The city states of the Yoruba: a history of pre-colonial West African urbanism (1000-1900 CE)

isaac Samuel

At the close of the 19th century, the Yorùbá region of South-west Nigeria was one of the most urbanized places in Africa.

Throughout the region, monumental constructions described as ‘ramparts’ or ‘walls’ extending over 100km with ditches 5 to 20 meters deep, enclosed large cities containing between 40,000 to 100,000 people, ranking them among the largest cities on the continent.

Located between the forest and coastal regions of West Africa, where urbanism was initially thought to have been the product of external stimulus, the discovery of ancient walled cities in Yorubaland provided further evidence for the independent emergence of cities in pre-colonial Africa.

This article outlines the history of the Yorbaland cities, including an overview of their political history and architecture

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The Yoruba-speaking world straddles the savannah and forest regions of what is today south-western Nigeria.

Historically, the various polities of the Yoruba-speaking world varied greatly in size and structure, from large empires like Oyo to middle-sized kingdoms like Ile-Ife and Ijebu to smaller kingdoms and confederations like Egba and Ekiti. Archaeological evidence from early earthwork complexes such as Sungbo’s Eredo and the old capitals of Ife and Oyo suggests that urbanization and large political units emerged across the region by the start of the 2nd millennium CE.
Located a few kilometres north of Lagos, the 20-meter-tall rampart at Sungbo snakes through 185 kilometres of thick rainforest undergrowth, enclosing an area of about 1,025 sq km. Dated material from the site indicates it was first occupied in the 11th-13th century. An inventory of similar enclosures in the region lists at least 21 different sites that were built across Yorubaland during the same period as Sungbo, many of which are abandoned and are today concealed beneath dense vegetation.

The foundational concept of Yoruba political sociology was the term ilu, commonly translated as ‘town’ or ‘community.’ An ilu is an aggregate of corporate descent groups or lineages that has an organised government of king (oba) and chiefs. Like all urban societies, an ‘ilu’ was distinguished from the surrounding rural settlements by its function as the main political, economic, and religious centre. A Yoruba city was thus ‘town’ and ‘polity’ with the latter typically named after the former.
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The most important among the early cities was Ife, where, according to Yoruba traditions, the world was created. Excavations in the modern city produced a radiocarbon chronology suggesting that occupation commenced during the late first millennium CE and reached its peak during the ‘Classical period’ (1000–1500 CE).

This period marked the city’s transformation into the main political and religious centre of Yorubaland, and the production of its famous sculptural artworks and glass manufacturing. The paving of several streets and the floors of elite houses and religious sites with potsherds and stones was also undertaken during this period, becoming the distinctive material characteristic of Ife’s urban space.

At Ife, fragments of these pavements can still be seen within a radius of 6 km from the town’s center. The city was abandoned in the late 14th century, but was later repopulated in the 16th/17th century

Source: Africa History Extra

https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-city-states-of-the-yoruba-a-history