peaked between 1754 and 1774 when Basorun Gaha usurped the power of the Alafin. [...]

[...] The political expansion and stability of the Oyo Empire was achieved through a powerful army and a complex balance of political power. The Oyo Empire expanded throughout the 17th and 18th century thanks to its military victories. What advantage could they have to defeat their enemies so regularly? It seems that their use of cavalry was the main factor of their preponderance , even more so when used in coordination with archers. They would then have been able to compete against their neighbours from the North, the Nupe, and even to conquer them, or at least to receive a tribute from them, as well as to conquer rather easily the flat South-East . [...]