Ijebu, Egba, Ekiti, Ijesa, Ondo and the Wider Yoruba World
The many Yoruba kingdoms beyond Oyo and their distinct histories: Ijebu and lagoon trade, the Egba towns and Abeokuta, the Ekiti kingdoms, Ijesa at Ilesa, Ondo, Owo, Ketu and Sabe in today's Benin Republic, the Awori of Lagos, and how a shared "Yoruba" identity was later forged from these groups.
Many kingdoms, one later name
Before the 19th century there was no single "Yoruba" state, and the people did not all call themselves Yoruba: the name was first used by outsiders for the Oyo. Each kingdom had its own crown, dynasty and dialect. A shared Yoruba identity was built in the 19th century, partly by Christian scholars like Samuel Johnson and Samuel Ajayi Crowther who standardised a written language, and partly through shared experience of war and colonial rule.
| group | centre | ruler's title | note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ijebu | Ijebu-Ode | Awujale | controlled interior-coast trade routes |
| Egba | Abeokuta (from c. 1830) | Alake | federation of displaced towns |
| Ijesa | Ilesa | Owa Obokun | forest kingdom east of Ife |
| Ekiti | many towns (Ado, Ikere, Ido…) | Ewi of Ado and others | formed the Ekitiparapo alliance in the 1870s |
| Ondo | Ondo | Osemawe | traditions of founding by a royal twin |
| Ketu | Ketu (Benin Republic) | Alaketu | western kingdom; strong ties to Brazilian Candomblé |
S.A. Akintoye, Revolution and Power Politics in Yorubaland 1840-1893 (1971) and A History of the Yoruba People (2010); J.D.Y. Peel, Religious Encounter and the Making of the Yoruba (2000) on the making of Yoruba identity; Saburi Biobaku, The Egba and Their Neighbours 1842-1872 (1957).