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Iwe Irohin and the Representation of the Universal in Nineteenth-Century Egbaland1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 May 2014

Oluwatoyin B. Oduntan
Oluwatoyin B. Oduntan*
Affiliation:
Obafemi Awolowo University
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Extract

The nineteenth century was in many ways a revolutionary one among the Yoruba of western Nigeria. The Yoruba civil wars caused much social and political disorganization of the existing entities in Yorubaland. Among other effects, the wars caused the uprooting of conquered and devastated peoples from their original homes to new lands. The Egba people were one of these. From their original homeland they moved south to settle at Abeokuta in 1830. They were later to be joined by other displaced peoples including the Ijaiye and the Owu, thus making Abeokuta a federation of sorts. The initial decades of settlement at Abeokuta were devoted to the consolidation of the new settlement against the attacks of the stronger and older kingdoms of Ijebu and Dahomey, to continued participation in the ongoing civil wars, and to the challenges of domestic political and economic reorganization. From 1839 liberated slaves from Sierra Leone began to settle in Abeokuta, soon to be followed by European missionaries.

Type
Research Article
Information
History in Africa , Volume 32 , 2005 , pp. 295 - 305
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 2005

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Footnotes

1

“Iwe Iroyin” literarily means “newspaper” in the Yoruba language. I wish to acknowledge Mrs. Akin-Alade, who inspired and supervised the research of this work.

References

2 For more on the Yoruba civil wars see Johnson, Samuel, The History of the Yoruba (Lagos, 1897)Google Scholar.

3 Lynch, Hollis, “Sierra Leone and Liberia in the Nineteenth Century” in Ajayi, J. F. and Espie, Ian, One Thousand Years of West African History (Ibadan, 1965), 333Google Scholar.

4 Ajayi, J. F., Christian Missions in Nigeria 1841-1891 (London, 1965), 27Google Scholar.

5 Ibid., 32.

6 Ibid.

7 Increase Coker, E. H., Landmarks of the Nigerian Press (Ibadan, 1976), 5Google Scholar.

8 Blair, J. H., Abeokuta Intelligence Report (Lagos, 1937), 6Google Scholar.

9 Ola Rotimi's play captures the cultural contests that defined the Ijaiye wars; see Rotimi, , Kurunmi (Ibadan, 1971)Google Scholar.

10 Blair, Report.

11 Ugboajah, Frank, “Developing a New Perspective of West African Media History” in Mass Communication, Culture and Society (Lagos, 1981), 57Google Scholar.

12 Ajayi, Christian Missions, 156n.

13 The relationship between the Creoles and the missionaries was a carryover from Sierra Leone. The differences were to erupt the 1860s, when the Creoles led by “Irreversible” Johnson became prominent in Abeokuta, where they formed a government, E.U.B.M, which championed the Egba contentions against the Lagos government. The Creoles were also involved in the Ifole. See Smith, R. S., The Lagos Consulate 1851-1861 (London, 1976), 105–06Google Scholar.

14 Ajayi, , Christian Missions, 193Google Scholar.

15 Coker, , Landmarks, 12Google Scholar.

16 Iwe Iroyin (20 December 1861), National Archives, IbadanGoogle Scholar.

17 Iwe Iroyin (25 October 1861), acknowledged receipt of some journals from London.

18 Ajayi, , Christian Missions, 167Google Scholar.

19 Ibid.

20 Iwe Iroyin (25 October 1861).

21 Ajayi, , Christian Missions, 94Google Scholar.

22 Smith, , Lagos Consulate, 112Google Scholar.

23 Copies of the paper were kept at the Ake Palace Archives until it was burned in 1993. Various nostalgic references are made to Townsend and the Iwe Iroyin in Egba publications and public statements.

24 Most of the popular names in Nigeria's media history of the pioneering years are Egba. See Oduntan, Babatunde, “The Development and Impact of Newspapers in Abeokuta 1859-1960” (B.A. Long Essay, Ogun State University), 46Google Scholar.

25 Dawes, secretary, to Yoruba Mission, CMS Papers, National Archives, Ibadan.

26 Smith, Robert, “Nigeria-Ijebu” in Crowther, Michael, West African Resistance (London, 1971), 175Google Scholar.

27 Ajayi, , Christian Missions, 142Google Scholar.

28 Alliu, F. F., “Press Politics and the Nigerian Government” (Diploma Project, Ogun State Polytechnic, 1988), 20Google Scholar.

29 See various Minutes of Meetings of Egba Native Council, National Archives, Abeokuta.

30 Interview with Chief S. Adegbenro Quadri, 4 May 1990.

31 Omu, Fred, Press and Politics in Nigeria (London, 1976)Google Scholar.

32 Several editions of the Iwe Iroyin in 1863 had articles advising closer Egba relations with the French.