Tag: Idah

The Yoruba, Edo (Bini) Nupe and Igalla people of West Africa (there are Yorubas outside Nigeria) are related peoples historically linguistically and culturally. The relationships are sometimes easily recognized by common words in their languages. In any case they all speak the KWA sub group of the Niger-Congo broad linguistic group. They share common myths of origins particularly of their rulers and not necessarily the people as is the case of Ife, Oyo and Bini dynasties.

There is also a myth among the Nupe that they and the Yoruba are related. The Oyo king Sango is said to have been born by a Nupe woman and the place of this king in the religion and cosmology of the Yoruba is very formidable. The cultural remains of terra cotta, wooden carvings, bronze and brass among the Yoruba, Nupe, Igalla and Bini point to a common origin. Instead of putting emphasis on what unites them than what divided them, some of their people for political correctness and contemporary advantages of belonging to politically dominant groups prefer to deny their historical ties. But this serves no useful purpose.

In the autobiography of the Oba of Benin Oba Erediauwa he claims that an expelled prince of Benin of the Ogiso period named Ekalederhan who after wandering for months or years in the bush surfaced in Ife and that it was him the Ife people called Oduduwa. It was this same Oduduwa/Ekalederhan who later after a generation sent his youngest son Oranmiyan to Benin to found the Oduduwa dynasty there. How convenient! What is certain is that the dynasties in Ife and Benin have a common origin.

The myths of the world being created in Benin and Ife are like most creation stories including that of the Jews, myths that have no proofs but can only be believed by those who wish to believe them. The idea of some Eastern origin of these dynasties is not restricted to the Yoruba and Edo, but is common to most West African dynasties, be it those of the Yoruba, Hausa, Kanuri and other peoples of this area. For example among the Hausa, Bayajidda is said to have come from the East to Daura and killed the snake called Sarki before marrying the Queen of Daura and fathered the founders of the Hausa Bakwai states (seven original Hausa kingdoms).

It is well known by students of world civilization that Ife and Benin were centres of African civilization before contact with the outside world. It has been suggested by historians that ancient Ife was established around 8th Century A.D. and flourished remarkably around the 12th Century A.D. when the famous Ife terracotta and bronze heads and other artefacts were produced. The (lost wax process) or cire perdu through which these famous artefacts were produced were only found in ancient Greece and ancient Ife which led some European explorers like Leo Africanus during the 19th Century to suggest that perhaps the ancient Ife civilization was produced by a lost and wandering Caucasian group, a theory which was prevalent at this time and called the Hamitic theory of African civilization. This period in Ife history is associated with the Oduduwa myth of origin. Oduduwa in some account came from the Middle East and was followed by supporters of a losing battle for the throne to found a new kingdom in what is now Nigeria. There is of course the other myth of Ife being the place of the origin of man and Oduduwa coming from heaven to establish Ife. This last story can be dismissed as some clever persons’ imagination. In any case survival of the previous potentates such as Obalufon survives in the political nomenclature of Ife till today.

In African history there is confusion between the origins of people and origins of kingdoms and dynasties, this should not be so. Immigration and emigration are characteristic phenomenon not unique to African history alone but to the history of mankind. It is generally known by historians, archaeologists and physical anthropologists that man evolved in Africa from where it migrated to other parts of the world. Before the founding of the Oduduwa dynasty in Ife there were definitely autochthonous people there. This myth of Eastern origin and the so-called Kisra legend is found among several African peoples.

Some historians such as the late Professors Ade Obayemi and even A.F.C. Ryder have suggested that Ife of antiquity may have existed in several locations, seven of which have been identified, before finally settling in the present location. Alan Ryder suggests original Ife may have been near the Niger – Benue confluence after analyzing oral traditions from Benin and from Idah and Bida. One thing is clear to most historians, this is that the manifestation of Ife cultural excellence and ascendancy predated that of Benin by some centuries. It has even been suggested that the art of bronze casting in Benin diffused from Ife. Sometimes the name of the purveyor of this diffusion is mentioned.