The Oyo Empire: Rise, the Alaafin, the Oyo Mesi, the Cavalry
Oyo's savanna setting and horses, the Nupe occupation and the exile at Igboho in the 16th century, recovery and expansion in the 17th and 18th centuries, the Alaafin, Oyo Mesi and Ogboni, the cavalry and the Are-Ona-Kakanfo, tribute from Dahomey from about 1730, the Basorun Gaha's dominance and Alaafin Abiodun, and Oyo's role in the Atlantic trade.
Rise and reach
timeline (approximate; from Law 1977 and Johnson 1921) c. 1500s Nupe attacks; the court abandons Oyo-Ile and rules from exile at Igboho [oral tradition + Law] c. 1600s return to Oyo-Ile under Alaafin Abipa [oral tradition]; cavalry-based expansion begins 1724-1730 Oyo campaigns against Dahomey; Dahomey pays annual tribute from c. 1730 (European accounts) 1754-1774 Basorun Gaha dominates; several Alaafins forced to die 1774 Alaafin Abiodun defeats and executes Gaha; height of Oyo's power and trade through Porto-Novo 1789 Abiodun dies; succession crises follow (part 6)
Why the north: Oyo lay in savanna where horses could survive (the tsetse fly made cavalry impractical in the forest). Horses, bought from the north, gave Oyo a military advantage over forest neighbours and allowed it to dominate a wide area from the Niger towards the coast west of Lagos.
Oyo and the Atlantic trade: in the 18th century Oyo sold captives, many taken in wars, to European traders through coastal ports such as Porto-Novo (Ajase), and bought cloth, cowries and other goods. This is part of the history of the Atlantic slave trade covered in West African Kingdoms P10.
Robin Law, The Oyo Empire c. 1600 - c. 1836: A West African Imperialism in the Era of the Atlantic Slave Trade (1977); Samuel Johnson (1921); J.A. Atanda, The New Oyo Empire (1973); I.A. Akinjogbin, Dahomey and Its Neighbours 1708-1818 (1967).