Owo: A Yoruba Frontier Kingdom, Southwestern Nigeria

This book fills a yawning gap in African history. While the Yoruba have become the most researched people in Africa, the eastern half remains relatively unknown. Using oral and written sources, this work complements and contributes to the existing account of African History leading to significant revisions of hitherto widely held conclusions concerning Yoruba history. The work spans eight centuries-from the 12th to the 20th century. Owo's location in the junction of many routes in the deep forests of the southeastern fringes of Yorubaland and her nearness to the powerful Benin kingdom, has helped her to develop early into one of the richest and most influential kingdoms in Nigeria. This is a study of how a pre- colonial Yoruba state responded over many centuries to very close commercial and cultural interactions with her non-Yoruba speaking neighbors and ultimate Benin political pressure. To survive Benin's encroachments, Owo developed a very great skill in adroit diplomacy and adaptation. But this was not without its price of internal confusion and a slight departure from the general Yoruba pattern of participatory monarchy and governance.