Chapter Twelve

From “Constitutional” and “Northern” Factors to Ethnic/ Slave Uprising: Ile-Ife, 1800–1854

Olatunji Ojo

Slave resistance in Africa took several forms ranging from flight, sabotage, poisoning,

work slowdown, abortion, suicide, infanticide, and murder to other forms of attacks on

slaveholders.1 Considering the research on the Yoruba region, flight, because it was

frequent, is the most cited means of slave agitation, and perhaps one which many slaves

saw as a significant step toward freedom.2 But in certain cases, slaves took up arms

against their owners demanding better treatment, and sometimes an end to their

dependent status. Regardless of the slaves’ agenda, their grievances were usually

subsumed by larger societal grievances thus entangling slave revolts with complaints by

free citizens. This divided the freeborn population on what reaction to take against angry

slaves. But it also helped to organize mass revolt and popular anger against the freeborn

elite. By joining non-slave agitators, slaves gained more resources—human, material, and

ideology—needed for a successful revolt. These ideas are embedded in Robin Law’s

study of “Constitutional Troubles” and “Northern Factor” and how they underpinned the

collapse of the Yoruba kingdom of Oyo during the early nineteenth century. Of

importance was the northern (“Hausa”) soldier-slave revolt of 1817, which, in itself,

1 See Sylviane A. Diouf (ed.), Fighting the Slave Trade: West African Strategies (Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 2003). 2 Samuel Johnson, The History of the Yorubas from the Earliest to the Beginning of the British Protectorate (Lagos: C.S.S. Bookshops, 1976 [1921]): 193–94, 550–51; E. Adeniyi Oroge, “The Fugitive Slave Crisis of 1859: A Factor in the Growth of Anti-British Feelings Among the Yoruba,” ODU, 12 (1975): 40–53 and Oroge, “The Fugitive Slave Question in Anglo-Egba Relations, 1861–1886, JHSN, 8, 1 (1975): 61–80, and Toyin Falola, “Power Relations and Social Interactions Among Ibadan Slaves, 1850–1900,” African Economic History (AEH), 16 (1986): 95–114.

developed out of the breakdown in Oyo’s domestic “social order.” The revolt, which set

in motion the final collapse of Oyo, in addition to being a slave rebellion, was an ethnic

and religious uprising as well.3 This was not without adverse consequences for the forest

states in whose towns Oyo refugees and slaves settled. One of the districts that suffered

from the spillover of Oyo conflict was Ile-Ife.

This chapter tests and extends Law’s thesis to Ife, a small but important Yoruba

kingdom, sacked barely two decades after the fall of old Oyo. The presence of “foreign”

elements, mostly northern Yoruba (Oyo) refugees and slaves, changed the face of Ife

society. It created severe identity crisis with adverse consequences for Ife constitutional,

demographic, trade, ethnic and religious structures. About 1849, royal slaves seized the

opportunity of a confrontation between the palace and town chiefs and Oyo refugees to

revolt, leading to what has since been called the Modakeke problem. Unfortunately, the

role of slavery and slaves’ in the uprising has yet to be studied. While this chapter agrees

that not all the participants were slaves, slavery was undoubtedly central to the crisis.

This is clearly revealed when we situate the revolt within the broader context of

nineteenth century Yoruba warfare, slavery, and ethnic conflicts. This chapter is divided

into three parts. The first part discusses the rise of the slave trade in the Yoruba region,

and how this, and the breakout of Islamic revolution impacted the Yoruba region. Part

two analyzes the extension of the Oyo crisis into the Ife district, the rise of Oyo

nationalism, and the breakout of the Modakeke crisis. The final part situates the

Modakeke uprising within the context of ideological shifts in mid-century Nigeria which

3 Robin Law, “The Constitutional Troubles of Oyo in the Eighteenth Century,” Journal of African History (JAH), 12 (1971): 25–44; and Law, “The Northern Factor in Yoruba History” in Yoruba Civilization, eds. I. A. Akinjogbin and G. O. Ekemode, 103–22 (Ile-Ife, 1976).

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coincided with the intensification of global antislavery, the return of liberated slaves from

Sierra Leone and Brazil, and the establishment of Christian missions.

Slavery, Ethnicity, and Yoruba Warfare, c. 1750–1830

Beginning in the late eighteenth century, the region now called Yorubaland began to

experience major external pressures—the expansion of the Atlantic slave trade and the

outbreak of religious revivalism in central Sudan. Both events combined to turn

Yorubaland into a major slaving zone, destabilizing almost every political establishment

in the region. Owing to its shallow waters and lack of deepwater anchorages, direct slave

trade between Yorubaland and the Atlantic world did not develop fully until the

establishment of the Port of Lagos in the 1760s. Full-scale trading did not begin until the

1790s when Dahomey sought more regulation of trade around its ports and end

competition from neighboring towns. The instability inflicted upon trade by this

monopolistic tendency, in addition to European wars and the anti-slavery policy of the

French revolutionary government, forced foreign slavers to move their activities eastward

away from Dahomian reach, hence the rise of Lagos.4

4 John Adams, Remarks on the Country Extending from Cape Palmas to the River Congo (London, 1823): 96–105, 218–22; Pierre Verger, Trade Relations, Between the Bight of Benin and Bahia 17 th–19th Century (Ibadan: Ibadan University Press, 1976 [1968]): 183–90; Law, “Slave-Raiders and Middlemen, Monopolists and Free Traders: The Supply of Slaves for the Atlantic Trade in Dahomey, c.1715–1850”, JAH, 30, 1 (1989): 55–57; Law, “Trade and Politics Behind the Slave Coast: the Lagoon Traffic and the Rise of Lagos, 1500–1800”, JAH, 24, 3 (1983): 343–48; Robert S. Smith, The Lagos Consulate, 1851–1861 (London: Macmillan, 1978); David Eltis, Paul E. Lovejoy and David Richardson, “Ports of the Slave Trade: An Atlantic-wide Perspective” in Ports of the Slave Trade: Bights of Benin and Biafra, eds. Law and Silke Strickrodt, (Stirling: University of Stirling, 1999), 12–34; Caroline Sorensen-Gilmour, “Slave-Trading along the Lagoons of Southwest Nigeria: The Case of Badagry” in Ports of the Slave Trade, 70–84; Kristin Mann, “The Original Sin: British Reform and Imperial Expansion at Lagos” in Ports of the Slave Trade, 169–89; and Eltis, “The Diaspora of Yoruba Speakers, 1650–1865: Dimensions and Implications” in The Yoruba Diaspora in the Atlantic World eds. Falola and Matt D. Childs, 17–39 (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2004).

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If Dahomian policies made Lagos an attractive market, they were not sufficient

enough to make traders stay in the town were there no slaves in the market. So a more

compelling reason why traders chose the port town was the rising production of slaves in

the Lagos hinterland. The approximate time when traders relocated to Lagos was also a

period of renewed ideological tensions in central Sudan, with attending conflicts

generating many slaves for export through Lagos. In particular, the rise of Islamic

revivalism in central Sudan led to questions and debates about the “legality” of slavery

and slaving operations and how these affected Muslims. Of special interest were slaves

whose captivity coincided with the increased wave of Islamic revival in Africa. The

supply of these slaves did not come out of Oyo’s expansion into central Sudan but as a

result of internal wars among the various Hausa states. The number of slaves, obviously

in thousands, so affected the Muslim community that the sale of Muslim slaves to

“Yoruba infidels” became one of the impulses which propelled the southward extension

of the Sokoto jihad (1804–1830s).5 Central Sudanese Muslim leaders defined and

propagated laws regulating who could be enslaved and why. They condemned the

enslavement of Muslims and their sale to and service under Yoruba / Orisa and Euro-

5 See Muhammad Bello, Infaq al-Maisur, 1812, in E. J. Arnett, The Rise of the Sokoto Fulani (Kano, 1922), 16; Mahdi Adamu, “The Delivery of Slaves from the Central Sudan to the Bight of Benin in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries” in The Uncommon Market: Essays in the Economic History of the Atlantic Slave Trade, eds. H. A. Gemery and Jan S. Hogendorn, 163–80 (New York: Academic Press, 1979) and Paul E. Lovejoy, “The Central Sudan and the Atlantic Slave Trade” in Paths to the Past: African Historical Essays in Honor of Jan Vansina, eds. Robert Harms, Joseph Miller, David Newbury and Michelle Wagner, 345–70 (Atlanta: African Studies Association Press, 1994). Also see Joao J. Reis, Slave Rebellion in Brazil: The Muslim Uprising of 1835 in Bahia (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993); Paul E. Lovejoy, “Background to Rebellion: The Origins of the Muslim Slaves in Bahia”, Slavery and Abolition (S & A), 15, 2 (1994): 151–80 and Lovejoy, “The Clapperton-Bello Exchange: the Sokoto Jihad and the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, 1804–1837” in The Desert Shore: Literatures of the African Sahel, ed. Christopher Wise, (Boulder, 2000). For Muslims belief about the superiority of Islam over Orisa, see Thomas J. Bowen, Adventures and Missionary Labours in Several Countries in the Interior of Africa from 1849–1856 (London: Cass, 1968 [1857]): 137.

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Christian slaveholders. Consequently, Muslims were enjoined to desist from these

activities but also empowered to free enslaved Muslims from bondage.

In effect, the nearness of Lagos to the Yoruba region drew the latter directly into

the slave trade. It spread the frontiers of slave raiding further into the interior as far as

central Sudan, thereby increasing the level of violence associated with slave recruitment.

Warfare and slave raids and the attendant movement of populations had far-reaching

consequences on the Yoruba country. They resulted in the evolution of a culture of

conspicuous consumption among Yoruba freebooters, heightened ethnic and social

tension, and created intense pressures on resources by displaced populations.

Oyo’s crisis accelerated during the nineteenth century with the warring factions

calling on outsiders, especially the Sokoto and Borgu forces, for help. A faction under the

army chief, Afonja, supported by the Muslim elite, settled at Ilorin. This led to two quick

but related events. First, since many of Oyo’s slaves were from central Sudan, and for

Sokoto’s condemnation of the Yoruba slave trade,6 many slaves, especially Hausa seized

upon the influx of Sokoto elements into Ilorin to escape. Furthermore, as Ilorin rose as a

sanctuary for anti-Oyo forces, this emboldened Yoruba Muslims to demand the reform of

Oyo society. Because many of Oyo’s slaves came from central Sudan, they seized on the

anti-slavery and religious fervor of Sokoto to rebel against Oyo authority in 1817.7 By

6 See Paul Lovejoy, “Background to Rebellion: The Origins of the Muslim Slaves in Bahia”, Slavery and Abolition (S & A), 15, 2 (1994): 151–80 and “The Clapperton-Bello Exchange: the Sokoto Jihad and the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, 1804–1837,” in Christopher Wise (ed.), The Desert Shore: Literatures of the African Sahel (Boulder, 2000). 7 On the revolt see Samuel Crowther to William Jowett, CMS Secretary, Fourah Bay, Feb. 22, 1937, “Detailing the Circumstances Connected with His Being Sold as a Slave,” Church Missionary Record (CMR) 8 (1837): 217–23 and Sigismund W. Koelle, African Native Literature (London, 1854): 248–56.

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1830, the greater part of the Oyo kingdom had been destroyed, and part of its territory

lost to Sokoto.8

The jihad meant that many slaves were no longer coming from central Sudan and

new slaves had to be sought from within Yorubaland. In essence, demographic

movements and the rise of brigandage shifted the ethnic composition of Yoruba towns

and of the slaves sold from within the region. The impact of the simultaneity of political

violence and the rise of the port of Lagos is attested to in Johnson’s observation that,

“confiscation and slavery for the slightest offence became matters of daily occurrence.”9

There was also the ecological factor. Because of the dryness of the savannah

region, Fulani pastoralists of West Africa from the seventeenth century moved eastward,

in increasingly large numbers, out of the Senegambia district to settle in central Sudan,

including Nupe and Yorubaland. By the early nineteenth century, Fulani cattle camps

were found in Egbado, Sabe and Oyo towns to the degree that Hugh Clapperton and

Richard Landers, two British diplomats in 1825, believed these were conducive, and

perhaps provided cover, for Muslims who were bent on destroying Oyo.10 Though

8 Johnson, History, 178–283; Akinjogbin, “The Prelude to the Yoruba Civil Wars of the Nineteenth Century,” ODU, 2nd Series, 1, 2 (1965): 24–46; Akinjogbin, “The Oyo Empire in the Eighteenth Century—A Reassessment”, Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria (JHSN), 3, 3 (1966); Law, Oyo Empire, 245–302; Law, “Chronology of the Yoruba Wars,” 211–22; Law, “Constitutional Troubles” and Law, “Northern Factor;” Abdullahi Smith, “A Little New Light on the Collapse of the Alafinate of Yoruba” in Studies in Yoruba History and Culture: Essays in Honour of Professor S. O. Biobaku , ed. Gabriel Olusanya, 42–71 (Ibadan: Ibadan University Press, 1983); Joseph Atanda, “The Fall of the Old Oyo Empire: A Reconsideration of its Causes”, JHSN, 5, 4 (1971): 477–90 and Atanda, “Comments on “A Little New Light on the Collapse of the Alafinate of Yoruba” in Yoruba Historiography, ed. Falola, 105–21 (Madison, 1991); Law, “The Chronology of the Yoruba Wars of the Early Nineteenth Century: A Reconsideration,” JHSN, 5, 2 (1970): 211–22 and Law, “The Owu War in Yoruba History,” JHSN, 7, 1 (1973): 141–47; Law, The Oyo Empire c.1600–c.1836: A West African Imperialism in the Era of the Atlantic Slave Trade (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1977); Wande Abimbola, “The Ruins of Oyo Division”, African Notes, 2, 1 (1964): 16–19; Solomon Babayemi, “Oyo Ruins”, African Notes, 5, 1 (1968): 8–11 and Babayemi, “Upper Ogun: An Historical Sketch”, African Notes, 6, 2 (1971): 72–84.9 Johnson, History, 188.10 See Hugh Clapperton, journals, December 1825-January 1826 in Hugh Clapperton Into the Interior of Africa: Records of the Second Expedition 1825–1827, eds. James B. Lockhart and Paul E. Lovejoy (Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2005); Richard Lander, Records of Captain Clapperton’s Last Expedition to Africa, 2 vols. (London, 1967 [1830]), and Richard and John Lander, Journal of an Expedition to Explore the Course and

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Clapperton noted Fulani herders were not involved in the then-ongoing disturbances in

Oyo, it is doubtful their support did not lie with Hausa / Fulani clerics rather than the

Yoruba orisa priests and chiefs. As studies show, Muslim clerics in central Sudan and

warlords in Eastern and Southern Africa appropriated the grievances of pastoralists such

as excessive taxation, restricted access to grazing land and cattle thefts, in addition to

ethnic solidarity for the pursuance of group religious and political objectives.11 There is

no reason why Yorubaland would be an exception. Thus, one could argue that by the

early decades of the nineteenth century Yorubaland was experiencing serious problems

with ethnic, class, and religious agitations, constitutional crisis, external military

aggression, and a degree of demographic pressure induced by environmental challenges.

Warfare and slave raids had far-reaching consequences on the Yoruba region.

They led to economic and administrative breakdown and massive population movements.

Refugee flows, provincial uprisings, and Islamic militarism spawned a generation of

armed brigands, consisting of Muslim militants, the jama’a, and lawless Yoruba youths,

the Ògo (young glories). It did not take long for brigands of Yoruba origin to be counted

among invading soldiers in order to benefit from the opportunities that were available to

freebooters.12 In consequence, there was increased military professionalism, which

contributed to greater social and economic devastation. In fact, a major feature of post-

1800 Yoruba history was the rise of the military class whose power rested on war

Termination of the Niger, Vol. 1 (New York, J. & J. Harper, 1832): 45, 66–70, 99, 189–90. 11 On Kurunmi’s attack on a Fulani camp near Sabe, see Charles Phillips Sr, Journal, March 22, 1855, CA2/077, CMS.12 Crowther attributed the destruction of several towns to Yoruba Muslims. See Crowther to Jowett, Feb. 22, 1937, CMR, 8 (1837): 217–23; and Johnson, History, pp. 193–221. And in 1841 and 1857 he met in the service of the Nupe army some Yoruba mercenaries, fluent in Yoruba, Hausa, and Nupe, and some Fulani that many people call them Fulani. See Frederick Schön and Samuel Crowther, Journals of the Rev. Frederick Schön and Mr. Samuel Crowther: Expedition Up the Niger in 1841 (London: Cass, 1970 [1842]), 322–23, 372–74 and Crowther and Taylor, Gospel on the Banks of the Niger, (London: Dawsons, 1857) 100, 126–27. Also in 1855, Ogunbona and Abraham of Egba recounted their exploits in the allied army which destroyed Egba in the 1820s. See Edward Irving, “The Ijebu Country”, CMI, 7 (1856): 71–72.

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successes and the accumulation of slaves. In Jacob Ajayi’s opinion, the “[new] military

(political) system helped to reinforce the position of the chiefs rather than that of the

king.” With raging conflicts, “bands of immigrants, particularly of the warrior class,

began to roam the countryside restlessly, living off the land, intervening in local disputes,

acting as mercenaries and sometimes initiating quarrels of their own.”13 Losers in local

disputes sometimes sided with insurgents to secure revenge.

Central to these changes was the interdependency between slavery and

commercial activities. Slaves were employed as farmers, traders, wives, or soldiers to

protect their owners’ interests, to which their own lot was also tied. The fact that a

person’s status in society was based upon how many people they controlled led to open

competition among chiefs and nobles for slaves and commerce. Social accumulation later

underscored the general social disturbances which characterized Yorubaland in the

nineteenth century. Because the economy created an unprecedented demand for land,

markets, and labor, warfare became a political solution for meeting economic demands.

Turbulent Frontiers: Refugees, Slaves and Ethnicity

As the frontiers of political conflicts shifted deeper into Yorubaland, issues other than

Islam attracted greater attention. If Islam united Sokoto against the Yoruba people,

ethnicity or Oyo nationalism helped neutralize the jihadist spirit. Murray Last’s three-

13 Ajayi, “Professional warriors” and “Aftermath,” 145 and 185. Militarism is illustrated in the careers of Afonja, Kurunmi, and several Yoruba chiefs. Sokenu, the Alake of Abeokuta once complained of his lack of control over the Oloogun: “in the case of the Ad[o] war [1844–46], there was none in…Abeokuta, or…surrounding towns, who, either by force or power or strength, could have been able to remove the baloguns from their encampment; and although I was the first chief of Abeokuta then, yet I could not have effected it.” See Alake to CMS Secretary, May 29, 1855 in Charles H. Gollmer, Charles Andrew Gollmer: His Life and Missionary Labours in West Africa, 2nd ed. (London: Hodder & Stoughton 1889), 113. Ekiti chiefs expressed similar concerns in 1886. See Henry Higgins and Oliver Smith to Colonial Office, Second Part of Report to the Interior of Lagos, June 20, 1887, C4957 vol. LX, no. 8, PP and Falola and Oguntomisin, The Military in Nineteenth-Century Yoruba Politics (Ile-Ife, University of Ife Press, 1984).

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phase classification of West Africa’s Islamic movements explains this. He shows that the

success of the early nineteenth century populist phase was limited to Hausaland. Lacking

popular support outside Hausaland, the success of the jihad forces was effective only in

the plains amid small and relatively non-cephalous societies. There were more problems

in Yorubaland, with its hills, centralized states, and elements of local nationalism. These

checkmated the jihad and produced a reformed yet independent government hostile not to

Islam but to the claims of the Sokoto caliphate.14 Paradoxically, if Oyo nationalism

helped stop Sokoto’s advancement, it boosted conflicts with its Yoruba-speaking

neighbors.

Political instability in northern Yorubaland redirected trade into non-Oyo

territories. One such route passed through central Yorubaland linking Oyo with Owu, Ife,

Ondo and Ijebu, and through the lagoon to Lagos.15 The major market on this route was

Apomu, an Ife town where slaves were sold to Ijebu traders in exchange for cowries,

foodstuff, textiles, and after 1820, firearms. People fleeing political instability in the

north had from the 1790s, perhaps earlier, settled in Ife Origbo (upper forest) towns such

as Ipetumodu, Edunabon, Moro, Yakoyo, Ifalende, Apomu, Ikire, Iwaro, Ogi, and Sope.16

As slaving expanded, traders traversing the new road, especially the Oyo, suffered

periodic attacks and many were enslaved. Therefore, commercial insecurity increased

with the arrival of more traders and refugees.17 Developments around Apomu raised an

14 Last, “Reform in West Africa: The Jihad Movements of the Nineteenth Century” in History of West Africa, vol. 2, eds. Ajayi and Michael Crowder, 15–35 (London: Longman, 1985).15 Ibadan and Owu are located about 52 miles north of Ikorodu on the Lagos lagoon. See Richard F. Burton, Abeokuta and the Camaroons Mountains: An Exploration, Vol. 1 (London, 1863): 22.16 See Johnson, History, 230 and Akinjogbin, “The Outlying Towns of Ife” in The Cradle of a Race: Ife from the Beginning to 1980, ed. Akinjogbin, 217–41 (Port Harcourt: Sunray Publications, 1992).17 Johnson, History, 188–89.

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urgent need for the control of the route both for its commercial value and the security of

traders.

Competition for the control of the Apomu market intensified among surrounding

states: Ife, Owu, Ijebu, Egba, and Oyo authorities leading to the first Owu war in 1817.

Captives from Oyo conflicts were brought to Apomu and sold to Ijebu traders. Sometime

also, Oyo traders were attacked in the neighborhood of Apomu. In the process of

stopping the attack on its citizens, Oyo solicited Owu’s assistance, thereby leading to

Owu’s attack on nearby Ife villages. In retaliation, Ife and Ijebu troops attacked Owu to

end its challenge of their ascendancy in the region. The attack destroyed Owu Ipole (old

Owu) forcing its residents to flee westward to Owu-Ogbere, near the Egba towns of

Ibadan, Oje, and Ofa. Because the Owu war took place simultaneous with the southward

push of displaced Oyo in search of new homes, there was a larger implosion of social

conflicts in Central Yorubaland. As refugees struggled to take over northern Egba

territory and position themselves toward playing greater roles in the Atlantic trade, both

had the forest states of Egba and Ijebu as barriers. This was the stage when Ijebu, Ife, and

Oyo launched the second Owu war in 1817. On the other hand, Egba, which had won its

independence from Oyo in the late eighteenth century, and whose only obstacle to a near

monopoly of Yoruba coastal trade was Ijebu, joined Owu. By 1822 virtually every Owu

town and village had been destroyed or evacuated and the inhabitants captured, sold into

slavery or fled to neighboring districts, many seeking refuge at Ife. From Owu, the allied

army invaded Egba towns, often times with Egba mercenaries supporting against their

own people, and by 1826 most Egba towns had been destroyed.18 18 See A. H. Dulton, “Reports on Orile-Owu Chieftaincy Dispute, Jan 10, 1938,” 77, IbaProf 1/1/135, NNAI; M. Akin Mabogunje and J. Omer-Cooper, Owu in Yoruba History (Ibadan: Ibadan University Press, 1971); Law, “The Owu War in Yoruba History”, JHSN, 7, 1 (1973) 141–47; Robin Horton, “The Economy of Ife c.AD 900-c.AD 1700” in Cradle, 122–47; Johnson, History, 189, 206–07 and Rasaki Akinwale, “The

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Whatever the cause and sequence of the war, trade, especially in slaves, was a

central issue. Reading the mood correctly, and playing to British anti-slavery slogans,

Alafin Majotu of Oyo, in apparent reference to Owu, informed the British diplomat Hugh

Clapperton that he had ordered the destruction of a rebellious slave trading state.19 By

doing so, he pointed to the centrality of slave trading in the Yoruba conflicts. With

incessant warfare, a situation evolved wherein the population of whole towns were

scattered all over modern Yorubaland, an internal diaspora.20

The third and last batch of refugees arrived in the mid-1830s when Epo, a Yoruba

district, described by Johnson as “rebellious and never fully surrendered to Oyo’s

imperialism” seized the occasion of crisis in the metropolis to declare her independence.

Their move took a religious dimension. Epo was one of the most Islamized Yoruba

districts in the early years of the nineteenth century, with the Muslim population

increasing with the arrival of Oyo refugees. Soon after the Muslim uprising in Oyo, one

Mohammed Lamuye, a Muslim chief of Iwo, the leading Epo town, sought assistance

from Ilorin to extend the jihad. His attacks were was directed against Ife villages thus

forcing the initial batch of Owu and Oyo refugees in Epo and their hosts to relocate to the

capital town, Ile-Ife. Thus, between 1800 and 1830, Ile-Ife received two categories of

migrants: refugees fleeing from political insecurity and captives from Oyo, Owu, and

Resettlement of Owu Ipole 1909–1919,” MA, Ibadan, 1987. Also Trinidadian traditions cited in Maureen Warner-Lewis, “Ethnic and Religious Plurality among Yoruba Immigrants in Trinidad in the Nineteenth Century,” Identity in the Shadow of Slavery, ed. Lovejoy, 113–28 (London: Continuum, 2000). On the fall of Egba towns see “The Life of Joseph Wright: A Native of Ackoo" in John Beecham, Ashantee and the Gold Coast (London: Dawsons 1840): 349–58; Thomas King, journal, May 1850, CA2/061, CMS; “Story of William Moore” in Mary A. Barber, Oshielle or Village Life (London, 1857); E. C. Irving, “The Ijebu Country,” Church Missionary Intelligencer, 7 (1856): 65–72, 93–96 and 117–20; Ajayi K. Ajisafe, History of Abeokuta (Abeokuta: Fola Bookshops, 1964 [1924) and Thomas Champness, journal, September-December 1863, in Eliza M. Champness, The Life-Story of Thomas Champness (London, 1907): 105–106. 19 Clapperton, journal, December 25, 1825 in Hugh Clapperton into the Interior of Africa. 20 Ajayi, Aftermath, 191–99; Isola Olomola, “Demographic Effects of the Nineteenth Century Yoruba Wars” in War and Peace, ed. Akinjogbin, 371–79 and Dare Oguntomisin and Toyin Falola, “Refugees in Nineteenth Century Yorubaland” in War and Peace, 381–98.

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Egba.21 In the majority were the Oyo, until then the imperialists of Yorubaland whose

citizens were deemed not enslavable.

Thus, in the south, the Yoruba wars began to be increasingly linked with issues of

ethnicity, territory, and trade. Refugees followed trade routes to safe locations while

slavers followed the same routes for raids and kidnapping activities. Pressures on land by

incoming refugees and the evolution of a culture of excessive consumption or

entrepreneurship of violence by some freebooters began to affect the political and

economic lives of host towns. In turn, these events heightened ethnic and social divisions,

thereby leading to new demographic movements and political conflicts and intensified

the rate with which one group recruited slaves from among the others.22

From the above, it is clear that slave recruitment during this period was not just a

simple question of one Yoruba enslaving another. Although people in the Yoruba region

spoke mutually intelligible dialects, shared several cultural traits, and had a nostalgic

attachment to Ile-Ife as their ancestral home, they had no single and united ethnic

consciousness. That is, they did not truly see each other as one but as a district of

multiple ethnicities. Hence slaves were recruited from among people classified as Yagba,

Owe, Ijumu, Bunu, Oworo, Owo, Akoko, Igbomina, Ijesa, Ife, Ondo, Ekiti, and Ilaje in

the east; Oyo, Owu, Egba, Egbado, Awori, and Ijebu in the center, and Sabe, Ketu,

21 Johnson, History, 230; Isaac B. Akinyele, Iwe Itan Ibadan (Ibadan: Board Publications, 1980 [1911]): 295–98; “Reports on Ife-Modakeke Disputes,” Oyo Prof 2/3/1929/1, 3, NNAI. 22 See Johnson, History, 193–221; J. F. A. Ajayi, “The Aftermath of the Fall of old Oyo” in History of West Africa, vol. 2, eds. J. F. Ade-Ajayi and Michael Crowder, (London: Longman, 1987 [1974]): 182–91 and Ajayi, “Nineteenth Century Wars and Yoruba Ethnicity”; and Niyi Oladeji, “Language in Ethnic Rivalries: an Analysis of Ethnocentric Use of Yoruba in Nineteenth Century Yorubaland” in War and Peace in Yorubaland 1793–1893, ed. Akinjogbin, 9–19 (Ibadan, 1998); and Olatunji Ojo, “Warfare, Slavery and the Transformation of Eastern Yorubaland c.1820–1900,” PhD, York University, Toronto, 2003, chapter 2. For a broader view see Law, “Ethnicity and the Slave Trade: ‘Lucumi’ and ‘Nago’ as Ethnonyms in West Africa”, History in Africa, 24 (1997), 205–19 and “Legal and Illegal Enslavement in West Africa in the Context of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade” in Ghana in Africa and the World: Essays in Honor of Adu Boahen, ed. Falola, 513–33 (Trenton: Africa World Press, 2003).

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Anago, Idaisa, Manigri, Isa, and Ana in the west with slaves always sold beyond their

ethnic group or towns.23

The role of ethnicity in the wars is confirmed in traditions collected from “persons

who have come from the interior” (probably Oyo informants). The traditions suggest that

the Owu war began when Ife violated a law which precluded the enslavement of Oyo—

people with àbàjà facial marks.24 As the refugees fled in search of safe havens, they

carried with them the spirit of “exclusive nationalism.” People were classified according

to their ethnicities, represented in facial scarifications, religion, food culture, and accent.

Thus in explaining enslavement procedures, one Chief Ifabiyi of Egba laid out what

amounted to a Yoruba idea of “legal” and “illegal” enslavement. He described the

“legally” enslaved as people “bought,” “captured in wars” or “received as gifts from

friends in far away country,” The wrongfully enslaved were “our own people,”

23 Oyo is a mixed population of Yoruba, Nupe and Borgu-speaking peoples. Egba is made up of Gbagura, Oke Ona, Ake, and Owu (after 1830). Egbado (now Yewa) has a large mix of Oyo, Egba, Fon and Hausa people. Awori was also called “Ekko” (Lagos), Ado and Ota. O-Kun (also Kakanda) is a federation of Bunu, Yagba, Ijumu and Owe groups. Owo is a mix of Yoruba and Benin people. “Ekiti” or Okiti (also Efon, Igbodo and Kakanda) is the generic name for the hill-dwellers between Ijesa and the Niger confluence. The Ekiti sometimes referred to Ijesa as Ijamo. Ondo and Ijebu have an aboriginal group called “Idoko.” Ikale is a mixture of Yoruba, Niger Delta, and Ijebu settlers. See Ade Obayemi, “Kakanda: A People, A History, an Identity,” JHSN, 9, 3 (1978): 1–21; William H. Clarke, Travels and Exploration in Yorubaland, 1854–1858 (ed. J. A. Atanda) (Ibadan, 1972) and C. A. Hone and D. Hone (eds.), Seventeen Years in the Yoruba Country: Memorials of Anna Hinderer Gathered from Her Journals and Letters (Exeter, 1872); Edward Roper, “What I Saw in Africa: Sketches of Missionary Life in the Yoruba Country, Part II,” Church Missionary Gleaner (CMG), 3, 27 (1876): 35; and enc. 1 in no. 8, Samuel Rowe to Derby, May 18, 1888, C5144, PP.24 Abaja is the most popular mark in eighteenth and nineteenth century western Yoruba. See Alfred Moloney to Rowe, May 12, 1881, encl. 2 in no. 1, C.4957, PP vol. LX. On Yoruba marks see Lander, Records of Captain Clapperton, vol. 2, 215–17; Burton, Abeokuta and the Camaroons, 104–107; Richard H. Stone, In Africa’s Forest and Jungle or Six Years Among the Yorubans (New York, 1899), 30–31; Johnson, History, 104–109; Peter Lloyd, “Osifekunde of Ijebu” in Africa Remembered: Narratives by West Africans from the Era of the Slave Trade, ed. Phillip D. Curtin, 245–58 (Madison, University of Wisconsin Press, 1967); Cornelius Adepegba “A Survey of Nigerian Body Markings and their Relationship to other Nigerian Arts,” Ph.D. thesis, Indiana University, 1976, 82–117; and Moyo Okediji, “Yoruba Facialographic Art and Oyo Expansion” in War and Peace.

13

“waylaid,” or “kidnapped” by the “wicked people of our own tribe.” In the final analysis,

slaves were outsiders who “belong[ed] to tribes other than those who h[e]ld them…”25

Slavery, Ethnicity and Ife Society

The interactions between warfare, trade, religion and ethnicity came out clearly as the

crisis spread eastward into Ife. Refugees from Oyo, Owu, and Ife villages massed on the

capital town, Ile-Ife. Consequently, Ile-Ife soon emerged as a cosmopolitan community

with Owu, Oyo, and Epo refugees forming significant ethnic and religious divisions.26

What was the attraction of Ife to the refugees, and what was life like for these people who

had fled to Ife which they regarded as the origin of their ancestors, hence their “home”?

Although migrants had various reasons for seeking refuge at Ife, two factors were

significant. Ife was located in the forest region, impregnable to rampaging Ilorin or Oyo

cavalries, and located far away from northern Yoruba bandits. These, apart from the short

distance from Epo, Owu, and Egba towns served a military-cum-security purpose as the

settlers were assured of relative safety. A more compelling reason was the status of Ife in

Yoruba cosmology. The refugees, despite the absence of a generally accepted ethnic

consciousness, found Ile-Ife attractive because of the deference paid to it as the original

home of their ancestors.27 Traditions collected in various towns between 1825 and 1886

agreed to the “brotherhood” (ebi) of several Yoruba and nearby states, describing them as

descendants of an Okanbi, Oduduwa, or Nupe king, and Ile-Ife as the “cradle of the

25 Roper, “What I Saw in Africa,” 35. See also Henry Townsend, journal for the quarter ending June 25, 1847, CA2/085b, CMS; Oroge, “Institution of Slavery,” pp. 113–133; enc. 1 in no. 8, Samuel Rowe to Derby, May 18, 1888, C5144, PP. 26 Johnson, History, 230; Akinyele, Iwe Itan Ibadan (Ibadan, 1980 [1911]), pp. 295–298; Ooni of Ife to Baale and Chiefs of Modakeke, June 25, 1947, Oyo Prof 2/3/1929 vol. 2, NAI. On tension between metropolitan and provincial Oyo see Johnson, History, 236–38, 407–10.27 R. and J. Lander, Journal of an Expedition, vol. 1, 171 and “Reports on Ife-Modakeke Disputes”, Oyo Prof 2/3/1929, vol. II, 104, NNAI.

14

race,” “home of “ancestral gods,” “power from which they inherit the spirit of war and

war banner,” “father of all our kings,” and the “conservators of the world.”28

As the cradle, many Yoruba states derived their cultural legitimacy from Ile-Ife.

Several towns buried their kings and sought approval for the installation of new kings

from Ife. As late as 1854, when Ife’s power was perhaps at its lowest ebb, and its people

in exile, Ibadan chiefs, though the most powerful in Yorubaland, negotiated peace

between Ife and Modakeke (Ibadan’s colony and ally) to bring the Ifes home “as it would

never do to let the cradle of the race remain perpetually in desolation and the ancestral

gods not worshipped.”29 In other words, there existed a symbiotic relationship between

Ife and other Yoruba towns—the welfare of Ife translated into the betterment of Yoruba

towns. Any town that violated the relationship, it was believed, brought hardship upon

itself.

The phenomenon of fugitives seeking sanctuary or asylum (asadi, asawo, or

dipomu) from vengeance, persecution, or punishment is well established in Yoruba

history. While our purpose is not to discuss asylum here, it should be noted that certain

orisa shrines, communities, and palaces were recognized as sanctuaries for war refugees,

runaway slaves, and dependents fleeing from patrician punishments.30 In Yorubaland, as

in other societies, most sanctuaries served as an alternative source of authority to the

28 See Samuel Crowther, Vocabulary of the Yoruba Language (London: Seeleys, 1843) and Adeagbo Akinjogbin, “Introduction,” in Cradle, xi–xv and E. G. Parrinder, The Story of Ketu, (Ibadan,: Ibadan University Press, 1967): 16.29 Johnson, History, 232.30 Lloyd, “Osifekunde,” 285–86; Johnson, History, 57; Isaac O. Delano, The Soul of Nigeria (Nendeln: Kraus, 1973 [1937]): 142 and Sandra Barnes “Shrine Sanctuary and Missionary Sanctuary in West Africa,” in Christianity and Social Change in Africa: Essays in Honor of J. D. Y. Peel, ed. Falola, 165–83 (Durham: Carolina Academic Press, 2005). Also Donna J. E. Maier, Priests and Power: The Case of the Dente Shrine in Nineteenth Century Ghana (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1983).

15

prevailing political structure. Thus its territory is properly delineated. Ile-Ife, the ‘original

home’ of the Yoruba was one such spot.

Besides the eagerness of the refugees to settle down, there was a corresponding

enthusiasm on the part of Ife people to absorb them. Although the refugees were needed

to boost Ife’s economy, many of them, veterans of the Oyo wars, were prized for their

military valor and expertise in metallurgy. At the time, Ife was a relatively hostile state,

apparently smarting from her exploits in wars against Owu, Egba, Ondo, and Ijesa.

Indeed it would appear that it was this military strength that helped Ife warriors to emerge

as the leaders of the confederate war council at Ibadan.31

Slavery, Ethnicity, and the Reordering of Ife: The Evolution of “Oyo” Community

Socio-economic and political changes in Ife brought about transformations which in turn

induced problems that the town had to cope with. Population influx gave rise to the

proliferation of big households. Since wealth was calculated in “persons” and not in cash,

the larger the number of dependants, the higher the status of a house.32 The significance

of large houses lay in their economic, social and political power.

The greatest beneficiaries from social dislocation were Ife aristocrats, who as

soldiers and traders captured and bought most of the slaves or otherwise received them as

gifts and payments. As owners of big houses, the aristocrats were also the biggest

landlords and patrons. The incorporation of slaves and refugees into Ife households had

31 Such Ife warlords were Maye, Labosinde, Singunsin, Aponju-olosun, Aregbesola, Ogidi, and Derinokun.32 Martin R. Delaney and Robert Campbell, Search For A Place: Black Separatism and Africa, 1860 (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1969): 191; Edward Roper, “What I Saw in Africa, Part II”, CMG, 3, 27 (1876): 35–38 and Lovejoy, Transformations in Slavery, 179–82. On patronage see Jane Guyer, “Wealth in People, Wealth in Things: Introduction,” JAH, 36 (1995): 83–90 and Karin Barber, “Money, Self Realization and the Person in Yoruba Texts” in Money Matters: Instability, Values and Social Payments in the Modern History of West African Communities ed. Jane Guyer (Portsmouth: Heinemann, 1995): 205–24.

16

implications for power relations among the Ife elite class. Evidence of militarism in the

nineteenth century is confirmed with the admission of war chiefs such as Waasin, Loodi,

Segbusin, and Lukosi into Ife’s highest council.33 Ife generals, probably not satisfied with

what Ife could give them materially, and because of what was an evident disagreement

with the ooni, moved to other towns. Maye, Singunsin, and Labosinde carried their slave

raiding activities to, and later settled in, Ibadan between 1825 and 1829.

To a large extent, the organization of displaced of Oyo and Owu elements

followed the general pattern for migrants in nineteenth-century Yorubaland. Many,

captives and refugees alike, arrived at Ife as individuals, and this was, especially for free

migrants, easy because of the short distance between their homeland and Ife, sixty miles

or less. Some also came as families and lineages and this was common among the elite

who fled with their dependants and loyalists. While the captives were absorbed by their

captors, the free migrants settled under Ife landlords. Subsequent waves of arrivals settled

around those who came in earlier periods, and with the permission of Ife landlords

secured accommodation.34

Demographic profiles of the immigrants allow an analysis of the impact of

population on resource accessibility. Though we lack details of population figures, there

is no doubt that the swarming of Ife towns by the Oyo / Owu population had

consequences for resource control. Samuel Johnson noted that Oyo refugees settled in

“great numbers” to the extent that by the 1840s, several originally Ife settlements would

33 Abiodun Adediran, “Government and Administration of Ife in Pre-colonial Times,” in Cradle, 292.34 Notable immigrants including Asirawo, Wingbolu, Ojo Bada, and Ogungbe came from the Oyo districts of Irawo, Irawo, Iragberi (Ejigbo), and Oje (Ibadan) respectively; Ayanleye from Kuta near Iwo, Agbakin and Ajombadi from Ijaye, and Ikugbayigbe, Adefajo, and Sorinolu from Egba. Other pioneer settlers, Oyeku, Apanla, Akin, Meminure, Alaka Adeworo, are Giriloso, Emuoje, Alesinloye, Ayangbade Ajuwon, Jatina, Igiyadina, Lagbege, Jatina, Abegunde, Akinrinlo, and Ajayi. Interview with Madam Elizabeth Toriola, 68 years, Ile-Ogo, Modakeke on December 10, 1997, and Michael A. Fabunmi, An Anthology of Historical Notes on Ife City (Ikeja, Lagos: J. West Publications, 1985): 116–17

17

easily pass for Oyo towns. By the 1880s, Modakeke with about 45,000 inhabitants was

more populated than Ile-Ife.35 On the sex composition of the settlers, a substantial number

of the settlers were young and single men who had escaped enslavement. Problems

arising from imbalanced sex ratio were such that issues of wife theft and female slavery

partly underpinned Ife-Modakeke differences in the 1880s. A related factor was that

having experienced years of warfare, many settlers were notable soldiers and blacksmiths

whose expertise were valuable to Ife. However, these military and metallurgical skills

would be turned against Ife as we shall see below. The most notable soldiers and

blacksmiths among the Oyo were Wingbolu (later conferred with the Ogunsuwa title

derived from Ogunladin, one of Ife’s most prized orisa), Ojo (son of Asirawo), the first

balogun (army chief) of Modakeke and Ajombadi, the fist otun (deputy) of Balogun.36

Coming from northern Yoruba, many Oyo refugees and slaves were Muslims.

The role of religion, especially Islam, in the Ife-Modakeke crisis has been neglected. We

have shown above the spread of the jihad into Ife outlying villages. For Ife itself, Daniel

May, the first European to visit Ile-Ife in June 1858 noted the religious divide. He

described Ife as “the reputed seat of idolatry [sic]…subject to and has an Ajele [consul]

of Ibadan .... The Mahommedan religion is common in it….”37 Since Ife was not

occupied at the time of May’s visit, these Muslims were no other than the Oyo. May’s

observation was corroborated by oral information. Traditions collected by Dada Adelowo

reveal that Islam was introduced to Ife in the early nineteenth century and that one of the

leading figures was Danielu, a cleric and healer from Ilorin.38

35 Johnson, History, 230 and George Carter to Marquis of Ripon, August 30, 1894, CSO 1/1/14, NNAI.36 See “Oni Adelekan Olubuse’s statement,” December 18, 1905, CSO 12/24/25/3038/1905, NNAI. 37 Daniel May, “Journey in the Yoruba and Nupe Countries,” 215–16.38 E. Dada Adelowo, “Islam and Christianity in Ile-Ife” in Cradle of a Race, 333.

18

As Oyo and Owu refugees and slaves moved into Ife territory, a substantial

number also occupied the Egba town of Ibadan. Until about 1830 Ibadan was under the

control of an Ife-led confederacy council of Oyo, Ijebu, and Ife warlords. The

confederacy pact collapsed after a short time following ethnic and factional conflicts

which pitched a dominantly Oyo group against the Ife. In the resultant “civil disorder,”

the victorious Oyo party killed or expelled most Ife from Ibadan, and sold many into

slavery.39 It is not surprising that, in an era of ethnic wars, events at Ibadan would

reverberate at Ife.

Back in Ife, the Ibadan exiles whipped up anti-Oyo sentiments. There was,

unfortunately, no agreement among Ife chiefs on how to deal with Oyo refugees and

slaves. On the one hand there were the exiles who gained mass support among Ife people.

This group exacted revenge on Oyo settlers. According to Johnson,

before long, a feeling of disaffection became evident between the Ife

citizens and their guests refugees of Oyo origin. The Owoni [king of Ife]

spared the Ife refugees, but enslaved all the Oyo making them hewers of

wood and drawers of water…the refugees were treated…little better

than…dogs.”40

One of the measures taken by Ife to control and recruit more dependants was to

turn the Oyo into laborers. In some cases farm plots initially given to the Oyo were

seized, and in other instances the isakole (land rent) paid by non-Ife farmers were

39 A few Ife who had Oyo friends were spared and allowed to remain in Ibadan. See Johnson, History, 238–42 and Akinyele, Iwe Itan Ibadan, 26–31. 40 Johnson, History, 230–33, 239, 525–26 and Felix Olufemi Alao, “Modakeke 1840–1923: The Search for Political Identity,” BA Essay, Ibadan, 1982, 2.

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increased. Secondly, since slaves were no longer imported from outside, slaves were

recruited from among the Oyo for productive activities and ritual killings as well. A

problem, however, was that those who had been enslaved or turned into clients at this

stage were those who had previously considered themselves free. How these factors

played out among the elites shall be discussed in the dispute between the ooni and his

chiefs. Those not enslaved fared in no way better as Oyo ethnicity became synonymous

with slavery. The link between events in Ibadan and the changing condition of refugees

in Ife were striking. According to a Modakeke man:

it has often been said by the Ife that we are their slaves, and this point we

wish to dispute. We are a remnant of the Yoruba nation…When Chief

Maye an Ife was expelled [from Ibadan] then we began to suffer all sorts

of indignities from the Ife…we fill their houses and we were treated as

slaves rather than as freemen.41

Anti-Oyo sentiments created a feeling of oneness among non-Ife elements, and by

the late 1830s, regardless of social status, they had started to develop a strong Oyo ethnic

identity. Their ambitions merged with those of other settlers of non-Yoruba origin—

largely slaves, who because of Ife’s antipathy toward them, differentiated themselves

from the Ife and identified with the Oyo. They adopted Oyo dialect, and more specifically

identified with Oyo gombo, pele, and abaja facial scarifications. In the contrary, the Ife

people, except for a few families who wear the keke (three short horizintal lines) were

41 “Statement by a Modakeke Man of 100+ Years, April 26, 1886,” CMS (Y) 1/7/5, NNAI. Also see “Statement of the Bale of Ibadan on the Claims of Ibadan to Gb[o]ngan, Apomu, Ikire and Ikoyi,” CSO 12/24/25/3038/1905, NNAI.

20

generally plain-faced, hence they were called Oju r’abe sa, won ko gbodo f’oju kan abe,

soboro b’onila je, soboro mi wu mi, ibi dandan ni ko maa ba alabe (“the face abhors the

knife and the latter must come near it. The plain face condemns the marked one. Woe

unto the mark-maker”).42

With increased population buildup the settlers recreated their ancestral

institutions. For example, the concentration of Owu settlers in a few locations facilitated

the revival of their “national” cult, Orisa Anlugbua.43 The Oyo on the other settled on the

basis of provincial provenances with Asirawo, erstwhile leader of Irawo, and Wingbolu, a

blacksmith, as overall leaders. By choosing their leaders, through whom access to Ife

leaders was procured, and by affiliating themselves with Ife patrons, the settlers secured

access to agricultural lands.

By the 1840s a clearer division had emerged, polarizing Ife and settlers into free

and slaves, superior and inferior citizens, landlords and tenants, and indigenes and

strangers respectively.44 Afterward, ethnic rivalries erased the awe and respect which

non-Ife Yoruba used to accord the ancient town. Thus unlike in earlier years when Owu’s

attack against Apomu (an Ife town) was viewed as sacrilegious—a desecration of the

cradle, Oyo refugees and slaves had no scruples about attacking Ife.

Tensions between Ife exiles and the refugees had a dual impact. It reinforced the

conflicts between Ife kings and their chiefs, and inadvertently Oyo elements were drawn

intimately into the heart of the crisis. On one hand Ife monarchs were confused about

42 Fabunmi, An Anthology of Historical Notes on Ife City, 114. 43 On Owu in Ife see A. H. Dulton, “Reports on Orile-Owu Chieftaincy Dispute, January 10, 1938,” 77, Ibadan Prof 1/1/135, NAI; Mabogunje and Omer-Cooper, Owu in Yoruba History, 103; Akin Alao, “Owu in the Nineteenth Century,” BA, Ile-Ife, 1982, 40 and Rasaki Akinwale, “The Resettlement of Owu Ipole 1909–1919,” MA, Ibadan, 1987.44 R. J. B. Ross, Ag. Attorney General and Harold G. Parson, Ag. Resident Ibadan to Colonial Secretary, February 24, 1904, CSO 12/23/9/587/1904, NNAI and Fabunmi, Anthology of Historical Notes, 119.

21

how to resolve the differences between their military chiefs, the refugees, and the local

people. However, when Ife kings did not fully seek to alienate their citizens, when

confronted by a restless military oligarchy, and heightened ethnic nationalism, they

turned to the refugees toward stabilizing themselves in power. The interaction between

Ife’s aristocratic conflict and the refugee crisis is central to understanding the turbulent

reigns of Ife kings from about 1833 to the outbreak of the Oyo revolt in 1849.Therefore

the attitude of some of the ooni toward the refugees had some impact on the outcome of

their tenure. Five ooni (kings)—Akinmoyero Odunlebiojo (c.1800–30), Gbanlare (d.

c.1832), Gbegbaaje, Winmonije (d. c.1839) and Adegunle Abeweela, (c.1839–49)

reigned at Ife during the fist half of the nineteenth century. Of these five, three reigned

for short periods from c.1833–39. That most of the reigns ended in regicide indicated a

constitutional problem, and a compromised royal authority. Attempts by the monarchs to

reassert their power resulted in the manipulation of the institution of royal slavery.

Ethnic Relations and Ife’s Crisis of Aristocracy c.1800-1849

Ooni Attitude Toward Refugees Reign RemarksOdunlebiojo Arrival of ‘Oyos’. Later enslaved Long ?Gbanlare Supported the Oyo Short MurderedGbegbaaje Cruel to the Oyo Short MurderedWunmonije Wooed the Oyo Short MurderedAbeweela Mobilized the Oyo against his chiefs Long Murdered. ‘Oyo’ revolt

The reigns of the first three kings spanned the arrival of Oyo refugees in the

1810s to the initial period of the return of Ife exiles from Ibadan. Hence the reigns were

characterized first with a warm reception, and then hostilities. Because these chiefs were

all murdered each successor turned to the refugees for support. Winmonije, trusting

neither his chiefs nor soldiers raised a private army of slaves and Oyo refugees. He put

22

his new platoon to test in battles, one of which, the Agbao War of c.1835-1839, Ife

defeated Ijesa who for years had infiltrated and kidnapped in Ife territory.45 Fear of

Winmonije’s military build up and his popularity among the Oyo led to his murder. His

death notwithstanding, the defeat of the Ijesa must have made the slaves aware of what

power they had to improve their own status.

The major turning point came around 1839 with the ascension to the throne of

Adegunle Abeweela, whose mother was an Oyo of Owu extraction. His support for the

Oyo won the admiration of many slaves and other marginalized groups who flocked to

him as bodyguards, advisers, and workers.46 This, unfortunately, only increased Ife’s

political turbulence. By the mid 1840s, Ife had drifted far toward a major clash between

the two factions. Abeweela could use the Oyo to stay in power and risk the hostility of his

chiefs, or please the Ife and risk rebellion from his supporters. Sensing that he would

emerge victorious, he chose the latter. Faced with the possibility of an imminent uprising,

he tightened state control over the distribution of munitions. For instance, he restricted

the flow of imported arms and maintained monopoly over those that got into the town. As

shown above, many of the Oyo settlers had military backgrounds, bringing to the king

their fighting and weapon making skills.

Abeweela’s second strategy was to hijack, and when possible, manipulate Ife’s

religious institution to his advantage. This plan was crucial and highlights the importance

of religion to Ife administration and the struggle by the factions to seize it. For instance,

Abeweela introduced certain reforms, two of which probably violated Ife ritual practices.

45 Fabunmi, An Anthology of Historical Notes on Ife City 122. 46 See “The War in the Interior,” Lagos Times, December 27, 1882 and “Dada Opadere, Bale of Ibadan’s Statement,” December 22, 1905, CSO 12/24/25/3038/1905, NNAI. Oyo men who became palace officials included Wingbolu, Ojo Akitikori, Oniyiku, Arigiloso, Adeworo, and Ajayi. See “Oni Adelekan Olubuse’s Statement,” December 18, 1905, CSO 12/24/25/3038/1905, NNAI. On elite slaves, see Toru Miura and John E. Phillips (eds.), Slave Elites in Middle East and Africa (London: Kegan Paul, 2000).

23

One of the allegations against him was that he proposed to ban human sacrifice, the

greatest symbol of ritual fulfillment in Yorubaland. According to an Ife tradition, a

woman, who had lost her son, raised an alarm: Ife ni o, e i s’omo Oyo o (“He is an Ife, not

Oyo”), warning that the boy was unsuitable for sacrifice because he was an Ife, not Oyo.

Following this public declaration, the Oyo made a representation to the king on the issue

of sacrificing their members to Ife orisa. In turn, he assured them of his support and

appealed to his chiefs not to attack the Oyo in their domains.47 As the cradle, Ife was

home to hundreds (sometimes put at 401) of orisa, each of which, according to popular

belief, handled specialized tasks toward protecting the wellbeing of the society. In

addition to periodic offerings, including human beings, by Ife people, some towns,

especially those that had abolished human sacrifice often contracted Ife priests to carry

this out on their behalf. In essence, human sacrifice was a requirement for the growth of

Ife and the entire Yorubaland, otherwise called the world. Hence, in 1886, the ooni-elect

Aderinsoye48 informed two British officers about the importance of human sacrifice to Ife

rituals and humankind: “[it] benefit[s] the world…[but for it] the white man’s arts would

not exist.”49 For appealing against ritual kidnapping, Abeweela’s action could have been

interpreted as abolishing human sacrifice or a tacit support for the sacrifice of Ife citizens.

Since the welfare of a town is embodied in its king, the people of Ife viewed Abeweela’s

47 Interview with Mrs. Margaret Moradeyo, 75 years, Road 7, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife December 7 1997. Another popular saying a kì í fi ọmọ Ọrẹ bọ Ọrẹ (“We do not sacrifice the children of Ọrẹ to appease Ọrẹ”) confirms the tradition that strangers were used for sacrifices. Akintoye, “Ife’s Sad Century,” Nigerian Magazine, 104 (March/May 1970) and Akinjogbin, “Ife: The Years of Travail,” 154.48 Aderinsoye (also Aderin or Derin) was an Ife warrior and prince, whose activity was a source of anxiety to the ooni. Abeweela saw him as a real threat to his reign, hence the plot to get rid of him. See T. A. Olowoje, “Oke-Igbo in Ondo and Ife Power Politics in the Nineteenth Century,” BA Essay, Ibadan, 1970, 2–3; Biodun Adediran, “Derin Ologbenla: The Ooni-elect of Ife during the Kiriji/Ekitiparapo War” in Akinjogbin (ed.) War and Peace, 149–64 and interviews with Felicia Akintunde-Ighodalo and Bishop Samuel Olufunmilade Aderin, great-grand children of Aderin, June 1, 1999.49 Henry Higgins (acting colonial secretary) and Oliver Smith (Queen’s advocate) were the British peace commissioners charged with ending the Yoruba wars. See Higgins to Colonial Office, Second Part of Report to the Interior of Lagos, June 20, 1887 (entry for November 4, 1886), C5144 vol. LX, no. 8,

24

action as a betrayal of traditional trust and a mark of his unsuitability for the throne. By

criticizing human sacrifice, Abeweela destroyed the majesty, the fear, and the respect due

the monarch, and any fighting that Ife citizens who were not his enemies might have done

for him would have been half-hearted at best. On this supposition, Abeweela’s “disloyal”

proclamation was quickly attributed to his Oyo ancestry. Based on Ife’s constitution, the

king could now be overthrown, for he had abandoned his own claims to legitimacy.

In addition to wooing the Oyo, Abeweela also sought to curtail the ritual power of

his chiefs. Knowing that the later had the power to order his death and decide his funeral

rites (prelude to becoming an orisa), he made them swear not to kill him as they did his

predecessors. As we shall see below, not satisfied with the promise, he arranged his own

funeral plans, ordering his slaves not to release his corpse to the chiefs for burial.50

The significance of religious manipulation is that, rather than end human

sacrifice, Abeweela’s actions showed his adroitness in mobilizing religious, ethnic, and

class issues to political advantage. Firstly, his anti-human sacrifice stand would appeal to

slaves and refugees who were potential ritual victims. Secondly, the implication of

transferring his funeral rites to royal slaves is the invocation of ritual sanctions against his

chiefs. Also, since many of the Oyo population were Muslims and observers of non-Ife

rituals, their incorporation into Ife palace administration and religious rituals meant the

patronage of “foreign rituals” and creation of a parallel power base. One could conclude,

therefore, that an understanding of religious shifts is crucial to any analysis of Yoruba

ethnic warfare, aristocratic conflicts and power relations.

50 “Derin, Ooni-elect to Governor of Lagos, April 28, 1886” and “Statement by a Modakeke Man, April 26, 1886,” CMS (Y) 1/7/5, NNAI.

25

Maltreatment and ethnic agitations intensified the problem of slave control at Ife

as slaves began to question their enslavement. They got support from refugees among

whom Ife were also recruiting slaves, pawns and servants. This problem was aggravated

by the division among Ife chiefs about how to deal with the slaves and the Oyo, and

inability to resolve this dilemma degenerated into the slave revolt of 1849. At what stage

was the revolt planned and what made it a success? By the 1840s, Ife was no doubt an

urban center and the population concentration seemed to impinge on Ife resources and

security. First, the annexation of northern Ife towns by Ibadan meant the loss to Ife of

viable markets, farmlands and influence. Secondly, the destruction of Owu and banditry

around Ife turned the city into an embattled community.

The most far reaching decision Abeweela took was moving his followers to the

eastern outskirts of the town to a place that later became Modakeke. While there, he

passed a law by which slaves could redeem themselves for eleven heads of cowries.51 By

this, Abeweela positioned himself as an advocate for the Oyo and slaves as well. The

physical separation of Modakeke from Ife facilitated a slave exodus, and the development

of a revolutionary ideology among residents of the new town.52 It drew sharp distinctions

between Ife slaveholders and Oyo slaves and carved out a Muslim town on Ife soil.53

Moreover, Ife had a few years earlier lost her northern villages to another Oyo enclave,

Ibadan. While this contributed to the opposition against the settlers, the existence of

51 Bishop Charles Phillips, Diary 1885, Bishop Phillips’ Collection, 3/1, NNAI. 52 Richard Olaniyan, “The Modakeke Question in Ife Politics and Diplomacy” in Cradle, 266–271.53 David Hinderer, “Condition of Yoruba country,” Sept 19, 1853, “Journey to the Interior,” Aug 2-Sept 4, 1858 and “Second Journey to the Interior,” Aug 23-Sept 11, 1859, CA2/049, CMS; May, “Journey in the Yoruba and Nupe Countries,” 215–16 and “The War in the Interior,” Lagos Times, Dec 27, 1882. Notable Oyo compounds at Modakeke and their founders were Wingbolu at Iyekere (near Iwirin), Asirawo and Ojo Bada at Ijugbe; Ajombadi at Oke Eso; Ogungbe at Esin; Oye (Oke Owu) and Adefajo at Lagere; and the Owu at Oke Owu.

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Modakeke, therefore, was both a reminder of Oyo expansion on Ife territory as well as

the creation of a haven for Ife runaway slaves and criminals.

Not many people share this interpretation. Akinjogbin thinks Modakeke was

established to decongest Ife. But this is a questionable hypothesis. If population reduction

was the target, why was the new settlement established just outside Ife’s city wall?

Moreover, Akinjogbin accepts that the creation of Modakeke denied Ife access to free

labor, thereby increasing opposition against Abeweela.54 To maintain grip on the new

town, Ife farmers, Fabunmi contends, maintained control over land, denying Modakeke

free access.55 Secondly, given that Modakeke provided a dependable and impregnable

power base, it is doubtful if its creation was not a political strategy. It drained Ife

households of their slaves and sharpened distinctions between indigenes and strangers.

As Abeweela could not be removed by force of arms, his chiefs poisoned him in

1849. In Ife’s custom, the death of an ooni was to be accompanied by several rituals,

including the killing of slaves at the funeral. The royal slaves not only knew this, they

also understood that Ife chiefs would love to use the opportunity of the funeral to

dismantle Abeweela’s power base. Rather than submit themselves for sacrifice, the slaves

organized a private burial for the monarch.56 So if the monarch gained by denying the

chiefs control over his burials, royal slaves and loyalists gained more by saving the royal

household from collective punishment. In every way, denying Ife chiefs access to the

royal corpse violated local traditions that empowered Ife chiefs to bury their king, and a

more compelling reason to destroy Abeweela’s power base. The chiefs composed a song

which demonstrated their affection toward Abeweela and his supporters: Oba Oyo maa 54 Akinjogbin, “Ife: the Years of Travail” and “The Outlying Towns of Ife,” Cradle of a Race, 223 and 153–4.55 Fabunmi, Anthology of Historical Notes, 116. 56 “Story of Abeweela” in Phillips, diary, 1885, Phillips, 3/1, NNAI

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ku, ka bi Oyo mee gba (“The Oyo will be deprived of their king, no more reprieve for the

Oyo”).57 To both parties, a song like this was a sign of an imminent conflict. While

military mobilization began rapidly in both communities, more slaves escaped to

Modakeke. From that point, there was no question of whether there would be a military

showdown between Ife and Modakeke, but when. The function of Modakeke as a defense

outpost is evident from its initial layout. It

was…built in a circular form as a single…compound of about two miles in

circumference; the enclosed area was left covered with trees and high grass,

each individual clearing out a small space in front of his dwelling. This was

done for the sake of mutual protection as no one need[ed] to go out of the

compound for firewood or thatch for roofing...58

The decision by the Ife army to attack Modakeke precipitated the Oyo uprising of 1849.

In a series of strongly fought battles, Modakeke, supported by the Oyo towns of Ede,

Iwo, and Ibadan, won decisively. Ife was razed to the ground and many of its inhabitants

were captured and others fled into exile at Isoya.59 During the clashes Ife sought support

from Okeigbo toward attacking Modakeke from the rear. But this was an apparently

wrong calculation. Although Okeigbo was under the control of an Ife faction, it owed its

origin and power to fugitive slaves who revolted and sacked Ondo about 1845.60 Indeed,

it could be speculated that the Ife uprising was partly inspired by the successful revolt at

57 Statement of a Modakeke Man, CMS (Y) 1/7/5, NNAI.58 Johnson, History, 231–32.59 Phillips, diary 1885, Phillips, 3/1, NNAI; “Statement by Modakeke Man,” and Derin, Ooni-elect to Fred Evans (Governor of Lagos), 28 April 1886, CMS (Y) 1/7/5, NNAI and Johnson, History, 232.60 Olasiji Oshin, “Warfare and Change in Ondo, c.1830–1900” in Cradle, 56–61.

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Ondo, which forced its evacuation for about thirty years. The fact that the revolt at Ife

also led to its evacuation might not be a fortuitous coincidence.

The timing of the revolt allows a study of ideological change in Nigerian history.

Owing to the little information we have on Ife’s Muslim community, it is difficult to

assess the contribution, if any, of Islam to the emergence of a group consciousness among

the slaves / refugee population. But if developments among other Yoruba [Oyo] diasporic

communities were anything to go by, Islam would appear to have been important. For

example, the link between Islam and the banditry of the jamaa and the ogo weere of

northern Yorubaland could not have been lost on Modakeke. Among the Oyo of

Modakeke would have been former bandits. Indeed, Danielu’s position might be seen

from the perspective of Hausa clerics who combined trade with religious activities, and

his arrival in Ife could have facilitated the birth of a Muslim consciousness.

Apart from the anti-slavery sentiments of Sokoto jihadists, there were changes

along the Atlantic seaboard. British anti-slavery patrols were active in Lagos starting in

the 1820s, leading up to the British occupation of Lagos in 1851. Also, after 1835,

liberated slaves from Brazil, followed in 1839 by the Saro (returnee ex-slaves from Sierra

Leone), began to arrive in Yorubaland. Christian missionaries became more active in

Nigeria after 1840, so that by 1846 Anglican and Presbyterian missionaries with their

anti-slavery sentiments had settled in Badagry, Lagos, Abeokuta, and Calabar

respectively.61 It is not known to what extent anti-slavery sentiments along the coast

penetrated into the interior, but it must have been strategic, if not significant, given the

61 Emmanuel A. Ayandele, Missionary Impact on Nigeria, 1842–1914: A Political and Social Analysis (London: Longman, 1966); Jean H. Kopytoff, A Preface to Modern Nigeria: The ‘Sierra Leonians’ in Yoruba, 1830–1890 (Wisconsin, 1965); Law and Kristin Mann, “West Africa in the Atlantic Community: The Case of the Slave Coast,” William & Mary Quarterly, 46, 2 (1999): 307–44 and Robert Smith, The Lagos Consulate, 1851–1861 (London: Macmillan, 1978).

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coincidence of the anti-human sacrifice campaigns of Hope Waddell and the protest by

the Calabar Blood Brotherhood movement in the 1850s.62 Did human sacrifice and

immolation of slaves increase or the manner of immolation become more brutal in the

course of the transition from slavery to legitimate commerce? Otherwise, how do we

explain the fact that known armed slave revolts took place at Ondo, Ile-Ife, and Calabar,

places renowned for ritual killings? Answers to these questions might not go beyond

projections. Studies have demonstrated the link between economic fortune and sacrifice

in nineteenth century Yorubaland. People offer sacrifices to celebrate their wealth or

bring about good fortune—oriire.63 This observation has been corroborated by Law’s

study of human sacrifice in West Africa. It might be speculated that the incidence of

human sacrifice in Yorubaland had to do with the crisis of socio-economic adaptation

prevalent in the nineteenth century when individuals and societies adapted to frequent

outbreaks of wars, diseases, and economic uncertainty. The link between human sacrifice

and the Ife revolt was noted by David Hinderer: “as time went on, the refugees came to

be frequent victims in the many public and private ceremonies and rituals demanding

human sacrifices.”64

Since most Ife slaves were engaged in agriculture, the build-up of the local slave

population which accompanied the decline of the Atlantic slave trade, cheapened the

worth of the average slave. So one could argue that the fate of farm slaves perhaps

deteriorated shortly before the revolt. They were made to produce more toward

62 Kurty K. Nair, Politics and Society in South Eastern Nigeria 1841–1906: A Study of Power, Diplomacy and Commerce in Old Calabar (Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1972): 46–55.63 Falola, The Political Economy of a Pre-Colonial African State: Ibadan, 1830–1900 (Ile-Ife: University of Ife Press, 1984); John Iliffe, “Poverty in Nineteenth Century Yorubaland,” JAH, 25, 1 (1984): 43–57; John D. Y. Peel, “Sacrifice in Nineteenth-Century Yorubaland: A Critique of Iliffe's Thesis,” JAH, 31, 3 (1990): 465–84 and Robin Law, “Human Sacrifice in Pre-Colonial West Africa,” African Affairs, 84 (1985): 53–87.64 Hinderer, “Journal of a Missionary Journey August-September, 1858,” CA2/049, CMS.

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supporting a rising population of free people and expanding agricultural trade. Also,

because most farm slaves, in addition to Modakeke free farmers, lived away from and

received little or no favor from their owners and landlords. Because of the affection gap

between slaves and slave owners, victims of human sacrifice were often selected from

among plantation slaves. Perhaps it is not fortuitous that slave revolts at Ondo, Ile-Ife,

and Calabar were engineered and led by farm slaves. Studies of slave control and

resistance in Northern Nigeria and similar studies by Oroge in Yorubaland show that

slaves often ran away, especially when they lived within a short distance of their homes.65

Unfortunately, the Oyo at Ife had no homes to return to and this could have sharpened

their agitation, knowing well that the only and meaningful alternative was armed

confrontation.

Ife authorities confirmed the alliance between their slaves and Oyo settlers. They

accused the latter of enslaving the Ife, agreeing with the Modakeke on the factor of

slavery in the crisis. Both factions reiterated differences along ethnic lines and problems

arising from slave control. Ife desired to prevent the enslavement of its own citizens

while at the same time justifying the enslavement of the Oyo. Modakeke on the other

hand, believing they were free people expelled from their original homes by warfare,

embarked on the revolt to challenge and end unlawful enslavement. Daniel May

summarized the conflict thus:

on the death of a late king two factions arose—a legitimist against a slave party,

which perhaps may be translated as aristocracy versus democracy. The last king

had been a scion of and secretly favorable to the latter party, having in his lifetime

65 Lovejoy, “Problems of Slave Control in the Sokoto Caliphate” in Lovejoy (ed.), Africans in Bondage: Studies in Slavery and the Slave Trade (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1986), 244–49.

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enriched them with much advice and warning as to what would probably happen

at his death. [The] slave party have triumphed, and occupying generally a large

section of old I’fe [sic] called Modakake [sic].66

In the course of the uprising, Modakeke sold Ife captives, “but reserved their women-folk

for wives.” Johnson also points out that one of the Modakeke’s major grievances against

Ife was that after Ife was reoccupied in 1858, “Ife women deserted their present husbands

[Oyo] with all the children born to them and returned to Ile-Ife.”67 The fact that many of

these women “deserted” their “husbands” negates the popular perception that the slave

woman married to a free man “becomes ipso facto…free.”68 Instead, it should be stressed

that most slave wives were married against their will and they hardly enjoyed the rights

of a free woman, hence as soon as they had the opportunity to flee, they did. Rather than

see this as part of slave resistance, Modakeke men believed they had a right to own Ife

female captives, hence the allegation of fugitive wives and children.

66 May, “Journey in Yoruba and Nupe Countries,” 215. Also see Hinderer, “Condition of Yoruba country”; “Journey to the Interior” and “Second Journey to the Interior,” CA2/049, CMS and Derin, Ooni-elect of Ife to Governor of Lagos, April 28, 1886, CMS (Y) 1/7/5, NNAI.67 Johnson to Lang, April 26, 1886, CMS (Y) 1/7/5, NNAI and Johnson, History, 232.68 Johnson, History, 324–5. On Yoruba female slaves, see Abeokuta Clerical Conference, Sept 25, 1877, CMS (Y) 3/1/2, NNAI and Ibadan Council Resolution, 1899 in Francis C. Fuller, “Report on Ibadan” in Lagos Annual Report 1900, 80–81; Kristin Mann, “Women’s Rights in the Law and Practice: Marriage and Dispute Settlement in Colonial Lagos” in African Women and the Law: Historical Perspectives eds. Jean Hay and Marcia Wright (Boston: African Studies Center, 1982); Mann, Marrying Well: Marriage Status and Social Change among the Educated Elite in Colonial Lagos (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985); Mann, “Women, Landed Property, and the Accumulation of Wealth in Early Colonial Lagos”, Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 16, 4 (1991): 682–706; “The Emancipation of Female Slaves in Early Colonial Lagos,” paper presented at the Annual meeting of the African Studies Association, St. Louis, 1991; Mann, “Owners, Slaves and the Struggle for Labour,” and Law, “‘Legitimate’ Trade and Gender Relations in Yorubaland and Dahomey” in From Slave Trade to ‘Legitimate’ Commerce: The Comercial Transition in Nineteenth Century West Africa, ed. Law, 144–214 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995); Francine Shields, “Palm Oil and Power: Women in an Era of Economic and Social Transition in Nineteenth Century Yorubaland (South-Western Nigeria),” Ph.D. Stirling, 1997 and Ojo, Warfare, Slavery and Transformation, chapter 7.

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Conclusion

In the nineteenth century, Yorubaland underwent a series of revolutionary political and

economic changes. These changes stemmed from a series of constitutional and other

socio-economic disruptions, initially in Oyo and later in other districts, which

undermined the power of the monarchy against the military and other members of the

new elite. The weakening of Oyo’s central administration, exacerbated by Islamic

revolution and the expansion of legitimate trade led to political implosion in the Yoruba

region. Slaves, refugees, and brigands from Oyo spread the frontiers of political

instability southward along trade routes. The pace of political and economic

transformations followed the direction of the trade routes, creating heterogeneous cities,

political alliances, and conflicts. Events discussed above are significant, highlighting

links between warfare, religion, and ethnicity. Slave recruitment and population

movements resulted in economic and political competition among Ife chiefs. Because

most of the refugees and slaves were Oyo, the contest soon turned into an Oyo-Ife

conflict. The discussion shows the extent to which slaves and other marginal groups went

to ameliorate their condition. At Ife, grievances mobilized around ethnic ideology and

marginality became a rallying point for slaves, free, Oyo, and non-Oyo. More

particularly, this chapter draws out, even if subtly, some of the problems faced by the

slave population. In this chapter, it could be gleaned that the revolt revolved around royal

slaves, especially those belonging to the kings of Ife. The recruitment of slave officials

into the palace not only increased the power of elite slaves but also had an impact on the

rituals of the king’s funeral. All of these episodes soon converged in the slave / refugee

and ethnic revolt of 1849–54. Winmonije and Abeweela’s slaves helped them win foreign

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wars and suppress local oppositions to the degree that the 1849 revolt was, in several

ways, a continuation of the contest between Abeweela and his chiefs. The chapter also

highlights the demographic impact of the collapse of Oyo and rerouting of a major trade

route, and brings to the fore the role of armed slaves in Yoruba history. Since similar

protests took place in several parts of Africa, it remains to be seen what link could be

established between the democratic and anti-slavery wave in Europe and America and

slave revolts in Africa.

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