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162-472: Western historians have occasionally defined the 18th century otherwise for the purposes of their work. For example, the "short" 18th century may be defined as 1715–1789, denoting the period of time between the death of Louis XIV of France and the start of the French Revolution , with an emphasis on directly interconnected events. To historians who expand the century to include larger historical movements,

324-502: A Western and an Eastern one, each with their own emperors, capitals, and governments, although ostensibly they still belonged to one formal Empire. The Western Roman Empire provinces eventually were replaced by Northern European Germanic ruled kingdoms in the 5th century due to civil wars, corruption, and devastating Germanic invasions from such tribes as the Huns , Goths , the Franks and

486-631: A century, the Yoruba state had expanded at the expense of its neighbors. During the reign of Onigbogi, Oyo suffered military defeats at the hands of the Nupe led by Tsoede. Sometime around 1535, the Nupe occupied Oyo and forced its ruling dynasty to take refuge in the kingdom of Borgu . The Nupe sacked the capital, destroying Oyo as a regional power until the early 17th century. The Yoruba of Oyo went through an interregnum of 80 years as an exiled dynasty after its defeat by

648-574: A check on the Alaafin's power, preventing the Alaafin from being an autocrat ; they compelled many Alaafins to commit suicide during the 17th and 18th centuries. The head of the council of Oyo Mesi, the Bashorun, consulted the Ifa oracle before the royal succession for approval from the gods. New alaafins of Oyo were therefore seen as being appointed by the gods. They were regarded as Ekeji Orisa, meaning "deputy of

810-556: A dish of parrot 's eggs to him and pass a sentence of rejection, known as Awon Eniyan Koo (i.e. the people reject you, the world rejects you and the gods reject you also). According to tradition, the Alaafin was expected to commit ritual suicide thereafter. The Basorun was a key political office in the Oyo (often likened to the role of the Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Kingdom) during

972-412: A distinctive architectural style, highlighted by intricate sculptures that symbolized the status of the inhabitants. Sculptors adorned houses and compounds with finely carved wooden posts and bas-relief doors, often depicting narratives of significant events, asserting power, and immortalizing the experiences of the residents. However, the most intricate and elaborate architectural artworks were reserved for

1134-742: A half. Significant theological and ecclesiastical differences led Western Europeans to consider the Christians in the Byzantine Empire as heretics. In 1054 CE, when the church in Rome excommunicated the patriarch of Byzantium , the politico-religious division between the Western church and Eastern church culminated in the Great Schism or the East–West Schism . Even though friendly relations continued between

1296-509: A high degree of professionalism in the army of the Oyo Empire. Its military success was due in large part to its cavalry as well as the leadership and courage of Oyo officers and warriors. Because its main geographic focus was north of the forest, Oyo enjoyed easier farming and thus a steady growth in population. This contributed to Oyo's ability to consistently field a large force. There was also an entrenched military culture in Oyo where victory

1458-434: A highly sophisticated political structure to govern its territorial domains. Scholars have not determined how much of this structure existed before the Nupe invasion. After reemerging from exile in the early 17th century, Oyo took on a noticeably more militant character. The influence of an aggressive Yoruba culture is exemplified in the standards placed on the oba (king) and the roles of his council. The oba (meaning 'king' in

1620-419: A joint Akyem -Dahomey-Oyo force defeated an invading Ashanti army . The victory among the alliance defined the borders between the neighboring states. Oyo led a successful campaign into Mahi territory north of Dahomey in the late 18th century. The Yoruba also made use of the forces of their tributaries, for instance, they accomplished a 1784 naval blockade of Badagri with an Oyo-Dahomey-Lagos force. At

1782-546: A major influence on the world today. Latin language has been the base from which Romance languages evolved and it has been the official language of the Catholic Church and all Catholic religious ceremonies all over Europe until 1967, as well as an or the official language of countries such as Italy and Poland (9th–18th centuries). In AD 395, a few decades before its Western collapse, the Roman Empire formally split into

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1944-438: A more centralized government. Taking a cue from their Nupe enemies (whom they called "Tapa"), the Yoruba rearmed with armor and cavalry. Oba Ofinran , Alaafin of Oyo, succeeded in regaining Oyo's original territory from the Nupe. A new capital, Oyo-Igboho, was constructed, and the original became known as Old Oyo. The next oba, Eguguojo , conquered nearly all of Yorubaland. After this, Oba Orompoto led attacks to obliterate

2106-601: A plea to the Pope in Rome to send military aid to restore the lost territories to Christian rule. The result was a series of western European military campaigns into the eastern Mediterranean, known as the Crusades. Unfortunately for the Byzantines, the crusaders (belonging to the members of nobility from France, German territories, the Low countries, England, Italy and Hungary) had no allegiance to

2268-669: A population of 100 million. From the time of Caesar (100–44 BC) to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, Rome dominated Southern Europe , the Mediterranean coast of Northern Africa and the Levant , including the ancient trade routes with population living outside. Ancient Rome has contributed greatly to the development of law, war, art, literature, architecture, technology and language in the Western world , and its history continues to have

2430-616: A projection constructs a false genealogy. A geographical concept of the West started to take shape in the 4th century CE when Constantine , the first Christian Roman emperor, divided the Roman Empire between the Greek East and Latin West . The East Roman Empire , later called the Byzantine Empire , continued for a millennium, while the West Roman Empire lasted for only about a century and

2592-511: A result, its political, legal , linguistic and cultural legacy is widespread throughout the Western world . In the aftermath of the Second World War , decolonizing efforts were employed by all Western powers under United Nations (ex- League of Nations ) international directives. Most of colonized nations received independence by 1960. Great Britain showed ongoing responsibility for the welfare of its former colonies as member states of

2754-520: A result, the empire was not exposed to Europe's military improvements during the Seven Years' War. The Ottoman military consequently lagged behind and suffered several defeats against Russia in the second half of the century. In South Asia , the death of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb was followed by the expansion of the Maratha Confederacy and an increasing level of European influence and control in

2916-714: A scramble for new markets for European industrial products and financial services in Africa, the Americas, Eastern Europe, and especially in Asia (Western powers exploited their advantages in China for example by the Opium Wars ). This resulted in the " New Imperialism ", which saw a shift in focus from trade and indirect rule to formal colonial control of vast overseas territories ruled as political extensions of their mother countries. The later years of

3078-478: A series of political developments in Asia in the last decades of the 14th century, which put an end to further European exploration of Asia: namely the new Ming rulers were found to be unreceptive of religious proselytism by European missionaries and merchants. Meanwhile, the Ottoman Turks consolidated control over the eastern Mediterranean , closing off key overland trade routes. The Portuguese spearheaded

3240-423: A strong one to keep the office from becoming too powerful. The Alaafin of Oyo appointed certain religious and government officials, who were usually eunuchs . These officials were known as the ilari or half-heads, because of the custom of shaving half of their heads and applying what was believed to be a magical substance into them. The hundreds of Ilari were divided evenly between the sexes. Junior members of

3402-601: A system of ecclesiastical proscription or imprisonment, but without using torture, and seldom resorting to executions. This very profitable Central European Fourth Crusade had prompted the 14th century Renaissance (translated as 'Rebirth') of Italian city-states including the Papal States , on eve of the Protestant Reformation and Counter-Reformation (which established the Roman Inquisition to succeed

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3564-434: A title carried on by the soldiers of Oyo's successor state, Ibadan . Tributary leaders and provincial governors were responsible for collecting tribute and contributing troops under local generalship to the imperial army in times of emergency. Occasionally, tributary leaders would be ordered to attack neighbors even without the backing of the main imperial army. These forces were often utilized in Oyo's distant campaigns on

3726-457: A unique civilization, differentiating from others like Islam , giving rise to the concept of Western civilization. By the 15th century, Renaissance intellectuals solidified this concept, associating Western civilization not only with Christianity but also with the intellectual and political achievements of the ancient Greeks and Romans. Historians, such as Carroll Quigley in "The Evolution of Civilizations" , contend that Western civilization

3888-501: A vast Middle Eastern area, when it ended. Conquest was enforced using the Roman legions and then through cultural assimilation by eventual recognition of some form of Roman citizenship's privileges. Nonetheless, despite its great legacy, a number of factors led to the eventual decline and ultimately fall of the Roman Empire . The Roman Empire succeeded the approximately 500-year-old Roman Republic ( c. 510–30 BC). In 350 years, from

4050-716: Is a term to describe the ancient Roman society that conquered Central Italy assimilating the Italian Etruscan culture , growing from the Latium region since about the 8th century BC, to a massive empire straddling the Mediterranean Sea . In its 10-centuries territorial expansion, Roman civilization shifted from a small monarchy (753–509 BC), to a republic (509–27 BC), into an autocratic empire (27 BC – AD 476). Its Empire came to dominate Western, Central and Southeastern Europe, Northern Africa and, becoming an autocratic Empire

4212-790: Is also closely associated with Christianity , the dominant religion in the West, with roots in Greco - Roman and Jewish thought . Christian ethics , drawing from the ethical and moral principles of its historical roots in Judaism , has played a pivotal role in shaping the foundational framework of Western societies. Earlier civilizations, such as the ancient Egyptians and Mesopotamians , had also significantly influenced Western civilization through their advancements in writing, law codes, and societal structures. The convergence of Greek-Roman and Judeo-Christian influences in shaping Western civilization has led certain scholars to characterize it as emerging from

4374-632: Is credited with creating the modern university, the modern hospital system, scientific economics, and natural law (which would later influence the creation of international law ). European culture developed a complex range of philosophy, medieval scholasticism , mysticism and Christian and secular humanism , setting the stage for the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century, which fundamentally altered religious and political life. Led by figures like Martin Luther , Protestantism challenged

4536-521: Is estimated to have first reached one billion in 1804. Also, the new philosophical movement later known as Romanticism originated, in the wake of the previous Age of Reason of the 1600s and the Enlightenment of 1700s. These are seen as fostering the 19th century Western world' s sustained economic development. Before the urbanization and industrialization of the 1800s, demand for oriental goods such as porcelain , silk , spices and tea remained

4698-670: Is the time when the Huns (part of the ancient Eastern European tribes named barbarians by the Romans) from modern-day Hungary penetrated into the Dalmatian (modern-day Croatia ) region then originating in the following 150 years in the Roman Empire officially splitting in two halves. Also the time of the formal acceptance of Christianity as Empire's religious policy, when the Emperors began actively banning and fighting previous pagan religions . The Eastern Roman Empire included lands south-west of

4860-468: Is to be sought... only among those who are called Catholic or orthodox Christians, that is, guardians of truth and followers of right." Over time, the Western Christianity gradually identified with the "Catholic" label, and people of Western Europe gradually associated the "Orthodox" label with Eastern Christianity (although in some languages the "Catholic" label is not necessarily identified with

5022-584: Is where the idea of "the West" began to emerge. The Eastern Roman Empire , governed from Constantinople , is usually referred to as the Byzantine Empire after AD 476, the traditional date for the fall of the Roman Empire and beginning of the Early Middle Ages . The survival of the Eastern Roman Empire protected Roman legal and cultural traditions, combining them with Greek and Christian elements, for another thousand years. The name Byzantine Empire

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5184-699: The ancient Western world was partly preserved during this period due to the survival of the Eastern Roman Empire and the introduction of the Catholic Church ; it was also greatly expanded by the Arab importation of both the Ancient Greco-Roman and new technology through the Arabs from India and China to Europe. Since the Renaissance, the West evolved beyond the influence of the ancient Greeks and Romans and

5346-466: The 15th to 20th centuries . This influence persists through the exportation of mass culture, a phenomenon often referred to as Westernization . There was debate among some in the 1960s as to whether Latin America as a whole is in a category of its own. Western culture , also known as Western civilization, European civilization, Occidental culture, or Western society, refers to the diverse culture of

5508-750: The Anglo-Mysore Wars against Tipu Sultan and his father Hyder Ali , led to Company rule over the south. In East Asia , the century marked the High Qing era and the continual seclusion policy of the Tokugawa shogunate . In Southeast Asia , the Konbaung–Ayutthaya Wars and the Tây Sơn Wars broke out while the Dutch East India Company established increasing levels of control over

5670-509: The Atlantic slave trade between the 1490s and the 1800s, which also contributed to the development of African intertribal warfare and racist ideology. Before the abolition of its slave trade in 1807, the British Empire alone (which had started colonial efforts in 1578 , almost a century after Portuguese and Spanish empires) was responsible for the transportation of 3.5 million African slaves to

5832-531: The Benin Kingdom sometime between 1578 and 1608, but failed as the mountains in Ekiti stopped the advance of cavalry units to attack Benin. A few kingdoms in Ekiti fell under Oyo, and Otun Ekiti served as buffer independent town between Oyo and Benin yet, Oyo continued to expand. The Oyo allowed autonomy to the southeast of metropolitan Oyo, where the non-Yoruba areas could also act as a buffer between Oyo and Benin. By

5994-711: The Black Sea and bordering on the Eastern Mediterranean and parts of the Adriatic Sea . This division into Eastern and Western Roman Empires was later reflected in the administration of the Roman Catholic and Eastern Greek Orthodox churches, with Rome and Constantinople debating over whether either city was the capital of Western religion . As the Eastern (Orthodox) and Western (Catholic) churches spread their influence,

6156-522: The British Empire held sway over 412 million people, 23% of the world population at the time, and by 1920, it covered 35,500,000 km (13,700,000 sq mi), 24% of the Earth's total land area. At its apex, the phrase " the empire on which the sun never sets " described the British Empire, because its expanse around the globe meant that the sun always shone on at least one of its territories. As

6318-531: The British —derived from colonization , and immigration of Europeans —factors that grounded such countries to the West. Depending on the context and the historical period in question, Russia was sometimes seen as a part of the West, and at other times juxtaposed with it. Running parallel to the rise of the United States as a great power and the development of communication–transportation technologies "shrinking"

6480-731: The Dalmatia , a region of interest to the maritime medieval Venetian Republic moneylenders and its rivals, such as the Republic of Genoa) rebelling against the Venetian economic domination. What followed dealt an irrevocable blow to the already weakened Byzantine Empire with the Crusader army's sack of Constantinople in April 1204, capital of the Greek Christian -controlled Byzantine Empire , described as one of

6642-648: The Eso of Ikoyi . These were 70 junior war chiefs who were nominated by the Oyo Mesi and confirmed by the Alaafin of Oyo. The Eso were appointed for their military skill without regard to heritage, although de facto dynasties of Eso were also known to exist. The Eso were led by the Aare-Ona-Kakanfo, and were famous for living by a warrior code that was comparable to the Latin dictum infra dignitatem . After Oyo's return from exile,

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6804-528: The Fon Kingdom of Dahomey in the modern Republic of Benin on its west. The legendary origins of the Oyo Empire lie with Oranyan (also known as Oranmiyan), the last prince of the Yoruba Kingdom of Ile-Ife ( Ife ). According to oral traditions, Oranmiyan made an agreement with his brother to launch a punitive raid on their northern neighbors for insulting their father Oduduwa , the first Ooni of Ife . On

6966-869: The French Republic in the French Revolutionary Wars . Various conflicts throughout the century, including the War of the Spanish Succession and the Seven Years' War , saw Great Britain triumph over its rivals to become the preeminent power in Europe. However, Britain's attempts to exert its authority over the Thirteen Colonies became a catalyst for the American Revolution . The 18th century also marked

7128-403: The German Empire . At the close of the Spanish–American War in 1898 the Philippines , Puerto Rico , Guam and Cuba were ceded to the United States under the terms of the Treaty of Paris . The US quickly emerged as the new imperial power in East Asia and in the Pacific Ocean area . The Philippines continued to fight against colonial rule in the Philippine–American War . By 1913,

7290-407: The Hellenistic Jewish culture from which the earliest Christians and the Greek New Testament emerged. The eventual Christianization of Europe in late-antiquity would ensure that Christianity , particularly the Catholic Church , remained a dominant force in Western culture for many centuries to follow. Western culture continued to develop during the Middle Ages as reforms triggered by

7452-439: The Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia . Japan was involved primarily during the Meiji period (1868–1912), though earlier contacts with the Portuguese, Spaniards and Dutch were also present in the Japanese Empire 's recognition of the strategic importance of European nations. Traditional Japanese society became an industrial and militarist power like the Western British Empire and the French Third Republic , and similar to

7614-562: The Industrial Revolution , would produce powerful social transformations, political and economic institutions that have come to influence (or been imposed upon) most nations of the world today. Historians agree that the Industrial Revolution has been one of the most important events in history. The course of three centuries since Christopher Columbus' late 15th century's voyages, of deportation of slaves from Africa and British dominant northern- Atlantic location, later developed into modern-day United States of America , evolving from

7776-439: The Kingdom of Dahomey in a major campaign dominated by its cavalry. Dahomey warriors, on the other hand, had no cavalry but many firearms. Their gunshots scared the Oyo cavalry horses and prevented their charging. The Dahomey army also built fortifications such as trenches, which effectively made the use of cavalry useless. The battle lasted four days, but the Oyo were eventually victorious after reinforcements arrived. Dahomey

7938-407: The Mataram Sultanate . In Africa , the Ethiopian Empire underwent the Zemene Mesafint , a period when the country was ruled by a class of regional noblemen and the emperor was merely a figurehead. The Atlantic slave trade also saw the continued involvement of states such as the Oyo Empire . In Oceania , the European colonization of Australia and New Zealand began during the late half of

8100-425: The Medieval Inquisition ). There followed the discovery of the American continent, and consequent dissolution of West Christendom as even a theoretical unitary political body, later resulting in the religious Eighty Years War (1568–1648) and Thirty Years War (1618–1648) between various Protestant and Catholic states of the Holy Roman Empire (and emergence of religiously diverse confessions ). In this context,

8262-626: The Mediterranean basin and Europe , and later circulated around the world predominantly through colonization and globalization . Historically, scholars have closely associated the idea of Western culture with the classical era of Greco-Roman antiquity . However, scholars also acknowledge that other ancient cultures, like Ancient Egypt , the Phoenician city-states , and several Near-Eastern cultures stimulated and fostered Western civilization. The Hellenistic period also promoted syncretism , blending Greek, Roman, and Jewish cultures. Major advances in literature, engineering, and science shaped

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8424-423: The Middle Ages Western culture in fact entered other global-spanning cultures during the colonial 15th–20th centuries. Historically colonialism had been justified with the values of individualism and enlightenment . The concepts of a world of nation-states born by the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, coupled with the ideologies of the Enlightenment, the coming of modernity , the Scientific Revolution and

8586-507: The New World , which today constitutes much of the "geographical" Western world. Starting from the late 1960s, certain parts of the Western world have become notable for their diversity due to immigration . The idea of "the West" over the course of time has evolved from a directional concept to a socio-political concept that had been temporalized and rendered as a concept of the future bestowed with notions of progress and modernity. The origins of Western civilization can be traced back to

8748-475: The Orient (from Latin oriens  'origin, sunrise, east'). The West is considered an evolving concept; made up of cultural, political, and economic synergy among diverse groups of people, and not a rigid region with fixed borders and members. Definitions of "Western world" vary according to context and perspectives. Some historians contend that a linear development of the West can be traced from Ancient Greece and Rome , while others argue that such

8910-523: The People's Republic of China , though this is disputed, since the People's Republic of China, as communist, had friendly relations—at certain times—with the Soviet bloc, and had a significant degree of importance in global geopolitics. Some Third World countries aligned themselves with either the US-led West or the Soviet-led Eastern bloc. A number of countries did not fit comfortably into this neat definition of partition, including Switzerland, Sweden, Austria, and Ireland , which chose to be neutral. Finland

9072-499: The Pope in Rome as the Holy Roman Empire (Latin Christian revival of the ancient Roman Empire, under perpetual Germanic rule from AD 962) inheriting ancient Roman Empire's prestige but offending the Eastern Roman Emperor in Constantinople, and leading to the Crusades and the East–West Schism. The crowning of the Emperor by the Pope led to the assumption that the highest power was the papal hierarchy , quintessential Roman Empire's spiritual heritage authority, establishing then, until

9234-480: The Roman Empire , the destination of a massive influx of pagans (meaning "non-Christians" ) Bulgars and Slavs , an area where Catholic and Orthodox Christianity met, as well as the meeting point between Islam and Christianity. The Papal Inquisition was established in AD 1229 on a permanent basis, run largely by clergymen in Rome, and abolished six centuries later. Before AD 1100, the Catholic Church suppressed what they believed to be heresy, usually through

9396-409: The Vandals by their late expansion throughout Europe. The three-day Visigoths's AD 410 sack of Rome who had been raiding Greece not long before, a shocking time for Greco-Romans , was the first time after almost 800 years that Rome had fallen to a foreign enemy, and St. Jerome , living in Bethlehem at the time, wrote that "The City which had taken the whole world was itself taken." There followed

9558-471: The ancient Mediterranean world . Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome are generally considered to be the birthplaces of Western civilization—Greece having heavily influenced Rome—the former due to its impact on philosophy , democracy , science , aesthetics , as well as building designs and proportions and architecture ; the latter due to its influence on art , law , warfare , governance , republicanism , engineering and religion . Western Civilization

9720-539: The fall of the Byzantine Empire ), granting Portugal navigation, war and trade monopoly for any newly discovered lands, and competing Spanish navigators. It continued with the rise of the Dutch East India Company by the destabilizing Spanish discovery of the New World , and the creation and expansion of the English and French colonial empires, and others. Even after demands for self-determination from subject peoples within Western empires were met with decolonization , these institutions persisted. One specific example

9882-463: The medieval renaissances , the influence of the Islamic world via Al-Andalus and Sicily (including the transfer of technology from the East, and Latin translations of Arabic texts on science and philosophy by Greek and Hellenic-influenced Islamic philosophers), and the Italian Renaissance as Greek scholars fleeing the fall of Constantinople brought ancient Greek and Roman texts back to central and western Europe. Medieval Christianity

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10044-496: The sack of AD 455 lasting 14 days, this time conducted by the Vandals , retaining Rome's eternal spirit through the Holy See of Rome (the Latin Church ) for centuries to come. The ancient Barbarian tribes, often composed of well-trained Roman soldiers paid by Rome to guard the extensive borders, had become militarily sophisticated "Romanized barbarians", and mercilessly slaughtered the Romans conquering their Western territories while looting their possessions. The Roman Empire

10206-528: The telescope and acceptance of heliocentrism . 18th century scholars continued to refine Newton's theory of gravitation , notably Leonhard Euler , Pierre Louis Maupertuis , Alexis-Claude Clairaut , Jean Le Rond d'Alembert , Joseph-Louis Lagrange , Pierre-Simon de Laplace . Laplace's five-volume Treatise on Celestial Mechanics is one of the great works of 18th-century Newtonianism. Astronomy gained in prestige as new observatories were funded by governments and more powerful telescopes developed, leading to

10368-484: The "long" 18th century may run from the Glorious Revolution of 1688 to the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 or even later. In Europe , philosophers ushered in the Age of Enlightenment. This period coincided with the French Revolution of 1789, and was later compromised by the excesses of the Reign of Terror . At first, many monarchies of Europe embraced Enlightenment ideals, but in the wake of the French Revolution they feared loss of power and formed broad coalitions to oppose

10530-414: The 'Afin,' or palace of the Oba, and his market. The palace was at the center of the city close to the Oba's market called 'Oja-Oba'. Around the capital was an enormous earthen wall for defense with 17 gates. The importance of the two large structures (the palace and the Oja Oba) signified the importance of the king in Oyo. Oyo had grown into a formidable inland power by the end of the 14th century. For over

10692-502: The 13th and 14th centuries, a number of European travelers, many of them Christian missionaries , had sought to cultivate trading with Asia and Africa . With the Crusades came the relative contraction of the Orthodox Byzantine 's large silk industry in favor of Catholic Western Europe and the rise of Western Papacy . The most famous of these merchant travelers pursuing East–west trade was Venetian Marco Polo . But these journeys had little permanent effect on east–west trade because of

10854-531: The 16th to 18th centuries, controlled by Ibariba families. Serving as the head of the seven highest-ranking non-royal lords in the Oyo Mesi council, the Bashorun played a crucial role in advising the king and representing non-royal interests. Their power was substantial, especially in the selection of a new king. From 1570 to 1750, several Basoruns had Ibariba or non-Yorùbá origins such as Basorun Magaji, Woruda, Biri, Yamba, Jambu, and Gaa. The Bashorun's duties were closely tied to warfare, leading military campaigns for

11016-622: The 18th century. Despite its violent creation, it was held together by mutual self-interest. The government was able to provide unity for a vast area through a combination of local autonomy and imperial authority. Unlike the great savannah empires, of which Oyo may not be called a successor since it was a successor of Ife, there was little if any Islamic influence in the empire. It is known that at least some Muslim officials were kept in Metropolitan Oyo, and men capable of writing and calculating in Arabic were reported by French traders in 1787. Muslim communities existed in several towns throughout

11178-527: The 19th century saw the transition from "informal imperialism" ( hegemony ) by military influence and economic dominance, to direct rule (a revival of colonial imperialism ) in the African continent and Middle East . During the socioeconomically optimistic and innovative decades of the Second Industrial Revolution between the 1870s and 1914, also known as the " Beautiful Era ", the established colonial powers in Asia (United Kingdom, France, Netherlands) added to their empires also vast expanses of territory in

11340-404: The Alaafin abstained from leaving the palace, except during the important festivals, which in practice curtailed his power. By contrast, the Aremo often left the palace. This led the noted historian S. Johnson to observe: "The father is the king of the palace, and the son the king for the general public". The two councils which checked the Alaafin tended to select a weak Alaafin after the reign of

11502-467: The Alaafin of Oyo to oversee his interest and monitor commerce. The lead representative of Oyo in the corridor was the Olu, ruler of the town of Ilaro. Ajaland was the last layer added to the empire. It was the most restive and distant, and kept in line with threats of expeditions against it. This territory extended from the non-Yoruba areas west of the Egbado Corridor far into Ewe controlled territory in modern Togo . This area, like all tributary states,

11664-602: The Americas, a third of all slaves transported across the Atlantic. The Holy Roman Empire was dissolved in 1806 by the French Revolutionary Wars ; abolition of the Roman Catholic Inquisition followed. Due to the reach of these empires, Western institutions expanded throughout the world. This process of influence (and imposition) began with the voyages of discovery , colonization, conquest, and exploitation of Portugal enforced as well by papal bulls in 1450s (by

11826-613: The Aremo, and his personal counselor within the Oyo Mesi, the Asamu, all had to commit suicide to renew the government. The suicide ceremony took place during the Orun festival. The Oyo Mesi did not enjoy absolute power either. While the Oyo Mesi wielded political influence, the Ogboni represented the popular opinion backed by the authority of religion, and therefore the views of the Oyo Mesi could be moderated by

11988-486: The Ashipa, they represented the voice of the nation and had the chief responsibility of protecting the interests of the empire. The Alaafin was required to take counsel from them whenever any important matter affecting the state occurred. Each chief had a state duty to perform at court every morning and afternoon. Each also had a deputy whom they would send to the Alaafin if their absence was unavoidable. The Oyo Mesi developed as

12150-715: The Byzantine Emperor and established their own states in the conquered regions, including the heart of the Byzantine Empire . The Holy Roman Empire would dissolve on 6 August 1806, after the French Revolution and the creation of the Confederation of the Rhine by Napoleon . The decline of the Byzantine Empire (13th–15th centuries) began with the Latin Christian Fourth Crusade in AD 1202–04, considered to be one of

12312-477: The Commonwealth of Nations . But the end of Western colonial imperialism saw the rise of Western neocolonialism or economic imperialism. Multinational corporations came to offer "a dramatic refinement of the traditional business enterprise", through "issues as far ranging as national sovereignty, ownership of the means of production, environmental protection, consumerism, and policies toward organized labor." Though

12474-575: The Eastern European world such as the East and South Slavic peoples. Roman Catholic Western and Central Europe, as such, maintained a distinct identity particularly as it began to redevelop during the Renaissance. Even following the Protestant Reformation , Protestant Europe continued to see itself as more tied to Roman Catholic Europe than other parts of the perceived civilized world . Use of

12636-577: The Egbado Corridor to collect taxes and spy on Dahomey's military successes so that the Alaafin of Oyo could get his cut. While the Alaafin of Oyo was the supreme overlord of the people, he was not without checks on his power. The Oyo Mesi and the Yoruba Earth cult known as Ogboni kept the Oba 's power in check. The Oyo Mesi spoke for the politicians while the Ogboni spoke for the people and were backed by

12798-664: The European spice trade with Asia, who had journeyed overland to the Far East contributing to geographical knowledge of parts of the Asian continent. They are of enormous significance in Western history as they marked the beginning of the European exploration, colonization and exploitation of the American continents and their native inhabitants . The European colonization of the Americas led to

12960-628: The Human Mind (1794), from primitive society to agrarianism , the invention of writing, the later invention of the printing press and the advancement to "the Period when the Sciences and Philosophy threw off the Yoke of Authority". French writer Pierre Bayle denounced Spinoza as a pantheist (thereby accusing him of atheism ). Bayle's criticisms garnered much attention for Spinoza. The pantheism controversy in

13122-455: The Ibariba, and joining this multiethnic nation were elements of Nupe, Songhai, and Mossi. The presence of Ibariba, Songhai, and Mossi facial scarification among the Oyo population provides evidence for this multiethnic and multicultural integration in the formation of the Oyo identity after 1570. By 1680, the Oyo Empire spanned over 150,000 square kilometers. It reached the height of its power in

13284-532: The Ilari did menial tasks, while seniors acted as guards or sometimes messengers to the other world via sacrifice. Their titles related to the king, such as oba l'olu ("the king is supreme") or madarikan ("do not oppose him"). They carried red and green fans as credentials of their status. All sub-courts of Oyo had Ilari who acted as both spies and taxmen. Oyo appointed these to visit and sometimes reside in Dahomey and

13446-540: The Islamic world, due to the successful Second Agricultural , Commercial , Scientific , and Industrial revolutions (propellers of modern banking concepts). The West rose further with the 18th century's Age of Enlightenment and through the Age of Exploration 's expansion of peoples of Western and Central European empires, particularly the globe-spanning colonial empires of 18th and 19th centuries. Numerous times, this expansion

13608-484: The Nupe invasion. This was the hub of the empire, where the Yoruba spoke the Oyo dialect. Metropolitan Oyo was divided into six provinces, with three on the west side of the Ogun River and three to the river's east. Each province was supervised by a governor appointed directly by the Alaafin of Oyo. The second layer of the empire was composed of the towns closest to Oyo-Ile, which were recognized as brothers. This area

13770-407: The Nupe to ensure Oyo was never threatened by them again. During the reign of Oba Ajiboyede , he held the first Bere festival, an event to celebrate peace in the kingdom. Celebrated regularly, it would retain much significance among the Yoruba long after the fall of Oyo. Under his successor, Abipa , the Yoruba repopulated Oyo-Ile and rebuilt the original capital. Oyo attempted to take and conquer

13932-419: The Nupe. They re-established Oyo to be more centralized and expansive than ever. The people created a government that established its power over a vast territory. During the 17th century, Oyo began a long stretch of growth, becoming a major empire. Oyo never encompassed all Yoruba people, but it was the most populous kingdom in Yoruba history. The key to the Yoruba rebuilding of Oyo was a stronger military and

14094-597: The Oba and renew their allegiance at annual ceremonies. The most important of these was the Bere festival, marking the acclamation of successful rule by the Alaafin. After the Bere festival, peace in Yorubaland was supposed to last for three years. The king could not be disposed of but could be compelled to commit suicide if he was no longer wanted. This was done by sending Bashorun (The prime minister) to present either an empty calabash or

14256-412: The Ogboni. There were checks and balances on the power of the Alaafin and the Oyo Mesi and thus no one was arrogated absolute power. The Ogboni was a very powerful secret society composed of aristocratic freemen noted for their age, wisdom, and importance in religious and political affairs. Its members enjoyed immense power over the common people due to their religious station. A testament to how widespread

14418-417: The Oyo Empire, the Alaafin's eldest son usually succeeded his father upon the throne. This sometimes led the crown prince , known as the Aremo, to hasten the death of his father. To prevent this occurrence, it became traditional for the crown prince to be made to commit ritual suicide upon his father's death. Independent of the succession, the Aremo was quite powerful in his own right. For instance, by custom,

14580-457: The Oyo military prior to its imperial period was simple and closer aligned to the central government in metropolitan Oyo. This may have been adequate in the 14th century when Oyo controlled only its heartland, but to make and maintain conquest farther away, the structure underwent several changes. Oyo maintained a semi-standing army of specialist cavalry soldiers called the Eso , the Esho or, formally,

14742-712: The Oyo palace were made of brass and were measured to be around 2 meters in height. The roof of the Old Oyo palace in its heyday was said to held up with around 100 brass pillars in a long corridor before The palace was invaded and ransacked by the Ilorin Emirate in the 19th century. It is claimed that they were first erected during the reign of Alaafin Aganju around the 15th century, although some sources attribute them to have been cast between 1750 and 1780. Doors were also intricately cast and crafted in oyo. A large iron door looted from Oyo

14904-588: The Protestant Reformation (1517) may be viewed as a schism within the Catholic Church . German monk Martin Luther , in the wake of precursors, broke with the pope and with the emperor by the Catholic Church's abusive commercialization of indulgences in the Late Medieval Period , backed by many of the German princes and helped by the development of the printing press , in an attempt to reform corruption within

15066-533: The Protestant Reformation, the civilization of Western Christendom . The earliest concept of Europe as a cultural sphere (instead of simple geographic term) is believed to have been formed by Alcuin of York during the Carolingian Renaissance of the 9th century, but was limited to the territories that practised Western Christianity at the time. The Latin Church of western and central Europe split with

15228-517: The West , primarily refers to various nations and states in the regions of Western Europe , Northern America , and Australasia ; with some debate as to whether those in Eastern Europe and Latin America also constitute the West. The Western world likewise is called the Occident (from Latin occidens  'setting down, sunset, west') in contrast to the Eastern world known as

15390-459: The Western Church). This was in note of the fact that both Catholic and Orthodox were in use as ecclesiastical adjectives as early as the 2nd and 4th centuries respectively. Meanwhile, the extent of both Christendoms expanded, as Germanic peoples, Bohemia, Poland, Hungary, Scandinavia, Finnic peoples, Baltic peoples, British Isles and the other non-Christian lands of the northwest were converted by

15552-738: The Western Church, while Eastern Slavic peoples, Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro, Russian territories, Vlachs and Georgia were converted by the Eastern Orthodox Church . In 1071, the Byzantine army was defeated by the Muslim Turco-Persians of medieval Asia , resulting in the loss of most of Asia Minor . The situation was a serious threat to the future of the Eastern Orthodox Byzantine Empire . The Emperor sent

15714-516: The Western World. The term "Western" encompasses the social norms , ethical values , traditional customs , belief systems , political systems , artifacts and technologies primarily rooted in European and Mediterranean histories. A broad concept, "Western culture" does not relate to a region with fixed members or geographical confines. It generally refers to the classical era cultures of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome that expanded across

15876-581: The Yoruba language) at Oyo, who was referred to as the Alaafin of Oyo (Alaafin means 'owner of the palace' in Yoruba), was the head of the empire and supreme overlord of the people. He was responsible for keeping tributaries safe from attack, settling internal quarrels between sub-rulers, and mediating between those sub-rulers and their people. The Alaafin of Oyo was also expected to give his subordinates honours and presents. In return, all sub-rulers had to pay homage to

16038-504: The architectural artistry dedicated to Sango were established. For example, a temple in Ilaro was described as a large square building supported by round pillars, against which were set sculptures of men, some armed with sword and shield and others holding pistols. Clapperton noted the remarkable skill of the artisans, stating that some of their sculptural creations rivaled those he had seen in Europe in terms of delicacy. The support pillars of

16200-471: The authority of the Catholic Church and promoted ideas of individual freedom and religious reform , paving the way for modern notions of personal responsibility and governance. The geopolitical divisions in Europe that created a concept of East and West originated in the ancient tyrannical and imperialistic Graeco-Roman times. The Eastern Mediterranean was home to the highly urbanized cultures that had Greek as their common language (owing to

16362-419: The beginning, the people were concentrated in metropolitan Oyo. With imperial expansion, Oyo reorganized to better manage its vast holdings within and outside of Yorubaland. It was divided into four layers defined by relation to the core of the empire. These layers were Metropolitan Oyo, southern Yorubaland, the Egbado Corridor, and Ajaland. Metropolitan Oyo corresponded, more or less, to the Oyo state prior to

16524-742: The century. In the Americas , the United States declared its independence from Great Britain. In 1776, Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence . In 1789, George Washington was inaugurated as the first president. Benjamin Franklin traveled to Europe where he was hailed as an inventor. Examples of his inventions include the lightning rod and bifocal glasses . Túpac Amaru II led an uprising that sought to end Spanish colonial rule in Peru . Western world The Western world , also known as

16686-462: The church. Both these religious wars ended with the Peace of Westphalia (1648), which enshrined the concept of the nation-state , and the principle of absolute national sovereignty in international law . As European influence spread across the globe, these Westphalian principles , especially the concept of sovereign states, became central to international law and to the prevailing world order. In

16848-551: The city of Constantinople (today's Istanbul ) in modern-day Turkey as the "New Rome" when he picked it as capital of his Empire (later called " Byzantine Empire " by modern historians) in AD 330. This internal conflict of legacies had possibly emerged since the assassination of Julius Caesar three centuries earlier, when Roman imperialism had just been born with the Roman Republic becoming "Roman Empire", but reached its zenith during 3rd century's many internal civil wars . This

17010-471: The coast or against other states. Oyo became the southern emporium of the Trans-Saharan trade. Exchanges were made in salt, leather, horses, kola nuts , ivory , cloth and slaves. The Yoruba of metropolitan Oyo were also highly skilled in craft making and iron work. Aside from taxes on trade products coming in and out of the empire, Oyo also became wealthy off the taxes imposed on its tributaries. Taxes on

17172-463: The discovery of new planets, asteroids , nebulae and comets , and paving the way for improvements in navigation and cartography . Astronomy became the second most popular scientific profession, after medicine . A common metanarrative of the Enlightenment is the "secularization theory". Modernity, as understood within the framework, means a total break with the past. Innovation and science are

17334-601: The distance between both the Atlantic Ocean shores, the US became more prominently featured in the conceptualizations of the West. Between the eighteenth century to the mid-twentieth century, prominent countries in the West such as the United States, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Australia, and New Zealand have been once envisioned as ethnocracies for Whites . Racism is cited as a contributing factor to European colonization of

17496-567: The drive to find oceanic routes that would provide cheaper and easier access to South and East Asian goods, by advancements in maritime technology such as the caravel ship introduced in the mid-1400s. The charting of oceanic routes between East and West began with the unprecedented voyages of Portuguese and Spanish sea captains. In 1492, European colonialism expanded across the globe with the exploring voyage of merchant, navigator, and Hispano-Italian colonizer Christopher Columbus . Such voyages were influenced by medieval European adventurers after

17658-453: The driving force behind European imperialism in Asia, and (with the important exception of British East India Company rule in India) the European stake in Asia remained confined largely to trading stations and strategic outposts necessary to protect trade. Industrialization , however, dramatically increased European demand for Asian raw materials; and the severe Long Depression of the 1870s provoked

17820-556: The earliest reference to the term "Western world" was from 1586, found in the writings of William Warner . Countries that are considered to constitute the West vary according to perspective rather than their geographical location. Countries like Australia and New Zealand, located in the Eastern Hemisphere are included in modern definitions of the Western world, as these regions and others like them have been significantly influenced by

17982-633: The early 4th century, the central focus of power was on two separate imperial legacies within the Roman Empire: the older Aegean Sea Greek heritage (of Classical Greece ) in the Eastern Mediterranean, and the newer most successful Tyrrhenian Sea Latin heritage (of Ancient Latium and Tuscany ) in the Western Mediterranean. A turning point was Constantine the Great 's decision to establish

18144-787: The eastern Greek patriarchates in the Christian East–West Schism , also known as the "Great Schism", during the Gregorian Reforms (calling for a more central status of the Roman Catholic Church Institution), three months after Pope Leo IX 's death in April 1054. Following the 1054 Great Schism , both the Western Church and Eastern Church continued to consider themselves uniquely orthodox and catholic. Augustine wrote in On True Religion: "Religion

18306-689: The empire by the 19th century. Many believe the decline of the Oyo empire had started as early as 1754 with the dynastic intrigues and palace coups sponsored by the Oyo Prime Minister Gaha . In his quest for absolute power, Gaha conspired with the Oyo Mesi and probably to some extent the Ogboni to force four successive Alaafins to commit ritual suicide after they had been presented with the symbolic parrot's eggs. Between June and October 1754 alone, two Alaafins had been forced to commit suicide by Gaha. Because of this, Alaafin Awonbioju spent 130 days on

18468-514: The end of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth as an independent state. Its semi-democratic government system was not robust enough to prevent partition by the neighboring states of Austria , Prussia , and Russia. In West Asia , Nader Shah led Persia in successful military campaigns . The Ottoman Empire experienced an unprecedented period of peace and economic expansion, taking no part in European wars from 1740 to 1768. As

18630-448: The end of the 16th century, the Ewe and Aja states of modern Benin Republic were paying tribute to Oyo. The Oyo Empire began raiding southward as early as 1682. By the end of its military expansion, Oyo's borders would extend to the coast, some 100 kilometres (62 mi) southwest of its capital. It met little serious opposition until the early 18th century. In 1728, the Oyo Empire invaded

18792-408: The fear of many kingdoms and empires across West Africa. Cavalry in highly developed societies such as Oyo was divided into light and heavy. Heavy cavalry on larger imported horses was armed with bow & arrows . Light cavalry on smaller indigenous ponies was armed with clubs. Chain mail armor was imported into Yorubaland from the north, and may have been worn by Oyo cavalrymen. Infantry in

18954-450: The gods." The Bashorun had the final say on the nomination of the new Alaafin, his power rivaling that of the king himself. For example, the Bashorun orchestrated many religious festivals; he did this in addition to being commander-in-chief of the army, which gave him considerable independent religious authority. Chief among the responsibilities of the Bashorun was the all-important festival of Orun. This religious divination, held every year,

19116-561: The good, representing the modern values of rationalism , while faith is ruled by superstition and traditionalism. Inspired by the Scientific Revolution, the Enlightenment embodied the ideals of improvement and progress. Descartes and Isaac Newton were regarded as exemplars of human intellectual achievement. Condorcet wrote about the progress of humanity in the Sketch of the Progress of

19278-513: The ground. Oranmiyan followed the advice and founded Oyo where the serpent stopped. The site is remembered as Ajaka . Oranmiyan made Oyo his new kingdom and became the first "oba" (meaning 'king' or 'ruler' in the Yoruba language ) with the title of " Alaafin of Oyo " (Alaafin means 'owner of the palace' in Yoruba). He left all his treasures in Ife and allowed another king to rule there. At one time, Oyo-Ile

19440-448: The institution was is the fact that there were (and still are) Ogboni councils at nearly all sub-courts within Yorubaland. Aside from their duties with respect to the worship of the earth, they were responsible for judging any case dealing with the spilling of blood. The leader of the Ogboni, the Oluwo, had the unqualified right of direct access to the Alaafin of Oyo on any matter. There was

19602-531: The kingdom of Dahomey alone brought in an amount estimated at 14 million US dollars a year. In pre colonial times, Esusu was a type of rotating savings and credit association among the Yoruba. Esusu was recorded to have been practiced in Oyo during the reign of Alaafin Abiodun in the 18th century. The architecture within the Oyo Empire, exhibited an intricate built environment. Elite residences in Oyo-Ile showcased

19764-512: The largest Yoruba -speaking state through the organizational and administrative efforts of the Yoruba people, trade, as well as the military use of cavalry . The Oyo Empire was one of the most politically important states in Western Africa from the mid-17th to the late 18th century and held sway not only over most of the other kingdoms in Yorubaland , but also over nearby African states, notably

19926-543: The late 18th century saw Gotthold Lessing attacked by Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi over support for Spinoza's pantheism. Lessing was defended by Moses Mendelssohn , although Mendelssohn diverged from pantheism to follow Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz in arguing that God and the world were not of the same substance (equivalency). Spinoza was excommunicated from the Dutch Sephardic community, but for Jews who sought out Jewish sources to guide their own path to secularism, Spinoza

20088-516: The latter's protection in case of emergency. Forces inside metropolitan Oyo were commanded by the Bashorun, leading member of the Oyo Mesi. As stated earlier, Metropolitan Oyo was divided into six provinces divided evenly by a river. Provincial forces were thus grouped into two armies, under the Onikoyi and the Okere for the east and west side of the river respectively. Lesser war chiefs were known as Balogun,

20250-507: The legacies of Athens and Jerusalem , or Athens, Jerusalem and Rome . In ancient Greece and Rome, individuals identified primarily as subjects of states, city-states, or empires, rather than as members of Western civilization. The distinct identification of Western civilization began to crystallize with the rise of Christianity during the Late Roman Empire . In this period, peoples in Europe started to perceive themselves as part of

20412-515: The line between Eastern and Western Christianity was moving. Its movement was affected by the influence of the Byzantine empire and the fluctuating power and influence of the Catholic church in Rome. The geographic line of religious division approximately followed a line of cultural divide . In AD 800 under Charlemagne , the Early Medieval Franks established an empire that was recognized by

20574-448: The local name for the god of Thunder. Either way, the royal family was devoted to the Spirits of Thunder (Jakuta) and War ( Ogun ). The founding of Oyo is regarded as 1300, but this is only estimated through backtracking the chronology. Oranmiyan, the first oba (king) of Oyo, was succeeded by Oba Ajaka, Alaafin of Oyo. Ajaka was deposed, because he lacked Yoruba military virtues and allowed his sub-chiefs too much independence. Leadership

20736-404: The most important events, solidifying the schism between the Christian churches of Greek Byzantine Rite and Latin Roman Rite . An anti-Western riot in 1182 broke out in Constantinople targeting Latins. The extremely wealthy (after previous Crusades ) Venetians in particular made a successful attempt to maintain control over the coast of Catholic present-day Croatia (specifically

20898-413: The most profitable and disgraceful sacks of a city in history. This paved the way for Muslim conquests in present-day Turkey and the Balkans in the coming centuries (only a handful of the Crusaders followed to the stated destination thereafter, the Holy Land ). The geographical identity of the Balkans is historically known as a crossroads of cultures, a juncture between the Latin and Greek bodies of

21060-423: The official language of the empire. The inhabitants called themselves Romans because the term "Roman" was meant to signify all Christians . The Pope crowned Charlemagne as Emperor of the Romans of the newly established Holy Roman Empire , and the West began thinking in terms of Western Latins living in the old Western Empire, and Eastern Greeks (those inside the Roman remnant of the old Eastern Empire). In

21222-452: The older empire of Alexander the Great and of the Hellenistic successors ), whereas the West was much more rural in its character and more readily adopted Latin as its common language. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the beginning of the medieval times (or Middle Ages ), Western and Central Europe were substantially cut off from the East where Byzantine Greek culture and Eastern Christianity became founding influences in

21384-403: The only valid method of arriving at truth". Its precursors were John Milton and Baruch Spinoza . Meeting Galileo in 1638 left an enduring impact on John Milton and influenced Milton's great work Areopagitica , where he warns that, without free speech , inquisitorial forces will impose "an undeserved thraldom upon learning". The achievements of the 17th century included the invention of

21546-431: The overt colonial era had passed, Western nations, as comparatively rich, well-armed, and culturally powerful states, wielded a large degree of influence throughout the world, and with little or no sense of responsibility toward the peoples impacted by its multinational corporations in their exploitation of minerals and markets. The dictum of Alfred Thayer Mahan is shown to have lasting relevance, that whoever controls

21708-427: The post of Aare-Ona-Kakanfo was established as the supreme military commander. He was required to live in a frontier province of great importance to keep an eye on the enemy and to keep him from usurping the throne. During Oyo's imperial period, the Aare-Ona-Kakanfo personally commanded the army in the field on all campaigns. Since the Aare-Ona-Kakanfo could not reside near the capital, arrangements had to be made for

21870-412: The power of religion. The power of the Alaafin of Oyo to the Oyo Mesi and Ogboni depended on his personal character and political shrewdness. The Oyo Mesi were the seven principal councilors of the state. They constituted the Electoral Council and possessed legislative powers. Led by the Bashorun, acting as prime minister, and consisting of the Agbaakin, the Samu, the Alapini, the Laguna, the Akiniku, and

22032-433: The ratification of the Constitution of the United States by thirteen States on the North American East Coast before end of the 18th century. In the early-19th century, the systematic urbanization process (migration from villages in search of jobs in manufacturing centers) had begun, and the concentration of labor into factories led to the rise in the population of the towns. World population had been rising as well. It

22194-560: The region around the Oyo Empire was uniform in both armour and armament. All infantry in the region carried shields, swords and lances of one type or another. Shields were four feet tall and two feet wide and made of elephant or ox hide. A 3-foot-long (0.91 m) heavy sword was the main armament for close combat. The Yoruba and their neighbours used triple barbed javelins which could be thrown accurately from about 30 paces. The Oyo Empire, like many empires before it, used both local and tributary forces to expand its domains. The structure of

22356-399: The region. In 1739, Persian emperor Nader Shah invaded and plundered Delhi, the capital of the Mughal Empire . Later, his general Ahmad Shah Durrani scored another victory against the Marathas, the then dominant power in India, in the Third Battle of Panipat in 1761. By the middle of the century, the British East India Company began to conquer eastern India, and by the end of the century,

22518-483: The same historical source. Oyo was able to purchase horses from the north and maintain them in metropolitan Oyo because of partial freedom from the tsetse fly . Cavalry was the long arm of the Oyo Empire. Late 16th and 17th century expeditions were composed entirely of cavalry. There were drawbacks to this. Oyo could not maintain its cavalry army in the south but could raid at will. Despite its drawbacks, Oyo managed to amass one hundred thousand cavalry horsemen, earning

22680-406: The seas controls the world. Eric Voegelin described the 18th-century as one where "the sentiment grows that one age has come to its close and that a new age of Western civilization is about to be born". According to Voeglin the Enlightenment (also called the Age of Reason ) represents the "atrophy of Christian transcendental experiences and [seeks] to enthrone the Newtonian method of science as

22842-405: The state. Their position was second only to the alaafin. The Oyo Empire was not a purely hereditary monarchy, nor was it an absolute one. The Oyo Mesi selected the Alaafin. He was not always closely related to his predecessor, although he did have to be descended from Oranmiyan , a son of Oduduwa , and to hail from the Ona Isokun ward (which is one of the three royal wards). At the beginning of

23004-508: The successful and deadliest war with the Phoenicians began in 218 BC to the rule of Emperor Hadrian by AD 117, ancient Rome expanded up to twenty-five times its area. The same time passed before its fall in AD 476. Rome had expanded long before the empire reached its zenith with the conquest of Dacia in AD 106 (modern-day Romania ) under Emperor Trajan. During its territorial peak, the Roman Empire controlled about 5,000,000 square kilometres (1,900,000 sq mi) of land surface and had

23166-411: The temples dedicated to the deities. An exceptional example is the temple of Sango. The structure, perfectly square and approximately twenty yards on each side, featured polished, deep-red stained floors and walls. Hugh Clapperton called it "The largest and most fancifully ornamented of any of a similar kind in the interior of Africa." In the surrounding provinces of the Oyo Empire, smaller replicas of

23328-771: The term West as a specific cultural and geopolitical term developed over the course of the Age of Exploration as Europe spread its culture to other parts of the world. Roman Catholics were the first major religious group to immigrate to the New World , as settlers in the colonies of Spain and Portugal (and later, France ) belonged to that faith. English and Dutch colonies, on the other hand, tended to be more religiously diverse. Settlers to these colonies included Anglicans , Dutch Calvinists , English Puritans and other nonconformists , English Catholics , Scottish Presbyterians , French Huguenots , German and Swedish Lutherans , as well as Quakers , Mennonites , Amish , and Moravians . Ancient Rome (6th century BC – AD 476)

23490-467: The then-occupied and presently independent Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) and Warsaw Pact countries like Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, East Germany (now united with Germany), and Czechoslovakia (now split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia). The Third World consisted of countries, many of which were unaligned with either , and important members included India, Yugoslavia , Finland ( Finlandization ) and Switzerland ( Swiss Neutrality ); some include

23652-420: The two parts of the Christendom for some time, the crusades made the schism definitive with hostility. The West during these crusades tried to capture trade routes to the East and failed, it instead discovered the Americas . In the aftermath of European colonization of the Americas , an idea of the "Western" world, as an inheritor of Latin Christendom emerged. According to the Oxford English dictionary ,

23814-432: The way to the battle, the brothers quarreled and the army split up. Oranmiyan's force was too small to make a successful attack, so he wandered the southern shore of the Niger River until reaching Bussa. There, the local chief entertained him and provided a large snake with a magic charm attached to its throat. The chief instructed Oranmiyan to follow the snake until it stopped somewhere for seven days and disappeared into

23976-427: Was accompanied by Catholic missionaries , who attempted to proselytize Christianity. In the modern era, Western culture has undergone further transformation through the Renaissance , Ages of Discovery and Enlightenment , and the Industrial and Scientific Revolutions . The widespread influence of Western culture extended globally through imperialism , colonialism , and Christianization by Western powers from

24138-469: Was allowed a fair degree of autonomy as long as taxes were paid, the orders from Oyo were strictly followed, and access to local markets was provided to Oyo merchants. The Oyo often demanded tribute in slaves. The tributary chiefs of other kingdoms sometimes made war on others to capture slaves for this purpose. Oyo was known to punish disobedience by wholesale slaughter of the erring community, as it accomplished in Allada in 1698. The Oyo Empire developed

24300-418: Was as important as Voltaire and Kant. During the Cold War , a new definition emerged. Earth was divided into three "worlds". The First World , analogous in this context to what was called the West , was composed of NATO members and other countries aligned with the United States. The Second World was the Eastern bloc in the Soviet sphere of influence , including the Soviet Union (15 republics including

24462-454: Was at war with the Bariba of Borgu, who wanted to subjugate the new city then still under construction. Orangun Ajagunla of Ila, Oranmiyan's elder brother, stormed in with his men to assist. Not long after the war was won, Oranmiyan had a son, Ajuwon Ajaka, by Princess Torosi of the Tapa ( Nupe ); much later Arabambi was also born by the same woman. It is believed that the name "Sango" was given by his maternal grandfather or that he adopted it from

24624-510: Was born around AD 500, after the fall of the Western Roman Empire , leaving a vacuum for new ideas to flourish that were impossible in Classical societies. In either view, between the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the Renaissance, the West (or those regions that would later become the heartland of the culturally "western sphere") experienced a period of decline, and then readaptation, reorientation and considerable renewed material, technological and political development. Classical culture of

24786-415: Was first used centuries later, after the Byzantine Empire ended. The dissolution of the Western half, nominally ended in AD 476, but in truth a long process that ended by the rise of Catholic Gaul (modern-day France ) ruling from around the year AD 800, left only the Eastern Roman Empire alive. The Eastern half continued to think of itself as the Eastern Roman Empire until AD 610–800, when Latin ceased to be

24948-426: Was forced to pay tribute to Oyo. The Oyo invaded Dahomey 11 times before finally subjugating the kingdom in 1748. With its cavalry, Oyo campaigned over great distances. The Oyo army was able to attack defensive fortifications, but it was harder to supply an army, and they withdrew when supplies ran out. The Oyo did not use guns in its major conquests. The military waited until the 19th century to adopt them. In 1764,

25110-408: Was in the United States' sphere of influence. Spain did not join the NATO until 1982, seven years after the death of the authoritarian Franco . Oyo Empire The Oyo Empire was a Yoruba empire in West Africa . It was located in present-day southern Benin and western Nigeria (including the South West zone and the western half of the North Central zone). The empire grew to become

25272-425: Was kept and passed down from Emirs, and a Alaafin from the 18th century was said to have "made seven silver doors to the seven entrances of his sleeping apartment". Potsherd Pavements at Old Oyo have been dated from the 13th to 14th centuries. After the Nupe crisis, Oyo grew a more diverse population. The Yoruba elements remained the dominant population in the reconstructed empire. Next to them in influence were

25434-446: Was obligatory and defeat carried the duty of committing suicide. This do-or-die policy no doubt contributed to the military aggressiveness of Oyo's generals. The Oyo Empire was one of the only Yoruba states to adopt cavalry ; it did so because most of its territory was in the northern savannah . The origin of the cavalry is unclear; however, the Nupe , Borgu and Hausa in neighbouring territories also used cavalry and may have had

25596-555: Was south of metropolitan Oyo, and its Yoruba inhabitants spoke different dialects from that of Oyo. These tributary states were led by their own rulers, titled Obas, who were confirmed by the Alaafin of Oyo. The empire's third layer was the Egbado Corridor southwest of Yorubaland. This area was inhabited by the Egba and Egbado , and guaranteed Oyo's trade with the coast. The Egba and Egbado tributaries were allowed, like their Yoruba counterparts, to rule themselves. They were, however, supervised by Ajele. These were agents appointed by

25758-407: Was the requirement that post-colonial societies were made to form nation-states (in the Western tradition), which often created arbitrary boundaries and borders that did not necessarily represent a whole nation, people, or culture (as in much of Africa), and are often the cause of international conflicts and friction even to this day. Although not part of Western colonization process proper, following

25920-493: Was then conferred upon Ajaka's brother, Shango , who was later deified as the deity of thunder and lightning. Ajaka was restored after Sango's death. Ajaka returned to the throne thoroughly more warlike. His successor, Kori, managed to conquer the rest of what later historians would refer to as metropolitan Oyo. The heart of metropolitan Oyo was its capital at Oyo-Ile (also known as Oya Katunga , Old Oyo or Oyo-Oro ). The two most important structures in Oyo-Ile were

26082-409: Was to determine if the members of the Mesi still held favour with the Alaafin. If the council decided the disapproval of the Alaafin, the Bashorun presented the Alaafin with an empty calabash, or parrot's eggs, as a sign that he must commit suicide. This was the only way to remove the Alaafin because he could not legally be deposed. Once given the calabash or the parrot's eggs, the Alaafin, his eldest son

26244-418: Was under the Soviet Union's military sphere of influence (see FCMA treaty ) but remained neutral and was not communist, nor was it a member of the Warsaw Pact or Comecon but a member of the EFTA since 1986, and was west of the Iron Curtain . In 1955, when Austria again became a fully independent republic, it did so under the condition that it remain neutral; but as a country to the west of the Iron Curtain, it

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