History of Ibadan Part 1: How Ibadan was Before it was Founded

Before it was founded, The city called Ibadan and its environs were nothing but a thick forest with no settlement, not a settler. This forest served as a boundary between Igbo town known as Ilu Igbo and Ilu Odan. The ijebus (forest) and Egbas were living in Igbo while the Oyos were living in Odan (savanna) while the forest separates them and the land of this forest belongs to none of both sides, it was only a neutral ground. This forest was called IGBO IPARA meaning Ipara forest.

The forest was like it was described with no-one living there until Lagelu from Ife and founded the town as Ibadan.

The first Settlement Inside Forest

The first settlers in this thick forest called Igbo Ipara are hooligans, people with Questionable characters, runaway boys and girls and people with all sorts of immoral behaviors. Most of these hooligans came from egba, ijebu,  and Oyo and they started meeting and hanging out in small groups inside this forest and eventually this Ipara forest became a territory gang of truants and hooligan. That's the source of Yoruba proverb that's being said that ''Asiwere tii wo igbo ipara lo'' which means ''a weird person who goes/live in Ipara forest'' this proverb tells a lot about the people who live here.

As time goes on the population of the people living in the forest started increasing but they never founded it, organized nor name it as a town. Stealing, terrorism bandit practices are the daily jobs and they disrupt the peace of small neighboring towns by enslaving them. These hooliganism and thuggery kind of behavior is the foundation of the place Ibadan occupied today.

During the time of those thieves and bandits, these forests haven't become a town and it has no other name other than Igbo Ipara until Lagelu left Ile Ife for the IPARA forest and settled there and founded it as a town properly. The crazy and weird ones he met there fought him and tried to chase him away but after realizing he is a warrior, they became happy that they have found someone to lead them better in their evil deeds which is what they know how to do best (constituting violence and nuisance)

Within a very short period of time, the founded town became big and the insane people of the IPARA forest started becoming sane. This was how the Ipara forest changed from a forest to a town eventually named as Ibadan By a man known as Lagelu.

Click NEXT to read how Ibadan was founded

Ok

oyaaa....Ibadan historian. You didn't tell us where you're quoting your history from or was it newly invented by you? Was it written by Toyin Falola, Keneth Dike, J.F Ade-Ajayi, Bolanle Awe, Claude Ake or Oba Akinyele? If it has no connection to any of those, it's written to fill the trashcan then.

Many are raving mad on this site

War Settlement with its history written and available in most top library is now been twisted right before our own eyes

I'm not clicking NEXT oga, post everything here including pictures and sources/references. Btw are the folks at https://hostboz.com really cashing out like Hushpuppi?

History of Ibadan Part 2: How Lagelu found Ibadan the first time

The history of ibadan started from the first fact that the name Ibadan was derived from "Eba Odan" meaning the town founded beside Odan = Desert/savanna. Ibadan was founded by a man named Lagelu. He is a warrior in Ile Ife they also Praise him as "Lagelu Oròó àpáta májà". He is bold courageous and fierce in the war front

How Lagelu left Ile ife

Suddenly one day, he took his children, wife and every other thing he could take and left the town Ile Ife just to go and found his own self founded and established town. This kind of thing Lagelu did is not something to be surprised about as it is the usual way of heroes to show strength and mightiness because someone who is not brave and strong enough couldn't do enter a thick evil forest while leaving his people behind, therefore people like Lagelu would go into an uncolonized land and become a town head of their own. This was also the same time Telu left Ile Ife and founded a new town of his own at Igbo Orita but when it became too uncomfortable, He and his people left to found another place now known as Iwo today. This Telu is the ancestral Grandfather of Oluwo who is the king of Iwo today. This is one of the reasons why most Yoruba historians do say the founders of all towns in the Yoruba land have come from Ile Ife.

This was how Lagelu made his own choice to leave Ile Ife to found Ibadan. Lagelu never named his town when he founded it, the area where he founded it, the environs and the people who pass by and through the town to and fro gave it a name because this town wasn't established on the field nor the forest but it is between the field/savanna and the forest so people started calling lagelu ''Olu Eba Odan'' which means the ''head of the place along the savanna'' and the town itself was called ''Eba Odan'' This was how it metamorphosized after the frequent pronunciation of several people from ''Eba Odan'' to Ibadan. So if you observe Ibadan very well, you will see that it is between the rain forest and savanna, neither in the rain forest nor the savanna.

The Location of Where Lagelu Founded Ibadan the for the First Time

Where Lagelu established Ibadan then wasn't the same place Ibadan is now, it is about an hour to two hours walk to where Ibadan is now, some elders said it was established along with Awotan market but this time we were talking about has been so long to even be able to spot any sign or landmark to establish the fact about where exactly it was established.

While lagelu was coming from Ile Ife, he passed through a town/village known as Ejigbo and he betrothed his younger sister to Elejigbo (king of Ejigbo) as a wife. This younger sister of Lagelu had a son with Elejigbo, the name of this son is called AKAASI, After founding and establishing Ibadan and he can have a place to call home, he sent for his sister and they came to settle with him in Ibadan.

After a short, while the town kept growing in economy and population, most of the passersby realized that this place is very comfortable for the residents and most often also started settling there and living with them. People in neighboring towns were also coming there for trading and economic activities because Ibadan was established at an open hilltop topography location and sales move faster than every other town around it. after several years, this town became a big one and one of the biggest in Yoruba land. History said the Population of the people in Ibadan at this time was about 100,000. There were 16 border entries to Ibadan then and that's why the proverb ''igun merin ni gbogbo ilu ni, merindinlogun ni ti Ibadan.'' The olden days Ibadan was so big that its iron smith workshops in it were about 70, unlike now when the smithing workshop (Ile agreed) is not up to 35 and the border entries arent up to ten.

After a short while Lagelu became a Famous man, he was so famous such that Sango who was the Alaafin of Oyo then gave him the title of ''Jagun of Yoruba land'' which means the Military General of the whole Yoruba Land. This title elevated the status of Lagelu and its town Ibadan because whenever Alaafin want to wage we on any rival town, Lagelu and his Ibadan warriors were going to be the ones to take up the action and fight against such town. At this time, Alaafin is the ruler of the whole Yoruba land including the Ifes, the ijebus the egbas and every other clan or group of Yoruba people. Lagelu is no more a small personality and his wealth and ruches grew in multiples. but it was a pity that this great town known as Ibadan got destroyed, dispersed and went into extinction in less than 100 years after it was established. But before the destruction of this Ibadan town, they had peace, good economy, the people of Ibadan were in good health having food in abundance till their unexpected calamity befall them

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Solarababa:
History of Ibadan Part 1: How Ibadan was Before it was Founded

Before it was founded, The city called Ibadan and its environs were nothing but a thick forest with no settlement, not a settler. This forest served as a boundary between Igbo town known as Ilu Igbo and Ilu Odan. The ijebus (forest) and Egbas were living in Igbo while the Oyos were living in Odan (savanna) while the forest separates them and the land of this forest belongs to none of both sides, it was only a neutral ground. This forest was called IGBO IPARA meaning Ipara forest.

The forest was like it was described with no-one living there until Lagelu from Ife and founded the town as Ibadan.

The first Settlement Inside Forest

The first settlers in this thick forest called Igbo Ipara are hooligans, people with Questionable characters, runaway boys and girls and people with all sorts of immoral behaviors. Most of these hooligans came from egba, ijebu,  and Oyo and they started meeting and hanging out in small groups inside this forest and eventually this Ipara forest became a territory gang of truants and hooligan. That's the source of Yoruba proverb that's being said that ''Asiwere tii wo igbo ipara lo'' which means ''a weird person who goes/live in Ipara forest'' this proverb tells a lot about the people who live here.

As time goes on the population of the people living in the forest started increasing but they never founded it, organized nor name it as a town. Stealing, terrorism bandit practices are the daily jobs and they disrupt the peace of small neighboring towns by enslaving them. These hooliganism and thuggery kind of behavior is the foundation of the place Ibadan occupied today.

During the time of those thieves and bandits, these forests haven't become a town and it has no other name other than Igbo Ipara until Lagelu left Ile Ife for the IPARA forest and settled there and founded it as a town properly. The crazy and weird ones he met there fought him and tried to chase him away but after realizing he is a warrior, they became happy that they have found someone to lead them better in their evil deeds which is what they know how to do best (constituting violence and nuisance)

Within a very short period of time, the founded town became big and the insane people of the IPARA forest started becoming sane. This was how the Ipara forest changed from a forest to a town eventually named as Ibadan By a man known as Lagelu.

Click NEXT to read how Ibadan was founded

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Research from all these aforementioned authors, but most of the informations are from iwe itan ibadan by Oba Akinyele

Demayour:
oyaaa....Ibadan historian. You didn't tell us where you're quoting your history from or was it newly invented by you? Was it written by Toyin Falola, Keneth Dike, J.F Ade-Ajayi, Bolanle Awe, Claude Ake or Oba Akinyele? If it has no connection to any of those, it's written to fill the trashcan then.