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Empire · 1300–1893

Oyo Empire

Ọ̀yọ́ and Old Oyo

Founded, by tradition, by Oranmiyan, a prince of Ife, Oyo grew on the northern savanna into the largest of the Yoruba kingdoms.

Watch the Oyo on the old map

At a glance

When did the Oyo Empire exist?
From c. 1300 (reckoned back from the king list) to the British treaty of 1893. It was at its height around 1750.
What was the capital of the Oyo Empire?
Oyo-Ile (Old Oyo).
What was the ruler of the Oyo Empire called?
Alaafin.
What happened to the Oyo Empire?
The Alaafin still reigns from Oyo town, the new capital founded in 1837.
Who lives in the lands of the Oyo Empire today?
Yoruba

Overview

Founded, by tradition, by Oranmiyan, a prince of Ife, Oyo grew on the northern savanna into the largest of the Yoruba kingdoms. Nupe drove its kings into exile around 1535; they came back on horseback, rebuilt Oyo-Ile under Abipa, and over the next two centuries made Oyo an empire whose cavalry took tribute from Dahomey and the Aja and Ewe states to the coast. From 1754 the Basorun Gaha made and unmade kings, and Abiodun's later defeats by Borgu and Nupe, Afonja's revolt at Ilorin and the jihad broke the empire. Oyo-Ile was abandoned in the 1830s, and Alaafin Atiba rebuilt the kingdom at New Oyo, leaning on Ibadan and Ijaye to guard it.[1],[3]High confidence

Through the centuries

  1. c. 1300–1400

    Oranmiyan follows the snake

    Oranmiyan, last prince of Ife, sets out to avenge an insult to Oduduwa, quarrels with his brother and wanders north along the Niger to Bussa. Its chief gives him a snake with a charm at its throat; where it stops for seven days and vanishes, he founds Oyo. His sons are Ajaka and Sango, born to a Nupe princess; Sango is later worshipped as the god of thunder. Ajaka's successor Kori conquers the rest of metropolitan Oyo.[1]Disputed

    Capital: Oyo-Ile (Old Oyo)

  2. c. 1400

    Oyo-Ile in the savanna

    Oyo is a modest kingdom around its capital Oyo-Ile, near the Niger in the open country north of the forest.[1],[2],[3]Medium confidence

    Capital: Oyo-Ile (Old Oyo)

  3. c. 1535

    Nupe sacks Oyo-Ile

    Nupe armies take Oyo-Ile. The royal court flees to Borgu and then settles in exile at Igboho for most of a century.[1],[3]Medium confidence

    Capital: Igboho

    Date of the sack is estimated from king lists.

  4. c. 1560–1610

    From Igboho, the reconquest

    Learning from the Nupe, whom they call Tapa, the Oyo rearm with armour and cavalry. Alaafin Ofinran wins back Oyo's old land and builds the capital in exile at Igboho; Egungunoju conquers nearly all of Yorubaland; Orompoto carries the war into Nupe; Ajiboyede holds the first Bere festival of peace.[1],[3]Medium confidence

    Capital: Igboho

  5. c. 1610

    Return to Oyo-Ile

    Under Alaafin Abipa the court comes home and repopulates Oyo-Ile. Some time between 1578 and 1608 Oyo tries to conquer Benin, but its cavalry cannot cross the Ekiti hills; a few Ekiti kingdoms fall under Oyo, and Otun Ekiti is left as a free town between the two powers. By the end of the 16th century the Aja and Ewe states to the south-west pay Oyo tribute.[1],[3],[1]Medium confidence

    Capital: Oyo-Ile (Old Oyo)

  6. 1682–1726

    South to the coast

    Oyo's horsemen begin raiding south in 1682. Kings and princes of Allada and Weme appeal to the Alaafin against their rulers or against Dahomey, and Oyo's cavalry answers so fiercely that its neighbours learn to fear it. By 1680 the empire spans some 150,000 square kilometres.[1],[3]Medium confidence

    Capital: Oyo-Ile (Old Oyo)

  7. c. 1750

    The height of Oyo

    Oyo rules a metropolitan core and the Egbado corridor to the sea, where Ajase (Porto-Novo) ships enslaved people to European traders. Dahomey has paid tribute since 1730. The Egba and Igbomina towns are tributaries. Oyo settled colonists along the Egbado corridor, at Ilaro and Imeko, to hold the road to Badagry and Porto-Novo; Sabe and Ketu in the west, and at times the Borgu and Nupe borderlands, paid tribute. Oyo's cavalry has defeated Dahomey in 1728 and forced it to pay yearly tribute; it took eleven invasions before Dahomey was fully subjected in 1748.[1],[3],[5],[6],[4]Medium confidence

    Capital: Oyo-Ile (Old Oyo)

  8. 1754–1774

    Gaha makes and unmakes kings

    The Basorun Gaha, head of the Oyo Mesi council, seizes power for twenty years. He forces four Alaafins to take their own lives by sending them the parrot's eggs; two die between June and October 1754 alone, one after 130 days and one after 17. Alaafin Abiodun outlasts him and has him executed in 1774. In 1764 an Akyem, Dahomey and Oyo army beats an invading Ashanti force.[1],[3]High confidence

    Capital: Oyo-Ile (Old Oyo)

  9. 1774–1793

    Abiodun's reign

    With Gaha gone, Abiodun rules a rich but overstretched empire. In 1784 Oyo, Dahomey and Lagos together blockade Badagry by water; Oyo campaigns into the Mahi country north of Dahomey. But Borgu beats Abiodun's army at Gberegburu in 1783 and Nupe destroys another in 1789, losses equal to 11 and 13 generals with their men. Abiodun is murdered by his own son Awole.[1]High confidence

    Capital: Oyo-Ile (Old Oyo)

  10. 1793–1817

    Afonja and the broken oath

    Awole orders his field marshal, the Aare-Ona-Kakanfo Afonja, to attack Iwere-Ile, Abiodun's mother's town; Afonja refuses. In 1795 Awole sends him against Apomu, a market town of Ife, breaking the oath every Alaafin swears never to attack the holy city. Afonja sacks Apomu, then marches on Oyo-Ile itself and demands Awole's abdication; Awole takes his own life. Twenty years of rival claimants follow, warlords such as the Onikoyi and Solagberu rise, and in the south the Egba under Lisabi kill Oyo's resident agents and drive off its army.[1]High confidence

    Capital: Oyo-Ile (Old Oyo)

  11. 1817

    Afonja revolts at Ilorin

    Afonja, Oyo's war chief at Ilorin, rebels with help from Fulani and Hausa followers. By 1823 Ilorin has joined the Sokoto Caliphate and Dahomey has stopped paying tribute.[1],[3]High confidence

    Capital: Oyo-Ile (Old Oyo)

  12. 1823–1835

    Dahomey breaks free; Ilorin raids

    In 1823 Dahomey raids villages under Oyo's protection. King Gezo sends his Brazilian viceroy, Francisco Félix de Sousa, to make peace, but talks fail and Oyo's army is crushed; Dahomey's tribute ends. Ilorin, now an emirate of Sokoto, besieges Offa and burns Oyo's villages; when Clapperton passes in 1825 he sees the ashes, and few horses. Alaafin Majotu asks the English king and the Oba of Benin for help.[1]High confidence

    Capital: Oyo-Ile (Old Oyo)

  13. 1835

    Oyo-Ile abandoned

    After Alaafin Oluewu dies fighting Ilorin, the capital is abandoned. The court moves south to Ago-Oja, the Oyo of today, founded in 1837. Power in Yorubaland passes to new war states such as Ibadan.[1],[2],[3]High confidence

    Capital: Oyo-Ile (Old Oyo)

  14. 1837–1893

    New Oyo under Atiba

    After the Eleduwe war Oyo-Ile is abandoned and Alaafin Atiba rebuilds the kingdom further south at Ago d'Oyo, today's Oyo. He charges Ibadan with guarding the capital against Ilorin and Ijaye with guarding it against Dahomey. The gamble fails: the two war towns fight each other, and power passes to Ibadan. Atiba dies in 1859; his sons Adelu (1859–1876) and Adeyemi I (1876–1905) reign over a kingdom that is honoured but no longer feared.[1]High confidence

    Capital: Oyo (Ago d'Oyo)

Wars, treaties and turning points

Today

Alaafin of Oyo, Oyo (Ago-Oja)

The Alaafin still reigns from Oyo town, the new capital founded in 1837. The ruins of Oyo-Ile lie inside Old Oyo National Park.[1],[2]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. Wikipedia contributors. Oyo Empire
  2. Wikipedia contributors. Oyo-Ile (Old Oyo)
  3. Law, Robin. (1977). The Oyo Empire, c. 1600 – c. 1836: A West African Imperialism in the Era of the Atlantic Slave Trade. Clarendon Press, Oxford (cited elsewhere, not yet checked directly)
  4. HistoNaija owner. (2026). Owner's notes on the reach of Igala, Benin, Oyo and Aro, the British conquests, and migrations (hintsPrompts/doc1.md)
  5. Akinjogbin, I. A. (1967). Dahomey and Its Neighbours, 1708–1818. Cambridge University Press (cited elsewhere, not yet checked directly)
  6. Ajayi, J. F. Ade; Crowder, Michael (editors). (1985). Historical Atlas of Africa. Cambridge University Press (cited elsewhere, not yet checked directly)
  7. Wikipedia contributors. Borgu