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Kingdom · 1000–1893

Ife

Ile-Ife

Ile-Ife is the sacred city of the Yoruba, where Oduduwa is said to have founded the world's first kingdom.

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At a glance

When did the Ife exist?
From c. 1000 or earlier to 1893. It was at its height around 1300.
What was the capital of the Ife?
Ile-Ife.
What was the ruler of the Ife called?
Ooni.
What happened to the Ife?
The Ooni of Ife reigns at Ile-Ife, Osun State, and remains one of the most senior Yoruba kings.
Who lives in the lands of the Ife today?
Yoruba

Overview

Ile-Ife is the sacred city of the Yoruba, where Oduduwa is said to have founded the world's first kingdom. Out of a cluster of house-states a confederacy grew, and in the 10th–11th centuries Oduduwa's party walled the city after a war with the older people under Obatala. In its classical age (c. 1000–1420) Ife made its famous bronze and terracotta heads, glass beads traded as far as Mali and Mauritania, and a city of 70,000 or more; Ibn Battuta heard of it in 1352 as Yufi, one of the greatest kingdoms of the Sudan. Its princes, by tradition, founded Oyo, Benin's Oba dynasty and many other crowns. In the 19th-century wars it was sacked, rebuilt and locked in a long feud with its Oyo refugees at Modakeke.[3],[8]Medium confidence

Through the centuries

  1. c. 1000

    The sacred city

    Ife began as house-societies that grew into mini-states and a confederacy. In the 10th–11th centuries a group led by Oduduwa, probably from the hill town of Oke Ora, built a wall about 7 km round the city and won a war against the older people led by Obatala; both leaders were later worshipped as gods. Tradition says that after a meeting at Ita Ijero the princes went out to found kingdoms of their own.[1],[2],[3]Medium confidence

    Capital: Ile-Ife

  2. c. 1100–1400

    Classical Ife

    In its classical age Ife builds a second wall, paves its streets with potsherds and holds 70,000–105,000 people. Its smiths cast life-size heads in copper and brass; it nearly monopolises the region's glass beads, which reach Gao, Essouk, Koumbi Saleh and Senegal. Ibn Battuta hears of it in Mali in 1352 as Yufi, and the Catalan Atlas of 1375 may show it as Organa. At its height in the 14th century Ife's realm runs about 300 km, from Owu, Jebba, Tada and Oyo in the north to Ijebu in the south.[1],[4],[3]Medium confidence

    Capital: Ile-Ife

  3. 1420–1795

    The holy city

    After its classical age Ife's political reach shrinks, but it remains the spiritual home of the Yoruba: every Alaafin of Oyo swears never to attack it, and the Oba of Benin's coronation long turns on a ruler inland whom the Portuguese call Ogane. Its Ooni is honoured above the kings his ancestors' princes founded.[3],[5]Medium confidence

    Capital: Ile-Ife

  4. 1795–1845

    Apomu and the Owu war

    Oyo's general Afonja sacks Apomu, an Ife market town, in 1795, breaking the old oath. The quarrels over the Apomu market lead to the Owu war: from 1821 to about 1826 the armies of Ife and Ijebu, swelled by Oyo refugees, besiege and destroy Owu Ipole. The victorious camp at Ibadan grows into a new power, and an Egba chief's killing of an Ife chief there splits the allies.[6],[7],[5]High confidence

    Capital: Ile-Ife

  5. 1849

    Ife in the wars

    In 1845 Ooni Abewela settles Oyo refugees in a separate town beside Ife, Modakeke, whose ruler takes the title Ogunsuwa; its fighters extend Ife's border towards Ijesa. The settlers stay apart, and the two towns' feud becomes one of the longest of the wars, while Ife is caught between Ibadan and the Ekitiparapo.[2],[9],[8]Medium confidence

    Capital: Ile-Ife

Wars, treaties and turning points

Today

Ooni of Ife, Ile-Ife

The Ooni of Ife reigns at Ile-Ife, Osun State, and remains one of the most senior Yoruba kings.[10]High confidence

Its people

Yoruba

Living in its lands today

Peoples whose homelands lie inside its lands at its height, by number of LGAs.

Yoruba

Sources

Every claim carries a confidence level: high (well attested), medium (one source or approximate) or disputed (sources disagree).

  1. Ogundiran, Akinwumi. (2020). The Yoruba: A New History. Indiana University Press (cited elsewhere, not yet checked directly)
  2. Smith, Robert S. (1988). Kingdoms of the Yoruba (3rd edition). University of Wisconsin Press / James Currey (cited elsewhere, not yet checked directly)
  3. Wikipedia contributors. Ife Empire
  4. Wikipedia contributors. Kingdom of Benin
  5. Wikipedia contributors. Oyo Empire
  6. Wikipedia contributors. Owu Kingdom
  7. Wikipedia contributors. Abeokuta
  8. Wikipedia contributors. Modakeke
  9. Akintoye, S. A. (1971). Revolution and Power Politics in Yorubaland, 1840–1893: Ibadan Expansion and the Rise of Ekitiparapo. Longman, London (cited elsewhere, not yet checked directly)
  10. Wikipedia contributors. Yorubaland