Friday special :Consequences of the fall of Oyo Empire(The refugees)

In the twenty turbulent years before the destruction of the capital almost  every major city of the empire has been sacked.  Farming was difficult and famine and disease swept the land. Armies pillaged everything of value and carried hundreds into slavery. Each new defeat or destruction of a city in the north sent waves of refugees pouring south into Ogbomoso, Oshogbo, Ife,Owu , and Egbaland. Although the Southern Kingdoms sympathized with these fleeing homeless exiles, because of their numbers and lawlessness they frequently  threatened to overwhelm the indigenous people,  seize their lands and behave as overlords rather than guests.


Some of the southern kingdoms began to look upon the refugees as potential slaves for farm work or sale at the coast.  Prior to this, the Yoruba had not been in the habit of selling their brethren to the Atlantic slave traders but now the slave markets of the coast became glutted with Yoruba for sale. Ife and Ijebu were accused of capturing Oyo. Owu,  supported by the Oyo refugees,  attacked Ife, thus violating the ancient tradition of the sacredness
of the mother Kingdom and destroying the principle by which peace had been maintained among the Yoruba states. In the war the kingdom of Owu was destroyed,  sending forth new hordes of refugees. The victorious Ife and Ijebu armies swept into England turning the Egba into refugees as well. The refugee problem and the chain reaction of war of which it was a product created bitterness and suspicious between the branches of the Yoruba family, which soured future inter - Yoruba relation and prevented the Yoruba from uniting against external foes.



Civil authority had collapsed and in a search for security the refugees began to cluster around talented warriors. This marked the beginning of the great cities which arose in 1830.
A band of refugees from Oyo under Atiba founded New Oyo while other bands moved into Egba territory where one under Kurunmi founded Ijaye, and another led by a group of warriors,  made a settlement which became the city of Ibadan . The  Egba fled south under Shodeke and established Abeokuta where they later welcomed Owu refugees. The Oyo refugees at Ife were at first kept in servile positions but were later allow to establish their own city of Modakeke. Incoming refugees turned Ogbomoso from a minor town of the old Oyo Empire into a populous city, but although the refugees formed a majority of its population,  they were excluded from political power. Oshogbo, originally a small outpost of the Ijesha kingdom accepted so many refugees that it took on the character of an Oyo rather than Ijesha city.



Since Ibadan had attracted the largest number of refugees, the organization of the resistance to  Illorin fell to her. The problem was one of military technique. The old Oyo army had been built on the strength of its Calvary but Ilorin now controlled the northern routes and monopolized the horse trade. Somehow Ibadan infantry had to stop Ilorin Calvary. The Ijebu had introduced firearms to the Yoruba but it was the Ibadan Baloguns who perfected their use in warfare .In 1840, at the battle of Oshogbo,  Ibadan infantry armed with long Dane guns decisively checked Ilorin Calvary and Ibadan was hailed as the saviors of the Yoruba