The Egba people are a subgroup of the Yoruba people , an ethnic group of western Nigeria , a majority of whom are from the central part of Ogun State , that is Ogun Central Senatorial District.
21-501: Egba Ake , otherwise known as Egba Alake , is one of the four sections of Egbaland , the others being Oke-Ona, Gbagura , and the Owu (Ibara is often mentioned as another section; this is part of Yewa historically, not Egba, though it is also located in the present-day Abeokuta geographically). It is a traditional state which joins with its bordering sections to form something of a high kingship . The Alake of Abeokuta, or Alake of Egbaland ,
42-651: A treaty was signed with the governor and commander-in-chief of the British Lagos Colony for the purpose of trade; the British recognized Egbaland as an independent state. In 1898, the Egba United Government was formed. In 1904, an agreement was made where the British assumed jurisdiction in certain legal cases, and in the same year, the Alake Gbadebo paid a state visit to England. Over the following years,
63-526: Is Oko Adagba (Adagba's Farm) in reference to the hunter that discovered Olumo Rock. Adagba went hunting in search of game animals from the Obantoko township where his fellow Itoko citizens were stationed while wandering for a settlement. He then came across the mountain. Egbaland was where Henry Townsend lived, and was also the home of the first newspaper in Nigeria ( Iwe Iroyin ). Its people went on to serve as
84-513: Is part of Yewaland.) During colonial rule the British recognised the Alake (or King of Ake) as the paramount ruler of the whole clan and their territory, and so, his successor is now referred to as the Alake of Egbaland. The titles of the kings of the aforementioned subdivisions are therefore Alake of Egbaland , Oshile of Oke Ona , Agura of Gbagura , and Olowu of Owu , in order of settlement and seniority in
105-563: Is the traditional ruler of the Egba clan of Yoruba in the city of Abeokuta in southwestern Nigeria . The Egba Ake section is seen by traditionalists as Abeokuta's aristocracy because its principal noblemen , the Omo-Iya-Marun, serve as the kingmakers of the Alake, who must himself also come from this section. The Egba people's original homeland in the Egba forest was established by Yoruba migrants from elsewhere. According to The History of
126-667: The 19th century. Wars with the Dahomey, in which the Egba were successful partly due to the protection afforded by the Olumo Rock , led to the founding of the city of Abeokuta, which literally means "under the rock". The Egba nation is made up of the following subdivisions: the Ake , Owu , Oke Ona and Gbagura , each with its own king. (Historically, the Egba nation is made up of these four divisions; Ibara, though geographically located in Abeokuta as well,
147-531: The Benin Republic. The origination of the word "Egba" is disputed. The first meaning may come from the word Ẹ̀gbálugbó, meaning wanderers towards the forest, and this comes from the fact that the ancestors of the Egba people came from the region of the Oyo Empire to the "Egba Forest" and formed what we now know as the city of Abeokuta. The "Egbalugbo" were in conjunction with the Ẹ̀gbáluwẹ or Ẹ̀gbálodó, meaning
168-628: The Bere festival in Oyo. In any case, there is no doubt that Ketu and Oyo maintained friendly relations largely due to their historical, linguistic, cultural and ethnic ties. The kingdom was one of the main enemies of the ascendant kingdom of Dahomey , often fighting against Dahomeans as part of Oyo's imperial forces, but ultimately succumbing to the Fon in the 1880s as the kingdom was ravaged. Many of Ketu's citizens were sold into slavery during these raids, which accounts for
189-463: The British steadily assumed more responsibility for administration while continuing to formally recognize the Egba state. In 1914, the kingdom was incorporated into the newly amalgamated British Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria. In 1949, as a result of agitation by the women's rights leader Chief Funmilayo Ransome Kuti , the Alake Ladapo Ademola was forced to abdicate. He later returned to
210-612: The Egba nation. It is worthy of note that the original town and settlement of the Egba nation in Egbaland was under and around Olumo Rock, which is in the Ikija/Ikereku area of the Egba Oke Ona, The Jagunna of Itoko, an Oke Ona chief, is the high priest of Olumo. Olumo Rock is in the territory of and under the control of the Itokos. Another reference name for Abeokuta by the founding fathers
231-726: The Southern Nigeria Protectorate, Egba territory and people is bordered by the Ketu (Benin) in the West, the Lagos Colony in south, Ijebu in the east, and Oyo, Ibadan and Isoya near Ile Ife in the north. The people are directly connected to the Ogun River , but detached from the swampy coast of Lagos. Through the Egba land, there are direct routes to other Yoruba towns, including Lagos, Ibadan, Ijebu-Ode, Ketu (Benin), and Porto Novo (Àjàṣẹ́) in
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#1733085775769252-508: The Yorubas by Samuel Johnson , Eso Ikoyi chiefs in the retinue of the first Alake of the Egba joined him in founding a new community - the confederacy of towns that became known as Orile Egba - in the forest after they left the nascent Oyo empire in around the 13th century AD. Orile Egba continued to exist until its destruction during the Yoruba civil war of the 19th century. As a result, many of
273-500: The city. The Egba Ake have been the traditional landowners of Egbaland ever since this event. In 1832, Abeokuta was involved in war with the people of Ijebu Remo, and in 1834 with the Ibadan people. Sporadic fighting continued with the people of Ota (1842), Ado (1844), Ibarapa (1849), Dahomey (1851), Ijebu-Ere (1851), Ijaye (1860–1862) and the Makun War of 1862–1864. On 18 January 1893,
294-408: The first of the many Nigerian nations (until recently, the only one of them) to have an anthem. Ketu (Benin) Ketu is the name of a Yoruba subgroup, historical kingdom and region straddling parts of what is now southeastern Republic of Benin and parts of southwest Nigeria . The chief town and traditional capital of the area was the town of Kétou (Kétu), which is considered to be one of
315-621: The kingdom's importance in Brazilian Candomblé . Ketu is often known as Queto in Portuguese orthography. Ewe traditions refer to Ketu as Amedzofe ("origin of humanity") or Mawufe ("home of the Supreme Being"). It is believed that the inhabitants (or at least some) of Ketu originally belonged to the Oyo people of Nigeria and were pressed westward by a series of wars between the 12th and
336-553: The leading families of the Egba Ake claim descent from the Eso Ikoyis today. Abeokuta was founded as a replacement for Orile Egba in around 1830 by the Egbas after the collapse of the Oyo empire during the civil war. The city was founded because of its strong defensive physical position by refugees trying to protect themselves against slave raiders from Dahomey , who were trying to benefit from
357-461: The oldest capitals of the Yoruba -speaking people, tracing its establishment to a settlement founded by a descendant of Oduduwa (also known as; Odùduwà, Oòduà and Eleduwa) called Sopasan or Soipasan. The Oba of the town were traditionally styled "Alákétu", and are related directly to Ile-Ife in present-day Nigeria. Other towns that were historically part of the Kétu Kingdom are; Ketu is one of
378-478: The sixteen original kingdoms established by the children of Oduduwa in Oyo mythic history, though this ancient pedigree has been somewhat neglected in contemporary Yoruba historical research, which tends to focus on communities within Nigeria. The exact status of Ketu within the Oyo empire however is contested. Oyo sources claim Ketu as a dependency with claims that the Ketu paid an annual tribute and that its ruler attended
399-455: The throne. Rulers of the Egba in Abeokuta, who took the title "Alake" in 1854, were: Egbaland Ogun Central Senatorial District comprises six local government areas : Abeokuta North , Abeokuta South , Ewekoro , Ifo , Obafemi Owode and Odeda local governments. Other Egba are located in Lagos West, Lagos East, Oyo North, and Oyo South senatorial zones. Before the creation of
420-400: The wanderers towards the river, who later shortened their name to " Egbado ," another subethnic group of the Yoruba. Another possible meaning may come from the word Ẹsẹ̀gbá, the title of a chief which led several groups of the Egba to their present location. The Egba group, originally under the Oyo Empire , became independent following the spectacular collapse of Oyo in the first half of
441-417: The war. Chief Shodeke, the first paramount chief of Abeokuta and the rest of Egbaland, was a member of the Egba Ake section. Using oral traditions of the Alake's claim to membership of Oduduwa 's family being superior to that of any of the other Egba kings to cement the section's position, he is said to have allocated the tracts of land that each of the junior sections settled upon following their arrival in
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