We are indeed great as i always say it on this forum. This is a new revelation.



This first post is needed to start from the world view of the origin of civiliation and ho it connected to Nigeria.

So dont get bothered with it as i know this is not what you really want to read. but kindly scroll down to get the rel facts.


KMT to Yoruba: links to ancient Egypt?

There is a revival of research interest in the sciences and spiritual powers of the peoples forced out of KMT (ancient Egypt) by successive invading forces. A perspective that can benefit from further study is posted below. The original is by a Santeria practitioner at: Yoruba & Egypt

caution: VERY LONG POST.

Ifa/Ancient Egypt Calendar 07

1/14 to 1/16 (A 2/24 to 2/26): Raising Heaven--Old Egyptian Festival honoring the unseen Neteru Amen and Amenet. Egyptians perceived the many Gods and Goddesses (Neteru) to be aspects of the one God-Goddess Neter-Neteret. [Kemetic calendar] [Alexandrian calendar

2/24 to 2/26] [Ancient Egyptian calendar: Rekehwer day 30 to Rekehnedjes day 2]

1/15 (A 2/25): Beginning of Old Egyptian Proyet/Emergence month of Rekehnedjes/Phamenoth. Priests and priestesses read hymns of praise to the Neteru (Gods and Goddesses).[Kemetic calendar] [Alexandrian calendar 2/25] Ancient Egyptian calendar: Rekehnedjes day 1

1/15 (A 2/25): Old Egyptian feast of Neter Ptah, God who inspires creativity and the arts. [Kemetic calendar] [Alexandrian calendar 2/25] Ancient Egyptian calendar: Rekehnedjes day 1

1/17: Yoruba/Santeria feast of Ogun, Orisha of Strength, Endurance, and Perseverance.


2/2: Yoruba/Santeria feast of Oya, Orisha of Death and Rebirth. Yorubas/Santeros believe the Orishas are emanations and messengers of the one Deity, Olodumare.

2/5 to 2/6: Feast of Old Romano-Egyptian Goddess Isis, the Healer--recalls Set (God of Challenges and Chaos) poisoning child God Horus, and Isis intervening, defeating Set, and healing Horus. [Roman calendar]

2/14 (A 3/27): Beginning of Old Egyptian Proyet/Emergence month of Paenrenenutet/Pharmouthi, dedicated to Neteret Renenutet and Neter Nepri. [Priests and priestesses made offerings of food and drink to the Neteru (Gods and Goddesses) to ensure that all people had abundant food and drink.] [Kemetic calendar] [Alexandrian calendar 3/27] [Ancient Egyptian calendar: Paenrenenutet day 1]

2/17 to 2/18 (A 3/30 to 3/31): Old Egyptian festival of Neteret Bastet, Cat Goddess who fosters domestic harmony. Her image was transported outside the temple on a bark. [Kemetic calendar] [Alexandrian calendar 3/30 to 3/31] [Ancient Egyptian calendar: Paenrenenutet days 4-5]

3/5: Navigium Isidis--Old Romano-Egyptian festival honoring Goddess Isis as Lady of the Moon and Ruler of the Sea; celebrated with the launching of a boat of offerings. [Roman calendar]

3/10 to 3/16 (A 4/20 to 4/26): Old Egyptian festival of Neteret Renenutet (Goddess of the Harvest) and Neter Nepri (God of Grain). A harvest offering was made. [Kemetic calendar] [Alexandrian calendar 4/20 to 4/26] [Ancient Egyptian calendar: Paenrenenutet day 25 to Paenkhons day 1]

3/16 (A 4/26): Beginning of Old Egyptian Shomu/Harvest month of Paenkhons/Pakhon. [Priests and priestesses made offerings of incense, holy water, and perfumed oils to the Neteru (Gods and Goddesses).] [Kemetic calendar] [Alexandrian calendar 4/26] [Ancient Egyptian calendar: Paenkhons day 1]

3/19: Yoruba/Santeria feast of Osanyin, Orisha of Deciduous Vegetation.

3/25: Yoruba/Santeria feast of Oshun, Orisha of Passion and Fertility.

4/15 (A 5/26): Beginning of Old Egyptian Shomu/Harvest month of Khentkhety/Paoni. [Priests and priestesses made offerings to the Neteru (Gods and Goddesses) to ensure that there would be good health and long life for all.] [Kemetic calendar] [Alexandrian calendar 5/26] [Ancient Egyptian calendar: Khentkhety day 1]

4/23: Yoruba/Santeria feast of Ogun, Orisha of Self-reliance and Industrious Labor. Yorubas/Santeros celebrate with drumming, ecstatic dancing, and possession trance.
5/15 (A 6/25): Beginning of Old Egyptian Shomu/Harvest month of Ipet-hemet/Epip. [Priests and priestesses made offerings to the Neteru (Gods and Goddesses) to ensure that there would be love and happiness for all.] [Kemetic calendar] [Alexandrian calendar 6/25] [Ancient Egyptian calendar: Ipet-hemet day 1]

5/15: Yoruba/Santeria feast of Ochossi, Orisha of Animals.

5/29 (A 7/9): Old Egyptian festival of Neteru Amen (God of transcendent powers) and Hapi (God of the Nile River); offerings were made to ensure the needed flooding of the Nile River. [Kemetic calendar] [Alexandrian calendar 7/9] [Ancient Egyptian calendar: Ipet-hemet day 15]

6/13 (A 7/24): Old Egyptian feast of Neteret Hathor, Goddess of Love and Fertility. [Kemetic calendar] [Alexandrian calendar 7/24] [Ancient Egyptian calendar: Ipet-hemet day 30]

6/14 (A 7/25): Beginning of Old Egyptian Shomu/Harvest month of Mesut-Ra/Mesori, dedicated to Neteru Ra and Rait. [Priests and priestesses made offerings to the Neteru (Gods and Goddesses) to ensure that there would be security and protection for all.] [Kemetic calendar] [Alexandrian calendar 7/25] [Ancient Egyptian calendar: Mesut-Ra day 1]

6/21: Yoruba/Santeria feast of Orisha Babalu Aye, Guardian of the Disabled.

6/29: Yoruba/Santeria feast of Orisha Eleggua, Intercessor and Ruler of Destinies. Yorubas/Santeros celebrate with divination and food offerings.

7/14 (A 8/24): Old Egyptian birthday feast of Neter Osiris - partner and true love of Isis, and father of Horus; guide of all husbands, fathers, and judges. [Kemetic calendar] [Alexandrian calendar 8/24] [Ancient Egyptian calendar: Epagomenal day 1]

7/15 (A 8/25): Old Egyptian birthday feast of Neter Horus the Elder, lover of Neteret Hathor. [Kemetic calendar] [Alexandrian calendar 8/25] [Ancient Egyptian calendar: Epagomenal day 2]

7/16 (A 8/26): Old Egyptian birthday feast of Neter Set, God of the Desert. [Kemetic calendar] [Alexandrian calendar 8/26] [Ancient Egyptian calendar: Epagomenal day 3]

7/17 (A 8/27): Old Egyptian birthday feast of Neteret Isis - partner and true love of Osiris, and mother of Horus; guide of all wives, mothers, healers, advocates, and teachers. [Kemetic calendar] [Alexandrian calendar 8/27] [Ancient Egyptian calendar: Epagomenal day 4]

7/18 (A 8/28): Old Egyptian birthday feast of Neteret Nepthys, estranged wife of Neter Set. [Kemetic calendar] [Alexandrian calendar 8/28] [Ancient Egyptian calendar: Epagomenal day 5]

7/20 (A 8/30): Old Egyptian birthday feast of Neter Ra and Rait, Deities of the Sun. [Kemetic calendar (leap year)] [Alexandrian calendar 8/30 (leap year)] [Ancient Egyptian calendar: Tekh day 1]

7/20 to 8/2 (A 8/30 to 9/12): Old Egyptian festival marking the return to Egypt of Neteret Isis (as the star of Septet/Sirius), Neter Osiris (as the star of Sahu/Orion), and the rains that inundate the Nile River. [Old Egyptian New Year; beginning of Akhet/Inundation month of Tekh/Thout, dedicated to Neter Thoth (God of Time).] [Kemetic calendar (leap year)] [Alexandrian calendar 8/30 to 9/12 (leap year)] [Ancient Egyptian calendar: Tekh days 1-14] [9/12 is also the Coptic New Year (leap year).] [The leap year is the year encompassing the Gregorian leap year day.]

8/3 (A 9/13): Old Egyptian festival of Neteru Amen (God of transcendent powers) and Hapi (God of the Nile River); offerings were made to ensure the needed flooding of the Nile River. [Kemetic calendar(leap year)] [Alexandrian calendar 9/13 (leap year)] [Ancient Egyptian calendar: Tekh day 15]

8/6 to 8/7 (A 9/16 to 9/17): Old Egyptian Wag Festival, honoring the dead and Neter Osiris (Lord of Amenta, realm of the dead). Food was brought to the tombs and shared with the dead. [Kemetic calendar (leap year)] [Alexandrian calendar 9/16 to 9/17 (leap year)] [Ancient Egyptian calendar: Tekh days 18-19]

8/7 to 8/8 (A 9/17 to 9/18): Old Egyptian festival of Neter Thoth, God of Knowledge and Wisdom. [Kemetic calendar (leap year)] [Alexandrian calendar 9/17 to 9/18 (leap year)] [Ancient Egyptian calendar: Tekh days 19-20]

8/10 (A 9/20): Old Egyptian Great Procession of Neter Osiris. The image of Osiris was transported on a bark to the tombs. [Kemetic calendar (leap year)] [Alexandrian calendar 9/20 (leap year)] [Ancient Egyptian calendar: Tekh day 22]

8/19 (A 9/29): Beginning of Old Egyptian Akhet/Inundation month of Menkhet/Paopi, dedicated to Neteru Amen-Ra-Atem and Amenet-Rait-Mut. [Priests and priestesses made offerings to the Neteru (Gods and Goddesses) to ensure that there would be strength and freedom for all.] [Kemetic calendar (leap year)] [Alexandrian calendar 9/29 (leap year)] [Ancient Egyptian calendar: Menkhet day 1]

9/2 to 9/12 (A 10/13 to 10/23): Old Egyptian Opet Festival, honoring Neteru Amen-Ra-Atem and Amenet-Rait-Mut. The pharaoh went to the Luxor Temple at Thebes in order to have his authority to rule recognized. [Kemetic calendar (leap year)] [Alexandrian calendar 10/13 to 10/23 (leap year)] [Ancient Egyptian calendar: Menkhet days 15-25]

9/8: Yoruba/Santeria feast of Oshun, Orisha of Love and Compassion.

9/18 (A 10/29): Beginning of Old Egyptian Akhet/Inundation month of Het-Hert/Athor, dedicated to Neteret Hathor. [Priests and priestesses danced and played sistra, tambourines, and menat in honor of the Neteru (Gods and Goddesses).] [Kemetic calendar (leap year)] [Alexandrian calendar 10/29 (leap year)] [Ancient Egyptian calendar: Het-Hert day 1]

9/24: Yoruba/Santeria feast of Obatala, Orisha of Peace and Justice. [Yorubas/Santeros worship the One Deity Olodumare.]

9/26 (A 11/6): Old Egyptian festival of Neter Amen-Ra-Atem, the Great God, and Neteret Amenet-Rait-Mut, the Great Goddess. Their images were transported on a bark from Karnak to Luxor. [Kemetic calendar (leap year)] [Alexandrian calendar 11/6 (leap year)] [Ancient Egyptian calendar: Het-Hert day 9]

9/29: Yoruba/Santeria feast of Orisha Eleggua, Intercessor and Ruler of Destinies.

9/30: Yoruba/Santeria feast of Shango, Orisha of Passion and Virility.

10/4: Yoruba/Santeria feast of Orunmila, Orisha of Wise Counsel and Protection.

10/18 (A 11/28): Beginning of Old Egyptian Akhet/Inundation month of Nehebkau/Khoiak, dedicated to Neteru Isis and Osiris. [Priests and priestesses read hymns of thanksgiving to the Neteru (Gods and Goddesses).] [Kemetic calendar (leap year)] [Alexandrian calendar 11/28 (leap year)] [Ancient Egyptian calendar: Nehebkau day 1]

10/18 (A 11/28): Old Egyptian feast of Neteret Hathor, Goddess of Fate. [Kemetic calendar (leap year)] [Alexandrian calendar 11/28 (leap year)] [Ancient Egyptian calendar: Nehebkau day 1]

10/24: Yoruba/Santeria feast of Orisha Erinle, Healer of the Sick and Injured.

10/28 to 11/3: Isia--Old Romano-Egyptian festival recalling Set (God of Destruction) killing God Osiris; Goddess Isis mourning Him, resurrecting Him, and conceiving God Horus with Him; and Osiris becoming Lord of Amenta, realm of the dead. [He weighs souls against the Feather of Truth on Goddess Maat's Scale of Justice, but defers to Isis for those who fail the test.] [Roman calendar]

10/29 to 11/16 (A 12/9 to 12/27): Old Egyptian Sokar Festival/Khoiak Ceremonies. It commemorates Neteret Isis seeking out and finding the scattered remains of Neter Osiris. [Kemetic calendar (leap year)] [Alexandrian calendar 12/9 to 12/27 (leap year)] [Ancient Egyptian calendar: Nehebkau days 12-30]

11/1 to 11/2: Fon/Vodou feast of Ghede, Loa of the Dead; time for honoring ancestral spirits. Fon/Vodouisants believe all Loas (Deities) originate from Co-Creators Goddess-God Mawu- Lisa.

11/17 (A 12/28): Beginning of Old Egyptian Proyet/Emergence month of Shefbedet/Tobi. [Priests and priestesses made offerings to the Neteru (Gods and Goddesses) to ensure that there would be peace and harmony throughout the land.] [Kemetic calendar (leap year)] [Alexandrian calendar 12/28 (leap year)] [Ancient Egyptian calendar: Shefbedet day 1]

11/25: Yoruba/Santeria feast of Oya, Orisha of Death and Rebirth.

12/4: Yoruba/Santeria feast of Orisha Shango, Defender Against Evil.

12/15 (A 1/25): Old Egyptian festival of Neteret Bastet, Cat Goddess who fosters domestic harmony. Her image was transported on a bark on the Nile River from Karnak to Bubastis. [Kemetic calendar (leap year)] [Alexandrian calendar 1/25 (leap year)] [Ancient Egyptian calendar: Shefbedet day 29]

12/16 (A 1/26): Old Egyptian festival of Neteret Amenet-Rait-Mut, the primordial Great Mother. Her image was transported on a bark on Isheru Lake with other Lion Goddesses. [Kemetic calendar (leap year)] [Alexandrian calendar 1/26 (leap year)] [Ancient Egyptian calendar: Shefbedet day 30]

12/17 (A 1/27): Beginning of Old Egyptian Proyet/Emergence month of Rekehwer/Mekhir. [Priests and priestesses made offerings to the Neteru (Gods and Goddesses) to ensure the continuation of order (maat) and life (ankh).] [The Negative Confessions reflect the ethics of the Egyptians.] [Kemetic calendar (leap year)] [Alexandrian calendar 1/27 (leap year)] [Ancient Egyptian calendar: Rekehwer day 1]

12/17: Yoruba/Santeria feast of Orisha Babalu Aye, Healer of Deadly Diseases.

12/21 to 12/25: Old Romano-Egyptian festival of Goddess Isis giving birth to God Horus. [Roman calendar]

12/26 to 1/1: Kwanzaa--Festival celebrating positive African traditions; emphasizes unity, self- determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith.

12/31: Yoruba/Santeria festival of Orisha Yemaya, Mother of the Sun and Moon.

The ancient Egyptian religion was practiced throughout East Africa (in Sudan, Ethiopia, and Eritrea as well as Egypt). Some Old Egyptian holidays (Kemetic holidays) in this calendar are based on the ancient Roman calendar. Other Old Egyptian holidays are based on the ancient Egyptian calendar. The ancient Egyptians used 3 calendars: a lunar calendar, a fixed calendar, and a lunisolar calendar. The Old Egyptian New Year is disputed. The Alexandrian calendar (a reform of the ancient Egyptian calendar by Roman Emperor Augustus in 25 BCE that added a 6th leap year day) sets the Old Egyptian New Year at 8/29 (except years encompassing the Gregorian leap year day, when the New Year is on 8/30). The Alexandrian calendar is the same as the Coptic calendar (a Julian-type calendar), but the Alexandrian dates are adjusted to the Gregorian calendar. (The Coptic New Year is on 9/11, except years encompassing the Gregorian leap year day, when the New Year is on 9/12.) The New Year was celebrated in ancient times at the time of the annual life-giving inundation of the Nile River. The annual inundation occurs around 7/19 on the Gregorian calendar. Consequently, the Kemetic calendar sets the Old Egyptian New Year at 7/19. The Copts and the Arabs of Egypt celebrated "The Night of the Drop" on 7/17 into the 19th Century. This first drop presaged the coming inundation. It was believed that the drop was a tear drop that Goddess Isis cried in mourning over the death of God Osiris. Her tears were believed to cause the annual flooding of the Nile. In previous years, ancient Egyptian dates were calculated based on the Alexandrian calendar, with secondary reference to Kemetic calendar dates. Beginning with 2005, ancient Egyptian dates are calculated based on the earlier Kemetic calendar, with secondary reference to Alexandrian calendar dates. Roman calendar dates will not change.

This is one of many versions of the Egyptian Negative Confession. The dead were required to recite this in order to be judged fit to enter Amenta, the realm of the dead: I have not harmed anyone; I have not wronged my kinfolk; I have not committed evil; I have not consorted with evil people; I have not committed acts of abomination; I have not done less than duty requires; I have not attempted to gain undeserved honors; I have not oppressed anyone; I have not treated any Deity with disrespect; I have not defrauded anyone; I have not done what the Deities detest; I have not caused anyone to oppress another; I have not caused anyone to suffer; I have not allowed anyone to go hungry; I have not caused anyone to weep; I have not killed anyone; I have not caused anyone to be killed; I have not caused pain to the multitude; I have not taken offerings intended for the temple; I have not taken food meant for the Deities; I have not taken food meant for the spirits; I have not consorted with pedophiles; I have not entered the temple in an impure state; I have not cheated in the measuring of grain; I have not encroached upon the fields of others; I have not taken the land of others; I have not added to the weight of the balance; I have not cheated with the pointer of the scales; I have not taken milk from babies; I have not driven animals from their pastures; I have not captured geese from the preserves of a Deity; I have not caught fish with fish bait; I have not obstructed water that should run; I have not broken a canal of running water; I have not neglected to make temple offerings; I have not taken cattle from the property of a Deity; I have not rejected the Deities in their manifestations. I am pure. I am pure. I am pure. I am pure. [Egyptian Book of the Dead Chapter CXXVI]

[b]Yoruba World Exploration And The Loss Of Dynasties
By Farouk Martins, Omo Aresa

The ancient Yoruba were one of the most accommodating and the most adventurous people on earth. They were the explorers who went beyond their surroundings. They were the traders who exchanged goods and services. They were the Aromires (sea friendly admirals) and the Olokos (boat owners) who went on 12 months voyage by Irawo-oko (canoe-star), ships, as elephant warriors and priests. They traveled north and south of the Nile, Mesopotamia, from one coast to another, to Asia, Australia and the Americas. Africans were known in Americas before Columbus: Washita in Mississippi Valley 6000 B.C, the Caribs of the West Indies. We all agreed that mankind started from Africa, see Dr. Spencer Wells research on Y and X chromosomes, but vacillated on the spread of civilization.

The Yoruba left marks by spreading their genes, arts, sciences, culture and religion. They are born out by ancient artistic stone monoliths dated before Christ and later by terracotta, underground drainage system and cabinet form of government. Thanks to archeology, arts, sciences and devoted scholars that are still unraveling these past accomplishments. The history of the Yoruba before present era (BC) and their cousins can be told intelligently even by what we know now.

Iwo Eleru, around 10,000 B.C, has confirmed the Yoruba civilization, religion and spread from Ife to other Yoruba cities in spite of preservation problem in the rain forest. One has to put this excavation in proper perspective:
Iwo Eleru, Nubian culture around…………………10,000 B.C
Indian culture ………………… 6,000 B.C
Mesopotamia culture ………………, 3,500 B.C
China culture …………………3,000 – 2,200 B.C
Malanesia and South Pacific Hawaii ……………, 2,000 B.C
Olmec Mexico ……………, 1,100 B.C
Some have always wondered why Yoruba wrote on people's arm and body and devised systematic numbers by tens, twenty and hundred but restricted them to a few who could read and write. These marks, tattoos, and symbols are still shared with the Sudanese. Esusu (susu) economics is still shared all over the black world. A book, Edidi, brought back to IFE by Oduduwa on his sojourns on the Nile Valley can still not be interpreted?

Many Yoruba do not know where the name came from. Every Ethnic group in Nigeria (their cousins) has taken that advantage to interpret the name, Yoruba. Even before they came in contact with one another, in the recent past.

Combination of OYO and OBA gives YORUBA: O YO-OBA, O YO-ROBA,
O YO-RUBA

These were words that were taken from different orikis in Yoruba that we hardly connected together. There is no need to look outside the language itself for where Yoruba name came from. "Omo Karo o jire" (Good morning) is understood by most Yoruba, from Lagos to Sierra Leone, Cuba, Brazil, and Americas. Yet, there are some who have lost it and even deny their own identities. Mixed Africans in Europe, Asia, Australia, America and Africa refer to their white blood. Some with skin darker than charcoal, ignore the contradiction of one drop (of black blood) rule.

My own name is so foreign, one has to be familiar with Lagosians to know that I am a Yoruba. One important identity that my family has, as all Yoruba including those in foreign lands, is oriki. It takes me back home to Enu Owa in Isale Eko and Popo Aguda in Lagos. I will leave it as "Omo Aresa." Aresa was a royal house in the old Oyo. Governor Glover built Martins Street to honor my great grandfather, Adebayo Ojo Martins, with his tombstone which was later moved to Ita Akanni. My grandmother was the head of Ojora Adejiyan ruling house before she died in 1979. No mystery in Ife-Oyo-Lagos original connection. So, please understand my biases. Yes, I am the same person who refused to join Yoruba organizations in the seventies, because I am a NIGERIAN! I can be a proud Yoruba and a Nigerian, without any conflict.

ILE IFE has been the ancestral home of Yoruba and most of their history began from there. It is the religious, spiritual and artistic home. There are important people revered by the Yorubas who marked critical landmarks in the history. Some are even delegated as messenger of Olorun (God).

Olorun the only God, has always been the belief of the Yoruba before Christianity and Islam. He created mankind through Orunmila, keeper of Ifa oracle. The point of this paper is not to deal with myth or gospel of the Bible, Koran, Torah or Ifa. The rift between evolution and creation is very strong regarding what to teach in elementary school, not only among parents in the United States but in other countries including Nigeria. This paper will depend on scientific facts and reasonable oral history.

There were generations in between the heroes or icons the Yoruba revered in history. So there were Obatala, Moremi, Oduduwa, Okanbi, Oranmiyan, Sango and others. These generation gaps can be born out by the time difference between Orunmila and Obatala. It has been postulated that there were ninety rulers before Obatala. Assuming that Olorun created Orunmila from the beginning. That is, before or around the Bible time of Adam and Eve. Obatala came after ninety rulers, he must have been around way before Christ.

Most Yoruba will agree that Awolowo was the most recent icon, popularly called the son of Oduduwas, regardless of the generation gap between them. Others may regard Herbert Macauley, Jubril Martins, Adelabu Adegoke, S.L. Akintola, Adekunle Ajasin, H.O Davies etc as the heroes of Awolowo's time. They were all Yoruba of significant achievements.

Obatala's work was never completed, not because he got drunk or big headed as oral history told us. But each of these icons advanced the cause and the civilization of the Yoruba to the next level. Who took the banner from Orunmila before it got to Obatala or whoever takes it from Awolowo from now on will be remembered in history as the son or daughter of Obatala, Moremi, Oduduwa or Awolowo.

Moremi was a very brave woman who saved the Yoruba from midnight marauders. In the midnight hour, the marauders came from bush (igbo) to pester the Yoruba, they fell in love with a beautiful woman who revealed their strategies and saved the Yorubas. Some Igbos figured they were the ones because the spelling matched. Even if they were, they were cousins in the rain forest at an earlier point in time.

However, Oba Mafimisebi, the Olugbo of Ugbo in Ilaje claimed they were the aboriginal Yoruba that was displaced from Ife. He and Oba of Benin agreed up to this point. Olugbo claimed this is why Ugbo and Benin have similar chieftaincy titles: Lema, Ashogbon, Oliha, Ojomo, Yasere among others. They were the Obalufon, Obamakin, Obalufe, Obawinrin, etc whose Yoruba language were originally spoken, including the lingua fraca in Benin palace. Did Ugbo produce the 90 rulers before Obatala?

Some wonder about how many centuries Oduduwa lived. He was mentioned from the time of Obatala to the time of Okanbi, the father or grand father of Oranmiyan. Oduduwa did not exist after Christ. It was his spirit, greatness and stories that lived centuries after.

Oduduwa must have been here before Christ, going by parallel archeology of the Yoruba, Egypt, Greece and Rome with the history in the Bible or the Koran. Unless those before him were many centuries old before he was born! He traveled through the Nile valley, spread Yoruba civilization and religion. Yoruba, named in Arabic writing, were noted for their religion, before their present country brothers became aware of them. See Beginning of Ethnic Formation. During Oduduwa's exploration, he had children Yoruba usually name AdeTokunbo, Omowale, Magbagbeile and others overseas. He was revered because his descendants were kingdom builders and they also unified the Yorubas. Oduduwa proved his Ife royal blood to Agboniregun or Setilu in care of Ifa oracle by displaying his crown, a book in verses and an obelisk. Zo Giwa mentioned these three items in his article in case any dynasty had missed them.

Okanbi, one of Oduduwa's descendants, may be some generations from him. It was Okanbi children or grandchildren that built empires and further united the Yoruba with their neighbors. Oduduwa descendants met civilization in Ife and propagated it but might have started empire and kingdom formation during their sojourns on the Nile River.

Civilization has a very simple meaning but today it has exotic attachment for self gratification. It is the ability of people to live amicably among one another. It is not modernization, invention of weapon of mass destruction or the ability to destroy the world in a second. The Yoruba were farmers who had enough to eat and drink because they lived on fertile soil in the rain forest and might have changed locations to take advantage of fertile environment. See Professor Ade Obayemi about eight locations of Ife. This gave the Yoruba the time to think, reflect, engage in Arts, build, organize a civilize community and practice their religion that was known through out Africa in ancient time. Those looking for solutions, predictions, cures, wisdom, artists and rulers went to Ife.

Oranmiyan, one of the grandsons of Okanbi became the founder of Oyo and Benin Empires. He was the one who wanted to go back to the Nile Valley on his return from Benin to avenge those who kicked Oduduwa out. The history of Egypt and Nubia was that of changing rulers. Rulers (Oduduwa) returned home (Ife) whenever another power took over, in Nubia (Sudan). Ti ewure ba je lo, a pada wa sile o. Explorer must return home.
Akhenaton who preached one God in Egypt, like the Yoruba was also sent packing southwards, where he had contacted his Nubian belief. Most of his records were destroyed in Egypt for so daring.

I have to emphasize a point Professors Onigun Otite and Jide Osuntokun made many times. Dynasty and the people may not necessarily be the same. In the case of Benin, there were Ogisos rulers before the Obas came. The Benin Empire and influence came under the Obas. It is this influence that was developed by the descendants of Oba and Ogiso which grew from the 13th century. This remarkable much later achievement, rivaled their Yoruba predecessor, but presented no conflict with Ife. Some have speculated that the transition from Ogiso to Oba was not so peaceful, autochthonous chiefs undermined Eweka's authority. Up till today, the land is leased from the Ogiso descendants during the crowning ceremony of Oba to dampen the rivalry between the two dynasties. This rivalry, is still in the folklore and still generate some hard feelings.

Another landmark figure was Shango, the Alafin of Oyo whose mother was Tapa. He was credited with creating gun powder from kola nuts. After his death, he became a demigod.
He was well known beyond Africa and stories were told about Oba Koso. Pedral quoted Morie's work in Coptic text in 1666 - "Obba Kousso" as he was known, was King Shango and a king of Kush who ruled north and west of Africa but was born in Ife. Morie had no idea where Ife was, but Pedral compared his love life and that of Amon (Kham) and Mount. He also noted the names between Deedan and Dada etc.


IFE has been studied extensively by foreigners and less by Nigerians. This is a culture that has been nearly highjacked and labeled the work of whites or black whites. Strange! Professor Wole Soyinka noted the irony in the words of the German scholar, Leo Frobenious, looking at the Yoruba chiefs at Ile Ife, wondering if they were the descendant of the lost civilization of Atlantis. Sir Flinder Petrie, world renowned archeologist noted the similarity between terracotta head of Ife and that in Memphis. Osun staff is a serpentine staff crowned by bird carried by initiates of Obatala, it is the same medical symbol of Caduceus.

Africans scholars like Professors Peter Ekeh, Cheikh Diop, Frank Snowden, Dr. W.E.D DuBois, Marcus Garvey and John D. Balwin e.t.c worked tirelessly to prove that Egypt was and is in Africa. This may sound strange to a student new in the field, but a paper such as this can not do justice to their work. Anyone interested must pursue their work.


In Egypt we see evidence of earlier civilization of the blacks from Sudan of today (Nubia), Iwo Eleru 10 B.C, Nok culture, Ife stone, terracotta and language known before Christ (B.C), Igbo Ukwu 10th A.D, Sugbon Eredo, old Oyo walls, Benin Iya ditch, the Great Zimbabwe. There were the Wolof, Mendes, Akhan. The Shaka Zulu, and the 16th century Queen Nzinga of Angola who fought against slave trade. An objective scholar would see replica of these cultures reproduced in Egypt, but not those who wanted to claim Egypt for the white race. Indeed, those who painted black civilization white are still working at it vigorously.

African travel by boat or ship has been demonstrated by the sophisticated construction of Dafuna Canoe recently excavated near River Yobe dated 8,000 years old while the oldest boat in Egypt is 5,000 years old.

Nazlet Kater, an African skull, the oldest human found in Luxor in 1980 is about 35,000 years old. There were also other white scholars who had made observation of the Egyptians as blacks. Greek historian Diodorus Siculus of Sicily, 1st century B.C, credited the Ethiopians (blacks) as the first of all men created by the gods and founders of civilization and religion in Egypt imported to Greece. Greek philosopher, Aristotle 384-322 B.C.E described the Ethiopians and the Egyptians as blacks. Greek writer Lucian 125 B.C, described the Egyptians with African features. The father of History, Herodotus 490-425 B.C.E, describe the City of Meroe, religion, food, valuable metals, burial ceremony, elephants, offerings (ebo), and the scarification marks on their forehead . Their first God was Min (Emi Mimo) and that the Greek gods came from Egypt. French writer Constantin-Francois Volney 1757-1820, claimed that Ethiopians were the first to attain civilized way of life and worship.

All burial drawings in Egypt showed African features. It is only Africans who knows what it means to put hands on the head during these burial ceremonies.

Those who have watched the Zar ritual dance conducted by special women among Fellahin in Egypt saw the replica of Yoruba dance during worship or Haitian Voodoo dance. But if you ask them or tell them, some may not realize their identity. The Belady who were the original black settlers of Egypt have been oppressed by different powers but still hang on to the African tradition which is different from that of those who rule them. The culture remains with them. See Gamal Nkrumah writings on the Bedja.

It took Arab unified soldiers to claim back Iraq from the Africans. They were noted as sharp arrow shooter of the eye and were called upon to defeat opposing army. There are still mistrust and hostility between Arabs and Africans up to the present day. Yet, some of us including me have Arabic names. The hostility and misadventure we still see in Danfur today. What an irony that some of us kill one another in Nigeria over imported religions. The whole world is watching African leaders.

The Fellahins, the real Pharaohs, still have melanin in their skin layers, their genes are related to Africans, still carry the sickle cell trait, practice circumcision and totemism. X-ray on Pharaohs done by James E. Harris of Michigan University proved the same, black. Egyptian Arts, Religion, Oracle and the original language of the Beladi mirror that of Africans in general and Yoruba in particular. The work of Dr. Lucas has been quoted many times.

These similarities between Egypt, Sudan, Yoruba and other African cousins are not coincidence. It establishes the rightful place of African civilization. The Yoruba civilization has been studied extensively because of their ancient way of life which predates the civilization in Egypt. We knew that even Egypt got its civilization from Sudan. An observation that must be noted carefully is that the Ijebu and the Sudanese have the same ethnic face mark. I have already stated that it is the Yoruba who traveled north. These Yoruba scarification marks and cornrows were seen among blacks before Columbus in America

There are some three controversies among the Yoruba that I can not ignore: Ijebu, Ilorin and Benin. Threats, intimidation, trading insults and ultimatums will not help. While history is subject to research, sheer convenience of ethnocentricity will not stand up to scrutiny. Let us appreciate and celebrate what history has given us and think about what we are going to give the next generation.

Some Ijebu claim that they are not Yoruba, they came from Waddai. Others claimed that Awujale, Ilari named Agbejaile or Alajaile himself came from Oyo to make peace between Ife and Owu. There are other speculations I will not even touch. But Ijebu Igbo and Remo assert autonomy from Ijebu Ode. One has to square that with Ijebu-Ife connection. If you walk like a Yoruba, look like a Yoruba, speak like Yoruba, you are a Yoruba! That should end it. But there is validity about Wadai and the Ijebu. The Ijebu said their Oba was some generations senior to Oduduwa because they showed his child his way to the Ocean when he got lost. He wanted ocean water to cure Oduduwa's blindness. If my assumption of Oduduwa before Christ is correct, they might have dealt with Oduduwa descendant not necessarily the son. As for Waddai, most Yoruba explorers and traders pass through Wadai, Danfur, Thebes, and Owodaiye in today Ethiopia on their way to and from the Nile. Not only the Ijebu.

There are other ethnic groups who are also related to the Sudanese. They cooperated and fought one another as the circumstances demanded from Egypt, Sudan to the rain forest.

The similarity between the Ijebu dialect, Itsekiri dialect and the Yoruba palace language of Benin might have to do with Prince Ginuwa who led the Itsekiri away. Apart from history that claimed that Awujale was as royal as Aresa or Onikoyi in Old Oyo, they were of royal blood among Benin-Itsekiri. That may disprove any notion that the Ijebu were only used as sacrifice or slave of other Yorubas. However, at different points in history, positions changed from slave to master, or master to servant.

Ooni of Ife position must be respected. With the reputation of Oranyan, no ancient Yoruba would crown a usurper Oni if he did not deserve to be there. Let us separate personal grudges from the unity of the Yorubas. Though Oba of Lagos made it clear that there were Yoruba chiefs already in Lagos as owners of the soil, before the Benin came, only personal differences made headlines. Ashipa, the first compromised king after Lagos-Benin battle for Lagos had a name that is common in ancient Yoruba royal houses.

The Afonja of Ilorin controversy is more pathetic. Today, we misplaced blame on the Fulani who were invited to help Afonja against Alafin of Oyo. Afonja became ambitious and wanted to undermine the Alafin. The story was that Afonja thought Alafin was going to move on him with an impossible task to accomplish. Afonja then got help to overthrow the Alafin. Afonja found himself at the mercy of the Fulani and lost it all, because Alafin put a curse on him. Where is the blame? The problem today is that the Fulani have rightly assimilated into Ilorin so much that the Yoruba find it difficult to be the Oba of Ilorin. They have lost the supremacy of Oba and there is confusion in a Yoruba land. How do you get someone whose father or mother is a Fulani to deny their birth? Nevertheless, many ethnic groups had assimilated well into Yoruba culture without denying their origin. Melting pot is part of Yoruba culture as long as it is not confrontational. Ibadan is a case in point.

In the case of Benin, all due respect must be accorded the Oba of Benin as one of the descendants of Oduduwa. On his study of Yoruba history, he wrote that it was Orunmila who started the Yoruba kingdoms including Ife and Ado, not Oduduwa. He has a brother in the person of Ewi of Ado Ekiti who is now embarrassed by the controversy. Oba of Benin told us the meaning of Eweka, Owo mi ka, line of descendant. In the same lingua fraca of his palace up to a point in time. Nobody has so far denied that the head of former Obas of Benin were buried in Ife. How can the Oba query the facts of Egharevba's book based on his mother's relation (Edo n'ekue) to Yoruba? It is a popular saying in Edo that only a son of Edo culture can be a ruler of Benin. Oranmiyan was not, so he married into the culture to produce a ruler from that culture.

Ekaladerhan was a man of the culture, Benin historians still have to settle on if he fought to death when Benin soldier went after him in Ughoton the same way they went after Ginuwa in Warri. Each time he got information about Benin, "he was stricken with fear that they were still after his head." By the way, this was centuries after Oduduwa.

In view of these three controversies, their subjects who have unflinching loyalty to Yoruba must be in a difficult position. Embrace novel theories or walk a fine line. It has been said that special ceremony or ritual is needed to reverse the curse of Alafin. The none-Yoruba theory of the Ijebu is hardly taken seriously since majority of them see themselves as nothing else, but will not stand for any insult. More problematic, is that of Oba of Benin. He is highly respected and rightly so. Others with the same theory can be ignored, not him. Because he is also one of our Obas.

One can tell the difference between the comments coming from the Ogiso and that coming from the Oba descendants. None of the Oba line can reject Yoruba connection: "How safe is Ife" is still the greetings. While the Ogiso trumpet the influence and achievement of the Obas, they missed the opportunity to educate us about that of Ogiso. Indeed, Professor Ekeh did more to educate us about the Ogiso, as the one the Urhobo were familiar with before the Oba were ingrained in Benin culture.

Yoruba must stop fighting each other. Those who have made it in other lands – Cuba, Brazil, Benin Republic, Europe, Asia and other America must not severe the bridges they crossed. Oduduwa came back home and proved himself, one day your children will come back home. YORUBA RONU!
[/b]

In what ways can the ideas of the Akan, Bantu, and Yoruba be traced back to Ancient Egyptian philosophy?

partial answer to this question:

In a search for the roots of the Yoruba religion one can look to the Egyptians. One has to remember that religion and philosophy are very difficult to separate in some of these early civilizations. What can be deduced from archeological and historic records the Yoruba people migrated from east to west. J. Olumide Lucas in his book The Religion of the Yorubas" traces their history as a civilization back to Egypt. "A chain of evidence leads to the conclusion that they must have settled for many years in that part of the continent known as Ancient Egypt." (Cook, 1974, p. 184) In his work Lucas shows that there were similarities in language, religion and customs between these two groups of people.

"Abundant proof of intimate connection between ancient Egyptians and the Yoruba may be produced under this head. Most of the principle gods were well known, at one time, to the Yoruba. Among these gods are Osiris, Isis, Horus, Shu, Sut, Troth, Khepera, Amon, Anu, Khonsu, Khnum, Khopri, Hathor, Sokaris, Ra, Seb, the elemental deities and others. Most of the gods survive in name or in attributes or in both" (Lucas, 1948, p.21).

In comparing the religions, we find that the Yoruba had a moon deity known as Osu (moon) which is the Egyptian lunar god Khonsu. To find the conclusive proof of this similarity one has to look at the etymological development of the Yoruba language. In the Yoruba language Kh does not exist. By following the consonant—vowel rules in Yoruba the vowel is dropped and you are left with the word Osu from Khonsu. If we follow this etymological analysis we find that "Amon exists in Yoruba with the same meaning it has in ancient Egyptian: hidden. The god Amon is one of the first deities known by the Yoruba and the words Mon and Mimon (holy and sacred) are probably derived from the name of that god, according to Lucas. Troth would become To in Yoruba" (Cook, 1974, p. 185).

Following this lead we can see that the development of a monotheistic religion had it roots in the land of Egypt. Although many have claimed that the religion of the Egyptians was polytheistic in fact it was not. Moses even went so far as to declare that Yahweh, like the God of Egypt, was one (Deut. vi.4).
To the Egyptians Path was a spirit self created having no beginning or end. Path was the intelligence of the universe and it was his thoughts that produced the material world and everything in it. Path had power in the words that resided in his mouth. This idea was pointed out by Jablonski where he connected it with the Hebrew idea of how the world was created by their God. The idea of an all powerful god was developed in Egypt and spread with the migration of the Yoruba people. This spiritual conception of god and the universe was begun in the Nile valley 4000 years before the Christian era. Later we see Amen of Thebes be declared as having the same power and nature as Path. ", Lucas recalls that all the ontological notions of the ancient Egyptians, such as the Ka, Akhu, Khu, Sahu, and Ba are found in the Yoruba" (Cook. 1974, p. 186). We see in the Egyptian Ka transformed into the Guarding spirit of the Yoruba.

The final cement for an Egyptian and Yoruba connection is the existence of Yoruba hieroglyphics. "To conclude, let us note that Pedrals mentions, on page 107, the Kuso Hill near Ife and the existence of a Kuso Hill in Nubia, near ancient Meroe,west of the Nile 'in the heart of the land of Kush'" (Cook, 1974, p. 187). From this we can thus consider that a historical connection of facts joins the Egyptian and the Yoruba civilizations together.

The labyrinth of religious development is long and complex from its root beginnings at the dawn of civilization to its numerous forms in the present day. Its importance for the peoples of Africa was to keep them secure through out their long history. Whether as rulers of great civilizations or as slavesin foreign countries the Yoruba maintained their identity and life blood throughout their religious convictions and heritage.

Selected Bibliography

Cook, M. (1974) The African Origin of CivilizationChicago

Lucas, J. O. (1948) The Religion of the YorubasLagos

References

Mbiti J.S. (1975) Introduction to African ReligionNew York

Noss, J. B. (1949) Man's ReligionNew York: Macmillan

Wippler, G. M. (1989) Santeria The ReligionNew York

Wippler, G. M. (1994) Legends of Santeria Minn.

J.Eberts
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THE YORUBA NUMBER SYSTEM

The Yoruba people currently number over 15 million. According to their legends, they came from the East, to settle in what is now Nigeria, Togo, and the Republic of Benin (Dahomey). Many historians believe that the Yoruba migrated to their present home from Upper Egypt, between 600 and 1000 A.D. They are city-dwellers. Their ancient cities of Ife and Oyo were founded between 800 and 1000 A.D.

The Yoruba have always had a monarch, whom they believe to be descended from their gods. However, the Yoruba government and social structure is not dictatorial. Responsibilities are shared. Although recognition and respect for rank is evident, there is also the possibility of moving up in rank through hard work. In fact, the Yoruba describe their culture as "a river that is never at rest".

The Yoruba were great traders. The city of Oyo, founded by a group of traders, was positioned to control trade routes all the way to the coast. They traded gold, slaves, and cocoa.

In her book, Africa Counts, Claudia Zaslavsky describes the Yoruba number system as a complex system based on 20 (vigesimal) that uses subtraction to express numbers. For example,

35 = (2 x 20) - 5; 47 = (3 x 20) - 10 - 3; 51 = (3 x 20) - 10 + 1;

55 = (3 x 20) - 5; 67 = (4 x 20) - 10 - 3; 73 = (4 x 20) - 10 + 3;

86 = (5 x 20) - 10 - 4; 117 = (6 x 20) - 3

According to the Yoruba system, the numbers from 1 to 10 have unique names. The numbers 11, 12, 13, and 14 are written additively (i.e., 11 = 10 + 1, 12 = 10 + 2, 13 = 10 + 3, 14 = 10 + 4). But the numbers from 15 through 19 are written using subtraction from 20. The numbers 21, 22, 23, and 24 are also written additively. The numbers 25 -29 are written as subtractions from 30. Each number after 30 is written as a multiple of 20 plus or minus tens and units. This pattern is repeated for numbers up to 200. After 200, the system becomes irregular. The number 20 and its multiples are considered special to the Yoruba. Here are some of their Yoruba names.

20 = ogun; 40 = ogun meji; 200 = igba; 400 = irinwo.

Although this number system seems very difficult and abstract to westerners, it is perfectly natural to the Yoruba and is still used today.

YORUBA CURRENCY

Until recently, cowrie shells were the basic unit of currency in Africa. Cowries were either counted in groups of 5 or pierced and threaded in strings of 40. According to the Yoruba system for counting cowries,

40 cowries = 1 string; 2000 cowries = 1 head or 50 strings;

20,000 cowries = 1 bag or 10 heads.

As part of their trading commerce, the Yoruba had to count huge numbers of cowries. When a cowrie counter had to count thousands of shells, he would empty the bag onto the floor and start counting 20s by making 4 groups of 5 shells each. Then the counter would make 5 groups of 20 to make 100. Then 2 groups of 100 would be pushed together to make the important 200. The subtractive principle developed from counting in this manner. The Yoruba also learned to estimate well when counting large quantities of cowrie shells.

MATHEMATICS ACTIVITIES

Put about 200 counters of uniform size all together on a table or the floor. Some examples of counters are M&Ms, pennies, chips, cookies, lima beans, macaroni, or peanuts. Begin separating the counters as the Yoruba would, into groups of 5, 20, and 100. Using your counters, show each of the following amounts: 25, 46, 72. Explain how the Yoruba system of subtraction developed from counting cowries.
Express each of the following numbers according to the Yoruba number system:
a. 37 b. 62 c. 108

Explain the Yoruba number system in your own words.
Why do you think the system becomes unpredictable for numbers larger than 200. Provide an example with your explanation.
How does the Yoruba system compare to Roman Numerals? What are some similarities and differences?

I have heard about the Yoruba and Egyptian connection; and I believe it because it has been said in the beginning of Africa many tribes migrated from some where else originally; they say the first humans in Africa were from the east of north east of Africa before different groups started to spread around to different parts of africa.

well I hope this article will help:

[b]yoruba: the egyptian connection

"THE ODUDUWAN REVOLUTION

In the first chapter, we talked about the aboriginal nature of the Yoruban peoples. In this chapter, we shall talk of a possible migration from ancient Egypt. Many traditions point to a fact that an alien group (Egyptians) immigrated to Yoruba land and mixed with the original population.

Many oral traditions are replete with these stories. The Awujale of Ijebu land has shown that the Ijebus are descended from ancient Nubia (a colony of Egypt). He was able to use the evidence of language, body, scarification, coronation rituals that are similar to Nubians’ etc, to show that the Ijebus are descendants of the Nubians. What the present Awujale claimed for the Ijebus, can be authenticated all over Yoruba land. The Awujale even mentioned (2004) that the Itsekiri (an eastern Yoruba dialect) are speaking the original Ijebu language.

Since the Nubians were descended or colonized by the Egyptians, the Ijebu, and by extension, all Yoruba customs, derived from the Egyptian. Many traditional Yorubas have always claimed Egypt as their place of original abode, and that their monarchical tradition derives from the Egyptians’. Apostle Atigbiofor Atsuliaghan, a high priest of Umale-Okun, and a direct descendant of Orunmila, claimed that the Yorubas left Egypt as a result of a big war that engulfed the whole of Egypt. He said the Egyptian remnants settled in various places, two important places being Ode Itsekiri and Ile-Ife.Chief O.N Rewane says “Oral tradition has it also that when the Yorubas came from South of Egypt they did not go straight to where they now occupy. They settled at Illushi, some at Asaba area – Ebu, Olukumi Ukwunzu while some settled at Ode-Itsekiri,.” (O.N. Rewane Royalty Magazine A PICTORIAL SOUVENIR OF THE BURIAL AND CORONATION OF OLU OF WARRI, WARRI 1987)

Since these oral traditions are passed on by very illiterate people, we can augment whatever is recorded with written sources. Concerning the migration of some of the Yoruban ancestors from the east, Conton says:

The Yoruba of Nigeria are believed by many modern historians to be descended from a people who were living on the banks of the Nile 2,000 years ago, and who were at the time in close contact with the Egyptians and the Jews. Sometime before AD 600, if this belief is correct, this people must have left their fertile lands, for reasons which we can not now discover and have joined in the ceaseless movement of tribes west wards and south-wards across our continent.

We can only guess at the many adventures they and their descendants must have had on their long journey and at the number of generations which passed before they arrived. All we can be certain about is that they were a Negro people (of which ancient Egypt probably had at least one community as we have seen) and that one of the many princely states they founded on their arrival in West Africa…, was Ife.’ Conton WF (1960. 71

Although we agree with Conton that some of the Yoruban ancestors migrated from Egypt, we tend to toe the scientific line of Cheik Anta Diop, that the ancient Egyptians were pure Negroes.

Aderibigbe, an indigenous scholar, also accepts that the Yorubas migrated from Egypt. He says:

“The general trend of these theories, most of them based on Yoruba traditions, is that of a possible origin from “the east”. Some scholars, impressed by the similarities between Yoruba and ancient Egyptian culture – religious observation, works of art, burial and other customs – speak of a possible migration of the ancestors of the Yoruba from the upper Nile (as early as 2000BC – 1000BC) as a result of some upheavals in ancient Egypt”. (AB ADERIBIGBE 1976)

Unlike Conton, Aderibigbe was able to pinpoint a cause for the Yoruban migration – war. Olumide Lucas did a lot of job to show similarities and identities between the ancient Egyptians and the Yoruban peoples. The date that Aderibigbe gave (2000BC – 1000BC) is much earlier than that given by Conton. Aderibigbe’s date corresponds to that of the Hyksos invasion of Egypt 2000-1500BC. On the possible eastern origin of the Yorubas, Tariqh Sawandi says:

“The Yoruba history begins with the migration of an east African population across the trans-African route leading from Mid-Nile river area to the Mid-Niger. Archaeologists, according to M. Omoleya, inform us that the Nigerian region was inhabited more than forty thousand years ago, or as far back as 65,000BC. During this period, the Nok culture occupied the region. The Nok culture was visited by the “Yoruba people”, between 2000BC and 500BC. This group of people was led, according to Yoruba historical accounts by king Oduduwa, who settled peacefully in the already established Ile-Ife, the sacred city of the indigenous Nok people.

This time period is known as the Bronze Age, a time of high civilization of both of these groups. According to Olumide J. Lucas, “the Yoruba, during antiquity, lived in ancient Egypt before migrating to the Atlantic coast”. He uses as demonstration the similarity or identity of languages, religious beliefs, customs and names of persons, places and things. In addition, many ancient papyri discovered by archaeologists point at an Egyptian origin. (Tariqh Sawandi: Yorubic medicine: The Art of divine herbology – online article).

Ademoyega commented that the Ekiti section of the Yorubas must have migrated to their present area around 638AD when the Muslims took over Egypt and forced some of the Yoruba people to migrate to their present area.

So, we see that the Yoruba did not come in one migration, but in many different migrations – in waves. The first possible migration might be connected with the Hyksos invasion. Some words in the Yoruban vocabulary echo the words used in Egypt in predynastic times and in the early dynastic periods. Some Egyptian gods of this period have strong identities with Yoruban deities. For instance, gods such as Adumu (Adumu) Hepi (Ipi) Ausar (Ausa), Horise (Orise), and Sámi (Sámi) Nam (Inama) are present in Yoruba. All these gods existed in the pre-dynastic and early dynastic periods of Egypt. TODAY, AMONG THE ITSEKIRI-YORUBAS ,THESE GODS CAN STILL BE PHYSICALLY SEEN, AT LEAST, ONCE A YEAR! Neighbouring peoples are already initiated into the various gods systems and beliefs in yorubaland.the agban ancestral worship was first organized in Urhoboland during the funeral ceremony of chief Ayomanor of Sapele (1949). The Ipi system was first organized in Urhoboland in March 11, 2005.

We can also see words that existed in the Graeco-Roman period in some of the Yoruban dialects. When the Romans took over Egypt, they infiltrated the Egyptian area with their language. In present Yoruba, we can still find words of Roman descent. For instance, the Yoruba called the palm frond ‘Mariwo’. This word is derived form the Latin Rivus (River). One of the declensions of river is Rivo (by the river).Since the Yoruban possesses no “V”, the word become riwo. Thus, the word “Omariwo” means the child by the river. Some other words like Sangi (blood in Itsekiri-yoruba dialect) thought to have been derived form the Portuguese were actually brought as a result of the Roman Conquest of Egypt. Sangi is blood and the Latin term is Sanguis. Some eastern Yoruba use the term “Ihagi” which is clearly a corruption of the Roman Sanguis. A Christian army in 540AD invaded Egypt and some persons believed to have reached Yoruba land were driven from Egypt.

With the commencement of the Arab period in Egypt, some indigenous Egyptians who never wanted to accept the Islamic religion escaped to present Yoruba land. It was probably in this period that words such as Keferi (Kafri pagan in Arab) infiltrated into the Yoruboid vocabulary.

All said and done, more than fifty percent of the Yoruboid vocabulary of today can be deduced either directly or indirectly from the ancient Egyptian. These are the original ancient Egyptian language devoid of Arab and Latin words that are very few in the Yoruboid vocabulary

It is not really certain when king Oduduwa came from Egypt. He must have come in one of the many migrations. But since the Yoruba religious discourse has a lot of identities with Egyptian, Oduduwa would have left Egypt at a very early period perhaps after the Hyksos invasion of 2000-1500BC ,but not later than 30BC.

Could the Yoruba have migrated from a white Egypt? Far-from the truth!
PROOFS OF EGYPTIAN NEGRONESS

1. Egypt was a part of Africa and therefore should be black
2. The Egyptians believe that Egypt was a colony of Ethiopia, and that the religion was brought to Egypt by King Horus from the south (inner Africa). Thus when the Egyptians died, they buried their corpses with their faces facing the South West (the direction of West Africa, home of the Yoruba)
3. Some West African peoples claim that their ancestors migrated to ancient Egypt. The Yorubas claimed that a mystic-prophet Orunmila (Oritse Udeji among the Itsekiri) migrated to Egypt and established a religion. Archaeology and cross-cultural studies have shown that Negroes migrated from West Africa to ancient Egypt.
4. Anthropologists have discovered, to their dismay, that Egyptian cultural traits: divine kingship, forms of burial, Osirian cult, etc., permeate some parts of Negro Africa.
5. Some deities exist in Egypt and in Negro Africa, such as Adumu, Hepi, Inama, Sami Horise etc.
6. The Greeks referred to the Egyptian as “Hoi Aiguptos”, (black people); the Egyptians referred to themselves as Kam (black in their language.)
7. Melanin test proved that the Egyptians were black.
8. Osteological measurements which are less misleading than craniometry in distinguishing a black man from a white man has proved that the ancient Egyptians belonged to the black race. Lepsius, a German Savant at the end of the nineteenth century, made the studies and his conclusion remains valid. Future studies have not contradicted the “Lepsius canon”, which in broad figures gave the bodily proportion of the ideal Egyptian: short armed and of Negroid or Negrito physical type.
9. Most West African claim Egyptian ancestry. If they are black, their ancient Egyptian ancestors must be black.
10. Ancient paintings on caves and temples in Egypt depict blacks. At first there were only black paintings, in later times, the blacks were shown ruling over whites and yellows (Asians).
11. Ancient statues and carvings found in Upper and Lower Egypt showed black skins, and features.
12. Ancient monuments such as the pyramid have been replicated in other parts of Africa. A typical example is the Warri pyramid recorded in Roth (1671).
13. Language similarities exist between the Egyptians and some groups in west Africa such as the Wolof and particularly more so, the Yorubas ( more then 500 similar words have been discovered bearing identical meanings. See Yoruba is Atlantis by the same authors: to be published).
14. Recent findings of Genetics and Molecular Biology and Linear Analysis have proved the Egyptians were Negroid.
15. The testimony of classical writers such as Plato, Homer, Aristotle, Pythagoras etc., portrays the Egyptians as blacks.
16. the physical photograph of Yuyi of ancient Egypt is Negroid (Barbara Mertz : Red Land ,Black land: 1967)

In order to prove the Egyptians origin of the Greek oracle of Dodona, Herodotus says:

“And when they add that the dove was black, they gave us to understand that the woman was Egyptian”.

The doves mentioned in a text “Epirus” stands for two Egyptian women, reputed to have brought the oracle from Tebu (Thebes)[today there are two Tebus in Yoruba land] in Egypt to establish the oracle of Dodona in Greek and Libya.

Another antiquarian, Lycinus, describing a young Egyptian, mentioned Negroid features. “This boy is not merely black; he has thick lips and his legs are too thin … His hair worn in a plait behind shows that he is not a free man.”

The mention of “black”, “thick lips” and hair worn in plaits behind are totally of African origin. In those days Itsekiri owned slaves (mostly Sobo) were either clean-shaven, or they wore their hair in plaits until they regained freedom. Thus, unknowingly, Lycinus had drawn an identical cultural affinity between the Kamites and the Yorubas.

Marcelinus, a Latin historian writes:

“The men of Egypt are mostly brown or black with a skinny and desiccated look.”

Appolodorus, who lived in the first century before our era, commented on Egypt as Negroes:

“Aiguptos captured the country of the black footed ones and called it Egypt after himself.”

Aristotle – an ancient Greek philosopher, a disciple of Plato – in a naive way showed that the Egyptians were black, hear him:

“Those who are too black are cowards, like for instance the Egyptians and the Ethiopians, but those who are excessively white are also cowards as we can see from the example of women, the complexion of courage is between the two”.

Herodotus, 485-425BC, the father of history, further said concerning the ancient Egyptians:

“It is in fact manifested that the Colchidians are Egyptian by race. Several Egyptians told me that in their opinion that the Colchidians were descendants of the soldiers of Sesostris. I had conjectured as much myself from two pointers, firstly because they have black skins and kinky hair (to tell the truth this proves nothing for other peoples have them too) and secondly more reliably for the reason that alone among mankind, the Egyptians and the Ethiopians have practiced circumcision since time immemorial. The Phoenicians and the Syrians of Palestine themselves admit that they learnt the practice from the Egyptians, while the Syrians in the river Thermodon and the Pathenoise region and their neighbours the Macrons say they learnt it recently from the Colchidians. These are the only races which practice circumcision, and it is observable that they do it in the same way with the Egyptians. As between the Egyptians themselves and the Ethiopians, I can not say which of them taught the other the practice, for among them; it is quite clearly a custom of great contiguity. As to the further strong proof to my belief is that all those Phoenicians trading to Greek cease to treat the pudenda after the Egyptian manner and do not subject their offspring to concussion”.

Herodotus mentioned black skins and kinky hair as features of the Colchidians of being descendants of the Egyptians; he also mentioned the survival of circumcision. It should be noted that Abraham – the Arab patriarch of the Jews – learnt circumcision from Hagar, his Egyptian slave wife, whence the custom spread to the Jews. Herodotus also commented that other peoples (those in inner Africa and the black Sumerians and Canaanites) also had kinky hair.

The towns of ancient Egypt: On (Annu) or Heliopolis, Hermonthis, Dendera, Tebu etc., were developed by Annu, the pre-dynastic blacks of Egypt. Skeletons of the Negro Annu were ubiquitous in ancient Egypt,

Mene, the first pharaoh of the first dynasty, sometimes identified with the God-man Osiris (A black forerunner of Christ) was a Blackman. Zoser, Sesostris, Amenhopis, Khufu, Menthuhotep, Queen Amuses, Nefertari etc., were also all Negroes.

The Egyptian religion and other cultural practices show strong African and more so Yorubic characteristics. These can be seen in the following areas:
1. The lost wax method of brass or bronze making, which was common to both the Yoruba peoples (particular Ife) and the ancient Egyptians.
2. The ritual of initiation
3. Striving to achieve the ultimate in “Good” and truth (summun bonum)
4. The doctrine of transmigration of soul and reincarnation is widely believed in, by both peoples.
5. The concept of the ‘god king’.
6. Aspiration to achieve the great ‘good’ of the gods – ‘wealth health and long life’.
7. The Yorubic regalia, in most cases, are strikingly similar to pharoanic ones.
8. Veneration of the Ram in both places. Among the eastern Yorubas (Itsekiri especially, most of the water deities are depicted as ram following the predynastic and pharoanic patterns).
9. Both peoples answer the theophorous names.

LINGUISTIC SIMILARITIES

Since Ferdinand de Saussure, the surest way to prove a cultural contact between peoples is to adduce linguistic evidence (Ferdinand de Saussure (1972) General HISTORY OF Africa).

One of the largest inhabitants of Egypt were Yoruboid , and it will be expected that a good percentage of their language will be yoruboid ,too. See the table below.

EGYPT YORUBA
1. Wu (rise) Wu (rise)
2. Ausa (Osiris, father of the gods) Ausa (father)
3. Ere (python/ Serpent) Ere (Python / Serpent)
4. Horise (a great god) Orise (a great god)
5. Sen (group of worshippers) Sen ( to worship)
6. Ged (to chant0 Igede (a chant)
7. Ta (sell / offer) Ta (sell/offer)
8. Sueg (a fool) Suegbe (a fool)
9. On ( living person) One ( living person)
10. Kum (a club) Kumo( a club)
11. Enru (fear / terrible) Eru (fear / terrible
12. Kun / qun (brave man) Ekun (title of a brave man)
13. Win (to be) Wino (to be)
14. Odonit (festival) Odon (festival)
15. Ma or mi (to breath) Mi. (to breathe)
16. Tebu (a town) Tebu (a town)
17. Adumu (a water god) Adumu (a water god)
18. Khu (to kill) Ku (die)
19. Rekha (knowledge} Larikha (knowledge)
20 Hika (evil) Ika (evil)
21 Mhebi (humble) Mebi, humble to ones family
22 Sata (perfect) Santan (perfect)
23 Unas (lake of fire) Una (fire)
24 Tan (complete) Tan (complete)
25 Beru (force of emotion) Beru (fear)
26 Em (smell) Emi (smell)
27 Pa (open) Pa (break open)
28 Bi (to become) Bi (to give birth, to become)
29 Hepi (a water god) Ipi (a water god)
30 Sami (water god) Sami (a water god)
31 Osiri (a water god) Oshiri (a water god)
32 Heqet – Re (frog deity) Ekere (the frog)
33 Feh (to go away) Feh (to blow away)
34 Kot (build) Ko (build)
35 Kot (boat) Oko (boat)
36 Omi (water) Omi (water)
37 Ra (time) Ira (time)
38 Oni (title of Osiris) Oni (title of the king of Ife)
39 Budo (dwelling place) Budo (dwelling place)
40 Dudu (black image of Osiris) Dudu (black person)
41 Un (living person) Una (living person)
42 Ra (possess) Ra (possess/buy)
43 Beka (pray/confess) Be or ka (to pray or confess)
44 Po (many) Po (many/cheap)
45 Horuw (head) middle Egyptian Oruwo (head) (Ijebu)
46 Min (a god) Emin (spirit)
47 Ash (invocation) Ashe (invocation)
48 Aru (mouth) Arun (mouth ) Ilaje
49 Do (river) Odo (river)
50 Do (settlement) Udo (settlement)
51 Shekiri (water god) Shekiri (a water god)
52 Bu (a place) Bu ,a place
53 Khepara (beetle Akpakara (beetle)
54 No (a water god Eno (a water god)
55 Ra -Shu (light after darkness Uran-shu (the light of the moon
56 Run-ka (spirit name) Oruko (name)
57 Deb/dib to pierce Dibi (to pierce)
58 Maat (goddess of justice Mate (goddess of justice)
59 Aru (rise) Ru (rise up)
60 Fa (carry) Fa (pull)
61 Kaf (pluck) Ka (pluck)
62 Bu bi (evil place) Bubi (evil place)
63 In- n (negation In-n (negation)
64 Iset (a water god) Ise (a water god)
65 Shabu (watcher) Ashonbo (watcher)
66 Semati (door keeper) Sema (lock/shut the door)
67 Khenti amenti (big words of Osiris Yenti – yenti (big, very big)
68 Ma (to know) Ma (to know)
69 Bebi, a son of osiris) Ube, a god
70 Tchatcha chief (they examined the death to see if they tricked tsatsa (a game of tricks, gambling )
71 Ren( animal foot) Ren (to walk)
72 Ka (rest) Ka (rest/tired)
73 Mu (water) Mu (drink water)
74 Abi (against) Ubi (against / impediment)
75 Reti (to beseech) Retin (to listen)
76 Hir (praise) Yiri (praise)
77 Ta(spread out) Ta (spread out)
78 Kurud (round) Kurudu (round)
79 Ak – male Ako (male)
80 Se – to create Se (to create)
81 Hoo (rejoice) Yo (rejoice)
82 Kamwr (black) Kuru (extremely black
83 Omitjener (deep water) Omijen (deep water)
84 Nen, the primeval water mother) Nene (mother
85 Ta (land) Ita (land junction)
86 Horiwo (head) Oriwo (head)
87 Ro (talk) Ro (to think)
88 Kurubu (round) Kurubu (deep and round)
89 Penka (divide) Kpen (divide)
90 Ma-su (to mould) Ma or su (to mould)
91 Osa (time) Osa (time)
92 Osa (tide) Osa ( tide)
93 Fare (wrap) Fari (wrap)
94 Kom (complete) Kon (complete)
95 Edjo (cobra) Edjo (cobra)
96 Didi (red fruit) Diden (red)
97 Ba (soul) Oba (king) soul of a people
98 Ke (hill) Oke( hill
99 Anubis (evil deity) Onubi (evil person)
100 Kan (one: Middle Egyptian) Okan one)
101 Nam (water god) Inama (water god)

The words above are used to show that most Yoruban words are identical to the ancient Egyptian.

BINIS: THE ODUDUWAN LEGACY

Since the month of May 2004, there has been a raging intellectual battle on the personality of Oduduwa. The Binis claim he was a Bini prince, the Ifes claim otherwise.

This approach will be purely scientific and will be as objective as possible. The following areas: (1) The personality of “Oduduwa” {Ikaladeran?}; (2) archaeological researches; (3) the linguistic linkages; (4) scientific analysis of the myths; and (5) Benin’s historical debt to Oduduwa will be analyzed. (a) The monarchies; (b) the water religion, (c) bead manufacturing (d) salt industry; and (e) the Lagos conquest, will be scientifically analysed.

1. THE PERSONALITY OF “ODUDUWA”

The personality of Ikaladeran; whether he was the man who later became Oduduwa will be scientifically analyzed

In this discourse, Oduduwa is seen as the founder of the Yoruba monarchical system, or at least, a founder of a prominent dynasty in Yoruba history. There must have been many dynasties in Ife, as Ife legends put pre-Oduduwa monarchs at more than ninety.

The personality of Oduduwa has suffered many attacks in recent times. The Binis claim he was a Benin prince (Ekaladerhan), who later became Imadoduwa or Izoduwa, and then Oduduwa. The Igbos claim he was an Igbo man from Nri. Some Igalas claim he hailed from Igala land. The Igalas have many Ifes, and they claim Oduduwa was from one of such Ifes. The Igala language is close enough to the Yoruba, to assert a common origin for both peoples.

The present writers are holding the following positions:
1. The Yorubas are aborigines or autochthonous to their present environment;
2. The monarchical structure seems to be alien. The present writers tend to place the origin of the Yoruba monarchy in ancient Egypt and Nubia. This is because a lot of Egyptian related relics, words and practices can still be discerned among the Yorubas, particularly among the following: Ife (where the Ifa oracle and Yoruba monarchical system blossomed); Ijebu (with some ancient settlements; Ijebu Ode, the seat of the Awujale, Ode, the seat of Lenuwa, in present day Ogun Water side Local Government, Oke-Eri, purported to be the home of the biblical queen of Sheba, called Bilikisu in Ijebu legends), Ugbo, the ancient city of the Ilajes, Idanre (the home of Ogun, the god of iron), all show some similarities and identities in their monarchical and religious authorities.Basil Davidson, Olumide Lucas, Tariqh Sawandi, and even the present Awujale of Ijebu land, have pointed to ancient Egypt or Nubia as the origin of Yoruba monarchical system. All the above have used the similarities or the identities of cultural practices to substantiate their claims.

If the Yorubas left the Egyptian or the Nubian axis, they must have left during turbulent periods of war, economic stagnation or religious persecution. Thus, we shall examine the periods of upheavals in black Egypt and black Nubia; and examine when the Yoruban aristocracy descended from the Nile valley. They may not be one migration, but several migrations and the personality called Oduduwa, must have led one of the various migrations.

The first crop of migrants or southward push of the Egyptians took place about 2000BC – 500BC. The Hyksos invasion (2000-1500BC) caused some of these southward migrations. Many of the black Egyptians seemed to have moved to Yoruba land during this period. .

The second wave of migrations will correspond to what Laoye Sanda, of the department of Public Administration,The Polytechnic,Ibadan refers to as the black Nubian emigrants. The Nubians were black, they occupied present day Sudan, which was an integral part of the Egyptian Empire. The vocabulary, body scarification, and religious discourse resemble those of the Ijebus and more so, the Itsekiri. The 1984 Awujale’s coronation manual will make this manifest. These migrations occurred about 500BC.

A third wave of migration took place between 90BC and 30BC. The present writers feel the personality called Oduduwa, came in that migration trend.

A fourth migration will correspond to the Christian conquest of Egypt, about 100AD.

The last wave of migration will correspond to the Arab enforced emigration, between 700AD – 1100AD, when the Arabs had consolidated their control over Egypt; they chased the last batch of traditional worshipping Egyptians from Egypt. This occurrence would have led to many Yoruba claiming that their ancestors were chased from somewhere in the Middle East for not accepting Islam.

The proof of archaeology

There has been a dearth of archaeological researches in Nigeria. Whatever research has been done is not final, for new finds can be found in future.

The most ancient archaeological finds in Nigeria are the following: (1) the relic at Iwo Eleru (with a radio carbon date of about 12,000BC). Iwo Eleru is close to Akure, Ondo State. (2) The findings at Igbo-Ukwu of about 6000BC. (3) The findings at the Mejiro cave near Oyo (about 4000BC). The Nok culture that is more than 1000BC. (4) The Oke-Eri walls and graves purported to be more than a thousand years. The walls are reputed to be the biggest in the world, but for the walls of China. (5) The bronze heads at Ife about 1000AD. (6) The bronze heads at Benin about 1400AD. This might authenticate the Ife claim that the Binis got the civilization of bronze casting from the Ifes. Both the Binis and the Ifes claim that Igueghae was the one who taught the Binis how to cast bronze, during the reign of the Oba Oguola, fourth king from Eweka, the son of Oramiyan, a distant descendant of Oduduwa from Ife.

THE LINGUISTIC LINKAGES

According to the studies of philology and etymology, most of the languages in Nigeria in the Kwa group of languages have a meeting point. The Yorubas and Idoma separated some six thousand years ago; while the Yoruba and Igalas separated about 2 thousand years ago; two thousand years ago corresponds to the time that the Yoruba dialects: Ekiti, Ijebu, Oyo, Itsekiri, Ilaje, Ikale etc started having distinct dialectical identities.

Linguistic studies have indicated that Yorubas in the Eastern Flanks of the Yoruba nation; Ekiti, Yagba, Kabba, Owo, Ijebu, Itsekiri and to some extent the Ifes, speak the most ancient Yoruba dialects. Glottochronological studies have shown that the dialects in the south east are more ancient than those of central Yoruba land and western Yoruba land. The table displays it further still.

A table showing east to west ancientness of the Yoruboid languages.

ENGLISH ITSEKIRI YORUBA OYO – YORUBA
RESPECT OGHO OWO
MONEY OGHO OWO
LOOK GHO WO
SAY GIN WI
FORBID GHO( r ) WO( r )
THEM AGHAN AWON

The table shows that the Itsekiri dialect retains the more ancient “gh” or “g” guttural sound to the more liquid “w” of the Oyos.

If it is taken that the Yoruban ruling class came from Egypt, the southern Yoruba block, particularly the Itsekiri, would have served as an initial stopping point and a secondary course of dispersal. The table displays it further still

EGYPTIAN ITSEKIRI-YORUBA OYO-YORUBA
ADUMU (Water god) ADUMU (Water god) ADAMU (A god)
Kuku (Darkness) Okuku (Darkness) Ouku (Darkness)
Dudu (Black Image of Osiris) Dudu (black ) Dudu ( black )
Omi (Water) Omi (Water) Omi (Water)
Heket-Re (Frog god) Ekere (Frog) Akere (Frog)
Horise (Sky god) Orise (Sky god) Orisa (A god)
Hika (Evil) Ika (Evil) Ika (Evil)
Shu (Evil god) Eshu (Evil god) Eshu (Evil god)
Co-opted from 500 word-word correlation between, Yoruba and Egyptian languages .

From the above, it means that the eastern Yoruba blocs such as the Itsekiri, Ilaje, Ijebu and the Owo are more cognate with the Egyptian than those of Oyo or Ife. .

The Awujale has testified that the Itsekiri are speaking the original Ijebu dialect. . This is why Bolaji Idowu derived the origin of Oritse to the Itsekiri-Owo axis within the eastern Yoruba kingdoms,

It is proper here to state that the word “Orise” is almost cognate with the Egyptian, Horise. Both deities represent very high gods,  Both deities were first water divinities before they became sky or heavenly divinities. Both words are derived from identical etymological origins. Hori(Ori) means head in both places. “Se”, means a source in both places. Thus both words mean a source of creation in both places. This type of linguistic similarity or identity cannot have arisen by mere accident - there was a concrete historical intercourse. The Binis call God Oyisa, a corruption of the eastern Yoruba form. This is certain because the Binis cannot derive the meaning of Oyisa by breaking the word into morphemes as the Yoruba can display, or draw up any identity with ancient Egypt.

A SCIENTIFIC ANALYSIS OF THE MYTHS

1. Oduduwa – The myth of Oduduwa seems to be valid. Minus the fact that many Yoruba claim descent from Oduduwa, some Urhobos and even Ijaws also claim descent from Oduduwa.
2. Ekaladerhan – This name exists in very little, if at all it exists, in the oral tradition of any of the Bini neighbors. There has been no relevant oral tradition among any of the circumjacent peoples that can recognize Ekaladerhan or identify him as Oduduwa. So, the Ife claim concerning Oduduwa seems to be more tenable.
3. Oduduwa’s descent from heaven – The Ife’s have been totally embarrassed by the invectives thrown on them by the Binis in their I claim that Oduduwa fell from the sky.

Yes! It is true. People can fall from the sky as modern interaction between earthmen and those from other planets have authenticated, and this can be displayed both in mythology and in real hardcore science in many parts of the world. The story of Ezekiel in the bible, the story of the Dogon mystic tribe of Mali are cases in point.

Then, some Yoruba ancestors would have been some of the Umales (aborigines) using their Umale-Olunas (spaceships) to travel across the universe, as this can still be sighted in Yoruba land today.
4. The huge bodies of water which the Bini and Yoruba mythologies claim their ancestors landed, would have been one of two waters (1) the Atlantic ocean, the home of Umale-Okun at the coastal flanks of Yoruba land , or the Mediterranean which was the biggest body of water known to the ancient Negro Egyptians.

BINI AND EASTERN YORUBA HISTORICAL LINKAGES
- The Monarchies

There are areas where the eastern Yorubas and the Binis have a lot of historical linkages. It is an indisputable fact that the founder of the present Itsekiri dynasty was Ginuwa, the first son of Oba Olua of Benin. The Binis ruled over most parts of Ondo state: Akure and Ode-Ondo, to be more specific. They even established dynasties in some of these places, including Owo. There are a lot of titles that the Eastern Yorubas derived from the Binis. Those titles include: Ologbotsere, Iyatsere, Otsodin, Olisan (Oliha) etc. There are also many areas where the Binis are indebted to the Eastern Yorubas. Many of these have not been given prominence by historians. But the more we delve into History, the more we are convinced of Binis indebtedness to the Yorubas, particularly the Itsekiri-yorubas. Some of this indebtedness are the Bini religious discourse, the conquest of Lagos, the manufacture of salt etc.

THE CONQUEST OF LAGOS
On face value, the Lagos conquest seemed to have been done by the Binis. Many authorities however, agree that it is the Itsekiri of Warri that served in the Navy that attacked Lagos. The assertion is likely to be true because of the following (1) The Binis are not watermen and could not easily travel on the lagoons to Lagos. (2) The name ‘Olu’ is common among Lagos Obas eg. The Olu of Ikeja, the Olu Eko of Eko (Eleko) etc. The name ‘Olu’ is Itsekiri or Oyo-yoruba and not Edo or Bini (3) The Eyo masquerade attire and dance style is similar to that of Awankere of Warri. It is true that the Eyo masquerade originated in Ijebu, but the attire is purely of Warri origin. This will authenticate a not-too-popular Okere(Warri) legend, that it was the descendants of Ekpen that accompanied Orhogbua (Osogbua) to conquer Lagos. .

. Also, the drums used by the Awori people bear striking resemblance to the Itsekiri drums, but bear no resemblance to the Bini drums. In summary, the material culture of the Aworis is far more akin to the Itsekiri than to the Binis.

Now hear the authorities: Captain Leonard says; “Of the Jekri (Itsekiri) also there is much more definite, although to a certain extent contradictory evidence. According to one account, they are said to be closely connected with the Yoruba, the Warri kingdom having extended to and embraced Lagos as well as some of the surrounding territories to this day (1906), in fact, Jekri inhabit the strip of country, along the coast from the Benin river westward to Lagos” This might be due to the fact that Itsekiri held most of the trading posts along the coast when Leonard was writing.

Captain Leonard in another section of his work says: “And from all accounts, it is more than possible, if not evident that the army of warriors who founded Lagos proceeded in reality from Warri, but doubtless by the command of the king of Benin”.

.

Corroborating Leonard and Nirven that the Itsekiri aristocracy has at least some politico-economic interests in Lagos, H. Ling Roth says “Such corals as the Binis had, were obtained through Jekri traders either from the Benin River or Lagos”.

ORIGIN OF BINI BEADS

The Itsekiri have always claimed that beads started with them and that the Binis got their beads from them. Settlements such as Omadino, Inorin, Ureju and Korobe area of the Warri kingdom are the ancient Itsekiri settlements with the bead industry.

The people of Ureju and Korobe in Koko claimed to have given Ogboruware (Ewuare), probably a usurper to the Bini throne, beads for the first time. There is a legend among the Korobes, that Ogboruware (Ewuare), had his swelling disease as a result of an affliction placed on him by Korobe, a legendary spiritual woman. Now hear the authorities:

H Ling Roth says

According to Bold, coral beads, “are the intrinsic treasures of the rich, being held in highest estimation and from their rarity, are only in the hands of a few chiefs, whose avidity for them is immeasurable, the species admired are the pipe beads of various dimensions and are valued at ten large jars of oil an ounce, of the smaller sort, and so on in the proportion for the larger sized”. Mr. Punch informs me that “as a matter of fact, the king of Benin had few, if any of the large coral beads such as Nanna, Dore, Dudu and Jekri chiefs obtained from the merchants in the Benin River. His coral was insignificant pipe agate and was only significant when made up into vests and hats. The Benin value more the agate beads and especially the dull agate was a king’s gift and no one could wear such a necklet unless it was given to him by the king. It was death in fact, to wear it otherwise. The shiny crystalline agate, with white quartz, anyone could wear. Such corals as the Binis had were obtained through Jeiri traders, either from the Benin river or Lagos. The Binis said it was dug up at the back of Benin but everything in the days I am speaking 14 – 15 years ago (from 1898) which was at all mysterious came from the back of Benin .

Eve de Negri says,

“This coral was first discovered (so it is told) during the fifteenth century in the reign of Oba Ewuare. This type of coral was obtained from a tree, growing on the sandy bank of the Benin River”.

PC llyod also commented that Itsekiri legends claim that their ancestors, the Umales, got the blue corals from particular trees that were growing in the Jekri country.

from the above quotations, it is evident that the Benin got their beads from the Itsekiri, and the Itsekiri legends that they gave beads to Oba Ogboruware (Eware), has to be positively examined by scientific historians.

BINIS LEARNT ABOUT SALT FROM THE ITSEKIRI
The Binis are land-bound people and they know very little about salt. Itsekiri legends testify that they gave salt to Binis for the first time

The Itsekiri are known as the manufacturers of salt,  Alagoa, H Ling Roth, and Obaro Ikime, agree to this position. H. Ling reports,

“According to Roupel’s officials, king Osogbua (Orhogbua) is credited with discovering salt in the Jekiri country”. Pg. 142.H Ling Roth Great Benin

It is now factual that Orhogba discovered salt when he came to the Jekiri (Itsekiri) country to seek the assistance of the Itsekiri navy in order to attack Lagos. In 1818 they also sought the assistance of Kaye, an Itsekiri mystic-warrior in order to attack Akure. He was given Ologbo some 25 kilometres south of Benin city.

The itsekiri were the major salt producers in the Niger delta area. On this hear Alagoa: “the itsekiri supplied clay pots to to such Ijo communities as the Gbaramatu and Bassan, and and also sold salt to traders from eastern delta who took it up the Niger………Other Ijo exchanged dried fish and salt ,which was manufactured by the Itsekiri ,with the Urhobo ,Isoko and Igbo groups along the periphery of the Niger Delta and along the Lower Niger” (Alagoa 1989:729)

WATER RELIGION OF THE BINIS

The cult of Olokun (the water religion) of the Binis seems to be purely alien. This is due to the following reasons: (1) the Binis are a land based people. Their main occupations are; farming, hunting and sculpture. So it will be unthinkable for the Binis to have a water religion as a major cult. (2) If a water religion exists among the Binis, and it has become prominent, the Binis might have copied from one of their riverine neighbors (3) these neighbours are the Ijaws, the Itsekiris, the Ilajes, and more distant neighbours being, the Asabas, the Onitshas, the Afenmai or Igala people around the river Niger.

The Afenmais and the Igalas seem too distant from Benin to have a good influence on them. The Asabas and the Onitshas, also, seem to be too far away form Benin. Minus that, they don’t seem to have any serious water cult to influence the Binis to have a viable water religion.

Thus, the Bini (a land locked people) must have had their water religion from the Ijaws, the Itsekiris or the Ilajes. The Bini religious discourse has nothing to do with the Ijaws. Besides that, the Ijaws that are the immediate neighbours of the Binis did not have any significant civilization. These Ijaw neighbours are the Egbemas, the Arogbos, the Apois–now Yoruba-speaking–the Ogbe-Ijohs, the Isabas, the Gbaramatus, the Ogulaghas, the Oburutus, and the Meins. No significant civilization or kingdom has emerged from these Ijaw clans. E.J Alagoa asserted that most of these Ijaws did not arrive their area by 1500, which is quite recent according to historical chronology. The cases settled in the Supreme Court between the Ijaws and the Itsekiri; place the date of Ijaws coming to these areas at the early 19th century. Now, hear Prof.Alagoa , an Ijaw doyen of history:

“Pereira’s record suggests that those Ijo groups now living west of the Forcados and east of the Bonny had not yet arrived at their present territory by 1500”. Thus, it is unthinkable for the Binis to have copied the water religion from the Ijaws.

The Itsekiri and the Ilajes receive the likelihoodof having given water religion to the Binis for the following reasons:1)The Binis situate the home of Olokun, the god of the sea, in the Atlantic Ocean. Both the Itsekiris and the Ilajes are in the Atlantic coast. (2) The Bini religious discourse shows a strong Yoruba affinity. The name, Olokun, (Olu Okun) is an eastern Yoruba name that can apply to the Itsekiri as well as Ilajes, as eastern Yoruba dialects. The Binis call God Osa, which is the same word that the Itsekiri call father. The other Bini word for God, Oyise, is clearly corruption of the much older Itsekiri name, Oritse. . In the early days of November 2004 , the Bini Monarch invoked an Ilaje deity, Aiyelala, to recover some property that was stolen from the Oba Market in Benin . This will authenticate the Ilaje story of the Binis coming to Ugbo once every year to serve Umaleokun, the water god of the Ugbo Yoruba
H. Ling Roth went further, quoting Burton says:

“Similar to other west Africans, the Bini When drinking,the Binis always pour a few drops upon the ground, muttering the while (Mobia, Malaku Mobia (Mobie, Umalokun, Mobie) – Ibeg, O Malaku (Umale-Okun, fetish guardian of lands and waters 1 beg of thee to defend me against all evil, to defeat and destroy all my foes”. This said, a broken bittock of Kola (stercula acuminata) is thrown upon the ground, and is watered with a few drops of palm wine.” Burton Pg. 281. Mobia (Mobie) is however the Jekiri for “1 beg you : 59.

It is evident that the Bini religious discourse was, and to some extent is, still infiltrated with Itsekiri and Ilaje. This is most evident in the water religion of the Binis.

From the above, we see that some of the most important aspects of the Bini civilization: their bead industry, the cult of Olokun (Olu Okun – King of the sea), their salt industry etc are from the eastern Yoruba land of Itsekiri and to some extent the Ilajes. Apart from this, the Itsekiri warrior, Ikaye, saved the Bini kingdom from being crushed by the Akures. For his settlement Oba Semede gave him Ologbo.
Again when there was leadership dispute between Obaseki and Aigwobasinwin, it was an Itsekiri chief, Dore Numa, who restored the Benin monarchy. He also gave them a lot of beads which the Bini aristocracy has not returned till today. It is therefore unthinkable that Ife, where the Yoruba kingship blossomed, would have copied from Benin. This is most evident when we consider the following facts: (I) The name, Oba (the Edo word for king), is copied from the Yorubas, particularly those from Ife (2) the heads of the Obas of Benin were taken to Ife, until very recently. The place where the heads of the Obas of Benin were buried is still called “Orun Oba Ado”, “the heaven of the kings of Benin”. (3) The Binis normally take permission from the Ooni, to crown new kings. There is no recorded history that the Oonis took permission from the Binis before getting crowned (4) The official language in the court of the Oba of Benin until 1934 was Yoruba. There was no time that Bini language was spoken in Ife. The Portuguese and other Europeans who were in the Bini area for more than 500 years (from 1486 when they got to Benin till 1960.)had no knowledge of Oduduwa being a Bini man.

So, scientifically speaking, the Ife position seems more tenable than that of the Benin. Oral traditions can be fabricated. So, rigorous history of the 21st century must be purely scientific – even if we recourse to oral tradition, they must face scientific testing and not based on moribund oral tradition. Aspects such as linguistic analysis, archaeological discoveries, cultural practices etc, must come into the forefront when reconstructing the history of preliterate peoples like the Binis and the Ifes.
THE EDOS ARE DESCENDED FROM THE IRIGBO OF ODE_ITSEKIRI
In one of their accounts, the Edos claim discent from God himself, who they say is the grand father of Iso (Sky) who in turn is the grand father of Idu, ancestor of the Binis. One of the brothers of Idu called. Olukumi (the Yorubas were first called Olukumi, today a tribe called olukumi, speaking a language very similar to Itsekiri-Yoruba, and the legends claim they all descended from Egypt, are to be found in parts of Edo and Delta States) lived with him in Uhe (Ife) before they left to found Benin. Michael Crowder: “The story of Nigeria”, Page 63.

The word Olukumi in Itsekiri, means a friend of mine. The word Olukumi, rather than Ore is still used in Ife is evident that Idu and his brothers left to Ile-Ife, after the southward migration of the Yorubas to Ode-Itsekiri and thence to Ile-ife. This is why the story of a watery terrain remains in the tradition of the Binis and the Ifes who are located very far from the Atlantic coast. The vast expanse of water, where the ancestors of the Binis and the find themselves is no other place than the Itsekiri territory of the Atlantic coast.

At a time, the powerful Bini kingdom was paying tax to the Olu of Warri when the yoke of imperialism crumbled the once great kingdom of the Guinea. Concerning this issue Michael Crowder says:

“With the decline of Ughoton
the Benin had to use theports of the Benin river and thus, pay dues to the Olu of Warri in whose territory the ports was located”.17

In conclusion the Itsekiris introduced the following to Benin: salt, beads, and the worship of Umale Okun. The Itsekiri under Dore also helped the Binis to revive their monarchy. "[/b]
http://www.raceandhistory.com/cgi-bin/forum/webbbs_config.pl/noframes/read/2139

I guess the so-called civilization also died with Nigeria after the white man left huh?

WOW at the similarity of egyptian and Yoruba/itsekiri words...

anonymous6: BINIS: THE ODUDUWAN LEGACY

Since the month of May 2004, there has been a raging intellectual battle on the personality of Oduduwa. The Binis claim he was a Bini prince, the Ifes claim otherwise.

This approach will be purely scientific and will be as objective as possible. The following areas: (1) The personality of “Oduduwa” {Ikaladeran?}; (2) archaeological researches; (3) the linguistic linkages; (4) scientific analysis of the myths; and (5) Benin’s historical debt to Oduduwa will be analyzed. (a) The monarchies; (b) the water religion, (c) bead manufacturing (d) salt industry; and (e) the Lagos conquest, will be scientifically analysed.

1. THE PERSONALITY OF “ODUDUWA”

The personality of Ikaladeran; whether he was the man who later became Oduduwa will be scientifically analyzed

In this discourse, Oduduwa is seen as the founder of the Yoruba monarchical system, or at least, a founder of a prominent dynasty in Yoruba history. There must have been many dynasties in Ife, as Ife legends put pre-Oduduwa monarchs at more than ninety.

The personality of Oduduwa has suffered many attacks in recent times. The Binis claim he was a Benin prince (Ekaladerhan), who later became Imadoduwa or Izoduwa, and then Oduduwa. The Igbos claim he was an Igbo man from Nri. Some Igalas claim he hailed from Igala land. The Igalas have many Ifes, and they claim Oduduwa was from one of such Ifes. The Igala language is close enough to the Yoruba, to assert a common origin for both peoples.

The present writers are holding the following positions:
1. The Yorubas are aborigines or autochthonous to their present environment;
2. The monarchical structure seems to be alien. The present writers tend to place the origin of the Yoruba monarchy in ancient Egypt and Nubia. This is because a lot of Egyptian related relics, words and practices can still be discerned among the Yorubas, particularly among the following: Ife (where the Ifa oracle and Yoruba monarchical system blossomed); Ijebu (with some ancient settlements; Ijebu Ode, the seat of the Awujale, Ode, the seat of Lenuwa, in present day Ogun Water side Local Government, Oke-Eri, purported to be the home of the biblical queen of Sheba, called Bilikisu in Ijebu legends), Ugbo, the ancient city of the Ilajes, Idanre (the home of Ogun, the god of iron), all show some similarities and identities in their monarchical and religious authorities.Basil Davidson, Olumide Lucas, Tariqh Sawandi, and even the present Awujale of Ijebu land, have pointed to ancient Egypt or Nubia as the origin of Yoruba monarchical system. All the above have used the similarities or the identities of cultural practices to substantiate their claims.

If the Yorubas left the Egyptian or the Nubian axis, they must have left during turbulent periods of war, economic stagnation or religious persecution. Thus, we shall examine the periods of upheavals in black Egypt and black Nubia; and examine when the Yoruban aristocracy descended from the Nile valley. They may not be one migration, but several migrations and the personality called Oduduwa, must have led one of the various migrations.

The first crop of migrants or southward push of the Egyptians took place about 2000BC – 500BC. The Hyksos invasion (2000-1500BC) caused some of these southward migrations. Many of the black Egyptians seemed to have moved to Yoruba land during this period. .

The second wave of migrations will correspond to what Laoye Sanda, of the department of Public Administration,The Polytechnic,Ibadan refers to as the black Nubian emigrants. The Nubians were black, they occupied present day Sudan, which was an integral part of the Egyptian Empire. The vocabulary, body scarification, and religious discourse resemble those of the Ijebus and more so, the Itsekiri. The 1984 Awujale’s coronation manual will make this manifest. These migrations occurred about 500BC.

A third wave of migration took place between 90BC and 30BC. The present writers feel the personality called Oduduwa, came in that migration trend.

A fourth migration will correspond to the Christian conquest of Egypt, about 100AD.

The last wave of migration will correspond to the Arab enforced emigration, between 700AD – 1100AD, when the Arabs had consolidated their control over Egypt; they chased the last batch of traditional worshipping Egyptians from Egypt. This occurrence would have led to many Yoruba claiming that their ancestors were chased from somewhere in the Middle East for not accepting Islam.

The proof of archaeology

There has been a dearth of archaeological researches in Nigeria. Whatever research has been done is not final, for new finds can be found in future.

The most ancient archaeological finds in Nigeria are the following: (1) the relic at Iwo Eleru (with a radio carbon date of about 12,000BC). Iwo Eleru is close to Akure, Ondo State. (2) The findings at Igbo-Ukwu of about 6000BC. (3) The findings at the Mejiro cave near Oyo (about 4000BC). The Nok culture that is more than 1000BC. (4) The Oke-Eri walls and graves purported to be more than a thousand years. The walls are reputed to be the biggest in the world, but for the walls of China. (5) The bronze heads at Ife about 1000AD. (6) The bronze heads at Benin about 1400AD. This might authenticate the Ife claim that the Binis got the civilization of bronze casting from the Ifes. Both the Binis and the Ifes claim that Igueghae was the one who taught the Binis how to cast bronze, during the reign of the Oba Oguola, fourth king from Eweka, the son of Oramiyan, a distant descendant of Oduduwa from Ife.

THE LINGUISTIC LINKAGES

According to the studies of philology and etymology, most of the languages in Nigeria in the Kwa group of languages have a meeting point. The Yorubas and Idoma separated some six thousand years ago; while the Yoruba and Igalas separated about 2 thousand years ago; two thousand years ago corresponds to the time that the Yoruba dialects: Ekiti, Ijebu, Oyo, Itsekiri, Ilaje, Ikale etc started having distinct dialectical identities.

Linguistic studies have indicated that Yorubas in the Eastern Flanks of the Yoruba nation; Ekiti, Yagba, Kabba, Owo, Ijebu, Itsekiri and to some extent the Ifes, speak the most ancient Yoruba dialects. Glottochronological studies have shown that the dialects in the south east are more ancient than those of central Yoruba land and western Yoruba land. The table displays it further still.

A table showing east to west ancientness of the Yoruboid languages.

ENGLISH ITSEKIRI YORUBA OYO – YORUBA
RESPECT OGHO OWO
MONEY OGHO OWO
LOOK GHO WO
SAY GIN WI
FORBID GHO( r ) WO( r )
THEM AGHAN AWON

The table shows that the Itsekiri dialect retains the more ancient “gh” or “g” guttural sound to the more liquid “w” of the Oyos.

If it is taken that the Yoruban ruling class came from Egypt, the southern Yoruba block, particularly the Itsekiri, would have served as an initial stopping point and a secondary course of dispersal. The table displays it further still

EGYPTIAN ITSEKIRI-YORUBA OYO-YORUBA
ADUMU (Water god) ADUMU (Water god) ADAMU (A god)
Kuku (Darkness) Okuku (Darkness) Ouku (Darkness)
Dudu (Black Image of Osiris) Dudu (black ) Dudu ( black )
Omi (Water) Omi (Water) Omi (Water)
Heket-Re (Frog god) Ekere (Frog) Akere (Frog)
Horise (Sky god) Orise (Sky god) Orisa (A god)
Hika (Evil) Ika (Evil) Ika (Evil)
Shu (Evil god) Eshu (Evil god) Eshu (Evil god)
Co-opted from 500 word-word correlation between, Yoruba and Egyptian languages .

From the above, it means that the eastern Yoruba blocs such as the Itsekiri, Ilaje, Ijebu and the Owo are more cognate with the Egyptian than those of Oyo or Ife. .

The Awujale has testified that the Itsekiri are speaking the original Ijebu dialect. . This is why Bolaji Idowu derived the origin of Oritse to the Itsekiri-Owo axis within the eastern Yoruba kingdoms,

It is proper here to state that the word “Orise” is almost cognate with the Egyptian, Horise. Both deities represent very high gods, Both deities were first water divinities before they became sky or heavenly divinities. Both words are derived from identical etymological origins. Hori(Ori) means head in both places. “Se”, means a source in both places. Thus both words mean a source of creation in both places. This type of linguistic similarity or identity cannot have arisen by mere accident - there was a concrete historical intercourse. The Binis call God Oyisa, a corruption of the eastern Yoruba form. This is certain because the Binis cannot derive the meaning of Oyisa by breaking the word into morphemes as the Yoruba can display, or draw up any identity with ancient Egypt.

A SCIENTIFIC ANALYSIS OF THE MYTHS

1. Oduduwa – The myth of Oduduwa seems to be valid. Minus the fact that many Yoruba claim descent from Oduduwa, some Urhobos and even Ijaws also claim descent from Oduduwa.
2. Ekaladerhan – This name exists in very little, if at all it exists, in the oral tradition of any of the Bini neighbors. There has been no relevant oral tradition among any of the circumjacent peoples that can recognize Ekaladerhan or identify him as Oduduwa. So, the Ife claim concerning Oduduwa seems to be more tenable.
3. Oduduwa’s descent from heaven – The Ife’s have been totally embarrassed by the invectives thrown on them by the Binis in their I claim that Oduduwa fell from the sky.

Yes! It is true. People can fall from the sky as modern interaction between earthmen and those from other planets have authenticated, and this can be displayed both in mythology and in real hardcore science in many parts of the world. The story of Ezekiel in the bible, the story of the Dogon mystic tribe of Mali are cases in point.

Then, some Yoruba ancestors would have been some of the Umales (aborigines) using their Umale-Olunas (spaceships) to travel across the universe, as this can still be sighted in Yoruba land today.
4. The huge bodies of water which the Bini and Yoruba mythologies claim their ancestors landed, would have been one of two waters (1) the Atlantic ocean, the home of Umale-Okun at the coastal flanks of Yoruba land , or the Mediterranean which was the biggest body of water known to the ancient Negro Egyptians.

BINI AND EASTERN YORUBA HISTORICAL LINKAGES
- The Monarchies

There are areas where the eastern Yorubas and the Binis have a lot of historical linkages. It is an indisputable fact that the founder of the present Itsekiri dynasty was Ginuwa, the first son of Oba Olua of Benin. The Binis ruled over most parts of Ondo state: Akure and Ode-Ondo, to be more specific. They even established dynasties in some of these places, including Owo. There are a lot of titles that the Eastern Yorubas derived from the Binis. Those titles include: Ologbotsere, Iyatsere, Otsodin, Olisan (Oliha) etc. There are also many areas where the Binis are indebted to the Eastern Yorubas. Many of these have not been given prominence by historians. But the more we delve into History, the more we are convinced of Binis indebtedness to the Yorubas, particularly the Itsekiri-yorubas. Some of this indebtedness are the Bini religious discourse, the conquest of Lagos, the manufacture of salt etc.

THE CONQUEST OF LAGOS
On face value, the Lagos conquest seemed to have been done by the Binis. Many authorities however, agree that it is the Itsekiri of Warri that served in the Navy that attacked Lagos. The assertion is likely to be true because of the following (1) The Binis are not watermen and could not easily travel on the lagoons to Lagos. (2) The name ‘Olu’ is common among Lagos Obas eg. The Olu of Ikeja, the Olu Eko of Eko (Eleko) etc. The name ‘Olu’ is Itsekiri or Oyo-yoruba and not Edo or Bini (3) The Eyo masquerade attire and dance style is similar to that of Awankere of Warri. It is true that the Eyo masquerade originated in Ijebu, but the attire is purely of Warri origin. This will authenticate a not-too-popular Okere(Warri) legend, that it was the descendants of Ekpen that accompanied Orhogbua (Osogbua) to conquer Lagos. .

. Also, the drums used by the Awori people bear striking resemblance to the Itsekiri drums, but bear no resemblance to the Bini drums. In summary, the material culture of the Aworis is far more akin to the Itsekiri than to the Binis.

Now hear the authorities: Captain Leonard says; “Of the Jekri (Itsekiri) also there is much more definite, although to a certain extent contradictory evidence. According to one account, they are said to be closely connected with the Yoruba, the Warri kingdom having extended to and embraced Lagos as well as some of the surrounding territories to this day (1906), in fact, Jekri inhabit the strip of country, along the coast from the Benin river westward to Lagos” This might be due to the fact that Itsekiri held most of the trading posts along the coast when Leonard was writing.

Captain Leonard in another section of his work says: “And from all accounts, it is more than possible, if not evident that the army of warriors who founded Lagos proceeded in reality from Warri, but doubtless by the command of the king of Benin”.

.

Corroborating Leonard and Nirven that the Itsekiri aristocracy has at least some politico-economic interests in Lagos, H. Ling Roth says “Such corals as the Binis had, were obtained through Jekri traders either from the Benin River or Lagos”.

ORIGIN OF BINI BEADS

The Itsekiri have always claimed that beads started with them and that the Binis got their beads from them. Settlements such as Omadino, Inorin, Ureju and Korobe area of the Warri kingdom are the ancient Itsekiri settlements with the bead industry.

The people of Ureju and Korobe in Koko claimed to have given Ogboruware (Ewuare), probably a usurper to the Bini throne, beads for the first time. There is a legend among the Korobes, that Ogboruware (Ewuare), had his swelling disease as a result of an affliction placed on him by Korobe, a legendary spiritual woman. Now hear the authorities:

H Ling Roth says

According to Bold, coral beads, “are the intrinsic treasures of the rich, being held in highest estimation and from their rarity, are only in the hands of a few chiefs, whose avidity for them is immeasurable, the species admired are the pipe beads of various dimensions and are valued at ten large jars of oil an ounce, of the smaller sort, and so on in the proportion for the larger sized”. Mr. Punch informs me that “as a matter of fact, the king of Benin had few, if any of the large coral beads such as Nanna, Dore, Dudu and Jekri chiefs obtained from the merchants in the Benin River. His coral was insignificant pipe agate and was only significant when made up into vests and hats. The Benin value more the agate beads and especially the dull agate was a king’s gift and no one could wear such a necklet unless it was given to him by the king. It was death in fact, to wear it otherwise. The shiny crystalline agate, with white quartz, anyone could wear. Such corals as the Binis had were obtained through Jeiri traders, either from the Benin river or Lagos. The Binis said it was dug up at the back of Benin but everything in the days I am speaking 14 – 15 years ago (from 189cool which was at all mysterious came from the back of Benin .

Eve de Negri says,

“This coral was first discovered (so it is told) during the fifteenth century in the reign of Oba Ewuare. This type of coral was obtained from a tree, growing on the sandy bank of the Benin River”.

PC llyod also commented that Itsekiri legends claim that their ancestors, the Umales, got the blue corals from particular trees that were growing in the Jekri country.

from the above quotations, it is evident that the Benin got their beads from the Itsekiri, and the Itsekiri legends that they gave beads to Oba Ogboruware (Eware), has to be positively examined by scientific historians.

BINIS LEARNT ABOUT SALT FROM THE ITSEKIRI
The Binis are land-bound people and they know very little about salt. Itsekiri legends testify that they gave salt to Binis for the first time

The Itsekiri are known as the manufacturers of salt, Alagoa, H Ling Roth, and Obaro Ikime, agree to this position. H. Ling reports,

“According to Roupel’s officials, king Osogbua (Orhogbua) is credited with discovering salt in the Jekiri country”. Pg. 142.H Ling Roth Great Benin

It is now factual that Orhogba discovered salt when he came to the Jekiri (Itsekiri) country to seek the assistance of the Itsekiri navy in order to attack Lagos. In 1818 they also sought the assistance of Kaye, an Itsekiri mystic-warrior in order to attack Akure. He was given Ologbo some 25 kilometres south of Benin city.

The itsekiri were the major salt producers in the Niger delta area. On this hear Alagoa: “the itsekiri supplied clay pots to to such Ijo communities as the Gbaramatu and Bassan, and and also sold salt to traders from eastern delta who took it up the Niger………Other Ijo exchanged dried fish and salt ,which was manufactured by the Itsekiri ,with the Urhobo ,Isoko and Igbo groups along the periphery of the Niger Delta and along the Lower Niger” (Alagoa 1989:729)

WATER RELIGION OF THE BINIS

The cult of Olokun (the water religion) of the Binis seems to be purely alien. This is due to the following reasons: (1) the Binis are a land based people. Their main occupations are; farming, hunting and sculpture. So it will be unthinkable for the Binis to have a water religion as a major cult. (2) If a water religion exists among the Binis, and it has become prominent, the Binis might have copied from one of their riverine neighbors (3) these neighbours are the Ijaws, the Itsekiris, the Ilajes, and more distant neighbours being, the Asabas, the Onitshas, the Afenmai or Igala people around the river Niger.

The Afenmais and the Igalas seem too distant from Benin to have a good influence on them. The Asabas and the Onitshas, also, seem to be too far away form Benin. Minus that, they don’t seem to have any serious water cult to influence the Binis to have a viable water religion.

Thus, the Bini (a land locked people) must have had their water religion from the Ijaws, the Itsekiris or the Ilajes. The Bini religious discourse has nothing to do with the Ijaws. Besides that, the Ijaws that are the immediate neighbours of the Binis did not have any significant civilization. These Ijaw neighbours are the Egbemas, the Arogbos, the Apois–now Yoruba-speaking–the Ogbe-Ijohs, the Isabas, the Gbaramatus, the Ogulaghas, the Oburutus, and the Meins. No significant civilization or kingdom has emerged from these Ijaw clans. E.J Alagoa asserted that most of these Ijaws did not arrive their area by 1500, which is quite recent according to historical chronology. The cases settled in the Supreme Court between the Ijaws and the Itsekiri; place the date of Ijaws coming to these areas at the early 19th century. Now, hear Prof.Alagoa , an Ijaw doyen of history:

“Pereira’s record suggests that those Ijo groups now living west of the Forcados and east of the Bonny had not yet arrived at their present territory by 1500”. Thus, it is unthinkable for the Binis to have copied the water religion from the Ijaws.

The Itsekiri and the Ilajes receive the likelihoodof having given water religion to the Binis for the following reasons:1)The Binis situate the home of Olokun, the god of the sea, in the Atlantic Ocean. Both the Itsekiris and the Ilajes are in the Atlantic coast. (2) The Bini religious discourse shows a strong Yoruba affinity. The name, Olokun, (Olu Okun) is an eastern Yoruba name that can apply to the Itsekiri as well as Ilajes, as eastern Yoruba dialects. The Binis call God Osa, which is the same word that the Itsekiri call father. The other Bini word for God, Oyise, is clearly corruption of the much older Itsekiri name, Oritse. . In the early days of November 2004 , the Bini Monarch invoked an Ilaje deity, Aiyelala, to recover some property that was stolen from the Oba Market in Benin . This will authenticate the Ilaje story of the Binis coming to Ugbo once every year to serve Umaleokun, the water god of the Ugbo Yoruba
H. Ling Roth went further, quoting Burton says:

“Similar to other west Africans, the Bini When drinking,the Binis always pour a few drops upon the ground, muttering the while (Mobia, Malaku Mobia (Mobie, Umalokun, Mobie) – Ibeg, O Malaku (Umale-Okun, fetish guardian of lands and waters 1 beg of thee to defend me against all evil, to defeat and destroy all my foes”. This said, a broken bittock of Kola (stercula acuminata) is thrown upon the ground, and is watered with a few drops of palm wine.” Burton Pg. 281. Mobia (Mobie) is however the Jekiri for “1 beg you : 59.

It is evident that the Bini religious discourse was, and to some extent is, still infiltrated with Itsekiri and Ilaje. This is most evident in the water religion of the Binis.

From the above, we see that some of the most important aspects of the Bini civilization: their bead industry, the cult of Olokun (Olu Okun – King of the sea), their salt industry etc are from the eastern Yoruba land of Itsekiri and to some extent the Ilajes. Apart from this, the Itsekiri warrior, Ikaye, saved the Bini kingdom from being crushed by the Akures. For his settlement Oba Semede gave him Ologbo.
Again when there was leadership dispute between Obaseki and Aigwobasinwin, it was an Itsekiri chief, Dore Numa, who restored the Benin monarchy. He also gave them a lot of beads which the Bini aristocracy has not returned till today. It is therefore unthinkable that Ife, where the Yoruba kingship blossomed, would have copied from Benin. This is most evident when we consider the following facts: (I) The name, Oba (the Edo word for king), is copied from the Yorubas, particularly those from Ife (2) the heads of the Obas of Benin were taken to Ife, until very recently. The place where the heads of the Obas of Benin were buried is still called “Orun Oba Ado”, “the heaven of the kings of Benin”. (3) The Binis normally take permission from the Ooni, to crown new kings. There is no recorded history that the Oonis took permission from the Binis before getting crowned (4) The official language in the court of the Oba of Benin until 1934 was Yoruba. There was no time that Bini language was spoken in Ife. The Portuguese and other Europeans who were in the Bini area for more than 500 years (from 1486 when they got to Benin till 1960.)had no knowledge of Oduduwa being a Bini man.

So, scientifically speaking, the Ife position seems more tenable than that of the Benin. Oral traditions can be fabricated. So, rigorous history of the 21st century must be purely scientific – even if we recourse to oral tradition, they must face scientific testing and not based on moribund oral tradition. Aspects such as linguistic analysis, archaeological discoveries, cultural practices etc, must come into the forefront when reconstructing the history of preliterate peoples like the Binis and the Ifes.
THE EDOS ARE DESCENDED FROM THE IRIGBO OF ODE_ITSEKIRI
In one of their accounts, the Edos claim discent from God himself, who they say is the grand father of Iso (Sky) who in turn is the grand father of Idu, ancestor of the Binis. One of the brothers of Idu called. Olukumi (the Yorubas were first called Olukumi, today a tribe called olukumi, speaking a language very similar to Itsekiri-Yoruba, and the legends claim they all descended from Egypt, are to be found in parts of Edo and Delta States) lived with him in Uhe (Ife) before they left to found Benin. Michael Crowder: “The story of Nigeria”, Page 63.

The word Olukumi in Itsekiri, means a friend of mine. The word Olukumi, rather than Ore is still used in Ife is evident that Idu and his brothers left to Ile-Ife, after the southward migration of the Yorubas to Ode-Itsekiri and thence to Ile-ife. This is why the story of a watery terrain remains in the tradition of the Binis and the Ifes who are located very far from the Atlantic coast. The vast expanse of water, where the ancestors of the Binis and the find themselves is no other place than the Itsekiri territory of the Atlantic coast.

At a time, the powerful Bini kingdom was paying tax to the Olu of Warri when the yoke of imperialism crumbled the once great kingdom of the Guinea. Concerning this issue Michael Crowder says:

“With the decline of Ughoton
the Benin had to use theports of the Benin river and thus, pay dues to the Olu of Warri in whose territory the ports was located”.17

In conclusion the Itsekiris introduced the following to Benin: salt, beads, and the worship of Umale Okun. The Itsekiri under Dore also helped the Binis to revive their monarchy. "
http://www.raceandhistory.com/cgi-bin/forum/webbbs_config.pl/noframes/read/2139

Who wrote this nonsense?

Benin payed tax to Warri?

The Itsekiri conquered Lagos?

The Edo got beads from the Itsekiri?

The Edo are descended from some Itsekiri clan?

Dore Numa restored the Benin monarchy?

The language of the Benin court was Yoruba? The heads of the kings of Benin were buried in Ife?

The Binis call God Oyisa?

Urhobos claim descent from Oduduwa?

This is some heavy propaganda.

I'm sorry but this is getting pathetic. Una for wonder why Afrocentrics are made fun of rather than people admiring them. The whole thread screams propaganda but really
Why try your darnest to connect to Egypt eeh? especially since there hasn't been any anthropological evidence to support it.

Finally, it is sinking in that all the glory and acceptance Africans are looking for claiming they belong to other continents, other people, they are from Egypt or Israel are symtons of inferiority complex.

Civilization and its spread started right here at home and not far from home in Nigeria. I hope more studies will be done on Iwo Eleru 10,000 years before Christ and Nigerians and their neighbors will realize they are one and the same people only cultured by their different environment.

anonymous6: I have heard about the Yoruba and Egyptian connection; and I believe it because it has been said in the beginning of Africa many tribes migrated from some where else originally; they say the first humans in Africa were from the east of north east of Africa before different groups started to spread around to different parts of africa.

well I hope this article will help:

[b]yoruba: the egyptian connection

"THE ODUDUWAN REVOLUTION

In the first chapter, we talked about the aboriginal nature of the Yoruban peoples. In this chapter, we shall talk of a possible migration from ancient Egypt. Many traditions point to a fact that an alien group (Egyptians) immigrated to Yoruba land and mixed with the original population.

Many oral traditions are replete with these stories. The Awujale of Ijebu land has shown that the Ijebus are descended from ancient Nubia (a colony of Egypt). He was able to use the evidence of language, body, scarification, coronation rituals that are similar to Nubians’ etc, to show that the Ijebus are descendants of the Nubians. What the present Awujale claimed for the Ijebus, can be authenticated all over Yoruba land. The Awujale even mentioned (2004) that the Itsekiri (an eastern Yoruba dialect) are speaking the original Ijebu language.

Since the Nubians were descended or colonized by the Egyptians, the Ijebu, and by extension, all Yoruba customs, derived from the Egyptian. Many traditional Yorubas have always claimed Egypt as their place of original abode, and that their monarchical tradition derives from the Egyptians’. Apostle Atigbiofor Atsuliaghan, a high priest of Umale-Okun, and a direct descendant of Orunmila, claimed that the Yorubas left Egypt as a result of a big war that engulfed the whole of Egypt. He said the Egyptian remnants settled in various places, two important places being Ode Itsekiri and Ile-Ife.Chief O.N Rewane says “Oral tradition has it also that when the Yorubas came from South of Egypt they did not go straight to where they now occupy. They settled at Illushi, some at Asaba area – Ebu, Olukumi Ukwunzu while some settled at Ode-Itsekiri,.” (O.N. Rewane Royalty Magazine A PICTORIAL SOUVENIR OF THE BURIAL AND CORONATION OF OLU OF WARRI, WARRI 1987)

Since these oral traditions are passed on by very illiterate people, we can augment whatever is recorded with written sources. Concerning the migration of some of the Yoruban ancestors from the east, Conton says:

The Yoruba of Nigeria are believed by many modern historians to be descended from a people who were living on the banks of the Nile 2,000 years ago, and who were at the time in close contact with the Egyptians and the Jews. Sometime before AD 600, if this belief is correct, this people must have left their fertile lands, for reasons which we can not now discover and have joined in the ceaseless movement of tribes west wards and south-wards across our continent.

We can only guess at the many adventures they and their descendants must have had on their long journey and at the number of generations which passed before they arrived. All we can be certain about is that they were a Negro people (of which ancient Egypt probably had at least one community as we have seen) and that one of the many princely states they founded on their arrival in West Africa…, was Ife.’ Conton WF (1960. 71

Although we agree with Conton that some of the Yoruban ancestors migrated from Egypt, we tend to toe the scientific line of Cheik Anta Diop, that the ancient Egyptians were pure Negroes.

Aderibigbe, an indigenous scholar, also accepts that the Yorubas migrated from Egypt. He says:

“The general trend of these theories, most of them based on Yoruba traditions, is that of a possible origin from “the east”. Some scholars, impressed by the similarities between Yoruba and ancient Egyptian culture – religious observation, works of art, burial and other customs – speak of a possible migration of the ancestors of the Yoruba from the upper Nile (as early as 2000BC – 1000BC) as a result of some upheavals in ancient Egypt”. (AB ADERIBIGBE 1976)

Unlike Conton, Aderibigbe was able to pinpoint a cause for the Yoruban migration – war. Olumide Lucas did a lot of job to show similarities and identities between the ancient Egyptians and the Yoruban peoples. The date that Aderibigbe gave (2000BC – 1000BC) is much earlier than that given by Conton. Aderibigbe’s date corresponds to that of the Hyksos invasion of Egypt 2000-1500BC. On the possible eastern origin of the Yorubas, Tariqh Sawandi says:

“The Yoruba history begins with the migration of an east African population across the trans-African route leading from Mid-Nile river area to the Mid-Niger. Archaeologists, according to M. Omoleya, inform us that the Nigerian region was inhabited more than forty thousand years ago, or as far back as 65,000BC. During this period, the Nok culture occupied the region. The Nok culture was visited by the “Yoruba people”, between 2000BC and 500BC. This group of people was led, according to Yoruba historical accounts by king Oduduwa, who settled peacefully in the already established Ile-Ife, the sacred city of the indigenous Nok people.

This time period is known as the Bronze Age, a time of high civilization of both of these groups. According to Olumide J. Lucas, “the Yoruba, during antiquity, lived in ancient Egypt before migrating to the Atlantic coast”. He uses as demonstration the similarity or identity of languages, religious beliefs, customs and names of persons, places and things. In addition, many ancient papyri discovered by archaeologists point at an Egyptian origin. (Tariqh Sawandi: Yorubic medicine: The Art of divine herbology – online article).

Ademoyega commented that the Ekiti section of the Yorubas must have migrated to their present area around 638AD when the Muslims took over Egypt and forced some of the Yoruba people to migrate to their present area.

So, we see that the Yoruba did not come in one migration, but in many different migrations – in waves. The first possible migration might be connected with the Hyksos invasion. Some words in the Yoruban vocabulary echo the words used in Egypt in predynastic times and in the early dynastic periods. Some Egyptian gods of this period have strong identities with Yoruban deities. For instance, gods such as Adumu (Adumu) Hepi (Ipi) Ausar (Ausa), Horise (Orise), and Sámi (Sámi) Nam (Inama) are present in Yoruba. All these gods existed in the pre-dynastic and early dynastic periods of Egypt. TODAY, AMONG THE ITSEKIRI-YORUBAS ,THESE GODS CAN STILL BE PHYSICALLY SEEN, AT LEAST, ONCE A YEAR! Neighbouring peoples are already initiated into the various gods systems and beliefs in yorubaland.the agban ancestral worship was first organized in Urhoboland during the funeral ceremony of chief Ayomanor of Sapele (1949). The Ipi system was first organized in Urhoboland in March 11, 2005.

We can also see words that existed in the Graeco-Roman period in some of the Yoruban dialects. When the Romans took over Egypt, they infiltrated the Egyptian area with their language. In present Yoruba, we can still find words of Roman descent. For instance, the Yoruba called the palm frond ‘Mariwo’. This word is derived form the Latin Rivus (River). One of the declensions of river is Rivo (by the river).Since the Yoruban possesses no “V”, the word become riwo. Thus, the word “Omariwo” means the child by the river. Some other words like Sangi (blood in Itsekiri-yoruba dialect) thought to have been derived form the Portuguese were actually brought as a result of the Roman Conquest of Egypt. Sangi is blood and the Latin term is Sanguis. Some eastern Yoruba use the term “Ihagi” which is clearly a corruption of the Roman Sanguis. A Christian army in 540AD invaded Egypt and some persons believed to have reached Yoruba land were driven from Egypt.

With the commencement of the Arab period in Egypt, some indigenous Egyptians who never wanted to accept the Islamic religion escaped to present Yoruba land. It was probably in this period that words such as Keferi (Kafri pagan in Arab) infiltrated into the Yoruboid vocabulary.

All said and done, more than fifty percent of the Yoruboid vocabulary of today can be deduced either directly or indirectly from the ancient Egyptian. These are the original ancient Egyptian language devoid of Arab and Latin words that are very few in the Yoruboid vocabulary

It is not really certain when king Oduduwa came from Egypt. He must have come in one of the many migrations. But since the Yoruba religious discourse has a lot of identities with Egyptian, Oduduwa would have left Egypt at a very early period perhaps after the Hyksos invasion of 2000-1500BC ,but not later than 30BC.

Could the Yoruba have migrated from a white Egypt? Far-from the truth!
PROOFS OF EGYPTIAN NEGRONESS

1. Egypt was a part of Africa and therefore should be black
2. The Egyptians believe that Egypt was a colony of Ethiopia, and that the religion was brought to Egypt by King Horus from the south (inner Africa). Thus when the Egyptians died, they buried their corpses with their faces facing the South West (the direction of West Africa, home of the Yoruba)
3. Some West African peoples claim that their ancestors migrated to ancient Egypt. The Yorubas claimed that a mystic-prophet Orunmila (Oritse Udeji among the Itsekiri) migrated to Egypt and established a religion. Archaeology and cross-cultural studies have shown that Negroes migrated from West Africa to ancient Egypt.
4. Anthropologists have discovered, to their dismay, that Egyptian cultural traits: divine kingship, forms of burial, Osirian cult, etc., permeate some parts of Negro Africa.
5. Some deities exist in Egypt and in Negro Africa, such as Adumu, Hepi, Inama, Sami Horise etc.
6. The Greeks referred to the Egyptian as “Hoi Aiguptos”, (black people); the Egyptians referred to themselves as Kam (black in their language.)
7. Melanin test proved that the Egyptians were black.
8. Osteological measurements which are less misleading than craniometry in distinguishing a black man from a white man has proved that the ancient Egyptians belonged to the black race. Lepsius, a German Savant at the end of the nineteenth century, made the studies and his conclusion remains valid. Future studies have not contradicted the “Lepsius canon”, which in broad figures gave the bodily proportion of the ideal Egyptian: short armed and of Negroid or Negrito physical type.
9. Most West African claim Egyptian ancestry. If they are black, their ancient Egyptian ancestors must be black.
10. Ancient paintings on caves and temples in Egypt depict blacks. At first there were only black paintings, in later times, the blacks were shown ruling over whites and yellows (Asians).
11. Ancient statues and carvings found in Upper and Lower Egypt showed black skins, and features.
12. Ancient monuments such as the pyramid have been replicated in other parts of Africa. A typical example is the Warri pyramid recorded in Roth (1671).
13. Language similarities exist between the Egyptians and some groups in west Africa such as the Wolof and particularly more so, the Yorubas ( more then 500 similar words have been discovered bearing identical meanings. See Yoruba is Atlantis by the same authors: to be published).
14. Recent findings of Genetics and Molecular Biology and Linear Analysis have proved the Egyptians were Negroid.
15. The testimony of classical writers such as Plato, Homer, Aristotle, Pythagoras etc., portrays the Egyptians as blacks.
16. the physical photograph of Yuyi of ancient Egypt is Negroid (Barbara Mertz : Red Land ,Black land: 1967)

In order to prove the Egyptians origin of the Greek oracle of Dodona, Herodotus says:

“And when they add that the dove was black, they gave us to understand that the woman was Egyptian”.

The doves mentioned in a text “Epirus” stands for two Egyptian women, reputed to have brought the oracle from Tebu (Thebes)[today there are two Tebus in Yoruba land] in Egypt to establish the oracle of Dodona in Greek and Libya.

Another antiquarian, Lycinus, describing a young Egyptian, mentioned Negroid features. “This boy is not merely black; he has thick lips and his legs are too thin … His hair worn in a plait behind shows that he is not a free man.”

The mention of “black”, “thick lips” and hair worn in plaits behind are totally of African origin. In those days Itsekiri owned slaves (mostly Sobo) were either clean-shaven, or they wore their hair in plaits until they regained freedom. Thus, unknowingly, Lycinus had drawn an identical cultural affinity between the Kamites and the Yorubas.

Marcelinus, a Latin historian writes:

“The men of Egypt are mostly brown or black with a skinny and desiccated look.”

Appolodorus, who lived in the first century before our era, commented on Egypt as Negroes:

“Aiguptos captured the country of the black footed ones and called it Egypt after himself.”

Aristotle – an ancient Greek philosopher, a disciple of Plato – in a naive way showed that the Egyptians were black, hear him:

“Those who are too black are cowards, like for instance the Egyptians and the Ethiopians, but those who are excessively white are also cowards as we can see from the example of women, the complexion of courage is between the two”.

Herodotus, 485-425BC, the father of history, further said concerning the ancient Egyptians:

“It is in fact manifested that the Colchidians are Egyptian by race. Several Egyptians told me that in their opinion that the Colchidians were descendants of the soldiers of Sesostris. I had conjectured as much myself from two pointers, firstly because they have black skins and kinky hair (to tell the truth this proves nothing for other peoples have them too) and secondly more reliably for the reason that alone among mankind, the Egyptians and the Ethiopians have practiced circumcision since time immemorial. The Phoenicians and the Syrians of Palestine themselves admit that they learnt the practice from the Egyptians, while the Syrians in the river Thermodon and the Pathenoise region and their neighbours the Macrons say they learnt it recently from the Colchidians. These are the only races which practice circumcision, and it is observable that they do it in the same way with the Egyptians. As between the Egyptians themselves and the Ethiopians, I can not say which of them taught the other the practice, for among them; it is quite clearly a custom of great contiguity. As to the further strong proof to my belief is that all those Phoenicians trading to Greek cease to treat the pudenda after the Egyptian manner and do not subject their offspring to concussion”.

Herodotus mentioned black skins and kinky hair as features of the Colchidians of being descendants of the Egyptians; he also mentioned the survival of circumcision. It should be noted that Abraham – the Arab patriarch of the Jews – learnt circumcision from Hagar, his Egyptian slave wife, whence the custom spread to the Jews. Herodotus also commented that other peoples (those in inner Africa and the black Sumerians and Canaanites) also had kinky hair.

The towns of ancient Egypt: On (Annu) or Heliopolis, Hermonthis, Dendera, Tebu etc., were developed by Annu, the pre-dynastic blacks of Egypt. Skeletons of the Negro Annu were ubiquitous in ancient Egypt,

Mene, the first pharaoh of the first dynasty, sometimes identified with the God-man Osiris (A black forerunner of Christ) was a Blackman. Zoser, Sesostris, Amenhopis, Khufu, Menthuhotep, Queen Amuses, Nefertari etc., were also all Negroes.

The Egyptian religion and other cultural practices show strong African and more so Yorubic characteristics. These can be seen in the following areas:
1. The lost wax method of brass or bronze making, which was common to both the Yoruba peoples (particular Ife) and the ancient Egyptians.
2. The ritual of initiation
3. Striving to achieve the ultimate in “Good” and truth (summun bonum)
4. The doctrine of transmigration of soul and reincarnation is widely believed in, by both peoples.
5. The concept of the ‘god king’.
6. Aspiration to achieve the great ‘good’ of the gods – ‘wealth health and long life’.
7. The Yorubic regalia, in most cases, are strikingly similar to pharoanic ones.
8. Veneration of the Ram in both places. Among the eastern Yorubas (Itsekiri especially, most of the water deities are depicted as ram following the predynastic and pharoanic patterns).
9. Both peoples answer the theophorous names.

LINGUISTIC SIMILARITIES

Since Ferdinand de Saussure, the surest way to prove a cultural contact between peoples is to adduce linguistic evidence (Ferdinand de Saussure (1972) General HISTORY OF Africa).

One of the largest inhabitants of Egypt were Yoruboid , and it will be expected that a good percentage of their language will be yoruboid ,too. See the table below.

EGYPT YORUBA
1. Wu (rise) Wu (rise)
2. Ausa (Osiris, father of the gods) Ausa (father)
3. Ere (python/ Serpent) Ere (Python / Serpent)
4. Horise (a great god) Orise (a great god)
5. Sen (group of worshippers) Sen ( to worship)
6. Ged (to chant0 Igede (a chant)
7. Ta (sell / offer) Ta (sell/offer)
8. Sueg (a fool) Suegbe (a fool)
9. On ( living person) One ( living person)
10. Kum (a club) Kumo( a club)
11. Enru (fear / terrible) Eru (fear / terrible
12. Kun / qun (brave man) Ekun (title of a brave man)
13. Win (to be) Wino (to be)
14. Odonit (festival) Odon (festival)
15. Ma or mi (to breath) Mi. (to breathe)
16. Tebu (a town) Tebu (a town)
17. Adumu (a water god) Adumu (a water god)
18. Khu (to kill) Ku (die)
19. Rekha (knowledge} Larikha (knowledge)
20 Hika (evil) Ika (evil)
21 Mhebi (humble) Mebi, humble to ones family
22 Sata (perfect) Santan (perfect)
23 Unas (lake of fire) Una (fire)
24 Tan (complete) Tan (complete)
25 Beru (force of emotion) Beru (fear)
26 Em (smell) Emi (smell)
27 Pa (open) Pa (break open)
28 Bi (to become) Bi (to give birth, to become)
29 Hepi (a water god) Ipi (a water god)
30 Sami (water god) Sami (a water god)
31 Osiri (a water god) Oshiri (a water god)
32 Heqet – Re (frog deity) Ekere (the frog)
33 Feh (to go away) Feh (to blow away)
34 Kot (build) Ko (build)
35 Kot (boat) Oko (boat)
36 Omi (water) Omi (water)
37 Ra (time) Ira (time)
38 Oni (title of Osiris) Oni (title of the king of Ife)
39 Budo (dwelling place) Budo (dwelling place)
40 Dudu (black image of Osiris) Dudu (black person)
41 Un (living person) Una (living person)
42 Ra (possess) Ra (possess/buy)
43 Beka (pray/confess) Be or ka (to pray or confess)
44 Po (many) Po (many/cheap)
45 Horuw (head) middle Egyptian Oruwo (head) (Ijebu)
46 Min (a god) Emin (spirit)
47 Ash (invocation) Ashe (invocation)
48 Aru (mouth) Arun (mouth ) Ilaje
49 Do (river) Odo (river)
50 Do (settlement) Udo (settlement)
51 Shekiri (water god) Shekiri (a water god)
52 Bu (a place) Bu ,a place
53 Khepara (beetle Akpakara (beetle)
54 No (a water god Eno (a water god)
55 Ra -Shu (light after darkness Uran-shu (the light of the moon
56 Run-ka (spirit name) Oruko (name)
57 Deb/dib to pierce Dibi (to pierce)
58 Maat (goddess of justice Mate (goddess of justice)
59 Aru (rise) Ru (rise up)
60 Fa (carry) Fa (pull)
61 Kaf (pluck) Ka (pluck)
62 Bu bi (evil place) Bubi (evil place)
63 In- n (negation In-n (negation)
64 Iset (a water god) Ise (a water god)
65 Shabu (watcher) Ashonbo (watcher)
66 Semati (door keeper) Sema (lock/shut the door)
67 Khenti amenti (big words of Osiris Yenti – yenti (big, very big)
68 Ma (to know) Ma (to know)
69 Bebi, a son of osiris) Ube, a god
70 Tchatcha chief (they examined the death to see if they tricked tsatsa (a game of tricks, gambling )
71 Ren( animal foot) Ren (to walk)
72 Ka (rest) Ka (rest/tired)
73 Mu (water) Mu (drink water)
74 Abi (against) Ubi (against / impediment)
75 Reti (to beseech) Retin (to listen)
76 Hir (praise) Yiri (praise)
77 Ta(spread out) Ta (spread out)
78 Kurud (round) Kurudu (round)
79 Ak – male Ako (male)
80 Se – to create Se (to create)
81 Hoo (rejoice) Yo (rejoice)
82 Kamwr (black) Kuru (extremely black
83 Omitjener (deep water) Omijen (deep water)
84 Nen, the primeval water mother) Nene (mother
85 Ta (land) Ita (land junction)
86 Horiwo (head) Oriwo (head)
87 Ro (talk) Ro (to think)
88 Kurubu (round) Kurubu (deep and round)
89 Penka (divide) Kpen (divide)
90 Ma-su (to mould) Ma or su (to mould)
91 Osa (time) Osa (time)
92 Osa (tide) Osa ( tide)
93 Fare (wrap) Fari (wrap)
94 Kom (complete) Kon (complete)
95 Edjo (cobra) Edjo (cobra)
96 Didi (red fruit) Diden (red)
97 Ba (soul) Oba (king) soul of a people
98 Ke (hill) Oke( hill
99 Anubis (evil deity) Onubi (evil person)
100 Kan (one: Middle Egyptian) Okan one)
101 Nam (water god) Inama (water god)

The words above are used to show that most Yoruban words are identical to the ancient Egyptian.

BINIS: THE ODUDUWAN LEGACY

Since the month of May 2004, there has been a raging intellectual battle on the personality of Oduduwa. The Binis claim he was a Bini prince, the Ifes claim otherwise.

This approach will be purely scientific and will be as objective as possible. The following areas: (1) The personality of “Oduduwa” {Ikaladeran?}; (2) archaeological researches; (3) the linguistic linkages; (4) scientific analysis of the myths; and (5) Benin’s historical debt to Oduduwa will be analyzed. (a) The monarchies; (b) the water religion, (c) bead manufacturing (d) salt industry; and (e) the Lagos conquest, will be scientifically analysed.

1. THE PERSONALITY OF “ODUDUWA”

The personality of Ikaladeran; whether he was the man who later became Oduduwa will be scientifically analyzed

In this discourse, Oduduwa is seen as the founder of the Yoruba monarchical system, or at least, a founder of a prominent dynasty in Yoruba history. There must have been many dynasties in Ife, as Ife legends put pre-Oduduwa monarchs at more than ninety.

The personality of Oduduwa has suffered many attacks in recent times. The Binis claim he was a Benin prince (Ekaladerhan), who later became Imadoduwa or Izoduwa, and then Oduduwa. The Igbos claim he was an Igbo man from Nri. Some Igalas claim he hailed from Igala land. The Igalas have many Ifes, and they claim Oduduwa was from one of such Ifes. The Igala language is close enough to the Yoruba, to assert a common origin for both peoples.

The present writers are holding the following positions:
1. The Yorubas are aborigines or autochthonous to their present environment;
2. The monarchical structure seems to be alien. The present writers tend to place the origin of the Yoruba monarchy in ancient Egypt and Nubia. This is because a lot of Egyptian related relics, words and practices can still be discerned among the Yorubas, particularly among the following: Ife (where the Ifa oracle and Yoruba monarchical system blossomed); Ijebu (with some ancient settlements; Ijebu Ode, the seat of the Awujale, Ode, the seat of Lenuwa, in present day Ogun Water side Local Government, Oke-Eri, purported to be the home of the biblical queen of Sheba, called Bilikisu in Ijebu legends), Ugbo, the ancient city of the Ilajes, Idanre (the home of Ogun, the god of iron), all show some similarities and identities in their monarchical and religious authorities.Basil Davidson, Olumide Lucas, Tariqh Sawandi, and even the present Awujale of Ijebu land, have pointed to ancient Egypt or Nubia as the origin of Yoruba monarchical system. All the above have used the similarities or the identities of cultural practices to substantiate their claims.

If the Yorubas left the Egyptian or the Nubian axis, they must have left during turbulent periods of war, economic stagnation or religious persecution. Thus, we shall examine the periods of upheavals in black Egypt and black Nubia; and examine when the Yoruban aristocracy descended from the Nile valley. They may not be one migration, but several migrations and the personality called Oduduwa, must have led one of the various migrations.

The first crop of migrants or southward push of the Egyptians took place about 2000BC – 500BC. The Hyksos invasion (2000-1500BC) caused some of these southward migrations. Many of the black Egyptians seemed to have moved to Yoruba land during this period. .

The second wave of migrations will correspond to what Laoye Sanda, of the department of Public Administration,The Polytechnic,Ibadan refers to as the black Nubian emigrants. The Nubians were black, they occupied present day Sudan, which was an integral part of the Egyptian Empire. The vocabulary, body scarification, and religious discourse resemble those of the Ijebus and more so, the Itsekiri. The 1984 Awujale’s coronation manual will make this manifest. These migrations occurred about 500BC.

A third wave of migration took place between 90BC and 30BC. The present writers feel the personality called Oduduwa, came in that migration trend.

A fourth migration will correspond to the Christian conquest of Egypt, about 100AD.

The last wave of migration will correspond to the Arab enforced emigration, between 700AD – 1100AD, when the Arabs had consolidated their control over Egypt; they chased the last batch of traditional worshipping Egyptians from Egypt. This occurrence would have led to many Yoruba claiming that their ancestors were chased from somewhere in the Middle East for not accepting Islam.

The proof of archaeology

There has been a dearth of archaeological researches in Nigeria. Whatever research has been done is not final, for new finds can be found in future.

The most ancient archaeological finds in Nigeria are the following: (1) the relic at Iwo Eleru (with a radio carbon date of about 12,000BC). Iwo Eleru is close to Akure, Ondo State. (2) The findings at Igbo-Ukwu of about 6000BC. (3) The findings at the Mejiro cave near Oyo (about 4000BC). The Nok culture that is more than 1000BC. (4) The Oke-Eri walls and graves purported to be more than a thousand years. The walls are reputed to be the biggest in the world, but for the walls of China. (5) The bronze heads at Ife about 1000AD. (6) The bronze heads at Benin about 1400AD. This might authenticate the Ife claim that the Binis got the civilization of bronze casting from the Ifes. Both the Binis and the Ifes claim that Igueghae was the one who taught the Binis how to cast bronze, during the reign of the Oba Oguola, fourth king from Eweka, the son of Oramiyan, a distant descendant of Oduduwa from Ife.

THE LINGUISTIC LINKAGES

According to the studies of philology and etymology, most of the languages in Nigeria in the Kwa group of languages have a meeting point. The Yorubas and Idoma separated some six thousand years ago; while the Yoruba and Igalas separated about 2 thousand years ago; two thousand years ago corresponds to the time that the Yoruba dialects: Ekiti, Ijebu, Oyo, Itsekiri, Ilaje, Ikale etc started having distinct dialectical identities.

Linguistic studies have indicated that Yorubas in the Eastern Flanks of the Yoruba nation; Ekiti, Yagba, Kabba, Owo, Ijebu, Itsekiri and to some extent the Ifes, speak the most ancient Yoruba dialects. Glottochronological studies have shown that the dialects in the south east are more ancient than those of central Yoruba land and western Yoruba land. The table displays it further still.

A table showing east to west ancientness of the Yoruboid languages.

ENGLISH ITSEKIRI YORUBA OYO – YORUBA
RESPECT OGHO OWO
MONEY OGHO OWO
LOOK GHO WO
SAY GIN WI
FORBID GHO( r ) WO( r )
THEM AGHAN AWON

The table shows that the Itsekiri dialect retains the more ancient “gh” or “g” guttural sound to the more liquid “w” of the Oyos.

If it is taken that the Yoruban ruling class came from Egypt, the southern Yoruba block, particularly the Itsekiri, would have served as an initial stopping point and a secondary course of dispersal. The table displays it further still

EGYPTIAN ITSEKIRI-YORUBA OYO-YORUBA
ADUMU (Water god) ADUMU (Water god) ADAMU (A god)
Kuku (Darkness) Okuku (Darkness) Ouku (Darkness)
Dudu (Black Image of Osiris) Dudu (black ) Dudu ( black )
Omi (Water) Omi (Water) Omi (Water)
Heket-Re (Frog god) Ekere (Frog) Akere (Frog)
Horise (Sky god) Orise (Sky god) Orisa (A god)
Hika (Evil) Ika (Evil) Ika (Evil)
Shu (Evil god) Eshu (Evil god) Eshu (Evil god)
Co-opted from 500 word-word correlation between, Yoruba and Egyptian languages .

From the above, it means that the eastern Yoruba blocs such as the Itsekiri, Ilaje, Ijebu and the Owo are more cognate with the Egyptian than those of Oyo or Ife. .

The Awujale has testified that the Itsekiri are speaking the original Ijebu dialect. . This is why Bolaji Idowu derived the origin of Oritse to the Itsekiri-Owo axis within the eastern Yoruba kingdoms,

It is proper here to state that the word “Orise” is almost cognate with the Egyptian, Horise. Both deities represent very high gods,  Both deities were first water divinities before they became sky or heavenly divinities. Both words are derived from identical etymological origins. Hori(Ori) means head in both places. “Se”, means a source in both places. Thus both words mean a source of creation in both places. This type of linguistic similarity or identity cannot have arisen by mere accident - there was a concrete historical intercourse. The Binis call God Oyisa, a corruption of the eastern Yoruba form. This is certain because the Binis cannot derive the meaning of Oyisa by breaking the word into morphemes as the Yoruba can display, or draw up any identity with ancient Egypt.

A SCIENTIFIC ANALYSIS OF THE MYTHS

1. Oduduwa – The myth of Oduduwa seems to be valid. Minus the fact that many Yoruba claim descent from Oduduwa, some Urhobos and even Ijaws also claim descent from Oduduwa.
2. Ekaladerhan – This name exists in very little, if at all it exists, in the oral tradition of any of the Bini neighbors. There has been no relevant oral tradition among any of the circumjacent peoples that can recognize Ekaladerhan or identify him as Oduduwa. So, the Ife claim concerning Oduduwa seems to be more tenable.
3. Oduduwa’s descent from heaven – The Ife’s have been totally embarrassed by the invectives thrown on them by the Binis in their I claim that Oduduwa fell from the sky.

Yes! It is true. People can fall from the sky as modern interaction between earthmen and those from other planets have authenticated, and this can be displayed both in mythology and in real hardcore science in many parts of the world. The story of Ezekiel in the bible, the story of the Dogon mystic tribe of Mali are cases in point.

Then, some Yoruba ancestors would have been some of the Umales (aborigines) using their Umale-Olunas (spaceships) to travel across the universe, as this can still be sighted in Yoruba land today.
4. The huge bodies of water which the Bini and Yoruba mythologies claim their ancestors landed, would have been one of two waters (1) the Atlantic ocean, the home of Umale-Okun at the coastal flanks of Yoruba land , or the Mediterranean which was the biggest body of water known to the ancient Negro Egyptians.

BINI AND EASTERN YORUBA HISTORICAL LINKAGES
- The Monarchies

There are areas where the eastern Yorubas and the Binis have a lot of historical linkages. It is an indisputable fact that the founder of the present Itsekiri dynasty was Ginuwa, the first son of Oba Olua of Benin. The Binis ruled over most parts of Ondo state: Akure and Ode-Ondo, to be more specific. They even established dynasties in some of these places, including Owo. There are a lot of titles that the Eastern Yorubas derived from the Binis. Those titles include: Ologbotsere, Iyatsere, Otsodin, Olisan (Oliha) etc. There are also many areas where the Binis are indebted to the Eastern Yorubas. Many of these have not been given prominence by historians. But the more we delve into History, the more we are convinced of Binis indebtedness to the Yorubas, particularly the Itsekiri-yorubas. Some of this indebtedness are the Bini religious discourse, the conquest of Lagos, the manufacture of salt etc.

THE CONQUEST OF LAGOS
On face value, the Lagos conquest seemed to have been done by the Binis. Many authorities however, agree that it is the Itsekiri of Warri that served in the Navy that attacked Lagos. The assertion is likely to be true because of the following (1) The Binis are not watermen and could not easily travel on the lagoons to Lagos. (2) The name ‘Olu’ is common among Lagos Obas eg. The Olu of Ikeja, the Olu Eko of Eko (Eleko) etc. The name ‘Olu’ is Itsekiri or Oyo-yoruba and not Edo or Bini (3) The Eyo masquerade attire and dance style is similar to that of Awankere of Warri. It is true that the Eyo masquerade originated in Ijebu, but the attire is purely of Warri origin. This will authenticate a not-too-popular Okere(Warri) legend, that it was the descendants of Ekpen that accompanied Orhogbua (Osogbua) to conquer Lagos. .

. Also, the drums used by the Awori people bear striking resemblance to the Itsekiri drums, but bear no resemblance to the Bini drums. In summary, the material culture of the Aworis is far more akin to the Itsekiri than to the Binis.

Now hear the authorities: Captain Leonard says; “Of the Jekri (Itsekiri) also there is much more definite, although to a certain extent contradictory evidence. According to one account, they are said to be closely connected with the Yoruba, the Warri kingdom having extended to and embraced Lagos as well as some of the surrounding territories to this day (1906), in fact, Jekri inhabit the strip of country, along the coast from the Benin river westward to Lagos” This might be due to the fact that Itsekiri held most of the trading posts along the coast when Leonard was writing.

Captain Leonard in another section of his work says: “And from all accounts, it is more than possible, if not evident that the army of warriors who founded Lagos proceeded in reality from Warri, but doubtless by the command of the king of Benin”.

.

Corroborating Leonard and Nirven that the Itsekiri aristocracy has at least some politico-economic interests in Lagos, H. Ling Roth says “Such corals as the Binis had, were obtained through Jekri traders either from the Benin River or Lagos”.

ORIGIN OF BINI BEADS

The Itsekiri have always claimed that beads started with them and that the Binis got their beads from them. Settlements such as Omadino, Inorin, Ureju and Korobe area of the Warri kingdom are the ancient Itsekiri settlements with the bead industry.

The people of Ureju and Korobe in Koko claimed to have given Ogboruware (Ewuare), probably a usurper to the Bini throne, beads for the first time. There is a legend among the Korobes, that Ogboruware (Ewuare), had his swelling disease as a result of an affliction placed on him by Korobe, a legendary spiritual woman. Now hear the authorities:

H Ling Roth says

According to Bold, coral beads, “are the intrinsic treasures of the rich, being held in highest estimation and from their rarity, are only in the hands of a few chiefs, whose avidity for them is immeasurable, the species admired are the pipe beads of various dimensions and are valued at ten large jars of oil an ounce, of the smaller sort, and so on in the proportion for the larger sized”. Mr. Punch informs me that “as a matter of fact, the king of Benin had few, if any of the large coral beads such as Nanna, Dore, Dudu and Jekri chiefs obtained from the merchants in the Benin River. His coral was insignificant pipe agate and was only significant when made up into vests and hats. The Benin value more the agate beads and especially the dull agate was a king’s gift and no one could wear such a necklet unless it was given to him by the king. It was death in fact, to wear it otherwise. The shiny crystalline agate, with white quartz, anyone could wear. Such corals as the Binis had were obtained through Jeiri traders, either from the Benin river or Lagos. The Binis said it was dug up at the back of Benin but everything in the days I am speaking 14 – 15 years ago (from 1898) which was at all mysterious came from the back of Benin .

Eve de Negri says,

“This coral was first discovered (so it is told) during the fifteenth century in the reign of Oba Ewuare. This type of coral was obtained from a tree, growing on the sandy bank of the Benin River”.

PC llyod also commented that Itsekiri legends claim that their ancestors, the Umales, got the blue corals from particular trees that were growing in the Jekri country.

from the above quotations, it is evident that the Benin got their beads from the Itsekiri, and the Itsekiri legends that they gave beads to Oba Ogboruware (Eware), has to be positively examined by scientific historians.

BINIS LEARNT ABOUT SALT FROM THE ITSEKIRI
The Binis are land-bound people and they know very little about salt. Itsekiri legends testify that they gave salt to Binis for the first time

The Itsekiri are known as the manufacturers of salt,  Alagoa, H Ling Roth, and Obaro Ikime, agree to this position. H. Ling reports,

“According to Roupel’s officials, king Osogbua (Orhogbua) is credited with discovering salt in the Jekiri country”. Pg. 142.H Ling Roth Great Benin

It is now factual that Orhogba discovered salt when he came to the Jekiri (Itsekiri) country to seek the assistance of the Itsekiri navy in order to attack Lagos. In 1818 they also sought the assistance of Kaye, an Itsekiri mystic-warrior in order to attack Akure. He was given Ologbo some 25 kilometres south of Benin city.

The itsekiri were the major salt producers in the Niger delta area. On this hear Alagoa: “the itsekiri supplied clay pots to to such Ijo communities as the Gbaramatu and Bassan, and and also sold salt to traders from eastern delta who took it up the Niger………Other Ijo exchanged dried fish and salt ,which was manufactured by the Itsekiri ,with the Urhobo ,Isoko and Igbo groups along the periphery of the Niger Delta and along the Lower Niger” (Alagoa 1989:729)

WATER RELIGION OF THE BINIS

The cult of Olokun (the water religion) of the Binis seems to be purely alien. This is due to the following reasons: (1) the Binis are a land based people. Their main occupations are; farming, hunting and sculpture. So it will be unthinkable for the Binis to have a water religion as a major cult. (2) If a water religion exists among the Binis, and it has become prominent, the Binis might have copied from one of their riverine neighbors (3) these neighbours are the Ijaws, the Itsekiris, the Ilajes, and more distant neighbours being, the Asabas, the Onitshas, the Afenmai or Igala people around the river Niger.

The Afenmais and the Igalas seem too distant from Benin to have a good influence on them. The Asabas and the Onitshas, also, seem to be too far away form Benin. Minus that, they don’t seem to have any serious water cult to influence the Binis to have a viable water religion.

Thus, the Bini (a land locked people) must have had their water religion from the Ijaws, the Itsekiris or the Ilajes. The Bini religious discourse has nothing to do with the Ijaws. Besides that, the Ijaws that are the immediate neighbours of the Binis did not have any significant civilization. These Ijaw neighbours are the Egbemas, the Arogbos, the Apois–now Yoruba-speaking–the Ogbe-Ijohs, the Isabas, the Gbaramatus, the Ogulaghas, the Oburutus, and the Meins. No significant civilization or kingdom has emerged from these Ijaw clans. E.J Alagoa asserted that most of these Ijaws did not arrive their area by 1500, which is quite recent according to historical chronology. The cases settled in the Supreme Court between the Ijaws and the Itsekiri; place the date of Ijaws coming to these areas at the early 19th century. Now, hear Prof.Alagoa , an Ijaw doyen of history:

“Pereira’s record suggests that those Ijo groups now living west of the Forcados and east of the Bonny had not yet arrived at their present territory by 1500”. Thus, it is unthinkable for the Binis to have copied the water religion from the Ijaws.

The Itsekiri and the Ilajes receive the likelihoodof having given water religion to the Binis for the following reasons:1)The Binis situate the home of Olokun, the god of the sea, in the Atlantic Ocean. Both the Itsekiris and the Ilajes are in the Atlantic coast. (2) The Bini religious discourse shows a strong Yoruba affinity. The name, Olokun, (Olu Okun) is an eastern Yoruba name that can apply to the Itsekiri as well as Ilajes, as eastern Yoruba dialects. The Binis call God Osa, which is the same word that the Itsekiri call father. The other Bini word for God, Oyise, is clearly corruption of the much older Itsekiri name, Oritse. . In the early days of November 2004 , the Bini Monarch invoked an Ilaje deity, Aiyelala, to recover some property that was stolen from the Oba Market in Benin . This will authenticate the Ilaje story of the Binis coming to Ugbo once every year to serve Umaleokun, the water god of the Ugbo Yoruba
H. Ling Roth went further, quoting Burton says:

“Similar to other west Africans, the Bini When drinking,the Binis always pour a few drops upon the ground, muttering the while (Mobia, Malaku Mobia (Mobie, Umalokun, Mobie) – Ibeg, O Malaku (Umale-Okun, fetish guardian of lands and waters 1 beg of thee to defend me against all evil, to defeat and destroy all my foes”. This said, a broken bittock of Kola (stercula acuminata) is thrown upon the ground, and is watered with a few drops of palm wine.” Burton Pg. 281. Mobia (Mobie) is however the Jekiri for “1 beg you : 59.

It is evident that the Bini religious discourse was, and to some extent is, still infiltrated with Itsekiri and Ilaje. This is most evident in the water religion of the Binis.

From the above, we see that some of the most important aspects of the Bini civilization: their bead industry, the cult of Olokun (Olu Okun – King of the sea), their salt industry etc are from the eastern Yoruba land of Itsekiri and to some extent the Ilajes. Apart from this, the Itsekiri warrior, Ikaye, saved the Bini kingdom from being crushed by the Akures. For his settlement Oba Semede gave him Ologbo.
Again when there was leadership dispute between Obaseki and Aigwobasinwin, it was an Itsekiri chief, Dore Numa, who restored the Benin monarchy. He also gave them a lot of beads which the Bini aristocracy has not returned till today. It is therefore unthinkable that Ife, where the Yoruba kingship blossomed, would have copied from Benin. This is most evident when we consider the following facts: (I) The name, Oba (the Edo word for king), is copied from the Yorubas, particularly those from Ife (2) the heads of the Obas of Benin were taken to Ife, until very recently. The place where the heads of the Obas of Benin were buried is still called “Orun Oba Ado”, “the heaven of the kings of Benin”. (3) The Binis normally take permission from the Ooni, to crown new kings. There is no recorded history that the Oonis took permission from the Binis before getting crowned (4) The official language in the court of the Oba of Benin until 1934 was Yoruba. There was no time that Bini language was spoken in Ife. The Portuguese and other Europeans who were in the Bini area for more than 500 years (from 1486 when they got to Benin till 1960.)had no knowledge of Oduduwa being a Bini man.

So, scientifically speaking, the Ife position seems more tenable than that of the Benin. Oral traditions can be fabricated. So, rigorous history of the 21st century must be purely scientific – even if we recourse to oral tradition, they must face scientific testing and not based on moribund oral tradition. Aspects such as linguistic analysis, archaeological discoveries, cultural practices etc, must come into the forefront when reconstructing the history of preliterate peoples like the Binis and the Ifes.
THE EDOS ARE DESCENDED FROM THE IRIGBO OF ODE_ITSEKIRI
In one of their accounts, the Edos claim discent from God himself, who they say is the grand father of Iso (Sky) who in turn is the grand father of Idu, ancestor of the Binis. One of the brothers of Idu called. Olukumi (the Yorubas were first called Olukumi, today a tribe called olukumi, speaking a language very similar to Itsekiri-Yoruba, and the legends claim they all descended from Egypt, are to be found in parts of Edo and Delta States) lived with him in Uhe (Ife) before they left to found Benin. Michael Crowder: “The story of Nigeria”, Page 63.

The word Olukumi in Itsekiri, means a friend of mine. The word Olukumi, rather than Ore is still used in Ife is evident that Idu and his brothers left to Ile-Ife, after the southward migration of the Yorubas to Ode-Itsekiri and thence to Ile-ife. This is why the story of a watery terrain remains in the tradition of the Binis and the Ifes who are located very far from the Atlantic coast. The vast expanse of water, where the ancestors of the Binis and the find themselves is no other place than the Itsekiri territory of the Atlantic coast.

At a time, the powerful Bini kingdom was paying tax to the Olu of Warri when the yoke of imperialism crumbled the once great kingdom of the Guinea. Concerning this issue Michael Crowder says:

“With the decline of Ughoton
the Benin had to use theports of the Benin river and thus, pay dues to the Olu of Warri in whose territory the ports was located”.17

In conclusion the Itsekiris introduced the following to Benin: salt, beads, and the worship of Umale Okun. The Itsekiri under Dore also helped the Binis to revive their monarchy. "[/b]
http://www.raceandhistory.com/cgi-bin/forum/webbbs_config.pl/noframes/read/2139

anonymous6: I have heard about the Yoruba and Egyptian connection; and I believe it because it has been said in the beginning of Africa many tribes migrated from some where else originally; they say the first humans in Africa were from the east of north east of Africa before different groups started to spread around to different parts of africa.

well I hope this article will help:

[b]yoruba: the egyptian connection

"THE ODUDUWAN REVOLUTION

In the first chapter, we talked about the aboriginal nature of the Yoruban peoples. In this chapter, we shall talk of a possible migration from ancient Egypt. Many traditions point to a fact that an alien group (Egyptians) immigrated to Yoruba land and mixed with the original population.

Many oral traditions are replete with these stories. The Awujale of Ijebu land has shown that the Ijebus are descended from ancient Nubia (a colony of Egypt). He was able to use the evidence of language, body, scarification, coronation rituals that are similar to Nubians’ etc, to show that the Ijebus are descendants of the Nubians. What the present Awujale claimed for the Ijebus, can be authenticated all over Yoruba land. The Awujale even mentioned (2004) that the Itsekiri (an eastern Yoruba dialect) are speaking the original Ijebu language.

Since the Nubians were descended or colonized by the Egyptians, the Ijebu, and by extension, all Yoruba customs, derived from the Egyptian. Many traditional Yorubas have always claimed Egypt as their place of original abode, and that their monarchical tradition derives from the Egyptians’. Apostle Atigbiofor Atsuliaghan, a high priest of Umale-Okun, and a direct descendant of Orunmila, claimed that the Yorubas left Egypt as a result of a big war that engulfed the whole of Egypt. He said the Egyptian remnants settled in various places, two important places being Ode Itsekiri and Ile-Ife.Chief O.N Rewane says “Oral tradition has it also that when the Yorubas came from South of Egypt they did not go straight to where they now occupy. They settled at Illushi, some at Asaba area – Ebu, Olukumi Ukwunzu while some settled at Ode-Itsekiri,.” (O.N. Rewane Royalty Magazine A PICTORIAL SOUVENIR OF THE BURIAL AND CORONATION OF OLU OF WARRI, WARRI 1987)

Since these oral traditions are passed on by very illiterate people, we can augment whatever is recorded with written sources. Concerning the migration of some of the Yoruban ancestors from the east, Conton says:

The Yoruba of Nigeria are believed by many modern historians to be descended from a people who were living on the banks of the Nile 2,000 years ago, and who were at the time in close contact with the Egyptians and the Jews. Sometime before AD 600, if this belief is correct, this people must have left their fertile lands, for reasons which we can not now discover and have joined in the ceaseless movement of tribes west wards and south-wards across our continent.

We can only guess at the many adventures they and their descendants must have had on their long journey and at the number of generations which passed before they arrived. All we can be certain about is that they were a Negro people (of which ancient Egypt probably had at least one community as we have seen) and that one of the many princely states they founded on their arrival in West Africa…, was Ife.’ Conton WF (1960. 71

Although we agree with Conton that some of the Yoruban ancestors migrated from Egypt, we tend to toe the scientific line of Cheik Anta Diop, that the ancient Egyptians were pure Negroes.

Aderibigbe, an indigenous scholar, also accepts that the Yorubas migrated from Egypt. He says:

“The general trend of these theories, most of them based on Yoruba traditions, is that of a possible origin from “the east”. Some scholars, impressed by the similarities between Yoruba and ancient Egyptian culture – religious observation, works of art, burial and other customs – speak of a possible migration of the ancestors of the Yoruba from the upper Nile (as early as 2000BC – 1000BC) as a result of some upheavals in ancient Egypt”. (AB ADERIBIGBE 1976)

Unlike Conton, Aderibigbe was able to pinpoint a cause for the Yoruban migration – war. Olumide Lucas did a lot of job to show similarities and identities between the ancient Egyptians and the Yoruban peoples. The date that Aderibigbe gave (2000BC – 1000BC) is much earlier than that given by Conton. Aderibigbe’s date corresponds to that of the Hyksos invasion of Egypt 2000-1500BC. On the possible eastern origin of the Yorubas, Tariqh Sawandi says:

“The Yoruba history begins with the migration of an east African population across the trans-African route leading from Mid-Nile river area to the Mid-Niger. Archaeologists, according to M. Omoleya, inform us that the Nigerian region was inhabited more than forty thousand years ago, or as far back as 65,000BC. During this period, the Nok culture occupied the region. The Nok culture was visited by the “Yoruba people”, between 2000BC and 500BC. This group of people was led, according to Yoruba historical accounts by king Oduduwa, who settled peacefully in the already established Ile-Ife, the sacred city of the indigenous Nok people.

This time period is known as the Bronze Age, a time of high civilization of both of these groups. According to Olumide J. Lucas, “the Yoruba, during antiquity, lived in ancient Egypt before migrating to the Atlantic coast”. He uses as demonstration the similarity or identity of languages, religious beliefs, customs and names of persons, places and things. In addition, many ancient papyri discovered by archaeologists point at an Egyptian origin. (Tariqh Sawandi: Yorubic medicine: The Art of divine herbology – online article).

Ademoyega commented that the Ekiti section of the Yorubas must have migrated to their present area around 638AD when the Muslims took over Egypt and forced some of the Yoruba people to migrate to their present area.

So, we see that the Yoruba did not come in one migration, but in many different migrations – in waves. The first possible migration might be connected with the Hyksos invasion. Some words in the Yoruban vocabulary echo the words used in Egypt in predynastic times and in the early dynastic periods. Some Egyptian gods of this period have strong identities with Yoruban deities. For instance, gods such as Adumu (Adumu) Hepi (Ipi) Ausar (Ausa), Horise (Orise), and Sámi (Sámi) Nam (Inama) are present in Yoruba. All these gods existed in the pre-dynastic and early dynastic periods of Egypt. TODAY, AMONG THE ITSEKIRI-YORUBAS ,THESE GODS CAN STILL BE PHYSICALLY SEEN, AT LEAST, ONCE A YEAR! Neighbouring peoples are already initiated into the various gods systems and beliefs in yorubaland.the agban ancestral worship was first organized in Urhoboland during the funeral ceremony of chief Ayomanor of Sapele (1949). The Ipi system was first organized in Urhoboland in March 11, 2005.

We can also see words that existed in the Graeco-Roman period in some of the Yoruban dialects. When the Romans took over Egypt, they infiltrated the Egyptian area with their language. In present Yoruba, we can still find words of Roman descent. For instance, the Yoruba called the palm frond ‘Mariwo’. This word is derived form the Latin Rivus (River). One of the declensions of river is Rivo (by the river).Since the Yoruban possesses no “V”, the word become riwo. Thus, the word “Omariwo” means the child by the river. Some other words like Sangi (blood in Itsekiri-yoruba dialect) thought to have been derived form the Portuguese were actually brought as a result of the Roman Conquest of Egypt. Sangi is blood and the Latin term is Sanguis. Some eastern Yoruba use the term “Ihagi” which is clearly a corruption of the Roman Sanguis. A Christian army in 540AD invaded Egypt and some persons believed to have reached Yoruba land were driven from Egypt.

With the commencement of the Arab period in Egypt, some indigenous Egyptians who never wanted to accept the Islamic religion escaped to present Yoruba land. It was probably in this period that words such as Keferi (Kafri pagan in Arab) infiltrated into the Yoruboid vocabulary.

All said and done, more than fifty percent of the Yoruboid vocabulary of today can be deduced either directly or indirectly from the ancient Egyptian. These are the original ancient Egyptian language devoid of Arab and Latin words that are very few in the Yoruboid vocabulary

It is not really certain when king Oduduwa came from Egypt. He must have come in one of the many migrations. But since the Yoruba religious discourse has a lot of identities with Egyptian, Oduduwa would have left Egypt at a very early period perhaps after the Hyksos invasion of 2000-1500BC ,but not later than 30BC.

Could the Yoruba have migrated from a white Egypt? Far-from the truth!
PROOFS OF EGYPTIAN NEGRONESS

1. Egypt was a part of Africa and therefore should be black
2. The Egyptians believe that Egypt was a colony of Ethiopia, and that the religion was brought to Egypt by King Horus from the south (inner Africa). Thus when the Egyptians died, they buried their corpses with their faces facing the South West (the direction of West Africa, home of the Yoruba)
3. Some West African peoples claim that their ancestors migrated to ancient Egypt. The Yorubas claimed that a mystic-prophet Orunmila (Oritse Udeji among the Itsekiri) migrated to Egypt and established a religion. Archaeology and cross-cultural studies have shown that Negroes migrated from West Africa to ancient Egypt.
4. Anthropologists have discovered, to their dismay, that Egyptian cultural traits: divine kingship, forms of burial, Osirian cult, etc., permeate some parts of Negro Africa.
5. Some deities exist in Egypt and in Negro Africa, such as Adumu, Hepi, Inama, Sami Horise etc.
6. The Greeks referred to the Egyptian as “Hoi Aiguptos”, (black people); the Egyptians referred to themselves as Kam (black in their language.)
7. Melanin test proved that the Egyptians were black.
8. Osteological measurements which are less misleading than craniometry in distinguishing a black man from a white man has proved that the ancient Egyptians belonged to the black race. Lepsius, a German Savant at the end of the nineteenth century, made the studies and his conclusion remains valid. Future studies have not contradicted the “Lepsius canon”, which in broad figures gave the bodily proportion of the ideal Egyptian: short armed and of Negroid or Negrito physical type.
9. Most West African claim Egyptian ancestry. If they are black, their ancient Egyptian ancestors must be black.
10. Ancient paintings on caves and temples in Egypt depict blacks. At first there were only black paintings, in later times, the blacks were shown ruling over whites and yellows (Asians).
11. Ancient statues and carvings found in Upper and Lower Egypt showed black skins, and features.
12. Ancient monuments such as the pyramid have been replicated in other parts of Africa. A typical example is the Warri pyramid recorded in Roth (1671).
13. Language similarities exist between the Egyptians and some groups in west Africa such as the Wolof and particularly more so, the Yorubas ( more then 500 similar words have been discovered bearing identical meanings. See Yoruba is Atlantis by the same authors: to be published).
14. Recent findings of Genetics and Molecular Biology and Linear Analysis have proved the Egyptians were Negroid.
15. The testimony of classical writers such as Plato, Homer, Aristotle, Pythagoras etc., portrays the Egyptians as blacks.
16. the physical photograph of Yuyi of ancient Egypt is Negroid (Barbara Mertz : Red Land ,Black land: 1967)

In order to prove the Egyptians origin of the Greek oracle of Dodona, Herodotus says:

“And when they add that the dove was black, they gave us to understand that the woman was Egyptian”.

The doves mentioned in a text “Epirus” stands for two Egyptian women, reputed to have brought the oracle from Tebu (Thebes)[today there are two Tebus in Yoruba land] in Egypt to establish the oracle of Dodona in Greek and Libya.

Another antiquarian, Lycinus, describing a young Egyptian, mentioned Negroid features. “This boy is not merely black; he has thick lips and his legs are too thin … His hair worn in a plait behind shows that he is not a free man.”

The mention of “black”, “thick lips” and hair worn in plaits behind are totally of African origin. In those days Itsekiri owned slaves (mostly Sobo) were either clean-shaven, or they wore their hair in plaits until they regained freedom. Thus, unknowingly, Lycinus had drawn an identical cultural affinity between the Kamites and the Yorubas.

Marcelinus, a Latin historian writes:

“The men of Egypt are mostly brown or black with a skinny and desiccated look.”

Appolodorus, who lived in the first century before our era, commented on Egypt as Negroes:

“Aiguptos captured the country of the black footed ones and called it Egypt after himself.”

Aristotle – an ancient Greek philosopher, a disciple of Plato – in a naive way showed that the Egyptians were black, hear him:

“Those who are too black are cowards, like for instance the Egyptians and the Ethiopians, but those who are excessively white are also cowards as we can see from the example of women, the complexion of courage is between the two”.

Herodotus, 485-425BC, the father of history, further said concerning the ancient Egyptians:

“It is in fact manifested that the Colchidians are Egyptian by race. Several Egyptians told me that in their opinion that the Colchidians were descendants of the soldiers of Sesostris. I had conjectured as much myself from two pointers, firstly because they have black skins and kinky hair (to tell the truth this proves nothing for other peoples have them too) and secondly more reliably for the reason that alone among mankind, the Egyptians and the Ethiopians have practiced circumcision since time immemorial. The Phoenicians and the Syrians of Palestine themselves admit that they learnt the practice from the Egyptians, while the Syrians in the river Thermodon and the Pathenoise region and their neighbours the Macrons say they learnt it recently from the Colchidians. These are the only races which practice circumcision, and it is observable that they do it in the same way with the Egyptians. As between the Egyptians themselves and the Ethiopians, I can not say which of them taught the other the practice, for among them; it is quite clearly a custom of great contiguity. As to the further strong proof to my belief is that all those Phoenicians trading to Greek cease to treat the pudenda after the Egyptian manner and do not subject their offspring to concussion”.

Herodotus mentioned black skins and kinky hair as features of the Colchidians of being descendants of the Egyptians; he also mentioned the survival of circumcision. It should be noted that Abraham – the Arab patriarch of the Jews – learnt circumcision from Hagar, his Egyptian slave wife, whence the custom spread to the Jews. Herodotus also commented that other peoples (those in inner Africa and the black Sumerians and Canaanites) also had kinky hair.

The towns of ancient Egypt: On (Annu) or Heliopolis, Hermonthis, Dendera, Tebu etc., were developed by Annu, the pre-dynastic blacks of Egypt. Skeletons of the Negro Annu were ubiquitous in ancient Egypt,

Mene, the first pharaoh of the first dynasty, sometimes identified with the God-man Osiris (A black forerunner of Christ) was a Blackman. Zoser, Sesostris, Amenhopis, Khufu, Menthuhotep, Queen Amuses, Nefertari etc., were also all Negroes.

The Egyptian religion and other cultural practices show strong African and more so Yorubic characteristics. These can be seen in the following areas:
1. The lost wax method of brass or bronze making, which was common to both the Yoruba peoples (particular Ife) and the ancient Egyptians.
2. The ritual of initiation
3. Striving to achieve the ultimate in “Good” and truth (summun bonum)
4. The doctrine of transmigration of soul and reincarnation is widely believed in, by both peoples.
5. The concept of the ‘god king’.
6. Aspiration to achieve the great ‘good’ of the gods – ‘wealth health and long life’.
7. The Yorubic regalia, in most cases, are strikingly similar to pharoanic ones.
8. Veneration of the Ram in both places. Among the eastern Yorubas (Itsekiri especially, most of the water deities are depicted as ram following the predynastic and pharoanic patterns).
9. Both peoples answer the theophorous names.

LINGUISTIC SIMILARITIES

Since Ferdinand de Saussure, the surest way to prove a cultural contact between peoples is to adduce linguistic evidence (Ferdinand de Saussure (1972) General HISTORY OF Africa).

One of the largest inhabitants of Egypt were Yoruboid , and it will be expected that a good percentage of their language will be yoruboid ,too. See the table below.

EGYPT YORUBA
1. Wu (rise) Wu (rise)
2. Ausa (Osiris, father of the gods) Ausa (father)
3. Ere (python/ Serpent) Ere (Python / Serpent)
4. Horise (a great god) Orise (a great god)
5. Sen (group of worshippers) Sen ( to worship)
6. Ged (to chant0 Igede (a chant)
7. Ta (sell / offer) Ta (sell/offer)
8. Sueg (a fool) Suegbe (a fool)
9. On ( living person) One ( living person)
10. Kum (a club) Kumo( a club)
11. Enru (fear / terrible) Eru (fear / terrible
12. Kun / qun (brave man) Ekun (title of a brave man)
13. Win (to be) Wino (to be)
14. Odonit (festival) Odon (festival)
15. Ma or mi (to breath) Mi. (to breathe)
16. Tebu (a town) Tebu (a town)
17. Adumu (a water god) Adumu (a water god)
18. Khu (to kill) Ku (die)
19. Rekha (knowledge} Larikha (knowledge)
20 Hika (evil) Ika (evil)
21 Mhebi (humble) Mebi, humble to ones family
22 Sata (perfect) Santan (perfect)
23 Unas (lake of fire) Una (fire)
24 Tan (complete) Tan (complete)
25 Beru (force of emotion) Beru (fear)
26 Em (smell) Emi (smell)
27 Pa (open) Pa (break open)
28 Bi (to become) Bi (to give birth, to become)
29 Hepi (a water god) Ipi (a water god)
30 Sami (water god) Sami (a water god)
31 Osiri (a water god) Oshiri (a water god)
32 Heqet – Re (frog deity) Ekere (the frog)
33 Feh (to go away) Feh (to blow away)
34 Kot (build) Ko (build)
35 Kot (boat) Oko (boat)
36 Omi (water) Omi (water)
37 Ra (time) Ira (time)
38 Oni (title of Osiris) Oni (title of the king of Ife)
39 Budo (dwelling place) Budo (dwelling place)
40 Dudu (black image of Osiris) Dudu (black person)
41 Un (living person) Una (living person)
42 Ra (possess) Ra (possess/buy)
43 Beka (pray/confess) Be or ka (to pray or confess)
44 Po (many) Po (many/cheap)
45 Horuw (head) middle Egyptian Oruwo (head) (Ijebu)
46 Min (a god) Emin (spirit)
47 Ash (invocation) Ashe (invocation)
48 Aru (mouth) Arun (mouth ) Ilaje
49 Do (river) Odo (river)
50 Do (settlement) Udo (settlement)
51 Shekiri (water god) Shekiri (a water god)
52 Bu (a place) Bu ,a place
53 Khepara (beetle Akpakara (beetle)
54 No (a water god Eno (a water god)
55 Ra -Shu (light after darkness Uran-shu (the light of the moon
56 Run-ka (spirit name) Oruko (name)
57 Deb/dib to pierce Dibi (to pierce)
58 Maat (goddess of justice Mate (goddess of justice)
59 Aru (rise) Ru (rise up)
60 Fa (carry) Fa (pull)
61 Kaf (pluck) Ka (pluck)
62 Bu bi (evil place) Bubi (evil place)
63 In- n (negation In-n (negation)
64 Iset (a water god) Ise (a water god)
65 Shabu (watcher) Ashonbo (watcher)
66 Semati (door keeper) Sema (lock/shut the door)
67 Khenti amenti (big words of Osiris Yenti – yenti (big, very big)
68 Ma (to know) Ma (to know)
69 Bebi, a son of osiris) Ube, a god
70 Tchatcha chief (they examined the death to see if they tricked tsatsa (a game of tricks, gambling )
71 Ren( animal foot) Ren (to walk)
72 Ka (rest) Ka (rest/tired)
73 Mu (water) Mu (drink water)
74 Abi (against) Ubi (against / impediment)
75 Reti (to beseech) Retin (to listen)
76 Hir (praise) Yiri (praise)
77 Ta(spread out) Ta (spread out)
78 Kurud (round) Kurudu (round)
79 Ak – male Ako (male)
80 Se – to create Se (to create)
81 Hoo (rejoice) Yo (rejoice)
82 Kamwr (black) Kuru (extremely black
83 Omitjener (deep water) Omijen (deep water)
84 Nen, the primeval water mother) Nene (mother
85 Ta (land) Ita (land junction)
86 Horiwo (head) Oriwo (head)
87 Ro (talk) Ro (to think)
88 Kurubu (round) Kurubu (deep and round)
89 Penka (divide) Kpen (divide)
90 Ma-su (to mould) Ma or su (to mould)
91 Osa (time) Osa (time)
92 Osa (tide) Osa ( tide)
93 Fare (wrap) Fari (wrap)
94 Kom (complete) Kon (complete)
95 Edjo (cobra) Edjo (cobra)
96 Didi (red fruit) Diden (red)
97 Ba (soul) Oba (king) soul of a people
98 Ke (hill) Oke( hill
99 Anubis (evil deity) Onubi (evil person)
100 Kan (one: Middle Egyptian) Okan one)
101 Nam (water god) Inama (water god)

The words above are used to show that most Yoruban words are identical to the ancient Egyptian.

BINIS: THE ODUDUWAN LEGACY

Since the month of May 2004, there has been a raging intellectual battle on the personality of Oduduwa. The Binis claim he was a Bini prince, the Ifes claim otherwise.

This approach will be purely scientific and will be as objective as possible. The following areas: (1) The personality of “Oduduwa” {Ikaladeran?}; (2) archaeological researches; (3) the linguistic linkages; (4) scientific analysis of the myths; and (5) Benin’s historical debt to Oduduwa will be analyzed. (a) The monarchies; (b) the water religion, (c) bead manufacturing (d) salt industry; and (e) the Lagos conquest, will be scientifically analysed.

1. THE PERSONALITY OF “ODUDUWA”

The personality of Ikaladeran; whether he was the man who later became Oduduwa will be scientifically analyzed

In this discourse, Oduduwa is seen as the founder of the Yoruba monarchical system, or at least, a founder of a prominent dynasty in Yoruba history. There must have been many dynasties in Ife, as Ife legends put pre-Oduduwa monarchs at more than ninety.

The personality of Oduduwa has suffered many attacks in recent times. The Binis claim he was a Benin prince (Ekaladerhan), who later became Imadoduwa or Izoduwa, and then Oduduwa. The Igbos claim he was an Igbo man from Nri. Some Igalas claim he hailed from Igala land. The Igalas have many Ifes, and they claim Oduduwa was from one of such Ifes. The Igala language is close enough to the Yoruba, to assert a common origin for both peoples.

The present writers are holding the following positions:
1. The Yorubas are aborigines or autochthonous to their present environment;
2. The monarchical structure seems to be alien. The present writers tend to place the origin of the Yoruba monarchy in ancient Egypt and Nubia. This is because a lot of Egyptian related relics, words and practices can still be discerned among the Yorubas, particularly among the following: Ife (where the Ifa oracle and Yoruba monarchical system blossomed); Ijebu (with some ancient settlements; Ijebu Ode, the seat of the Awujale, Ode, the seat of Lenuwa, in present day Ogun Water side Local Government, Oke-Eri, purported to be the home of the biblical queen of Sheba, called Bilikisu in Ijebu legends), Ugbo, the ancient city of the Ilajes, Idanre (the home of Ogun, the god of iron), all show some similarities and identities in their monarchical and religious authorities.Basil Davidson, Olumide Lucas, Tariqh Sawandi, and even the present Awujale of Ijebu land, have pointed to ancient Egypt or Nubia as the origin of Yoruba monarchical system. All the above have used the similarities or the identities of cultural practices to substantiate their claims.

If the Yorubas left the Egyptian or the Nubian axis, they must have left during turbulent periods of war, economic stagnation or religious persecution. Thus, we shall examine the periods of upheavals in black Egypt and black Nubia; and examine when the Yoruban aristocracy descended from the Nile valley. They may not be one migration, but several migrations and the personality called Oduduwa, must have led one of the various migrations.

The first crop of migrants or southward push of the Egyptians took place about 2000BC – 500BC. The Hyksos invasion (2000-1500BC) caused some of these southward migrations. Many of the black Egyptians seemed to have moved to Yoruba land during this period. .

The second wave of migrations will correspond to what Laoye Sanda, of the department of Public Administration,The Polytechnic,Ibadan refers to as the black Nubian emigrants. The Nubians were black, they occupied present day Sudan, which was an integral part of the Egyptian Empire. The vocabulary, body scarification, and religious discourse resemble those of the Ijebus and more so, the Itsekiri. The 1984 Awujale’s coronation manual will make this manifest. These migrations occurred about 500BC.

A third wave of migration took place between 90BC and 30BC. The present writers feel the personality called Oduduwa, came in that migration trend.

A fourth migration will correspond to the Christian conquest of Egypt, about 100AD.

The last wave of migration will correspond to the Arab enforced emigration, between 700AD – 1100AD, when the Arabs had consolidated their control over Egypt; they chased the last batch of traditional worshipping Egyptians from Egypt. This occurrence would have led to many Yoruba claiming that their ancestors were chased from somewhere in the Middle East for not accepting Islam.

The proof of archaeology

There has been a dearth of archaeological researches in Nigeria. Whatever research has been done is not final, for new finds can be found in future.

The most ancient archaeological finds in Nigeria are the following: (1) the relic at Iwo Eleru (with a radio carbon date of about 12,000BC). Iwo Eleru is close to Akure, Ondo State. (2) The findings at Igbo-Ukwu of about 6000BC. (3) The findings at the Mejiro cave near Oyo (about 4000BC). The Nok culture that is more than 1000BC. (4) The Oke-Eri walls and graves purported to be more than a thousand years. The walls are reputed to be the biggest in the world, but for the walls of China. (5) The bronze heads at Ife about 1000AD. (6) The bronze heads at Benin about 1400AD. This might authenticate the Ife claim that the Binis got the civilization of bronze casting from the Ifes. Both the Binis and the Ifes claim that Igueghae was the one who taught the Binis how to cast bronze, during the reign of the Oba Oguola, fourth king from Eweka, the son of Oramiyan, a distant descendant of Oduduwa from Ife.

THE LINGUISTIC LINKAGES

According to the studies of philology and etymology, most of the languages in Nigeria in the Kwa group of languages have a meeting point. The Yorubas and Idoma separated some six thousand years ago; while the Yoruba and Igalas separated about 2 thousand years ago; two thousand years ago corresponds to the time that the Yoruba dialects: Ekiti, Ijebu, Oyo, Itsekiri, Ilaje, Ikale etc started having distinct dialectical identities.

Linguistic studies have indicated that Yorubas in the Eastern Flanks of the Yoruba nation; Ekiti, Yagba, Kabba, Owo, Ijebu, Itsekiri and to some extent the Ifes, speak the most ancient Yoruba dialects. Glottochronological studies have shown that the dialects in the south east are more ancient than those of central Yoruba land and western Yoruba land. The table displays it further still.

A table showing east to west ancientness of the Yoruboid languages.

ENGLISH ITSEKIRI YORUBA OYO – YORUBA
RESPECT OGHO OWO
MONEY OGHO OWO
LOOK GHO WO
SAY GIN WI
FORBID GHO( r ) WO( r )
THEM AGHAN AWON

The table shows that the Itsekiri dialect retains the more ancient “gh” or “g” guttural sound to the more liquid “w” of the Oyos.

If it is taken that the Yoruban ruling class came from Egypt, the southern Yoruba block, particularly the Itsekiri, would have served as an initial stopping point and a secondary course of dispersal. The table displays it further still

EGYPTIAN ITSEKIRI-YORUBA OYO-YORUBA
ADUMU (Water god) ADUMU (Water god) ADAMU (A god)
Kuku (Darkness) Okuku (Darkness) Ouku (Darkness)
Dudu (Black Image of Osiris) Dudu (black ) Dudu ( black )
Omi (Water) Omi (Water) Omi (Water)
Heket-Re (Frog god) Ekere (Frog) Akere (Frog)
Horise (Sky god) Orise (Sky god) Orisa (A god)
Hika (Evil) Ika (Evil) Ika (Evil)
Shu (Evil god) Eshu (Evil god) Eshu (Evil god)
Co-opted from 500 word-word correlation between, Yoruba and Egyptian languages .

From the above, it means that the eastern Yoruba blocs such as the Itsekiri, Ilaje, Ijebu and the Owo are more cognate with the Egyptian than those of Oyo or Ife. .

The Awujale has testified that the Itsekiri are speaking the original Ijebu dialect. . This is why Bolaji Idowu derived the origin of Oritse to the Itsekiri-Owo axis within the eastern Yoruba kingdoms,

It is proper here to state that the word “Orise” is almost cognate with the Egyptian, Horise. Both deities represent very high gods,  Both deities were first water divinities before they became sky or heavenly divinities. Both words are derived from identical etymological origins. Hori(Ori) means head in both places. “Se”, means a source in both places. Thus both words mean a source of creation in both places. This type of linguistic similarity or identity cannot have arisen by mere accident - there was a concrete historical intercourse. The Binis call God Oyisa, a corruption of the eastern Yoruba form. This is certain because the Binis cannot derive the meaning of Oyisa by breaking the word into morphemes as the Yoruba can display, or draw up any identity with ancient Egypt.

A SCIENTIFIC ANALYSIS OF THE MYTHS

1. Oduduwa – The myth of Oduduwa seems to be valid. Minus the fact that many Yoruba claim descent from Oduduwa, some Urhobos and even Ijaws also claim descent from Oduduwa.
2. Ekaladerhan – This name exists in very little, if at all it exists, in the oral tradition of any of the Bini neighbors. There has been no relevant oral tradition among any of the circumjacent peoples that can recognize Ekaladerhan or identify him as Oduduwa. So, the Ife claim concerning Oduduwa seems to be more tenable.
3. Oduduwa’s descent from heaven – The Ife’s have been totally embarrassed by the invectives thrown on them by the Binis in their I claim that Oduduwa fell from the sky.

Yes! It is true. People can fall from the sky as modern interaction between earthmen and those from other planets have authenticated, and this can be displayed both in mythology and in real hardcore science in many parts of the world. The story of Ezekiel in the bible, the story of the Dogon mystic tribe of Mali are cases in point.

Then, some Yoruba ancestors would have been some of the Umales (aborigines) using their Umale-Olunas (spaceships) to travel across the universe, as this can still be sighted in Yoruba land today.
4. The huge bodies of water which the Bini and Yoruba mythologies claim their ancestors landed, would have been one of two waters (1) the Atlantic ocean, the home of Umale-Okun at the coastal flanks of Yoruba land , or the Mediterranean which was the biggest body of water known to the ancient Negro Egyptians.

BINI AND EASTERN YORUBA HISTORICAL LINKAGES
- The Monarchies

There are areas where the eastern Yorubas and the Binis have a lot of historical linkages. It is an indisputable fact that the founder of the present Itsekiri dynasty was Ginuwa, the first son of Oba Olua of Benin. The Binis ruled over most parts of Ondo state: Akure and Ode-Ondo, to be more specific. They even established dynasties in some of these places, including Owo. There are a lot of titles that the Eastern Yorubas derived from the Binis. Those titles include: Ologbotsere, Iyatsere, Otsodin, Olisan (Oliha) etc. There are also many areas where the Binis are indebted to the Eastern Yorubas. Many of these have not been given prominence by historians. But the more we delve into History, the more we are convinced of Binis indebtedness to the Yorubas, particularly the Itsekiri-yorubas. Some of this indebtedness are the Bini religious discourse, the conquest of Lagos, the manufacture of salt etc.

THE CONQUEST OF LAGOS
On face value, the Lagos conquest seemed to have been done by the Binis. Many authorities however, agree that it is the Itsekiri of Warri that served in the Navy that attacked Lagos. The assertion is likely to be true because of the following (1) The Binis are not watermen and could not easily travel on the lagoons to Lagos. (2) The name ‘Olu’ is common among Lagos Obas eg. The Olu of Ikeja, the Olu Eko of Eko (Eleko) etc. The name ‘Olu’ is Itsekiri or Oyo-yoruba and not Edo or Bini (3) The Eyo masquerade attire and dance style is similar to that of Awankere of Warri. It is true that the Eyo masquerade originated in Ijebu, but the attire is purely of Warri origin. This will authenticate a not-too-popular Okere(Warri) legend, that it was the descendants of Ekpen that accompanied Orhogbua (Osogbua) to conquer Lagos. .

. Also, the drums used by the Awori people bear striking resemblance to the Itsekiri drums, but bear no resemblance to the Bini drums. In summary, the material culture of the Aworis is far more akin to the Itsekiri than to the Binis.

Now hear the authorities: Captain Leonard says; “Of the Jekri (Itsekiri) also there is much more definite, although to a certain extent contradictory evidence. According to one account, they are said to be closely connected with the Yoruba, the Warri kingdom having extended to and embraced Lagos as well as some of the surrounding territories to this day (1906), in fact, Jekri inhabit the strip of country, along the coast from the Benin river westward to Lagos” This might be due to the fact that Itsekiri held most of the trading posts along the coast when Leonard was writing.

Captain Leonard in another section of his work says: “And from all accounts, it is more than possible, if not evident that the army of warriors who founded Lagos proceeded in reality from Warri, but doubtless by the command of the king of Benin”.

.

Corroborating Leonard and Nirven that the Itsekiri aristocracy has at least some politico-economic interests in Lagos, H. Ling Roth says “Such corals as the Binis had, were obtained through Jekri traders either from the Benin River or Lagos”.

ORIGIN OF BINI BEADS

The Itsekiri have always claimed that beads started with them and that the Binis got their beads from them. Settlements such as Omadino, Inorin, Ureju and Korobe area of the Warri kingdom are the ancient Itsekiri settlements with the bead industry.

The people of Ureju and Korobe in Koko claimed to have given Ogboruware (Ewuare), probably a usurper to the Bini throne, beads for the first time. There is a legend among the Korobes, that Ogboruware (Ewuare), had his swelling disease as a result of an affliction placed on him by Korobe, a legendary spiritual woman. Now hear the authorities:

H Ling Roth says

According to Bold, coral beads, “are the intrinsic treasures of the rich, being held in highest estimation and from their rarity, are only in the hands of a few chiefs, whose avidity for them is immeasurable, the species admired are the pipe beads of various dimensions and are valued at ten large jars of oil an ounce, of the smaller sort, and so on in the proportion for the larger sized”. Mr. Punch informs me that “as a matter of fact, the king of Benin had few, if any of the large coral beads such as Nanna, Dore, Dudu and Jekri chiefs obtained from the merchants in the Benin River. His coral was insignificant pipe agate and was only significant when made up into vests and hats. The Benin value more the agate beads and especially the dull agate was a king’s gift and no one could wear such a necklet unless it was given to him by the king. It was death in fact, to wear it otherwise. The shiny crystalline agate, with white quartz, anyone could wear. Such corals as the Binis had were obtained through Jeiri traders, either from the Benin river or Lagos. The Binis said it was dug up at the back of Benin but everything in the days I am speaking 14 – 15 years ago (from 1898) which was at all mysterious came from the back of Benin .

Eve de Negri says,

“This coral was first discovered (so it is told) during the fifteenth century in the reign of Oba Ewuare. This type of coral was obtained from a tree, growing on the sandy bank of the Benin River”.

PC llyod also commented that Itsekiri legends claim that their ancestors, the Umales, got the blue corals from particular trees that were growing in the Jekri country.

from the above quotations, it is evident that the Benin got their beads from the Itsekiri, and the Itsekiri legends that they gave beads to Oba Ogboruware (Eware), has to be positively examined by scientific historians.

BINIS LEARNT ABOUT SALT FROM THE ITSEKIRI
The Binis are land-bound people and they know very little about salt. Itsekiri legends testify that they gave salt to Binis for the first time

The Itsekiri are known as the manufacturers of salt,  Alagoa, H Ling Roth, and Obaro Ikime, agree to this position. H. Ling reports,

“According to Roupel’s officials, king Osogbua (Orhogbua) is credited with discovering salt in the Jekiri country”. Pg. 142.H Ling Roth Great Benin

It is now factual that Orhogba discovered salt when he came to the Jekiri (Itsekiri) country to seek the assistance of the Itsekiri navy in order to attack Lagos. In 1818 they also sought the assistance of Kaye, an Itsekiri mystic-warrior in order to attack Akure. He was given Ologbo some 25 kilometres south of Benin city.

The itsekiri were the major salt producers in the Niger delta area. On this hear Alagoa: “the itsekiri supplied clay pots to to such Ijo communities as the Gbaramatu and Bassan, and and also sold salt to traders from eastern delta who took it up the Niger………Other Ijo exchanged dried fish and salt ,which was manufactured by the Itsekiri ,with the Urhobo ,Isoko and Igbo groups along the periphery of the Niger Delta and along the Lower Niger” (Alagoa 1989:729)

WATER RELIGION OF THE BINIS

The cult of Olokun (the water religion) of the Binis seems to be purely alien. This is due to the following reasons: (1) the Binis are a land based people. Their main occupations are; farming, hunting and sculpture. So it will be unthinkable for the Binis to have a water religion as a major cult. (2) If a water religion exists among the Binis, and it has become prominent, the Binis might have copied from one of their riverine neighbors (3) these neighbours are the Ijaws, the Itsekiris, the Ilajes, and more distant neighbours being, the Asabas, the Onitshas, the Afenmai or Igala people around the river Niger.

The Afenmais and the Igalas seem too distant from Benin to have a good influence on them. The Asabas and the Onitshas, also, seem to be too far away form Benin. Minus that, they don’t seem to have any serious water cult to influence the Binis to have a viable water religion.

Thus, the Bini (a land locked people) must have had their water religion from the Ijaws, the Itsekiris or the Ilajes. The Bini religious discourse has nothing to do with the Ijaws. Besides that, the Ijaws that are the immediate neighbours of the Binis did not have any significant civilization. These Ijaw neighbours are the Egbemas, the Arogbos, the Apois–now Yoruba-speaking–the Ogbe-Ijohs, the Isabas, the Gbaramatus, the Ogulaghas, the Oburutus, and the Meins. No significant civilization or kingdom has emerged from these Ijaw clans. E.J Alagoa asserted that most of these Ijaws did not arrive their area by 1500, which is quite recent according to historical chronology. The cases settled in the Supreme Court between the Ijaws and the Itsekiri; place the date of Ijaws coming to these areas at the early 19th century. Now, hear Prof.Alagoa , an Ijaw doyen of history:

“Pereira’s record suggests that those Ijo groups now living west of the Forcados and east of the Bonny had not yet arrived at their present territory by 1500”. Thus, it is unthinkable for the Binis to have copied the water religion from the Ijaws.

The Itsekiri and the Ilajes receive the likelihoodof having given water religion to the Binis for the following reasons:1)The Binis situate the home of Olokun, the god of the sea, in the Atlantic Ocean. Both the Itsekiris and the Ilajes are in the Atlantic coast. (2) The Bini religious discourse shows a strong Yoruba affinity. The name, Olokun, (Olu Okun) is an eastern Yoruba name that can apply to the Itsekiri as well as Ilajes, as eastern Yoruba dialects. The Binis call God Osa, which is the same word that the Itsekiri call father. The other Bini word for God, Oyise, is clearly corruption of the much older Itsekiri name, Oritse. . In the early days of November 2004 , the Bini Monarch invoked an Ilaje deity, Aiyelala, to recover some property that was stolen from the Oba Market in Benin . This will authenticate the Ilaje story of the Binis coming to Ugbo once every year to serve Umaleokun, the water god of the Ugbo Yoruba
H. Ling Roth went further, quoting Burton says:

“Similar to other west Africans, the Bini When drinking,the Binis always pour a few drops upon the ground, muttering the while (Mobia, Malaku Mobia (Mobie, Umalokun, Mobie) – Ibeg, O Malaku (Umale-Okun, fetish guardian of lands and waters 1 beg of thee to defend me against all evil, to defeat and destroy all my foes”. This said, a broken bittock of Kola (stercula acuminata) is thrown upon the ground, and is watered with a few drops of palm wine.” Burton Pg. 281. Mobia (Mobie) is however the Jekiri for “1 beg you : 59.

It is evident that the Bini religious discourse was, and to some extent is, still infiltrated with Itsekiri and Ilaje. This is most evident in the water religion of the Binis.

From the above, we see that some of the most important aspects of the Bini civilization: their bead industry, the cult of Olokun (Olu Okun – King of the sea), their salt industry etc are from the eastern Yoruba land of Itsekiri and to some extent the Ilajes. Apart from this, the Itsekiri warrior, Ikaye, saved the Bini kingdom from being crushed by the Akures. For his settlement Oba Semede gave him Ologbo.
Again when there was leadership dispute between Obaseki and Aigwobasinwin, it was an Itsekiri chief, Dore Numa, who restored the Benin monarchy. He also gave them a lot of beads which the Bini aristocracy has not returned till today. It is therefore unthinkable that Ife, where the Yoruba kingship blossomed, would have copied from Benin. This is most evident when we consider the following facts: (I) The name, Oba (the Edo word for king), is copied from the Yorubas, particularly those from Ife (2) the heads of the Obas of Benin were taken to Ife, until very recently. The place where the heads of the Obas of Benin were buried is still called “Orun Oba Ado”, “the heaven of the kings of Benin”. (3) The Binis normally take permission from the Ooni, to crown new kings. There is no recorded history that the Oonis took permission from the Binis before getting crowned (4) The official language in the court of the Oba of Benin until 1934 was Yoruba. There was no time that Bini language was spoken in Ife. The Portuguese and other Europeans who were in the Bini area for more than 500 years (from 1486 when they got to Benin till 1960.)had no knowledge of Oduduwa being a Bini man.

So, scientifically speaking, the Ife position seems more tenable than that of the Benin. Oral traditions can be fabricated. So, rigorous history of the 21st century must be purely scientific – even if we recourse to oral tradition, they must face scientific testing and not based on moribund oral tradition. Aspects such as linguistic analysis, archaeological discoveries, cultural practices etc, must come into the forefront when reconstructing the history of preliterate peoples like the Binis and the Ifes.
THE EDOS ARE DESCENDED FROM THE IRIGBO OF ODE_ITSEKIRI
In one of their accounts, the Edos claim discent from God himself, who they say is the grand father of Iso (Sky) who in turn is the grand father of Idu, ancestor of the Binis. One of the brothers of Idu called. Olukumi (the Yorubas were first called Olukumi, today a tribe called olukumi, speaking a language very similar to Itsekiri-Yoruba, and the legends claim they all descended from Egypt, are to be found in parts of Edo and Delta States) lived with him in Uhe (Ife) before they left to found Benin. Michael Crowder: “The story of Nigeria”, Page 63.

The word Olukumi in Itsekiri, means a friend of mine. The word Olukumi, rather than Ore is still used in Ife is evident that Idu and his brothers left to Ile-Ife, after the southward migration of the Yorubas to Ode-Itsekiri and thence to Ile-ife. This is why the story of a watery terrain remains in the tradition of the Binis and the Ifes who are located very far from the Atlantic coast. The vast expanse of water, where the ancestors of the Binis and the find themselves is no other place than the Itsekiri territory of the Atlantic coast.

At a time, the powerful Bini kingdom was paying tax to the Olu of Warri when the yoke of imperialism crumbled the once great kingdom of the Guinea. Concerning this issue Michael Crowder says:

“With the decline of Ughoton
the Benin had to use theports of the Benin river and thus, pay dues to the Olu of Warri in whose territory the ports was located”.17

In conclusion the Itsekiris introduced the following to Benin: salt, beads, and the worship of Umale Okun. The Itsekiri under Dore also helped the Binis to revive their monarchy. "[/b]
http://www.raceandhistory.com/cgi-bin/forum/webbbs_config.pl/noframes/read/2139

Osa is actually Orisa or Oisa. Orisanobua=Osanobua. Oghene Orisa=Oghene Osa.Older people still say such.Typical Bini word with the 'r'silent.
There is no known history of the Itsekiris fighting their neighbours.
The Portugese and other Europeans came to Benin city,traded with the Binis and established and exchanged diplomatic relations and ambassadors.The Binis did not use the Saharan routes to get to Europe and back.
Binis got to Dahomey.Isi-dahomi family exists till today in Edo state.So Eko na backyard to the Binis.
Eko is an Edo word.
The Benin chief style of dressing is Portuguese influenced.So is Itsekiri's.
'Ivie ne oibo dunmwun rhe....' 'Beads that the whiteman made...' Binis got their beads via trade with Europeans.
The Benin Mornarchy saved the Itsekiri monarchy by hosting an exiled Olu Itsekiri at Ogbese,in ovia ,until its restoration.The Onuwajes can tell you more.
Olokun is also called 'Oba n amen'.'King of waters' not just the Atlantic(Okun).Every body of water is worshipped. Okun being the largest body of water known to the Binis, is more revered. For trade and strangers came from there.Things that contributed to the wealth and progress of the Empire.
Binis worship all gods of their neighbours.Surrounded by various peoples and cultures,Benin has been influenced and influenced others. But unlike Orunmila or Esango(Shango),and some others, whose liturgy is basically in foreign languages,Olokun's is in the native language in toto.This in my estimation make it autochthonous.

Here we go again with Benin view of the world.

Where does Benin itself come from?
What is the lingual fraca in Benin palace?
Where was the head of Benin Oba buried?
What does Eweka means?
What is the differece between Edo, Beni and Ogiso
Can a river be greater or deniy itself of it source?

Please do not translate a mixed dialet of Yoruba with other Nigerian languages as Igbo for us. We know your source in Ife and Oyo as Oranmiyan. Deny it all you want, Oba of Benin and royal language must remain Yoruba or lose your identity.

jara: Here we go again with Benin view of the world.

Where does Benin itself come from?
What is the lingual fraca in Benin palace?
Where was the head of Benin Oba buried?
What does Eweka means?
What is the differece between Edo, Beni and Ogiso
Can a river be greater or deniy itself of it source?

Please do not translate a mixed dialet of Yoruba with other Nigerian languages as Igbo for us. We know your source in Ife and Oyo as Oranmiyan. Deny it all you want, Oba of Benin and royal language must remain Yoruba or lose your identity.

You really know nothing. We do not identify as Yoruba.Benin/Bini is what some people call us .Yet others say Ado,Idu, Aka and so forth.
The lingua franca at the palace of the Oba N Edo,I hope this will eternally sink into some thick skulls,is Edo!
The Oba of Benin is buried whole in a sitting position on his throne in a chamber(not a grave) and in the surrounding chambers where places for his servants that followed him to the other side.
Oba Eweka as a child was brought up by the Yoruba servants that Omonoyan left behind and thus spoke Yoruba.

Edo and Benin are already explained. Ogiso means God of the sky which Ekaladerhan(Izoduwa Oduduwa)would have been in Igodomigodo if not for crcumctances. Anyway, he became one in Yoruba mythology.
I do not understand the last part.

Bokoboko,

Sorry, you do not know your history. You do not even know why Oba of Benin still rents from from Ogiso ancestor up to today. You need to read from Benin great historian - Chief Jacob Egharevba and Urhobo Prof. Peter Eke.

Why did the Ogiso become the sword bearer of his reival Oba after his people turned against him?

By the way, if you don't speak Yoruba or have a Yoruba name, you are not from the royal blood.

bokohalal:
You really know nothing. We do not identify as Yoruba.Benin/Bini is what some people call us .Yet others say Ado,Idu, Aka and so forth.
The lingua franca at the palace of the Oba N Edo,I hope this will eternally sink into some thick skulls,is Edo!
The Oba of Benin is buried whole in a sitting position on his throne in a chamber(not a grave) and in the surrounding chambers where places for his servants that followed him to the other side.
Oba Eweka as a child was brought up by the Yoruba servants that Omonoyan left behind and thus spoke Yoruba.

Edo and Benin are already explained. Ogiso means God of the sky which Ekaladerhan(Izoduwa Oduduwa)would have been in Igodomigodo if not for crcumctances. Anyway, he became one in Yoruba mythology.
I do not understand the last part.

http://www.waado.org/urhobohistory/Addresses_Lectures/Ogiso-Oba.htm
OGISO TIMES AND EWEKA TIMES:
A PRELIMINARY HISTORY OF THE EDOID COMPLEX OF CULTURES (1)


By Peter P. Ekeh
State University of New York at Buffalo, USA


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Fourth Chief Jacob U. Egharevba Memorial Lecture, under the auspices of the Institute for Benin Studies, at Oba Akenzua II Cultural Centre, Benin City, on 14 December, 2001. I thank the Institute for Benin Studies for its kind invitation and for honouring me with the opportunity of delivering this distinguished lecture. I thank Professor Omo Omoruyi, currently resident in Boston, USA, for an insightful conversation on the subject of pockets of dialectic variations in modern Benin language. I am grateful to Dr. Igho Natufe, now resident in Ottawa, Canada, and Engr. Onoawarie Edevbie, currently resident in Detroit, Michigan, USA, for their careful reading of a draft text of this paper and for offering several important comments and suggestions.

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In many ways, this lecture is a celebration of the uniqueness of Benin and its culture. Let me hurry to say, however, that I have not come here to praise Benin history, but to analyze it. I have come before you in the hope that I will be able to highlight certain features of Benin history and culture in an academic fashion. I cannot claim to know Benin in any degree that is close to your intimate knowledge of your own folkways and your command of the history of Benin royal legacies. What I can do as an academic is to foster a level of analysis of Benin history and culture that will enable you to weigh your experiences and acquaintance with the Benin past and its traditions on a scale of knowledge that is different from that to which you are used.

Let me begin that analysis by clarifying my assertion concerning the uniqueness of Benin history and culture. I will discuss a premier element of Benin's uniqueness as my introduction to this lecture. Benin is unique in bridging the African past with our present world. Ancient Africa experienced an abundance of civilizations and state formations. They stretched back to ancient Egypt of some five millennia removed from our times through Kush, Ethiopia and other Nilotic traditions of civilization to the triple state formations of Ghana, Mali, and Songhai and the Hausa and Yoruba states of West Africa. Except for the more ancient instances of Egypt and Kush, which existed long before the Christian era, most of these state formations were contemporaries of Benin. Remarkably, with the single exception of Ethiopia and Benin, all the significant civilizations and state formations of ancient Africa ceased to exist before the arrival of European imperialism introduced a new era in African affairs. Both Ethiopia and Benin had strong royal traditions, even after the advent of European imperialism in Africa. In the 1970s, Ethiopian royalty collapsed, leaving Benin monarchy as the sole survivor and exemplar of royalty from ancient times of African history.

In this respect, within the compass of recent and contemporary Nigerian affairs, let me recall to your memory that royal traditions have changed dramatically in the last century of our history. The British sought to control our royal traditions, supplanting those occupants of thrones that did not readily accept their imperial overtures. That was how such a formidable royal presence of the nineteenth century as Muhammadu Attahiru dan Ahmadu, Sultan of Sokoto, lost his throne, allowing an occupant of that throne, Muhammadu Attahiru dan Aliyu Baba, whose appointment by the British in 1903 was dictated by their own imperial needs (See H. A.S. Johnston 1967, Chapter 23). The intense animosity between the British and the Benin at the close of the nineteenth century, leading to the fiercest war fought by the British for any territory in Nigeria, was so palpable that the British were clearly intent on changing the line of succession to the Benin throne. The pragmatic British changed their mind and accepted the verdict of the Benin people who insisted on continuity of Benin royal succession by way of primogeniture.

Let me remind you further that during the first blush of civilian control of Nigerian affairs in the 1950s, we in this country witnessed the quick removal of the Alafin of Oyo and Emir Sanusi of Kano, both of whom were not readily compliant with the wishes of the ruling Action Group in Western Nigeria and the ruling Northern Peoples Congress of Northern Nigeria, respectively. If there was one stable source of opposition to the ways of the Action Group from Midwestern Nigeria in the 1950s, it was led from the much beloved and tough-minded Akenzua II, the Oba of Benin during the decade of campaign for Nigeria's independence from British rule. Yet it would be unthinkable for the Action Group to interfere with Benin royal traditions, even when their bearer was not in its support. We should pose the following question as a matter to attend to in this lecture: Whence did Benin royalty gain such strength?



TWO BENIN DYNASTIES: OGISO AND EWEKA RULING HOUSES

Answering that question may require further characterization of Benin and its royal traditions than what we have so far noted about their uniqueness. Royal institutions have been at the center of Benin history and culture for centuries, probably closer to some two millennia than most current estimates allow. There is a feature of royal traditions which are readily identified with the histories of China and of Europe, but which are rare in Africa, for which Benin should be well noted. A sequence of reigns or rule by members of a single royal family constitutes what is referred to as a dynasty. We are probably much more familiar with the dynasties of English history. The Tudors (1485-1603) provided England with an impressive line of succession of Kings and Queens that witnessed a great deal of progress in English history. They were followed by the much-maligned Stuarts who brought England and Scotland together in a union that bore the name of Great Britain. Most European kingdoms recorded several dynasties. The Chinese historical record is longer, and it also witnessed a good number of dynasties.

Dynasties are, however, quite rare in African history. Aside from the famed dynasties of Egyptian history, Ethiopia and Benin again provide us with the most distinguished instances of dynasties in African history. The Benin case is quite remarkable. Benin's long history has been dominated by two ruling houses. Jacob Egharevba and other students of Benin history have given estimates of up to thirty-one Ogisos who ruled Benin in its earlier period. That is an outstanding line of succession that would be difficult to replicate in other corners of African history. While respecting that range of figures of ruling Ogisos as indicating a broad accurate estimate, we should be more circumspect with respect to the duration of the Ogiso era of Benin history. Converting events counted in African indigenous calendars into the Gregorian calendar of reckoning is not an easy task.

If estimates that date the beginning of the Ogiso era to the sixth or seventh century were upheld, ancient Ghana and Benin would have begun their experiments in building kingdoms about the same time. My own suspicion is that the Ogiso era spanned a larger canvas of time than that allowed by the learned Egharevba and other scholars of Benin history, generally estimated to cover some six centuries. My reason for saying so is that the kingdom built by the Ogisos was a pristine state. Pristine states were original political constructions that did not have other examples and templates, from their past histories or from elsewhere, on which to model their behaviours. They were living experiments, making mistakes and correcting their systems of rulership along the way at a pace of development that was liable to be slow. Pristine states, such as Egypt and Ghana, to cite two prominent instances in ancient African history, spanned much longer periods of time than states that followed them. The Ogisos began an experiment in statecraft in circumstances that were elementary and their ascent to maturity must be assumed to have taken a longer period of time than their apparent achievements would indicate. It was upon their accomplishments that the succeeding kings in the ruling House of Eweka built a formidable city-state and then an empire, at a much faster pace.

In any comparative assessment of dynasties, the existence of two Ruling Houses in the total span of Benin history is most conspicuous. Let us stay with the example of English history because many of us are much more familiar with it than other cases in comparative world history of royalty. English history boasts seventy one Kings and Queens, who have ruled England from 827 C. E. to the present time, that is for about twelve centuries. That time span is obviously shorter than the history of Benin royalty. Yet, counting the earlier Anglo-Saxon Kings together until the epoch-making arrival of William the Conqueror in 1066, English Kings and Queens are grouped into eleven dynasties. It is fair to say that in the comparative history of royalty, the Benin historical experience of two ruling Houses of the Ogiso and Eweka for more than one and a half millennium is spectacular.

Whatever doubts there might be regarding the centuries in which the House of Ogiso ruled, the record is much clearer in the second dynasty of the Obas from the House of Eweka who succeeded the Ogisos, following an interregnum that the nobleman Evian presided over, in the 12th century. So strong is the sense of oral history in Benin and so secure is the entrenchment of the House of Eweka that the names of the Obas have been ingrained into Benin history and folklore with remarkable clarity. Beginning in the 12th century, there have been thirty-eight monarchs from the Ruling House of Eweka. In the reckoning of dynasties, these records for the Ogisos and for the Ewekas are quite impressive.

Such features of Benin history and royalty are commonplace facts with which many in this hall are thoroughly familiar. They may appear slightly different because I have stated them in comparison to other instances of royal history in the ancient world. But we must now move beyond statements of historical facts to the more demanding task of explaining them. We must ask difficult questions of those facts in the attempt to understand why and how Benin history evolved along its own special way. Stating what happened in Benin history is important and even challenging. However, we are liable to exaggerate or mystify historical developments if we are not guided by the desire to understand and explain the facts of history as events that have their own boundaries of probabilities within the limits of human achievements.


TWO KEY PRINCIPLES OF BENIN HISTORY

I offer two key principles as avenues for understanding the nature of Benin history and culture. The first may be stated as follows: The Kingdoms of the Ogisos and of the Obas of Benin were established by the people of these lands on the theory that monarchy would best protect their interests. The people who lived under the Ogisos and the people of Benin who have lived under the Obas of the House of Eweka were never conquered by any of their kings, although they expected their kings to conquer other lands. Whereas most other kingdoms in the ancient world were presided over by dynasties that claimed their right to rule from their conquest of the lands of the people, the ancestors of the Benin people, whom the Ogisos and the Obas ruled, could rightly claim that they and their culture willed and then designed the kingdoms over which these enduring dynasties governed the affairs of the people.

Permit me to elaborate on the essence of this first principle of Benin history, which accounts for a great deal of the special features of Benin history and culture. The men and women who lived through various segments of at least a millennium and a half of Benin royal history took active part in the design and construction of Benin monarchy. In a vital sense, they believed that they owned the social institutions that housed their kingdom. Having collectively invested so much in the building of their state, they have acted as its owners. They rewarded those kings who advanced the fortunes of the state with adulation and high praise -- rarely matched anywhere else in the ancient African world. But they were also known to have meted out severe punishment to those of their Kings who degraded their state and threatened the people's welfare. Benin kings were powerful people within their domain and outside of it. But their power was a result of their paying close attention to the affairs of the state and their unmatched ability to listen to the complaints of even the littlest man and woman in the kingdom. Kings who failed in these respects have occasionally suffered disgrace from actions of the people.

That was how the first dynasty of the Royal House of Ogiso was terminated. The following epigrammatic passage from Jacob Egharevba's A Short History of Benin tells us at once the role of the people in the dissolution of the old Ogiso dynasty; in their rejection of attempts by a non-royal aristocrat to be their king; and in the creation of a new dynasty by way of the deliberate invitation by the people to a neighboring kingdom for a royal prince to help out with their crisis of governance:


It was some years after Evian's victory over Osogan [the monster] that Owodo was banished for misrule by the angry people, who then appointed Evian as an administrator of the government of the country because of his past services to the people. When Evian was stricken by old age he nominated his eldest son, Ogiemwen as his successor, but the people refused him. They said he was not the Ogiso and they could not accept his son as his successor, because as he himself knew, it had been arranged to set up a republican form of government. This he was now selfishly trying to alter.
While this was still in dispute the people indignantly sent an ambassador to the Ooni Oduduwa, the great and wisest ruler of Ife, asking him to send one of his sons to be their ruler, for things were getting from bad to worse and the people saw that there was need for a capable ruler. (Italics added.)


Putting aside for now the historical nuances in the reasons for the invitation to Ife, there can be no doubt whatsoever of the people's role in terminating the Ogiso dynasty and in launching, by their election, of a new dynasty that began with Eweka I, the royal reward of the people's efforts to govern their affairs effectively.

There is an important corollary of this first principle of Benin history. It is that the people, during Ogiso times and under the succeeding ruling House of Eweka, fought strenuously to protect the monarchy whenever it was threatened by hostile forces. Just compare from our recent history in Nigeria the reaction to the British imperial invasion of Benin and of the Fulani Empire of Sokoto, the two leading states in our region of West Africa in the nineteenth century. The Benin fought with determination until they fell, earning the respect of history for their loyalty to their king and to their state. In the Sokoto Caliphate, the British, having anticipated much opposition, surprisingly rode into the once mighty Fulani state with ease. The Hausa, whose kingdoms the Fulani had liquidated a century earlier, were pleased to see the new conquerors. (2)Conquered subjects of kingdoms, such as the Hausa in the Sokoto Caliphate of the 19th century, could never fight for the survival of their kingdom and their King with the same amount of resolve as the Benin displayed in February 1897. The Benin were fighting to protect their kingdom, a state which their ancestors had helped to build.

Let me now turn to the second principle of Benin history which, I claim, has made Benin history and culture what they are. It may be stated as follows: Dynastic struggle between the Ruling House of Eweka and the defeated House of Ogiso has had the intended and unintended consequences of consolidating and greatly expanding the small state that the House of Ogiso experimented with and built in the course of many centuries. In exploring this region of Benin history, we are approaching a line behind which it is not historically responsible to talk about authoritatively. Indeed, our knowledge of the era of the Ogisos is murky for two principal reasons. First, dynastic struggles in world history include a determination by the succeeding dynasties to diminish and control the knowledge of the events of the dynasties that are being overtaken. This has been the case in Benin history. Second, the historical events of the Ogiso era occurred in relative isolation, at a time when the people of these lands did not have much contact with outsiders. One reason why historians have been able to talk with privileged authority about the later dates of Benin history, under the dynasty of the Obas, is that its events can be measured in time against outside incidents. The arrival and activities of Europeans in our region in the later half of the fifteenth century had opened up the historically pristine political territories of what historians have labelled the forest states of West Africa (see Connah 1987 [2001 edition: 144-180]).

Dynastic struggles are by their nature ideological. They are waged against departing royal ruling houses, which no longer exist, by new ruling houses, which seek to establish their own legitimacy. Dynastic struggles are intrinsically double-handed. On the one hand, a major tool of dynastic struggle is the diminution in the stature and achievements of the failed dynasty. Sometimes, the extinct dynasty was so powerful that the succeeding dynasty rules under its predecessor's shadows. That was what happened in English history to the Scottish Stuarts whose achievements were always unfavourably compared to the grounded achievements of the pragmatic Tudors. In the Benin case, the native Ogisos were disgraced and hounded out of their reign by the people. Their diminution rituals, during the successful dynasty of the Obas of the House of Eweka, continued under various guises. On the other hand, dynastic struggles involve efforts by the new ruling houses to glean and claim the successes of the extinct dynasties and then to build on them. Here, in the Benin case, we have an example of one of the most successful instances of achievements, by the House of Eweka, that were built from the history and culture of the previous dynasty of the House of Ogiso.

Having stated these two principles of Benin history in more or less general terms, let me now move on to discuss each of them in the context of the events of Benin history. I will handle them in reverse order.


THE OGISOS AND THEIR TIMES

The earlier portions of the reign of the Ogisos constitute what historians like to call prehistory. Historical scholarship can shed some light on a great deal of the events of the prehistoric era from various sources, provided we are modest enough to admit that we are reconstructing probable events from a period about which there are no clear records. Unfortunately, two fallacies have beclouded the studies of prehistoric portions of our existence in Nigerian history. In order to render a responsible and truly probable interpretation of the Ogisos and their times, it is necessary to comment on, and then correct, these two fallacies in Nigerian scholarship.

First, Nigerian historiography is infested with what I would like to label as the fallacy of the regal origins of societies and cultures. It is the false assumption that societies and cultures have grown from kingdoms that were built by immigrant princes. This habitude and preoccupation with kingdoms as sources of cultures and societies probably began with the Reverend Samuel Johnson's tortured acceptance of the view that Oduduwa, the progenitor of the Yoruba, was a fugitive prince who fled religious persecution from Muslim devotees in Arabia. In his famous The History of the Yorubas, Johnson initially rejected any suggestion that the Yoruba were Arabians in their origin:

The Yoruba are certainly not of the Arabian family, and could not have come from Mecca -- that is to say the Mecca universally known in history, and no such accounts . . . are to be found in the records of Arabian writers or any kings of Mecca; an event of such importance could hardly have passed unnoticed by their historians (Johnson 1921: 5)

Having so wisely denounced this thesis of Arabian origins of Yoruba, Johnson was nonetheless swayed by the "only written record . . .on this subject" from the much learned Sultan Bello of Sokoto who sought to link the origins of the Yoruba to the Biblical story of Noah's curse on the children of his youngest son, Ham. According to Sultan Bello, the Yoruba "originated from the remnant of the children of Canaan, who were of the tribe of Nimrod [Ham's descendant]. The cause of their establishment in the West of Africa was, as it is stated, in consequence of their being driven by Yar-rooba, out of Arabia." That is to say, the Yoruba mysteriously adopted the name of their persecutor, Yar-rooba. The Reverend Johnson creatively adds that Nimrod was probably the same ancestor of the Yoruba whose name had been corrupted from Nimrod to Lamurudu {Namurudu). (See Johnson 1921: 5-6). The late Professor Saburi O. Biobaku (1979) added the weight of his scholarship to these claims of Yoruba migration, suggesting "that the Yoruba were probably the last Sudanic people to migrate to their present territory." (cited in Otite 1978: 20). (3)

While we all must be intrigued and amazed at the fertile intellectual imagination that enabled brilliant scholars to reach such fanciful conclusions, it is much more bewildering that modern academics should endorse these self-deprecating stories as appropriate material to be taught in Nigerian schools. The result has been imitation of migration stories in other areas of Nigeria, ignoring traditions of origins of our people that do not incorporate migrations from distant places. For example, Robin Law, the British historian who is an authority on Oyo, has noted the existence of other traditions of Yoruba origins, which have apparently been ignored: "there exist among the Yoruba numerous origin legends which, while agreeing in tracing descent from Oduduwa and Ile-Ife, do not refer to a migration from elsewhere" (Law, 1973: 30). There should be little doubt that the original intention of these fabulous migration stories was to establish the specious point that all Nigerians were after all migrants, as the Fulani overlords of the Sokoto Caliphate undeniably were, and that rival groups like the Yoruba and the Edo had no superior indigenous claims to their own lands.

When compared to the age of human existence on the African continent, Mecca and Islam, and indeed Christianity, are late instances of human history. Such knowledge does not seem to hinder this type of improbable mythology dressed up as respectable prehistory. Mohammed was born in 580 C. E., by which time African states like Ghana and Ethiopia were already well established. He died in 632 C. E. Seven years later, in 639 C. E., Arabs began to pour into Africa, on a mission of converting Christian Africa and Christian Europe to Islam. Since then, there are clear records of the movements of Arabs in Africa. None contains any mention of this fantastic connection between Yorubaland and Arabia. This distortion is a troubling aspect of our scholarship because it insults our claim to be some of the oldest humans on earth.

The fallacy of the regal origins of societies and cultures seems to have influenced some students of Benin history to assume that the Ogisos founded the societies which they then ruled. Such land has retrospectively been named after the first Ogiso as Igodomigodo (see Oronsaye 1995, Bradbury 1957: 19; Otite 1978: 19)). However, it is much more probable that the Ogiso dynasty arose from clan and village societies that were already in existence for thousands of years. That would not make their accomplishments smaller. Bringing various clans and villages under the control of a ruling family must have been a major challenge for the Ogisos, a challenge that they seemed to have met magnificently until the mismanagement of their own successes overthrew their long era of dominance. Our region of humankind is not young, certainly not as young as the last two millennia within which the House of Ogiso built their kingdom. We must acknowledge the contribution of these village and clan communities in the evolution of what eventually became the Kingdom of Benin. It is to their credit that out of the numerous indigenous communities that existed for tens of thousands of years in our corner of humanity, it was their culture that began the process of state building which mushroomed into a powerful kingdom many centuries later.

A second troubling fallacy in Nigerian historiography, which affects our appreciation of the Ogisos and their times, is what Professor Reinhard Bendix from the University of California, Berkeley, many years ago labelled as the fallacy of retrospective determinism. It surfaces in the assumption that the themes and features that characterize our modern societies and history also applied in ancient times. In effect, this fallacy is the process of falsely levelling our history backwards into antiquity. I will give an example from within our subject matter. One of the great achievements of the kings in the House of Eweka is the founding of the City of Benin, which then nurtured an urban ethos among the Benin. Some historians of Benin seem to imply that the Ogisos did the same thing. Actually, not all dynasties build cities and there is no evidence that the Ogisos built one. Certainly, their contemporaries did not seem to be as urban as modern Benins have become.

Aware of the dangers in these two fallacies, let us now explore the Ogisos and their times. What type of kings were the Ogisos and what type of societies did they preside over? Here our exploration must take the route of discovering the distant past from their reconstructed refractions in our own existence. But understanding that the Ogisos, like the Stuarts of English history, have sometimes been maligned in Benin folkways, we will need the help of other fragments of the culture that the Ogisos influenced in their times. Just consider the appearances of the Ogisos in Benin and Urhobo folktales. In Isidore Okpewho's (1998) comprehensive and scholarly study of Benin folklore, there is a Benin folktale concerning the Ogiso, which ends as follows:

Ogiso goes back on his word. Whereupon heaven and earth threaten to convulse the nation, forcing the Ogiso to capitulate. >[His rival] became the Oba, and the Ogiso became his sword-bearer. (p. 67)
This kind of degradation ritual is quite common in dynastic struggles. But such treatment of Ogisos in Benin folktales would be thoroughly baffling, probably annoying, to the Urhobo. In Urhobo folktales, the Ogiso has a different imagery. The Urhobo, even modern educated Urhobo, have not studied Benin monarchy in the way that it has understandably occupied the Benin. But the Ogiso was the King whom the Urhobo know and understand thoroughly. The Ogisos were ruling when many communities left these lands, which later became known as Benin, to sojourn southeastwards to establish new communities or else to join indigenous people who were already established in the western Niger Delta. In doing so, they took away fragments of the culture that was in existence at the time of the Ogisos. It is difficult to estimate what centuries these were. But it was most probable that these migrations were serial. Rather than taking place in one fell swoop, they probably covered a course of several centuries in the first millennium of the Christian calendar.
Urhobo understanding of kingship was shaped by the political culture that was in existence at the time of the Ogisos. It included a complex imagery of the Ogisos in Urhobo folklore. That composite picture was of a king who was most argumentative. He had a troublesome first wife, Inarhe, who would not brook much from the demands of the Ogiso. Ogiso could be harsh in his ways, but he clearly attended to the needs of ordinary people, including the proverbial yaws-infested man, okpufi, whose needs could not be neglected in the society in which Ogiso was king.

Urhobo language yields clues to the profile of the society and culture which the Ogisos ruled. To begin with, the Urhobo know this king by his straightforward name, Ogiso, without any other titles. He was their king. On the other hand, the Urhobo know the kings of the House of Eweka more distantly as Oba r' Aka, the King of Benin. Of course, Urhobo language does not contain the word Benin. Nor does it have Edo. Benin and Edo were names that were introduced by Ogiso's powerful successors into the culture that the Ogiso once ruled. By the time these words of Benin and Edo, by which the culture is now known, were introduced in the 14th and 15th centuries, the Urhobo had left these lands.

If any of the Ogisos were to be called back from the Great Beyond to our modern world, they would be baffled by these new names. They were not there in their times. The reawakened Ogisos would probably understand the Urhobo word for Benin, namely Aka, and might well understand the word Uhobo by which modern Benins know the Urhobo. But the resurrected Ogisos would not be aware that the lands they once ruled are now known by the names Benin and Edo. They might be lost in complex Oredo, the City of Benin, which was built long after they left the scene. According to Urhobo folklore, Udo would be the town that the Ogisos would know well. There is little doubt that the shades of the Ogisos would be much more comfortable among the modern Urhobo than with the modern Benin. There certainly would be greater mutual respect and understanding between the Urhobo and the shades of the Ogisos than anything the Ogisos could expect from modern Benin.

Any of the Ogisos might also have difficulties understanding modern Benin language. A language changes over time, especially when a new powerful dynasty emerges in its society. Just consider the vast changes from the English of Chaucer's era in the 14th century to the English language spoken nowadays -- a bare separation of some seven centuries, certainly less than what separates us from the Ogiso times. There is always a temptation to assume that any language has remained constant over centuries. But languages do change. Let me illustrate this aspect of probable changes in the language spoken at the time of the Ogisos and modern Benin. It is well known that Urhobo shares a host of words with Benin, because the two cultures were joined by their common experiences of the culture over which the Ogisos presided. But it would be a mistake to assume that the meanings of all of these common words have come from the times of the Ogisos. Take the word ohwo (plural ihwo). It is common to Urhobo and Benin as well as Ishan. But what does ohwo mean in these languages?

In Benin and Ishan, ohwo means woman. In Urhobo, ohwo means human being. Obviously, the two usages are related. Which of these was in use in Ogiso's times? I rather suspect that the Ogiso usage of this word would be closer to its Urhobo meaning. I say so because there is a pattern in cultural migrations that favours immobilities in fragments of a master culture that have undergone migration to other climes, while changes tend to be much more profound in its original habitat. As Louis Hartz (1964) put it somewhere else, modern French is spoken in Paris, but in Canada's Quebec an 18th century version of the French language is spoken.

By far the more manifest refractions of Ogiso times in modern Urhobo is in its organization of society and culture. Despite the geographical and cultural proximity between Benin and Urhobo, there are deep-seated differences in the cultural organization of these fragments of what has been called Edoid complex of cultures. (4) Urhobo exemplifies a segmentation in its cultural ensembles that has sometimes been called clan organization. Urhobo is certainly segmented into smaller cultural groupings that are all linked together into the Urhobo cultural whole. Each of these constitutive cultural groupings is organically linked to the wholeness of Urhobo culture. None of them would feel complete without their linkage to the whole of Urhobo culture. But none of them would feel whole without their singular distinction in the wider framework of Urhobo culture.

By contrast, clan identities are minuscule in Benin culture. If there is one area in cultural organization where modern Benin can claim a uniqueness, it is in the fact that kinship organizations are weak in Benin culture and society as compared to its significant neighbours, Urhobo and Yoruba. With respect to a comparison between Yoruba and Benin, the British anthropologist R. E. Bradbury has noted the "absence of large lineages with continuing rights in offices" in Benin culture, in contrast to the Yoruba where they are abundant (Bradbury 1973: 15).

We may therefore ask the following question: Was the political organization of these lands during Ogiso times more like those in Urhobo land or were they closer to the centralized political system, which is relatively free of strong subcultural loyalties, that has come to distinguish Benin political organization? I would suggest that the Ogiso political system was closer to the Urhobo pattern. The Urhobo, in all probability, took away with them the pattern of clan organization in place under the Ogisos, while the Benin experienced important transformations under the succeeding dynasty of the House of Eweka.


TRANSFORMATIONS IN BENIN CULTURE AND SOCIETY
UNDER THE OBAS OF THE ROYAL HOUSE OF EWEKA

The prominence and power of the Obas of the House of Eweka were derived from the transformations that they wrought in the post-Ogiso era. In the cultural sphere, the elementary society of villages and clans that existed under the Ogisos were transformed into a city-centered culture. There is need to characterize what this means, lest it be confused with the related urban culture of the neighbouring Yoruba. The city-centredness in Benin culture was unique because it was based on the notion that all Benin citizens had space within the political culture of the City in the same way as the Greek City-states were run. In one sense, all Benins were citizens of the City. In other words, Benin was a City-state.

In another important sense, Oredo, the City of Edo, which is another name for Benin City, had the same ritual significance for the Benin as Ile-Ife had for the Yoruba. But there was an important difference between the two. While Ile-Ife conveyed a symbolic significance for the Yoruba, Oredo provided a substantive meaning in the lives of the Benin because it was at once the religious and political headquarters of their existence. The tremendous authority that the Obas of the House of Eweka wielded for many centuries in the affairs of Benin derived from their management of the affairs of the City of Benin as the centre of Benin culture as well as their control of the relationships between Benin City and the rest of the city-state of Benin. In this transformation from the elementary clan-based state and society that the Ogisos ruled, Benin culture achieved a uniformity that is absent from Benin's significant neighbours. Consider, for instance, the variations in language. Each of Yoruba, Igbo, and Urhobo has far more internal variations within their languages than what exists in Benin, although significant pockets of dialectic distinction remain entrenched in a few areas of Benin. We must assume that the spread of a common urban Benin language, which has overridden major dialects in Benin culture, is a product of the transformation that followed from the works of the new dynasty of the House of Eweka.

There is a second area where the transition from the Ogisos to the ruling House of Eweka led to major changes in the fortunes of Benin. It is in the sphere of empire-building. The Ogisos were not empire-builders. Nor was it clear from the early Obas that the new dynasty would embark on empire-building. The change probably came with the famed five Obas of the middle fifteenth and the whole of the sixteenth centuries -- Ewuare the Great, Ozolua, Esigie, Orhogbua, and Ehengbuda -- whose reigns in close proximity established Benin as a foremost imperial power in West Africa. But it is easy to overstate the achievements of these great Obas relative to earlier ones. Their achievements became clearer because they began their reign at a time when European presence in the Western Niger Delta allowed historical records to be established. It is entirely probable that the earlier Obas had laid down the groundwork for the achievements of Oba Ewuare the Great and his successors.

Whatever the case was, history has rewarded Benin's achievements handsomely. It is striking that Benin built its empire in the same centuries as the brilliant Songhai who composed, from the little state networks that they took over from Mali, a huge empire of several states in what historians, using an Arabic term, call the Western Sudan. Songhai's empire was vast, stretching from modern Mauritania to the Hausa states of modern Northern Nigeria. Yet, today no single significant land or water mass bears Songhai's name. The presence of Arab powers nearby, in the Maghreb and in the Sahara, was Songhai's nemesis and misfortune. Benin's good fortune is the absence of Arab or even European imperial powers at the time it was expanding. Today, judging by the number of institutions, lands, and waters that are named after Benin, we all must acknowledge that out of the ancient states of West Africa and the Nile Valley history has been most kind to Benin. Togo's national university is named as the University of Benin. In the 1970s, following disputes among its ethnic groups, some of which objected to the name Dahomey as being too local and parochial, the country to the west of Nigeria changed its name from Dahomey to the Republic of Benin. European cartographers joined in the tribute to Benin's influence. An important river in the Western Niger Delta is named as Benin River. Then, consider the significance of that huge section of the Atlantic Ocean bordering West Africa that is called the Bight of Benin -- especially in view of the fact that the Atlantic coastline is some distance from Benin itself. All of these namesakes must be seen as tributes to Oba Ewuare the Great and his successors.

However, I believe that the Ogiso era deserves a share of Benin's recognition for preparing the groundwork for these achievements. This is so for two significant reasons. First, it has been claimed by many that the stability and eminence of Benin's rulership owes a great deal to the institution of primogeniture (see, e.g., Ekeh 1976), which is the principle that authorizes succession by the first male child. Despite the contention by Jacob Egharevba that this principle dates back to only about the seventeenth century, it must be clear that the tradition of primogeniture was already strong during the era of the Ogisos. That principle is probably as strong among the Urhobo as among the Benin -- a clear indication that it dates back to Ogiso times.

Primogeniture of course existed in the histories of many other monarchical traditions, across the continents of Africa, Asia, and Europe -- especially in antiquity. But the Benin case was special in its practice. I can see no other instances in history in which was practiced the ritual separation between the King and the heir apparent in the manner in which primogeniture in royal succession was historically enforced in Benin culture. This ritual separation occurred at birth, following the performance of rites that established the succession rights of the infant heir apparent. The severity of this custom was unmatched anywhere else. Where did it come from? Clearly, it was a cultural imposition on the Kings, not their choice. We must search into Benin history and culture for the origins of this uncommon cultural practice that portended to safeguard the monarchy --even when it was enforced at the cost of denying the King the right to interact freely with his first male child.

What was the purpose of this custom of the ritual separation of King and his infant heir apparent? Actually, no meaningful answer usually emerges in response to questions about the purpose of customs. But we can search into Benin history for clues. The end of the Ogiso dynasty came as a result of arbitrary behaviour of the last Ogiso, Owodo, towards his first -- and, as it turned out, his only - son. He banished him and then wanted to recall him, leading to much bloodshed. That was a harsh lesson in Benin history. I suggest to you that Benin culture responded to such royal behaviour by taking over from the King the sole authority to decide on the fate of his successor. The ritual separation between the King and his infant heir apparent allowed Benin culture to protect both the infant heir apparent and the line of succession designed by Benin culture against any royal whims that could resemble Owodo's behaviour. In other words, it is my contention that Benin culture instituted a principle of socialization for Benin kingship that embodied lessons learnt from the era of the Ogisos.

There is a second leftover from the Ogiso era that informed subsequent developments in Benin history. At its height, what is popularly known as the Benin Empire had three portions. There was the eastern Igbo Province, essentially made up of what is today Western Igbo. This was an area that was won by way of warfare, the most important wars being those with Agbor (1577) and Ubulu-Ukwu (1750). Benin imperialism met with considerable resistance, resentment, and bloodshed in Igboland (see Ohadike 1994 and Okpewho 1998). Then there was Benin's Yoruba Province that was won on the platform of military action, but with much less resentment and acrimony than the Igbo case. Towards the end of the nineteenth century this area was being harassed by aggressive Fulani expansionism from its Sokoto Caliphate base.

The rest of what was called the Benin Empire was hardly won by war and its lands experienced far less military control from Benin. These were areas where Benin enjoyed cultural ties with surrounding communities. The oldest of these communities were Isoko and Urhobo that were partially peopled by those who migrated from Ogiso's lands and therefore had cultural and linguistic ties with Benin. The expansion of Benin influences in Isoko and Urhobo countries were the harvest from Ogiso's era. These territories had more people than Western Igbo. If the Benin had to fight any imperial wars in these areas, as they did in Igbo country, the Empire would have been sapped of much of its energy. The influence of the Obas of Benin in those areas was important, but it was based on mutual needs. That this was so could be seen from the fact that the relations between Benin and Urhobo continued on a voluntary basis even after British imperialism severed the ties between Benin and the lands where Benin Obas once exercised influence, whereas the Igbo relationships were hurriedly and permanently ended. There were other Edoid areas whose communities were peopled by groups that migrated from Benin lands when the Eweka dynasty was already in place. Such more recent emigrants as the Ishan, who left Benin under the Obas of the House of Eweka, were much closer to the rule and control of Benin City than the older communities in Isoko and Urhobo countries in the Niger Delta whose cultural ties with modern Benin were more indirect, because they were rooted in their common experiences during Ogiso times.


THE PEOPLE AND THE BENIN KINGDOM

Of the two propositions that I enunciated at the beginning of this lecture as key principles of Benin history, namely, the dominant role of the people in the making and design of Benin kingdom and the dynastic struggle of the House of Eweka against the defunct House of Ogiso, I may appear to have paid more attention to the latter than to the role of the people. In fact, however, the people's presence and influence were present, in implicit ways, in the affairs of Benin, as much in the second dynasty as they were robust in Ogiso's era. In coming to the conclusions of this lecture, I must now turn to an explicit examination of the role of the people in the design of Benin kingdom and in its nurture.

In doing so, we need not go much further than Jacob Egharevba's brilliant A Short History of Benin. If that book deserved another title, it would be: The People of Benin and Their Kings. For it was a narration of how the interests and needs of Benin people were well promoted and protected by their kings and their institutions. The Benin were people whose needs could not be ignored. Great kings, like Oba Ewuare, listened to their voices.

I will illustrate this thesis on the relationship between the people and the kings of Benin by examining two puzzles in Benin history. The first of these puzzles concerns the deep trenches, also called moats, that surrounded old Benin City. They are unparalleled in tropical Africa. Like the Great Zimbabwes of southern Africa, these moats represent something of a puzzle. Historically, ramparts, such as the Benin moats, are built for protection against perceived foreign enemies. Adiele Afigbo, the influential Nigerian historian, is reported as having quipped on one occasion as to why the Benin needed a deep moat. At the time these trenches were constructed, in the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries, Benin was under no threat from its neighbours. There was no power of Benin's size whose attack Benin kingdom feared. Why spend so much labour and time building terrifically deep trenches from Benin's hard and red soil?

Egharevba provides us with intriguing answers to those questions, which attest to Benin's complex history. In The City of Benin, Egharevba (1952) offers two explanations for the building of the moats. The first reason for undertaking the horrendous task of building these gigantic ramparts was to protect the City of Benin from its internal Benin enemies, clearly indicating that the notion of Benin City was not universally popular at the beginning and that it had to be defended, not against foreigners, but against its internal Benin detractors. Egharevba writes, thus: "There are three main moats or ditches surrounding the City. The first and the second were [sic] dug by Oba Oguola about 1280 and 1290 A. D. as barriers to keep off the invaders in the time of war. Especially against Akpanigiakon, the Duke of Udo, who was then harassing the City" (Egharevba 1952: 11).

The explanation for the building of the third portion of the moat reverses the logic of the first two sections. Having built earlier regions of the moats to keep some troublesome Benins from the City, two centuries later, there was an urgent need to keep Benins inside the City, barring them from fleeing from the onerous duties of empire building. Egharevba tells us that Oba Ewuare's vindictive policies enforcing a prolonged mourning period for the loss of his two favorite sons were the final push factor, the final straw as it were, that led to renewed emigration from Benin. Egharevba (152: 11) writes:

The people therefore cried out in a melancholy mood,, Ewuare, o! gi Edo gha bun, meaning Ewuare let the City of Benin be increased. The Oba then hysterically [sic] dug the third moat to prevent his few remaining subjects from further desertion. He [sic] began to tattoo their bodies so that they might be known and identified amongst the people of other tribes. This was the origin of the Benin tribal mark.
Sensitivity about the loss of population in the Benin of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries was, in all probability, a distant playback to Ogiso's times. The Ogiso dynasty suffered considerable hemorrhage from migrations from its realm in ways that do not now appear obvious to us, modern people. But it must have been clear to ancient Benins of those distant centuries that there was danger of repeating the Ogiso debacle of earlier centuries if citizens left Benin City in large numbers. Their Kings listened to them. The extraordinary extent to which they went in order to ensure that there were enough people to perform the functions of the state and to manage its economy, as well as engage in an expensive enterprise of empire building, is the result we see in the Benin moats. We are not told what other reforms were undertaken in order to make the affairs of the state attractive to its citizens. But we must assume that there were such measures. Clearly, the value of people for the ancient Benin Kingdom is the clue to solving that first puzzle of moats and ramparts that were not built for fending off foreign enemies but rather in response to exigencies of internal Benin policies and pressures.
The second puzzle of Benin history is no less intriguing. It concerns Benin's role in the Atlantic Slave Trade. That evil trade, spanning several centuries, devastated the Western African region. Unlike the Arab Slave Trade from eastern and central Africa, in which Arabs undertook the slave raids directly, the West African Atlantic Slave Trade by European traders relied on African states and African slave raiders for their human victims. Throughout the region, many states embroiled themselves in the slave trade. Asante, Oyo, Dahomey, the Rivers states of eastern Nigeria, were all involved in the evil trade. In the nineteenth century, the Sokoto Caliphate joined this train of West African states that traded on fellow Africans, causing the depopulation of the Benue Valley in this instance (see Dike 1956: 27).

What about Benin and its empire? Clearly, Benin had important trade connections and political ties throughout the region that would have put it in a place of considerable advantage in the competition of the slave trade. How much did Benin press its advantages in pursuit of the Slave Trade? The puzzle is that Benin did not press its advantages to engage in the Slave Trade. Indeed, Benin's role in the Slave Trade was minor. It seems fair to say that Ryder's (1969:198) conclusion on this score has been well accepted by historians. He says: "There is no evidence that Benin ever organized a great slave trading network similar to that which supplied the ports of the eastern delta, or that it ever undertook systematic slave raiding . . . Benin either could not or would not become a slave-trading state on a grand scale" (also see Davidson 1971:65). Don Ohadike, the Anioma historian whose region of western Igbo would have been grievously impacted if Benin had played a large role in the slave trade, concurs with Ryder:

Slavery was neither an economic necessity nor a vital component of the entire political and social life of [Benin] society . . . even after the rise of Benin as a large kingdom, its involvement in slavery was limited. Ryder has demonstrated that Benin's participation in the Atlantic slave trade or the European trade generally was minimal. Ryder's thesis is confirmed by the fact that the Edo political structures were not particularly affected by the European trade as was the case with Dahomey and the Gold Coast (Ohadike 1994: 42; also compare Igbafe 1979: 27).
Benin's policies forbidding any large commitment to the slave trade is a puzzle for two main reasons. First, it makes Benin the sole exception among West African states in their full-scale participation in the European Slave Trade. Second, Benin had a strong institution of slavery in its culture and internal social organization. Benin's abstinence from the evil trade could not fairly be attributed to some humanitarian inhibition on its part. How then does one explain this rare phenomena in African history?
The Caribbean scholar Walter Rodney offers one good clue that will help us to solve this puzzle of Benin history. Rodney argued that many African states craved to refrain from the slave trade but were afraid to do so. They were so weak that the European traders could imperil their power and survival if they failed to participate in the slave trade (see Rodney 1972: 80-82). The reverse logic in Rodney's postulate was that only strong African states could make deliberate decisions to participate in the evil trade or else to refrain from it. Benin was a strong state that could say no to European powers and not be threatened with punishment that would destroy it. Apparently, from the outcome of history, Benin took the calculated decision not to involve itself in the slave trade in the manner of other states and not to encourage slave raids such as those for which the Aro were notorious in the Igbo hinterland in eastern Niger Delta.

But why did the Benin decide not to involve the resources of their kingdom in slave raids and slave trade, as so many other African states did? This is where to bemoan the absence of literacy in the civilizations of Benin and the other areas of tropical Africa. How one wished there were written records to reveal the arguments that were advanced for and against Benin's involvement in the slave trade, with menacing pressures from European traders and rival state organizations all across West Africa to cope with. But no such records exist. However, from its history, we can offer two speculative strands of reasoning for Benin's abstinence in the Slave Trade. First, it was entirely possible that policy makers saw the futility of the slave trade. The payback to the participating African states was miserable. But its disruption in their social structures was horrendous. Such was the fate of Oyo that destroyed its state institutions and civilization from the slave trade and a catastrophic civil war that the slave trade instigated in Oyo. A second reason is that Benin needed growth in its population for the management of its state affairs and for its external imperial engagements during the centuries of the Atlantic Slave Trade. There is always the temptation to believe that a large Empire, such as the one that the Benin managed, was being run by a huge population. But that was not the case. Benin was a nation with a small population who ran a big empire -- just as a small Songhai nation sustained a huge empire in the Western Sudan. Involvement in the slave trade would not help in the battle against population decrease that various Obas of the House of Eweka fought to reverse. The policy of abstinence that resulted on this score of the slave trade accords with the imperatives of Benin history of that time.

Whether these explanations for the absence of Benin from large-scale participation in the slave trade are correct or not, the policy forbidding such involvement paid handsome dividends for Benin. Its social structure and political system did not suffer from the destruction which the slave trade wrought for Dahomey, Asante, Oyo, and a host of other African states in the centuries of the slave trade. Moreover, out of the total area of the West African Atlantic coast impacted by the slave trade, the region of the western lower Niger Delta, in which the Benin Empire held sway, was the least disrupted.


SOME CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

In concluding this lecture, let me reflect slightly on the nature of history that we inherited from colonial times. I went to colonial schools for my elementary and secondary school education. I am from a cohort of Nigerians who were fed from what was then labelled as History of the British Empire. It was a brand of history in which British imperialists could do no wrong and in which their enemies could do no right. History of the British Empire was severe on enemies of British imperialism, whether they be Americans victorious from their revolt against the British in 1776 or the Benin in West Africa defeated by the British in a vicious campaign of 1897. Nigerian historiography has fought back by seeking out fresh spots in our historical actors of the nineteenth century as being praiseworthy for their "resistance" to British imperialism. Unfortunately, Nigerian historiography will continue to be hopelessly indebted to the methodology of British imperial historiography for as long as it concentrates its attention on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in which Europeans set the agenda of historical events in the region.

The nineteenth century was cursed in African history. It was a century of which the Benin cannot be proud. One major value of Jacob Egharevba's historical scholarship is that he strongly scolded the behaviour of Benin policy makers in the nineteenth century (see Egharevba 1952: 14-15). Indeed, if we were to limit Benin history to the events of the nineteenth century the harsh judgement that British propaganda and arrogant imperial history have handed over to generations of Nigerians might have some degree of validity. But Benin history is much more than the nineteenth century. When the historian goes back to earlier centuries and then fairly assesses the achievements that elevated a small population to such great heights, then I am convinced that the historical judgement of Benin and its empire is liable to be positive.

In this lecture, I have gone behind the nineteenth century, which was dominated by the British and other Europeans in West Africa, to earlier centuries. What we have is a history of a people in West Africa that husbanded its cultural resources carefully, enabling them to value their culture internally and to gain strength therefrom for embarking on the risky business of empire-building. It is my conclusion that, on balance, the resulting empire did more good than harm to its region of impact in the western lower Niger. I have gone back to Ogiso times because the complex of cultures that resulted from dispersals in those distant centuries is historically significant, in the annals of the ancient world and in the surviving cultural and social ties that those dispersals generated.

These are conclusions that would be impossible to arrive at if we concentrated on the nineteenth century. I dearly hope that the result of this preliminary exploration of the history of what has been labeled as Edoid complex of cultures will encourage others to move behind the European presence in West Africa in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to more distant centuries of our history and prehistory.

I thank you all for your kind attention.




NOTES

1. Fourth Chief Jacob U. Egharevba Memorial Lecture, under the auspices of the Institute for Benin Studies, at Oba Akenzua II Cultural Centre, Benin City, on 14 December, 2001. I thank Professor Omo Omoruyi, currently resident in Boston, USA, for an insightful conversation on the subject of pockets of dialectic variations in modern Benin language. I am grateful to Dr. Igho Natufe, now resident in Ottawa, Canada, and Engr. Onoawarie Edevbie, currently resident in Detroit, Michigan, USA, for their careful reading of a draft text of this paper and for offering several important comments and suggestions.
2. Consider the views of Baba of Karo (in Smith 1954: 67): "[The Europeans came when] Yusufu was the king of Kano. He did not like the Europeans, he did not wish them, he would not sign their treaty. Then he saw perforce he would have to agree, so he did. We Habe [Hausa] wanted them to come, it was the Fulani who did not like it. When the Europeans came, the Habe saw that if you worked for them they paid you for it, they did not say, like the Fulani, 'Commoner, give me this! Commoner, give me that!' Yes, the Habe wanted them; they saw no harm in them."

3. What is a "Sudanic people"? "Sudan" is the Arab term of reference to the "Blacks in Sub-Saharan Africa with whom they had established contacts. Walter Rodney (1972: 56) probably offers the best definition of the term: "To the Arabs, the whole of Africa south of the Sahara was the Bilad as Sudan -- the Land of the Blacks. The name survives today only in the Republic of the Sudan on the Nile, but references to Western Sudan in early times concern the zone presently occupied by Senegal, Mali, Upper Volta, and Niger, plus parts of Mauritania, Guinea, and Nigeria." It seems clear that those who use the term in these migration stories confuse the Republic of Sudan with the wider area that the term, as the Arabs used it, originally referred to.

4. See the following definition that I offered elsewhere of Edoid: "In this paper I will use the italicized termEdoid to refer to the cultural and linguistic ensemble that includes the following ethnic fragments: Bini, Ishan, Owan, and Etsako, in Benin land and northern zones; and their more distant cultural relatives: Isoko and Urhobo in the western Niger Delta" (Ekeh 2000: ).





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Hartz, Louis. 1964. The Founding of New Societies: Studies in the History of the United States, Latin America, South Africa, Canada, and Australia. New York: Harcourt, Brace, and World.

Igbafe, Philip Aigbona. 1979. Benin Under British Administration. The Impact of Colonial on a Western African Kingdom 1897-1938. Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Humanities Press.

Johnson, Samuel. 1921. The History of the Yorubas. Lagos [Nigeria]: C.M.S. Books


Johnston, H. A. S. 1967. The Fulani Empire of Sokoto. London. Ibadan. Nairobi: Oxford University Press.

Law, R. C. C. 1975. "Traditional History." Pp.25-46 in Saburi O. Biobaku, editor, Sources of Yoruba History. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Law, Robin. 1977. The Oyo Empire, c1600-1836: A West African Imperialism in the Era of the Atlantic Slave Trade. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Ohadike, Don C. 1994. Anioma : A Social History of the Western Igbo People. Athens: Ohio University Press.

Okpewho, Isidore. 1998. Once Upon a Kingdom. Myth, Hegemony, and Identity. Bloomington & Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1998.

Okpewho, Isidore. 1998. "African Mythology and Africa's Political Impasse." Research in African Literatures 29(1):

Oronsaye, D. N: 1995. The History of the Ancient Benin Kingdom and Empire. Benin City: Jeromelaiho

Otite, Onigu, ed. 1978. The Urhobo People. Ibadan: Heineman Educational Books (Nig.) Limited.

Rodney, Walter. 1972. How Europe Underdeveloped Africa. Washington, D.C.: Howard University Press.

Ryder, A. F. C. 1969. Benin and the Europeans, 1485-1897. New York: Humanities Press.

Smith, Mary F. 1954. Baba of Karo: A Woman of the Moslem Hausa. London: Faber and Faber.

The Royal English Monarchy. http://www.scotlandroyalty.org/kings.html



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RETURN TO CONTENTS | RETURN TO JACOB EGHAREVBA MEMORIAL LECTURE

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jara: Bokoboko,

Sorry, you do not know your history. You do not even know why Oba of Benin still rents from from Ogiso ancestor up to today. You need to read from Benin great historian - Chief Jacob Egharevba and Urhobo Prof. Peter Eke.

Why did the Ogiso become the sword bearer of his reival Oba after his people turned against him?

By the way, if you don't speak Yoruba or have a Yoruba name, you are not from the royal blood.

Now I am more convinced of your ignorance in matters relating to Edo History.

bokohalal:
Now I am more convinced of your ignorance in matters relating to Edo History.

Olodo Rapata!

jara:

Olodo Rapata!

.
Lol

bokohalal: .
Lol

Great! He understands, speaks and has a Yoruba name to match.

My brother, let us join hands together, the honor is for Africa, south of the Sahara, not for Hausa, Igbo, Beron, Benin or Yoruba.

There seem to be a delibrate attempt by some people here in Nairaland, and elsewhere, to deny Benin Kingdom's historical achievements by attributing it to other neighbouring ethnic groups or to Europeans.If the extensive Benin city moat had been replicated in any other Nigerian city,town or village outside Benin Kingdom,one can imagine what people would have said.
The Moat was not built in a day but the number of people that would have done the job in an age of crude digging implements should tell people that Benin city was probably one of the largest cities in the world at that time.
Benin kingdom is replete with history.The oldest habitable house in the whole of Southern Nigeria (let me be modest)is in Benin City. The Ogieamien Family house is history itself.The name Ogieamien is more descriptive than a proper name.For those that come here to write their story,they should find out the real family name and why they are so called today.
Chief Oliha's full appelation is 'Oliha n'Ogele n'ogele mue irhu'. That tells the story of the task given to him by Ekaladerhan when they found him at Uhe(Ife).
Every proper Bini family has an ancestral altar where you will find carved wooden sticks from the first ancestor to the present. Each Ukhurhe tells a story,name,descendants,achievements etc.
Every Bini family,unlike any other in the world,has its perculiar mornining greeting.It should be of interest for those writing Benin History to find out what the Benin Royal Family greeting is.It is not 'De la Uhe!
Benin brass plaques and other artworks commemorated wars , festivals in celebration of monumental events,war Generals and commanders,Kings and Queens of repute and other sundry events of Benin Kingdom to show especially modern day history writers where to look to find guidance concerning the Kingdom.
There were whole streets and families in ancient Benin dedicated to the preservation of these records.Yet, you will find here that the artworks were made by,or,in Owo!
Benin Kingdom is not so Far from the Atlantic Ocean.If you actually took a somewhat straight line from Benin city westwards,you will arrive at Lagos!
It was a Benin Prince and his entourage that founded the Itsekiri Royalty yet the Binis do not like water!
Have to go.Will be back.

Bokohalal,

Nobody and I mean nobody should or try to diminish the greatness of Benin. All Nigerians should be proud of those historical achievement. It cannot be denied either, it should be celebrated. The problem is as Nigerians or even as Africans we have divided ourselves into individual units and townships.

Benin achievement came around 11th and 12th century after the throne changed from Ogiso to Oba. Indeed, those that left Benin before Oba rule still remember Ogiso as the ruler. The reign of Oba changed Benin in terms of achievement we all celebrate today.

How anyone can compare that to Ife that existed before the birth of Christ is what should not have brought the confusion and novel theory of Oba of Benin about Ekaladerhan. Mind you, the Oba himself was grudgingly accepted in Benin and that is why Oranmiyan left and his son whose mother was a daughter of the soil took over till today.

How does one explain Iwo Eleru civilization or its existence dated back to 10,000 B.C?

Let me make bold to say that Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba are the children of the same father moving to different environment with Nigeria. Benin is a good example of this movement as it expanded beyond Oyo Empire into the East and South.

The Ijaw of today are older than many of the people in the Southsouth are, they proudly remember and celebrate their father - Adimu, known as Oduduwa. Today's politics in Nigeria has distorted these facts of history and everyone is for himself.

It has always amused historians how Nigerians claimed relationships with Israel and Egypt but none whatsoever to one another. One historian asked if they they never met one another on their way to and from Middle East.

hum

jara

You have such a heavily distorted view of Benin that it's almost not worth bothering to communicate with you, but I'll make an attempt anyway.

Have you ever actually read Egharevba's work? Answer honestly.

In every edition of his book, he tried to imply that there was already a Bini ruler of or a Bini takeover of Ife in some way or another but he was overly subtle about it.

In his earlier editions, he maintained the tradition of his people dating back to hundreds of years (as confirmed by written documents from hundreds of years ago, which there is nothing to suggest that he was even aware of) that there was a ruler with an explicitly/unambiguously Edo title presiding over Ife.

Even in his last two revised editions, where he altered the title of the ruler after cowing to outside influence, he stated that the Binis migrated into Ife and then left afterward. The implication of this statement for a sovereign kingdom are pretty clear.

In fact, in the 1920s, Oba Eweka II prayed for the health a king with an Edo title who is also the same one held by his people for hundreds of years to be same one presiding at Ife, but he was oblivious to the existence of any king called "Ooni" that he should pray for, and he never did pray for any Ooni.

Interestingly enough, this particular Edo title (Oghene) could not have been pronounced by the Yorubas of Ife, since it is a proven linguistic fact that they remove the "gh" sound from their words, so they would have eventually replaced it with something else when the title was in Ife.

All of this stuff being presented as an authoritative interpretation of Egharevba's work is basically new history and doesn't square up well with written documents from the pre-colonial past or actual Edo tradition which is unambiguous about the existence of the ruler whose title was Edo.

Next, the Oba of Benin did not come up with a new theory about Ekaladerhan. It simply does not originate with Oba Erediauwa. That's one of the larger misconceptions and that was what bokohalal tried to explain above.

Also, why no mention of the possibility of dynastic change in Ife?

Dynastic change in Ife is probably why Egharevba stated on May 3rd, 1975, that Oduduwa was an outsider and non-Yoruba who found Yoruba people already living at Ife when he arrived. Whatever happened to Oreluere?

You're mentioning "Iwo Eleru civilization" at 10,000 B.C. as if there was actually civilization there. What was found there was a homo sapiens skull with archaic and unusually primitive features: http://www.nhm.ac.uk/about-us/news/2011/september/mystery-of-a-west-african-skull-from-13000-years-ago103799.html


"Two of the characteristics of the skeleton are quite unknown
among modern West African populations, and the radiocarbon
date for charcoal immediately surrounding the skeleton is the
earliest of the block of six obtained at the site.
The skeleton has been under examination in the Duckworth
Laboratory of the University of Cambridge for the last two
years, but the investigation is not yet complete owing to the
illness and subsequent death of Dr Jack TREVOR. Before his
death, however, he did state that the Iwo Eleru skull was "absolutely
longer and broader than Asselar or any living ,Nest African
male" and that the "occipital curvature was almost identical
with Bushman" skulls. In view of the association of Bushman
skeletal remains with ·Wilton-type microlithic industries in East,
Central and South Africa, the discovery of apparently protoBushman
characteristics associated with a microlithic industry
so far west of the hitherto known distribution is interesting.
But then as far as I know this is the only Late Stone Age skeletal
material yet recovered in the whole of the heavy rainfall area
of West Africa and the Congo, because the acid soil conditions
are normally so against preservation." - Thurstan Shaw, "FINDS AT THE IWO ELERU ROCK SHELTER, WESTERN NIGERIA"


We know about the the Gobeki Tepe sanctuary in Turkey, which is actual evidence of what could be called "civilization", but nobody claims that all the achievements of Eurasia have their origin in Turkey.

By your logic, the Ham people of Northern Nigeria who are associated with the Nok culture (by Bernard Fagg (who virtually all people directly or indirectly rely on for their claims about relationships between Nigerian art from different Nigerian groups) and others) could claim that all the advanced cultures of Nigeria were derivative of the culture of the Ham people.

On the Ogisos, it's not up to Professor Ekeh to describe a period he has not bothered to read about in depth. The same Professor Ekeh has criticized several of Egharevba's statements and is now relying heavily on particular selections of his work to make his interpretations of the Ogiso? He's relying on Isidore Okpewho's calculated attack on Benin (Okpewho's book, which Ekeh himself criticized heavily) to make his interpretations? In Isidore Okpewho's book attacking Benin history, he completely bungled the interpretation of the Oba of Benin's appellation, Uku Akpolokpolo, and tried to pass it off as scholarship.

In the quotation about "sword bearer" the story ( "Ehi will enrich me" ) quoted by Okpewho and further distorted by Ekeh does not make a distinction between Ogiso and Oba, rather it claims that the Ogiso is the Oba in the very second paragraph of the story. The story was recorded by R.E. Bradbury and the story is about the superiority of the guardian spirit or soul (the ehi) which decides one's destiny. There are three children of a man called Erhamwoisa, and one of them is called "Ehi-will-enrich-me" and he triumphs in the end, becoming king. His brothers "Other-people-will-enrich-me" and "Ogiso-will-enrich-me" do not meet with success, and "Other people will enrich me" is even killed. The story is a fable about the primacy and importance of destiny and the soul. In the end, his ehi (guardian spirit or soul) did enrich him, while those who relied on other people or on the king were not enriched.

To claim that the actual Ogiso "became the Oba's sword bearer" is nonsensical (and even contradicts Egharevba that you were telling bokohalal to read). Anyway, the Oba's sword bearers are the emada and they were not even grown men.

If you actually read Egharevba and you'll see that he credits the Ogisos with many achievements. In fact, the oldest surviving house in Nigeria that bokohalal mentioned dates back to the Ogiso era.


By the way, do you have any actual evidence that the Ijaw are "older than" or "more indigenous than" anybody in southern Nigeria? Or do you just immediately accept the Ijaw view of the world whenever it's presented to you?

PhysicsQED,

Let me start by letting you know that most scholars and historians are not mind readers. They usually go by explicitly written finding or hard facts forcefully to prove their case. So forget about reading between the lines or "too subtle about it"

"In every edition of his book, he tried to imply that there was already a Bini ruler of or a Bini takeover of Ife in some way or another but he was too subtle about it."

Yes I have read some of Prof. Egharevba work and the honorable Oba of Benin took exception to some of his work.

"Have you ever actually read Egharevba's work? Answer honestly."

You are absolutely right, Oba of Benin was not the first one to push this novel theory, but he resurrected it and put his weight behind it. Otherwise nobody would even take it seriously or border to give it an answer.

"Next, the Oba of Benin did not come up with a new theory about Ekaladerhan. It simply does not originate with Oba Erediauwa. That's one of the larger misconceptions and that was what bokohalal tried to explain above."

It is a pity that you try to attack Prof. Ekeh for his assiduous work just because he took a position not to your liking. Please remeber he was invited to honor Prof. Eghrevba.

Trying to discount Iwo Eleru will not help you either. Whatever you think it was at that stage in world history did not matter. It is enough to note that it was not just skulls or human remains that was found but artifacts and tools beyond their contemporaries at the world stage. To you that may not be civilization compared to others with such Iwo Eleru "advanced" tools. This is near Akure in Ondo State, you may as well claim it for Ogiso that came centuries after them or the Nok Culture.

As for Ijaw, I think they are one of the oldest people because of their point of reference to Adimu or Adumu or Oduduwa and before Oduduwa. That view correspond to many of their contemporary neighbors. A better description may be one of the oldest but certainly not new as some of us would like to believe.

As for Oduduwa relation to Ife, there were 90 rulers before him. He was one of the AdeTokunbo that came back home to prove his relationship to the soil he left after his sojour around the world. Leting them know he was no stranger to the place. By the way, Oranmiya did the same on his way back from Benin, but he met Ooni and decided to move on to Oyo.

I wanted to qoute some writings already posted here but decide not to. Serious readers need to read all and make up their mind.
It all boils down to the fact that neither the Ogiso nor Edo as a separate people had anything dating back to original Yoruba/Ife culture from where they originated. Capturing Oduduwa at the top without archeological backing is just too much of a jump for serious scholars and historians. These days you have to come up with science not just novel theories. Benin is just too young in world history as a separate culture.

jara,

- First, everyone knows that Egharevba, however noble and important his effort, was not a professionally trained historian because of the circumstances of his times and environment. Were he one, he would not have distorted the interpretation of his own work by cowing to foreign influence and introduced a new name for that ruler's title for no reason without giving an explanation, and it is unlikely that he would he have excluded his own 1975 statement from being expressed explicitly in his work. A professionally trained historian would indeed leave less room for ambiguity or misinterpretation.

On reading Jacob Egharevba, the fact is that any interpretation of his work in the manner that you and some others have tried to interpret it, contradicts the statements of his own Edo people hundreds of years ago in pre-colonial times.

And since you say that you've read some of Egharevba's work and are even telling others to read his work, what have you actually read? Which publications?

- On Professor Ekeh, I have nothing against him personally. He's obviously generally a very bright guy. But his work is occasionally shoddy and in distorting that piece of folklore about "Ehi-will-enrich-me" and in that article in general he failed as a scholar for multiple reasons. It is absurd to claim that this piece of work was assiduous when in fact it was shoddy.

First he heavily distorted the meaning of story recorded by Bradbury, and he added Isidore Okpewho's summary/paraphrase of the part of the story preceding Ehighafemwen's (Ehi-will-enrich-me's) triumph in order to completely mangle the import of the story. The story is not from Okpewho, but from Bradbury's account of it. Okpewho quotes Bradbury and adds his own paraphrase of part of what Bradbury wrote, and then Ekeh quotes Okpewho even though Ekeh has access to Bradbury's work as shown in the books he cited at the end of his lecture/article in order to distort the story.

It is an act of irredeemable fraud or incompetence, to quote a story in which it is stated at the very beginning that the Ogiso is the Oba and to then try to interpret the story of the ascendance of an unreal and proverbial person, Ehighafemwen or "Ehi-will-enrich-me", the son of Erhamwoisa, to the position of Oba as meaning what Ekeh and now you are attempting to make it mean. ( And we already know that he is a proverbial character in Edo folklore because he is also mentioned in another story, published in issue 33 of the West African Review in 1962, that begins "In the days of the great Oba Ehengbuda there were two friends, Ehighafemwe and Obaghafemwe who because of their names argued loud and long. . . " )

The full extent of the fraudulence or intellectual incompetence involved in trying to read the quote the way Ekeh did is heightened when you realize that Ekeh has already read books on Benin, and that he would already know who the Oba's swordbearers are and that they are youths and not grown men, even if he were too lazy to go and ask about the swordbearers from somebody actually connected with the Benin palace.

Second, he selectively picked what to include and exclude from Egharevba without even acknowledging the existence of what he was leaving out, leading him to contradict Egharevba in many of his claims about the perception of and achievements of the Ogisos among the Edo.

I attacked Ekeh's statement because he completely and totally distorted the story that Bradbury recorded in order to push his nonsensical angle/interpretation. The fact that he was invited to give a lecture in honor of Egharevba does not necessarily mean that those who listened to his lecture would have automatically agreed with all his claims.

Finally, it is a further act of incompetence to claim as Ekeh did that a man, Isidore Okpewho, with an Urhobo father and an Anioma mother who does not speak Edo and who published a book specifically meant as an attack on Benin is somebody who wrote a "comprehensive and scholarly study of Benin folklore". The absurdity of this statement is heightened not just when one actually reads the book by Okpewho that Ekeh claimed was a "comprehensive and scholarly study of Benin folklore", but when one realizes that Ekeh himself wrote a review article ("Contesting the History of Benin Kingdom" ) of that book disputing the validity of many of the analyses, claims, and perceptions that Okpewho expressed in his book!

- On Iwo Eleru, the people there were not even modern homo sapiens at a time when modern homo sapiens already existed. They were a less evolved form of humanity living in a rock shelter. To claim that there was civilization there is ridiculous.

Saying that "tools and artifacts beyond their contemporaries at the world stage" were found at Iwo Eleru is just as ridiculous.

And the Benin/Edo region was occupied well before the birth of Christ, but you are perhaps too stuck in your perceptions to bother to find that out.

Also, proving that a place may be older, does not necessarily force any conclusion about the question of dynastic change or origin. The Nok culture, from the Ham people, has evidence of being at a high level of cultural achievement earlier than any other culture in Nigeria, but is not necessarily the source for all others.

- On Ijaw, I noticed you supplied absolutely no evidence to support your assertion, once again, about their supposed oldness compared to other groups. As for "Adumu" and "Oduduwa", how about actually reading the accounts of actual Ijaw historians like Ebiegberi J. Alagoa on Ijaw traditions of origin? The Ijaws in general do not claim descent from Oduduwa but if you expect me to accept this "Adumu" story then I could as well claim that the Ooni of today is of Ijaw descent, since that is what the Ijaws who promote this story online are actually claiming (among other things). As far as I can tell, Adumu is actually a water spirit represented by or associated with the python, and not some prince or king.

PhysicsQED,

I thought I was talking to some reasonable fellow. Destroying everyone in sight including your own people is self-mutilation.

Go back and read yourself again if you can make any sense out of what you wrote.

Next!

jara,

" Destroying everyone in sight "?

I only have a few specific criticisms. That doesn't amount to destroying anyone. And I don't even know or care what you think you mean by "even your own people".

And I know that you're not a reasonable person, hence my first comment to you on this thread. Your whole perspective is warped. I don't really care to change your perspective. I just wouldn't let you spout your views unchallenged here. "Ogiso is a sword bearer", "Adumu (a water spirit) is Oduduwa" etc. Garbage.

jara: Here we go again with Benin view of the world.

Where does Benin itself come from?
What is the lingual fraca in Benin palace?
Where was the head of Benin Oba buried?
What does Eweka means?
What is the differece between Edo, Beni and Ogiso
Can a river be greater or deniy itself of it source?

Please do not translate a mixed dialet of Yoruba with other Nigerian languages as Igbo for us. We know your source in Ife and Oyo as Oranmiyan. Deny it all you want, Oba of Benin and royal language must remain Yoruba or lose your identity.

I have been unable to find comprehension of the bolded. Do you mean Binis are not supposed to have a world view but the Yorubas and others can?

I cannot modify my post. Anyhow,found out the correct name of the Itsekiri Family at Ogbese in Ovia local Government Area of Edo state is The Ikubiyenjes, and not Onuwajes, as I had assumed earlier.