Territorial expansion and dialogue among the powerful states of the Guinea coast region of West Africa resulted in exchanges that were not only economic but also artistic and cultural in nature. As a result, Owo, Ijebu, and Benin, a trio of kingdoms located within present-day southern Nigeria, shared aspects of courtly culture including titles, ceremonial paraphernalia, and art forms. These commonalities are especially interesting and noteworthy given the ethnic disparities that existed among these distinct polities. While the states of Owo and Ijebu were composed primarily of Yoruba peoples, the core populations of the Benin kingdom were ethnically Edo
In their respective oral traditions, Ijebu, Owo, and Benin all trace their origins to the ancient ILE IFE
, the cradle of Yoruba culture, and claim that their founders were the sons of the Yoruba deity Odudua, who was the first ruler of that city. Especially in Owo and Benin, the early art-historical and archaeological records reinforce these strong affiliations with Ife culture. Benin’s royal histories relate that the court’s brass casters learned their art from an Ife master named Iguegha, who had been sent from Ife around 1400 at the request of Benin’s
oba Oguola. Indeed, the earliest dated cast brass memorial heads from Benin ( ) replicate the refined naturalism of Ife sculpture; early Owo terracotta sculpture appears to have been heavily influenced by the arts of Ife.

Each kingdom’s historical ties to Ife contributed to its sense of identity, and doubtless encouraged and justified their appropriation of certain aspects of Ife’s political and religious practices. It was ultimately their ongoing relationships with one another, however, that produced broad similarities in their art forms and courtly structures. The outward-looking tendencies of these states were manifested in broad-based trade, diplomacy, and warfare. Ijebu’s lagoon ports and well-established trade routes to the lower Niger Delta, as well as overland routes via the Ondo and Owo Yoruba states, ensured economic and cultural interchange with Benin. Owo, whose territories abutted those of Benin, also engaged in extensive trade with this state. Benin itself was an expansive state whose superior military permitted it to dominate territories well beyond its heartland.
The exact nature of the political and military engagements among these states is unclear; oral claims collected from the courts of Owo, Ijebu, and Benin provide divergent commentaries on this subject. While Benin claims to have placed Ijebu under its dominion during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Ijebu’s own traditions dispute this. By the seventeenth century, Benin controlled the coast from the southern Niger Delta to at least the eastern edge of Ijebu’s territory, but it is unclear what political influence the Edo court had upon the Ijebu heartland in the interior. Owo, Benin’s neighbor to the northwest, appears to have intermittently found itself under the suzerainty of the obas . Given the Edo origins of many aspects of Owo’s courtly culture, it is clear that the diplomatic relationship between the two kingdoms was intimate, and not entirely equitable: royal Edo histories speak of Osogboye, the sixteenth-century ruler of Owo who visited the Benin court to adopt highly prestigious forms of Edo courtly culture. Not surprisingly, this version of events is contested by Owo historians, who assert that Osogboye traveled to Benin to learn military techniques that would better protect his kingdom from Edo aggression. Altogether, these conflicting historical perspectives suggest that the similarities which exist between the Yoruba states and their Edo counterpart can be attributed to a combination of factors: the forcible influence of Benin, the assertion of common origins at Ife, and the desire of less powerful kingdoms to strengthen themselves and enrich their status by incorporating the traditions of their adversary.


Department of Art History and Archaeology
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

Even part of this information given by BINI KINGDOM clearly showed that the Portuguese didn't meet Yoruba Kingdom of IJEBU nor did they acknowledge the ILAJES AND ITSEKIRIS but based their opinion on the Oral information from OBA BINI'S PALACE, WHO WERE IN FACT IN CONTROL OF THE EASTERN PART OF BIGHT OF BINI, ONE KINGDOM AND LIES ARE LIKE PMB AND CHANGE

Ijebus are from south Sudan...

Before Edo na edo , and after Edo na Edo

pls tell that ethnic group (Yoruba) that was given identity by awolowo to give Edo a chance.

searchng4love:
Ijebus are from south Sudan...

And their artifacts,language and traditions is Yoruba. How did that happened?

Olu317:
And their artifacts,language and traditions is Yoruba. How did that happened?

Ijebu is not Yoruba

searchng4love:

Ijebu is not Yoruba

OYO, ONDO,OWO,IDANRE,,OKA, IKARE, OMU ARAN, OFFA, ABEOKUTA,IBADAN, ISHERI, OJO,IJEBU,EKITI,IJESA,OLUKUNMI AWORI,YAAGBA, KAABA, JEBA etc are names to describe accordingly to their settlement BUT THEY SPOKE THE SAME LANGUAGE,SAME.TRADITION EVEN IF ONE TRIES TO BECOME MORE CIVILIZED. DO YOU EVEN KNOW THE REASON TRIBAL. MARKS BEGUN IN YORUBA LAND? . And YORUBA PRECISELY IS A MODERN NAME WHICH CAME UP IN 16TH CENTURY DURING YORUBAS ASSESSING TRADE IN SONGHAI EMPIRE . SO, DONT KILL YOURSELF(VES) OVER YORUBA HISTORY. HAVE YOU HEARD OF AKU? USERE-MAGBO?I KNOW MANY OF YOU KNOWS ODUA

Olu317:
OYO, ONDO,OWO,IDANRE,,OKA, IKARE, OMU ARAN, OFFA, ABEOKUTA,IBADAN, ISHERI, OJO,IJEBU,EKITI,IJESA,OLUKUNMI AWORI,YAAGBA, KAABA, JEBA etc are names to describe accordingly to their settlement BUT THEY SPOKE THE SAME LANGUAGE,SAME.TRADITION EVEN IF ONE TRIES TO BECOME MORE CIVILIZED. DO YOU EVEN KNOW THE REASON TRIBAL. MARKS BEGUN IN YORUBA LAND? . And YORUBA PRECISELY IS A MODERN NAME WHICH CAME UP IN 16TH CENTURY DURING YORUBAS ASSESSING TRADE IN SONGHAI EMPIRE . SO, DONT KILL YOURSELF(VES) OVER YORUBA HISTORY. HAVE YOU HEARD OF AKU? USERE-MAGBO?I KNOW MANY OF YOU KNOWS ODUA

They are illiterates with no sense of history.

obaaderemi:
They are illiterates with no sense of history.

THE MAJORITY OF THESE PEOPLE HAVE HATRED FOR YORUBA ETHNICITY WITHOUT GENUINE REASON. I AM NOT PERTURBED THOUGH BECAUSE GOD HAS MADE US THE HEAD. THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ENEMIES CAN DO....

Olu317:
THE MAJORITY OF THESE PEOPLE HAVE HATRED FOR YORUBA ETHNICITY WITHOUT GENUINE REASON. I AM NOT PERTURBED THOUGH BECAUSE GOD HAS MADE US THE HEAD. THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ENEMIES CAN DO....

They can't figure us out,hence they resort to burning hatred for yorubas.i still believe what pains them the most is that while they continue to insult yorubas,their transport companies continue to bring bus loads of their able bodied men and women to yoruba cities,towns and villages.they are gradually losing their language to yoruba.my neighbors' kids in ibadan speak yoruba but can't speak igbo.years to come,they'll still be playing catchup.what they struggle to achieve all the time,the Almighty and nature just drop those things into the lap of yorubas.

obaaderemi:
They can't figure us out,hence they resort to burning hatred for yorubas.i still believe what pains them the most is that while they continue to insult yorubas,their transport companies continue to bring bus loads of their able bodied men and women to yoruba cities,towns and villages. they are gradually losing their language to yoruba.my neighbors' kids in ibadan speak yoruba but can't speak igbo.years to come,they'll still be playing catchup. what they struggle to achieve all the time,the Almighty and nature just drop those things into the lap of yorubas.

Please is searching4love Igbo? I want to understand how igbo take enter this matter.

obaaderemi:
They can't figure us out,hence they resort to burning hatred for yorubas.i still believe what pains them the most is that while they continue to insult yorubas,their transport companies continue to bring bus loads of their able bodied men and women to yoruba cities,towns and villages.they are gradually losing their language to yoruba.my neighbors' kids in ibadan speak yoruba but can't speak igbo.years to come,they'll still be playing catchup.what they struggle to achieve all the time,the Almighty and nature just drop those things into the lap of yorubas.

It is not ordinary for Yoruba to be chosen . Look at Yoruba location. we face the sea, from the southern part, the soil is the best in the whole of Nigeria, we are shielded by mountains in the deep forested Eastern and western part. They envy us so badly. We don't make mouth but talk and do. People who have no respect for human beings but money and you expect God to give such group a land filled with milk and honey. Let them continue with baseless hatred and not repent and respect Yoruba people who even gave them help when they want to standardize their alphabets. Of course their children, will loose their language because it is NOLLYWOOD with no sense movies all through in English language . This is shameful because they don't teach their children proper parental cultural upbringing to be called modest children in the society. Emmanuel OGAH,who is a certified medical doctor, who just came out of youth service, just did the unthinkable by killing his mother over food.. .

obaaderemi:
They can't figure us out,hence they resort to burning hatred for yorubas.i still believe what pains them the most is that while they continue to insult yorubas,their transport companies continue to bring bus loads of their able bodied men and women to yoruba cities,towns and villages.they are gradually losing their language to yoruba.my neighbors' kids in ibadan speak yoruba but can't speak igbo.years to come,they'll still be playing catchup.what they struggle to achieve all the time,the Almighty and nature just drop those things into the lap of yorubas.

It is not ordinary for all these to be on Yoruba soil. Yoruba is a chosen people . Look at Yoruba location, we face the sea from the southern part, the soil is the best in the whole of Nigeria, we are shielded by mountains in the deep forested Eastern and western part and Northern part .They envy us so badly. We don't make mouth but talk and do. People who have no respect for human beings but money and you expect God to give such group a land filled with milk and honey. Let them continue with baseless hatred and not repent and respect Yoruba people who even gave them help when they want to standardize their alphabets. Of course their children, will loose their language because it is NOLLYWOOD with no sense movies all through in English language . This is shameful because they don't teach their children proper parental cultural upbringing to be called modest children in the society. Emmanuel OGAH,who is a certified medical doctor, who just came out of youth service, just did the unthinkable by killing his mother over food... Imagine!!!

RedboneSmith:


Please is searching4love Igbo? I want to understand how igbo take enter this matter.

to be honest this is a big problem in the South. Anybody who doesn't follow a yoruba's opinion about one ethnicity(regardless which) must be Igbo

searchng4love:

Ijebu is not Yoruba

and Bavarians aren't Germans

There is nothing non-yoruba about Ijebu, they are more Yoruba than even Oyo

searchng4love:

Ijebu is not Yoruba

If Ijebu aren't Yoruba, then,who are they? This is my problem with people like you.... Non conversant with history and unwilling to study...

searchng4love:

Ijebu is not Yoruba

If Ijebu aren't Yoruba, then,who are they? This is my problem with people like you.... Non conversant with history and unwilling to study...