Timeline of Yoruba history

This is a timeline or chronology of Yoruba history. It contains notable or important cultural, historical and political events in Yorubaland, its constituent kingdoms and its immediate region as it relates to the Yoruba people of West Africa. Many of the dates, especially those from the periods before written history are approximates, and are always indicated when shown. Do not add events that aren't notable to this timeline.

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

11th millennium BC

Year	Image	Event
11,000 BC (Stone Age)		Approximate time when the Iho Eleru man lived in present-day Yorubaland. Its remains would be discovered much later in 1965 alongside half a million stone tools near the village of Isarun as the only known Pleistocene era (Ice age) sample of a hominin fossil ever discovered in western Africa, 13,000 years old.

4th millennium BC

Year	Image	Event
3250 BC		By this period, the Proto-Yoruboid peoples had emerged as a distinct group out of a previously undifferentiated Volta-Congo group after the end of the 'big dry' in c. 3500 BC.

3rd millennium BC

Year	Date	Event
2600 BC		Radiocarbon dating of excavated charcoal samples obtained from layers between 1.90 and 2.01 meters deep at the Oke Eri grove in southern Yorubaland confirms the presence of human habitation and activity from an African late stone age (Bronze Age) population inhabiting the rain forest zone of south-central Yorubaland dating to this period.

1st millennium BC

Year	Date	Event
1000s BC		The Proto-Yoruboid peoples had demographically spread southwards and westwards from their Urheimat, a location suspected to be around the southwestern wedge of the Niger-Benue confluence. They establish several small-scale 'house societies' or clans throughout the forests, swamps and open grasslands of the region.
	500 BC (Approx.)	The ancient settlement of Ufẹ (Ife) was founded in this time period or earlier. It started out as a group of tiny hamlets or 'house societies' in a swampy depression surrounded by hills in the heart of the Nigerian lowland forests like its contemporary societies across Yorubaland emerging at about the same period. Ife would however grow to become the Yoruba premier city and one of Africa's most impactful states through the spreading of its systems of monarchy, society, culture and religion by way of kingdom founding migrations, forming societal nuclei throughout the regions between the lower Niger and Volta rivers.
300 BC		Human remains ("Itaakpa man") and other archeological evidence from the; Itaakpa rock shelter and other associated sites; Abuke, Oluwaju and Addo, west of present-day Ife-Ijumu shows the presence of people and settlement in northeastern Yorubaland by this period. Materials recovered include; Pottery, Charred palm kernels, and Microlith tools. It is the third archaeological site in Nigeria to produce human remains.

3rd century AD

Year	Image	Event
250 AD		The Yoruba communities completed their spread across every landscape and terrain in the current region of Yorubaland except for some pockets in the far west (i.e Atakpame). They cover the entire littoral basin and coastline between the Oueme (Odò Ofe) river on the western seaboard and Escravos (Odò Egbere) river on the eastern seaboard as the ancestors of the modern Itsekiri.

7th century AD

Year	Image	Event
600 AD		Obas emerge as the title for leaders presiding over the bigger sociopolitical group formations taking shape in central and northeastern Yorubaland as mega-houses. The roots of these newer polities lay in the earlier 'house-societies' or clans that had dominated society since at least the 4th-5th century BCE. In parts of the hilly Ekiti and Yagba regions, Ọwa (house leaders) was in co-use. In the southeast, Ọlọja (community leader) was the dominant terminology used for the emerging heads, while in the west Olu (highest ranked) was also commonly used.

8th century AD

Year	Image	Event
700 AD		Thirteen mega-houses had formed in Ife, the largest of which was Idita or Iranje The initial thirteen mega-houses then entered into a confederal political agreement with rotational leadership as the first mini-state in Yorubaland. Some of the thirteen clan rulers included; Obaluru, Oba ijio, Obawinrin, Obalejugbe, Obameri among others, under the leadership of personalities like Oramfe/Oranfe followed by Obatala.
800 AD ~		The current Yoruba language dialectal clusters had become differentiated into three of its current five groupings with the exception of northwestern and southwesternYoruba which seem not to have developed yet at this time period.

9th century AD

Year	Image	Event
800 AD		Ife transforms into a powerful forest city-state, accompanied by the commencement of an artistic era. The city begins experiencing an artistic production boom transforming ife into a major center of innovation.
		The Idena "gatekeeper" and Ore (Olofefura) figures carved out of solid granite at the entrance of the Ore grove (Igbo Ore) associated with Oke Ora in Ile-Ife are created. The figures are shown standing upright with interlocked fingers, a bare torso, a large wrapper girded by a tasseled sash around his lower body, beaded bracelets and globular beads strung into a circular neck adornment. The idena statue offers some insight into the clothing customs, religion, and culture of people who lived in central Yorubaland around the year 800.
840 AD		Archaeological findings and excavations from round mounds in Old Oyo or Oyo-ile, the area which would later on become the capital city of the Oyo Empire confirms the presence of human activity and settlement in northwestern Yorubaland by this period.
870 AD		The defensive earthworks (embankments) of Sungbo's Eredo in the area of the Ijebu country in south-central Yorubaland was built. With a length of 165 km and a height of 5m to 20m in the deepest parts with vertical sided walls, building it involved moving an estimated 3.5 million m³ of earth. It has been suggested that the Eredo was constructed in phases, with the eastern section built first as a defensive fortification by an earlier Yoruba population called the Udoko, and the western section built later by Obanta of the Ijebu period. It is considered the single largest earthen structure ever built in Africa, and with LiDAR survey now considered the largest earthen enclosure in the world.
890 AD		Thermoluminescence dating of the Esiẹ soapstone statues places them in this period. The Esie figurines, numbering more than 1,000 are the largest collection of carved stone statues in Africa. The figures bear strong resemblance with those from the Ife's early formative period and may have been made by an early Ife-linked group of with an organized society called the 'Oba cultural complex'.

10th century AD

Year	Image	Event
900 AD~		The concept of divine kingship i.e The Oba being a God-King, member of the Orisha, and an embodiment of a divinity became the standard in Ife from where it would become the template of governance and social order throughout the entire region. The Yoruba religious corpus of Ifa also became standardized in Ife around this time although the practice had been developing gradually with its nexus based around central Yorubaland since Ife's early formative period (500-800 AD). Ife would continue to maintain this ritual primacy for many centuries afterwards.
900s c.AD		Oduduwa, a leader from the community of Oke Ora (Ora's hill) to Ife's east takes control of kingship in Ife, ushering in Ife's late formative period also known as the Oduduwa Era or second dynasty, which was marked by political, religious and economic consolidation. Ife's main economic base shifted from agrarian to craft specialist.
		The sacred historical site and early community of Orun Oba Ado was established. Ife developed into a market town/trading hub of considerable importance with a broad network of tributary territories, and simultaneously emerged as a southern terminal node of a Trans-Saharan trade network which was the early source of copper imports into West Africa.

11th century AD

Year	Image	Event
1000 AD		Ife becomes a centre for artistic innovation, producing artworks in various material forms, most of the earlier works were done in terracotta.
		Broken pottery sherds (Apaadi) and stone mosaic arranged in herring-bone pattern are used extensively in Ife to pave the streets, temples, courtyards and important public spaces, marking the beginning of the pavement era. Tiles in the form of ceramic discs were also used to embellish walls and columns. By the13th-14th centuries, these pavements had become a pan-Yoruba architectural style, especially in central Yorubaland with other finds coming from the Ekiti and Igbomina regions, but also as far away as Shabe and Igbo Idaasha in western Yorubaland.
	Possibly earlier.	Bronze (brass) casting begins in Ife. These early metalworkers use the Lost-wax casting (cire perdue) technique to create hyper-realistic heads, busts and other figures.
		Ife begins the indigenous production of glass, a technology previously thought unknown in sub-Saharan Africa and develops a product trade monopoly. Archaeological excavations at the site of Igbo Olokun yielded more than 13,000 glass beads and several kilograms of crucibles, production debris and vitrified residue dating from the 11th century. Chemical analysis of the Ife or Yoruba glass revealed a unique chemical signature completely different from other known glass types from around the world. Colorants including manganese, iron, cobalt, and copper were intentionally added to produce a range of colors, including shades of dichroic blue - green (Ṣẹ̀gí, Akori, "Coris") and red - yellow (Iyùn). These glass beads from Ilé-Ifè Have been found at the archaeological sites of; Kissi, Diouboye, Gao, Essouk, and Koumbi Saleh showing Ife's participation as a production centre in a greater West African trade network which made it very wealthy.
1019 AD		The Owo royal dynasty is founded by Ojugbelu Asunlola Arere (Omalaghaaye), a son of Oduduwa who migrates out of Ife to found the Ọ̀ghọ̀ kingdom. He settled first at Uji(n) with his followers from where they moved to a new location called Upafa near the current site of Ufe Oke (Idanre) where he died in 1070.
1030 AD		Obalufon I (Ogbogbodirin) emerges king in Ife, succeeding Oduduwa. His cognomen was Obamakin Osangangan, roughly translating to mean; The great King who illuminates like the sun at mid-day. He is remembered for having an unusually long and peaceful reign, however, Ife was thrown into political chaos towards the end of his life.
1070 AD		The Owo kingdom is founded. From Upafa, Ojugbelu's son Imade led the group to Oke Imade where they soon left due to issues of water scarcity. In their search for water, they followed a trail of migrating monkeys (Ẹdun) which led them to Ugbo Ogwata or Okiti Asegbo where he settled with twelve Ighare Iloro (high chiefs) who came from Ife. Olowo Imade is considered the first Olowo, since it was he who led the movement of the people to their current location. The name of the new kingdom was coined from Ojugbelu's hallowed manners which earned him the epithet 'Ọ̀ghọ̀' (Ọ̀wọ̀) meaning 'respect' or 'reverence'.
1085 AD	Approx.	Beginning of the Ketu royal dynasty. Oba Sopasan (Shopasan) a.k.a Soropasan or Soipasan leads a west bound kingdom founding migration out of Ife sometime between 931 and 1085 AD, crossing the Osun, Ogun, Ofiki and Oyan rivers. He settles with his retinue first at Oke-Oyan in the vicinity of present-day Shaki, from where they moved to Aro-Ketu where he died. Five more kings rule from Aro before the group migrated and settled at Ile-Ketu, their final stop.

12th century AD

Year	Image	Event
1100 AD		Pottery was made at the site of Diogun in Oyo Ile, (which would later on become the capital of the Oyo Empire) in this period. These earthenwares had various elaborate designs and impressions including; scallop impressions, brush incisions, frond, rock-comb, knotted, and twisted string roulettes.
1101 AD		The Kingdom of Ketu was founded. Oba Ede the seventh Alaketu established the kingdom's capital at the current site of Ile Ketu from the old site of Aro Ketu sometime between 974 and 1101 AD.
1110 AD		The Orangun dynasty of Ila was founded by Orangun Fagbamila Ajagun-nla, a son or grandson of Oduduwa. He left Ife with his mother Adetinrin and headed northeast, taking with him a machete (Ada Ogbo) to clear the thicket path along the way— The act lending its name to the people group who became a part of his new kingdom; "Ogbo mọ Ọna" which over time became Igbomina. He then settled in a place called 'Igbo-Ajagunla' where he died, and his descendants reigned for several years (about 250) until 1365 when Amotagesi (Amota) moved the group to the new location of Ila Yara. There, they sojourned for many more years until the people fractured into two. One group, led by a prince Apakimo founded the town of Ila Okiri (later renamed Oke Ila).
1130 AD	Approx.	Ogun emerges as the king of Ife.
1140 AD	Approx.	Obalufon II (Alayemore) emerges as the king of Ife, succeeding his father Ogbogbodirin (Obamakin) and Ogun.
1150 AD		The Akure Kingdom is founded in the Ekiti region of east-central Yorubaland by Prince Omoremilekun of the Oduduwa household, nicknamed "Aṣọdẹboyèdé" (He who hunted and arrived with royalty). At the village of Oṣu, he parted with the Oranyan group and wandered east into the Ekiti hills, hunting through and camping at Igbo Ooye between Aramọkọ and Ẹfọn before finding his way into the Akure area. The localized title of the first Obas was 'Ajapada'. The later title of Déjì came as a result of much later intrigues that links the kingdom with Ilesa, starting with Oba Ogunja (1533-1554).
		The Ijebu Kingdom was founded by three emigre brothers from Ife; Ọsin Mọọrẹ (Oṣin/Oṣi) a.k.a 'Olu Iwa' who settled at Iwode with Ajebu and Olode marking out the boundaries of the new land and from whose names the land derived its appellation. Soon after, Obanta (Ogboroganlada), the son of an Ooni (Olufe) by Gborowo, a daughter of Olu Iwa becomes the first Awujale around the 1200s after previous sojourns in Imesi and the Ondo area. From Obanta, 57 Kings have reigned over the Ijebu Kingdom.
	Approx.	The Owa Obokun dynasty of Ilesha was founded. The dynasty began with Ajibogun Ajaka a.k.a Obokun (bringer of seawater). Based on oral traditions, he left Ife and headed northeast to start a kingdom with his inherited sword (Ida Ajase) and a veilless crown. Subsequently, different Owas reigned at; Igbadaye (where Ajibogun died), Ilowa, Ilemure (renamed Ibokun) and Ilaje (renamed Ipole), before Ilesa was eventually settled in the reign of Oge or Owaluse. On arrival, they met the Obanla already there. 43 Owas have reigned, although it is alleged that the names of 9 Owas have been lost).
1167 AD	Wheat grain	Wheat (T. aestivum & durum) and cotton (Gossypium sp.) seed and coat fragments retrieved in archaeo-botanical contexts from the medieval urban center of Ife showed that both crops, which likely spread through extensive Trans-Saharan trade networks (wheat could not be cultivated locally) were both present and used in the city, representing both their largest hoard in West Africa and earliest documented occurrence at a latitude that far south in humid Africa (well outside their known cultivation range). Other locally produced crops ; Pearl millet, Sorghum, Cowpea, Oil palm and Okra were also recovered.
1170 AD		Prince Oranmiyan Odede, one of the youngest grandsons of Oduduwa arrives in Igodomigodo on the instructions of Ooni Ọbalufon, a son and second successor of Owoni Oduduwa whom the Edo knew as the Oghene n'Uhe. He arrives with a large contingent of co-travellers, among them; The Olu-Awure of Usen, Ojima of Okeluse, Irado/Erando (Olutese) of Utese, Ihama, Oloton, Bamawo, Ogie Efa (Ogiefa) who was already moving between Ife and Igodomigodo before this coming, Elama, Edigin of Use, Olọ (Olero) and many others. He had his palace at Usama outside of the city-proper.
1173 AD		Oranmiyan leaves Benin and returns after living for three years at Use with most of his Ife comrades, known today as the Ihogbe led by the Ihama. He leaves behind his son, Eweka (Owomika) whom he had from a union with a local princess who would become the first Oba of a second Ife dynasty in their care. Accordingly, every new Oba must return to Use to pick their royal name as part of the rites of coronation.
1176 AD	Approx.	Oranmiyan settles in the Niger valley in the plains near the confluence of the Niger and Moshi rivers. He founds the city of Oyo Ile and becomes its Oba as the first Alaafin (lord of the palace), birthing two sons there; Ajaka, and his half-brother Shango (Olufiran) born to him by a Nupe princess, Torosi, the daughter of a Nupe king remembered in tradition as Elempe.
1185 AD	Approx.	Obalufon III (Ejigimogun) emerges king in Ife, right in the middle of the sociopolitical turmoil that had plagued his predecessor, Obalufon II.
	Approx.	Oranmiyan returns to Ife after sojourns in Benin and the Niger valley where he meets Obalufon III already ruling. He ousts Obalufon III (Ejigimogun) and reigns as the sixth Ooni, bringing a long lasting peace. Moremi Ajasoro was one of his wives in Ife. After Oranmiyan's reign and demise, he was buried in Ife and Obalufon III or his son of the same name was returned as king.
1190 AD	Approx.	The Moremi episode in Ife. After Obalufon III's ousting by Oranmiyan, he joins the Ugbo in their bout of guerrilla attacks on ife and its citizens which had been ongoing for years. The Oranmiyan group was associated with Oduduwa while Obalufon's supporters were associated with Obatala who had been in the city before Oduduwa's intrusion from his eastern abode of Oke Ora— they were the Ugbo a.k.a Eluyare. During one of the attacks, Moremi allowed herself be captured by the raffia-donning Ugbo. She marries Obalufon their leader in exile and upon learning the truth, secretly fled back to Ife where she reveals to Oranmiyan and the Ife populace the most effective way to tackle the Ugbo, flaming torches. She is venerated as an Ife heroine. Oluorogbo and Ela are considered her children.

13th century AD

Year	Image	Event
1200 AD		Ife becomes an empire. Its influence grows among its immediate neighbours and in the subregion. By the mid 14th century, it would become one of the biggest emporiums and wealthiest polities in West Africa.
		The Olukumi communities on the right-bank of the lower Niger river were already existing by this period. However, tradition among the Olukumi themselves place their migration and settlement of the area in the pre-Oranmiyan period of Benin as companions (Olùkù) of the first Benin kings.
1220 AD	Approx.	Dada Ajaka, son of Oranmiyan reigns as the Alaafin at Oyo.
1223 AD	Approx.	Shango a.k.a Oba Koso, the other son of Oranmiyan reigns as the Alaafin at Oyo after deposing Ajaka his elder brother. He reigned for some years after which Ajaka was restored as Oba. Oyo, nascent at this stage, started out as a provincial city within the Ife Empire and just like in Ife, potsherd pavements were also utilized in Oyo's public spaces during this period. Ajaka was succeeded by his son, Aganju.
1275 AD		The Yorubas crossed the Niger river and conquered Nupe land to the north from Mokwa and installed a new royal dynasty there. The Yoruba entity most likely responsible for ushering this dynastic change in Nupeland was the Ife Empire. This is corroborated by an account gotten from Nupe locals by Leo Frobenius, and later confirmed by Talbot. There seem to have been intense relationships between both groups, as several figures of Ife origin or belonging to the Ife artistic corpus have been found along the course of the middle Niger.
1285 AD~		The skill of brass casting was introduced into the Kingdom of Benin from the Ife Empire. According to the traditional account, this happened during the reign of Oba Oguola who reigned in the 13th or 14th century and wished to produce brass items similar to those usually sent to the kingdom from Ife locally. He sent to Ife for an expert caster to come and help in establishing the guild at Benin, and Igueigha was sent and he became the first Ineh of Igun. However, concrete evidence for metalworking in Benin dates to around 1400 and it wasn't until the 1500's under Oba Esigie that Benin produced the bulk/majority of its brass works.
1300 AD	Possibly earlier.	The Obalufon Copper mask was produced in honour of Ọbalùfọ̀n Aláyémọrẹ the 5th or 6th Ooni. Obalufon II is renowned for his vigorous military campaigns and political diplomacy. During his reign, Ile-Ife capital of the Ife Empire controlled an extensive network of towns and villages along the trade routes connecting central Yorubaland with the Niger River and areas further south, and he became synonymous with wealth, innovation, security, and stability. The mass production of glass beads and the importation of copper to Ile-Ife to make alloys also surged during his reign. He is widely credited for commissioning brass images of the royal ancestors. He is identified today as the patron deity of metal casting, textiles, good governance and the founder of the Ogboni.
		Pottery-ware made at the site of Mejiro in Oyo Ile (See Diogun in the 12th Century), which would become the capital of the Oyo Empire produced dates linking their production to this time period.

14th century AD

Year	Image	Event
1310 AD		The Kingdom of Ado is founded by Awamaro ('the restless one'), an Ife prince nicknamed Ewi for his eloquence among an earlier Yoruba-speaking group known as the Ulesun. He was the third successor of Biritikolu/Biritiokun who was part of the group that left Ife with Oranmiyan. Due to subsequent circumstances in the forests between Ife and Benin, Biritiokun separated from the group and headed north for Oba-ile where he was hosted by the Oloba. The group then headed east to Udoani (Idoani) where they settled for years. Thence, they headed for a place now called Agbado where they settled again. After further years, the group moved again, Biritokun had since died, but a faction stayed behind and the remaining headed into the land of the Ulesun led by Awamaro. The name 'Ado' simply means 'settlement', 'station' or 'camp'.
1320 AD~		According to oral traditions, the Oranmiyan Obelisk (Opo Oranmiyan) was built in Ife some time after the death of Oba Oranmiyan to commemorate his memory. The 5.5m tall 1.2m circumference (at base) granite monument colloquially called the Oranmiyan staff is studded with about 140 driven iron pegs made into an elongated trident shape, as well as a horn and an axe near the middle, all holding some symbolic meaning.
1340 AD		Oba Rerengejen, the ninth Olowo builds the Aghọfẹn (palace grounds) of Owo, occupying 180 acres in the centre of the kingdom when he moved from the old site of Okiti Asegbo. Some of the courtyards are paved with quartz pebbles and broken pottery. Caryatid-like pillars supporting roofs in the veranda are moulded as statues of men on horseback or shown with women. He also initiated the Igogo festival in commemoration of his queen, Olori Oronshen.
1350 AD		Ile Ife, capital of the Ife Empire had an estimated population of 105,000 inhabitants. Other estimates put the population at 150,000 people.
1363 AD		The Kingdom of Iwo was founded by Prince Adekola Telu, son of the female Ooni Luwoo Gbagida, the 21st Oba of Ife and chief Obaloran. The migrating prince settled first with his people at a place called Ogundigbaro from where they moved to an area around Erunmu. They then moved to Igbo-Orita where Adekola Telu died and a dynasty of four kings was established before they eventually moved to the present site of Ile-Iwo near the confluence of the Oba and Osun rivers led by Oluwo Parin Olumade.
1385 AD~		The Kingdom of Igbo-Idaasha (Dassa Zoume) is founded by Oladegbo who became Oba under the title of Jagun Olofin after migrating westwards from Egba country and settling at the foot of the Arigbo hill. Upon arrival, the party, led by Sagbona met an extant pre-dynastic Yoruba-speaking population in the city-states of; Yaka, Epo and Ifita who already existed since at least the Ninth century CE. Ifita for example means; ' Ife Ita ' i.e 'The Ife abroad'

15th century AD

Year	Image	Event
1401 AD	Approx.	The first Ibadan was founded by Lagelu a.k.a Apatamaja, an Ife born grandson of Degelu an Obalufe (Ọ̀rúntọ́) chief who became a powerful Ife war chief and held the title of Jagun. He was also a grandson to Ooni Luwoo Gbagida on his mother's side. Ibadan was built on a site called Igbo Ipara (Ipara forest) and was bordered by Egba Agura ('Gbagura), Ijebu and Owu villages. It was named Eba Odan by Lagelu, meaning; 'Edge of the grassland'. After an incident involving an Oyo Egungun and the sacking of the town, Lagelu and his people took refuge on Oke-Ibadan hill where they survived on Snails, Cornmeal gruel ('Ori') eaten with snail shells ('Ikarahun') and African bush mangoes ('Òro'). They later re-settled at Oniyangi near Oja'ba (Iba's market). Ibadan was eventually abandoned around ~1630.
1420 AD		Art flourishes in the Owo Kingdom. Archaeological works in sites like Igbo'Laja produced dates of terracotta art dating to this period. Owo just like Ife becomes one of Yorubaland's primary centres of art and innovation.
1425 AD		A kingdom founding migration led by Ogunfunminire an Ife prince settles in Isheri and its environs. Before settling Isheri, they left Ife heading towards Oke-Ogun along the course of the Ogun River heading south until the ceramic plate they followed as a marker sank, an event lending its name to the people — Awori. They then left Isheri and moved on to Ebute Metta then Iddo and eventually Lagos Island which they named Oko/Eko. He had 32 sons, half of whom he made 'white-cap' Idejo, the land owning chiefs, since he (Ogunfunminire) apportioned all the lands in Lagos between them. Some are: Aromire, Oluwa, Ojora, Onikoyi, Oniru, Oloto, Olumegbon, Onitana, Onisiwo, Elegushi and Onitoolo. He then returned to Isheri to rule as Olofin.
1442 AD		A system of earthen rampart walls and ditches (Iyara) about 3.4 km in circumference were constructed around the site of Ila Yara (Ila town of the rampart ditches), the original capital of the Ila kingdom of the Igbominas founded in 1365. The 'walls', 4.3-5.5m wide, were built with three access gates and enclosed a land area of 0.612km². Dating of recovered pottery and other in-situ materials like; Cowries, Tuyere, Iron slag and animal remains (bone, shell) also confirmed the presence of an organized society actively engaging their environment at about the same period c..1442-1531.
1472 AD		The Portuguese reach the area of Lagos, the first place in Nigeria with documented European contact. The explorer Ruy de Sequeira sailed eastwards, hugging the coast from the mouth of the Volta River. He charted new routes and documented the coastal features of the area, noting the channel (Rio do Lago) between the inland lagoon (Ọ̀sà) and the sea (Ôkun), contributing to Lagos's early status as a hub for maritime trade. By 1485, Rio do Lago was already appearing on European maps.
1500 AD		The Ife Empire which had been declining in status since the 1400s eventually collapsed. After the decline of the empire and the associated shift in trading routes to the north and the coast, real power started to shift to a number of successor states, among them; the Oyo empire, Ijesha Kingdom, Kingdom of Benin, Owo Kingdom, Ijebu Kingdom and the Ketu Kingdom, all of which rose and arguably eclipsed their predecessor state. Ife continued to maintain a strong residual influence through ritual allegiance and religious reverence, maintaining its importance over these successor states as a 'spiritual capital' or 'father kingdom' and confirming their rulers' legitimacy.
		The town of Ede Ile became host to an Oyo military camp garrisoned by Timi Agbale (Olofa ina) during the reign of Kori who is remembered as the seventh Alaafin (although details might be missing) to protect Oyo's trade routes and interests on the frontier nearly 100 miles (160 km) south against the Ijesha. After Timi's death, descent groups of his two sons Lamodi and Lalemo jostled for leadership. The monopoly by Lamodi's descendants forced the Lalemo group to migrate across the Osun River to the present Ede.

16th century AD

Year	Image	Event
1506 AD		The Ooni, king of Ife is apparently mentioned by name in Esmeraldo de Situ Orbis, where he is described as; 'Another great lord who lived quite close by "Licosaguou", by name the "Hooguanee" who played the same role among the negroes as the pope played in Europe'. The reverence with which the Ooni (Owoni, Oghene) is described seem to be a confirmation of the tenacity of ife's legacy of primacy, even though the Ife Empire had collapsed.
		Portuguese explorers describe the natives of the area around Lagos and the Ijebu Kingdom In more detail. Duarte Pacheco Pereira apparently makes mention of the Awujale which he renders as "Agusale" as well as Sungbo's Eredo which is described as; "A great ditch surrounding the city of Geebu".
		The Portuguese describe the Lagos area in further detail and mention their involvement in slave trade with Ijebu locals along the Atlantic coastline of Yorubaland for the first time.
1510 AD~		The Ondo kingdom was founded among the Udoko (Idoko) and Ifore people by the Osemawe dynasty. This dynasty began with princess Pupupu said to be one of twins born by queen Olu to either an Ooni of Ife or an Alaafin of Oyo. Pupupu was succeeded as Oba by her son, Airo who introduced several reforms and one of the most historically significant Ondo deities, Oramfe.
1519 AD		Portuguese records make the earliest reference to locally produced Ijebu cloth (most likely Aso Olona or a version of it) as "Jabu" cloth being traded in the Gulf of Guinea islands (São Tomé). Clothing-ware produced by the Ijebu was much sought after along the Gulf of Guinea coast. The Portuguese resold them at the Gold coast (Now southern Ghana), and various groups traded it among themselves after procuring them from Ijebu long distance traders, an activity that continued into the 19th century as evidenced by the story of Osifekunde, a young ijebu merchant kidnapped and sold into slavery during one such trip into the Niger Delta.
1520		Around the year 1530 (or 1520), the Nupe people during the reign of Edegi (Tsoede) occupy Oyo Ile, capital of the fledgling Oyo kingdom under Alaafin Onigbogi. This causes a dispersal of the city's inhabitants and the royal family which finds succour in Bariba country in a town remembered as Gbere, now identified by historians to be the small village of Gbereguru. Oba Onigbogi dies there and is buried in Gwasero near Kaiama, some 15 kilometers further north. He was succeeded by Ofinran.
		Portuguese trade activity is reported in the area of the Mahin kingdom (Rio da Gaia), where they were reportedly buying Coris (a type of bead that was a product of Ife's old glass making industry highly prized along the West African coast for its rarity) illicitly from the locals.
1547 AD		Enslaved Yoruba people are described on an estate in Hispaniola, specifically Santo Domingo as 'Lucume'.
1550 AD~		The town of Igboho or Oyo-Igboho was founded for its defensible location by Alaafin Eguguojo (Egunoju) son of Ofinran (who had died in Kusu and reburied at Shaki and Igboho) after first leaving Kushu (Kusu) and later, Shaki. Four Alaafins reigned, died and were interred there; (Ofinran, Egunoju, Orompoto, Ajiboyede) in the royal grove called 'Igbo Ọba' before the reoccupation of Oyo-Ile by Egunoju's son Abipa who also ruled partially from there. He was succeeded by his sister Orompoto.
		The first sizeable Muslim community develops in Yorubaland during the period in Igboho. Islam itself in Yorubaland came from the northwesterly direction via the Bariba-Borgu corridor with Oyo through the commercial relations with Songhai speaking Wangara traders of Malian roots, a people whose local appellation Imale also became associated with the new religion they practiced. The name of the earliest Islamic scholar in Yorubaland is remembered to be one 'Baba Yigi' or 'Alfa Yigi'.
1554 AD~		Orompoto became king of Oyo. While some historians have described her as a regent, others have described them as male and brother to Egunoju. But most testimonies point to her being female and an actual Queen regnant who took over because Ajiboyede, Egunoju's son was too young. Under her reign, Oyo's infantry and especially its cavalry forces became re-organized and powerful. They drove out the Nupes from Oyo territory, chasing them back across the Niger River. She also defeated the Borgus at the battle of Ilayi. However, she continued to maintain the capital in Igboho where she eventually died.
1558 AD		The Ijebu kingdom appears on Portuguese maps for the first time as "Yabu" and later as "Jabou" and other variants in subsequent editions.
1571 AD		A West African map by Fernão Vaz Dourado labels the Niger river or a river east of the "R. Formoso" as "R. de Iacomi" (Lucumi River), a Yoruba ethnonym. Some have argued that this reference referred specifically to the Olukumi communities on the right bank of the lower Niger river, but it is more likely a reference to the Itsekiri, a Yoruba-speaking people whose homeland straddles the Formoso (Benin river).
1580 AD~	Approx.	Abipa Ogbolu a.k.a Ọbamọrọ (The king who caught ghosts) became Alaafin. He was born 20 years after the fall of Oyo-Ile, when the royal party was on the road approaching Igboho the temporary capital. He was the first Alaafin to rebuild Oyo-ile back as capital after approximately seventy years around the year ~1590.
1590 AD~		Abipa Ogbolu Ọba m'ọrọ returns to the site of Oyo-Ile the old capital, after around 70 years outside it. For some years before the return of the Alaafins to the site of the old capital, the control of southern Borgu and parts of Nupe below the Niger river was already firmly in the hands of Oyo as overlords. Thence, Oyo begins a period of rapid expansion and enters the Age of Empire.
	Approx.	Benin occupation and activity on Lagos Island, an agricultural and fishing hamlet peopled and ruled from the neighbouring Island of Ido. Traditional accounts between that of Lagos and those from Benin differ about the origin of this occupational presence and later on the Lagos royal dynasty starting in the 1600s. Lagos accounts relays that it came by as a result of a settlement between a local ambitious Awori chieftain, Ashipa of Isheri and the Benin royal family who after being allowed to settle the Island to trade, failed in its conquest attempts, while Benin accounts claim the Island was conquered and Ashipa was a grandson of Oba Orhogbua. Whatever the case, the Benin Kingdom had an active encampment on the island dating to this period.
1595 AD~		Ọbalokun (The King at sea) becomes the Alaafin over a rising Oyo empire around this time (or alternatively around 1614). He was the first Alaafin to gain access to the Atlantic and therefore the Triangular trade. One of his nicknames was "Aágànná Erin" — 'The plundering elephant', alluding to his expansionism. According to Oyo tales, he was in contact with a European King, likely Portugal but possibly France. He is also credited with the introduction of sea salt into Oyo, and starting in his reign, the Oyo Empire gradually ousted the Benin kingdom from their commercial interests in coastal Yorubaland.

17th century AD

Year	Image	Event
1615 AD		The Yoruba people are mentioned by name [Y-R-B] by Ahmed Baba in an essay titled – Mi'rāj al-Ṣu'ūd alongside nine other ethnic groups in the region. The document provided one of the earliest known ideas about the ethnic composition of the West African interior, since most external references before it tends to focus on groups on the littoral coastal belt of Africa.
1620 AD		Alaafin Ajagbo creates the position of Aare Ona Kakanfo in the Oyo Empire as leader of the Esho Ikoyi, an elite corp military guild, who personally commandeered the imperial army in the field on all campaigns. The Esho were led by 70 war officials nominated by the Oyo Mesi (headed by the Bashorun). These were subdivided into 16 senior and 54 Junior chiefs. The first Aare was Kokoro Gangan of Iwoye, a Ketu town.
1640 AD	Dec 26	Father Columbin de Nantes reports that "Licomin" (Yoruba) was the Lingua franca in Benin and the Bight of Benin region, describing it as 'universal' and comparing it to the status and role of Latin in Europe. He also mentions the West African kingdoms of; Benin, Ijebu, Licomin and Warri as parts of 'Guinea' where the Portuguese don't live.
1644 AD		The Ikale trading town of Arogbo-ile (known as Arebo/Arbo to the Portuguese) becomes the biggest commercial center in the eastern Bight of Benin attracting the Dutch who had already displaced the Portuguese as the biggest European trading group in the Gulf of Guinea since at least the 1620s to build a trading station there. This caused the trading station “Fattoria” of the Portuguese in Ughoton to gradually decline and eventually run out of business to Portuguese chagrin, since Arogbo ile was much better placed than Ughoton, marking the strategic shift in the center of European trade in the region from Ughoton to Arogbo-ile.
1650 AD	Approx.	The town of Ilorin was founded. Before it became significant, its location was settled first by Ojo Ayinla a.k.a Ojo Isekuse, a hunter from Ganbe-ilota near Oyo-Ile. He was joined by Laderin from Otefon, north of Ilorin, and Emila from Ila. The town then became a popular spot for people making and sharpening metal implements on a rock called ‘Okuta ilọ-irin’ which became the name of the town, a spot said to still be at Bamidele’s compound in the Idi Apẹ area of town. Laderin became the first Baale, after which he was succeeded by his son Pasin or Fasin, and then by Alugbin/Alagbin, Afonja's father.
1668 AD~		A large and mighty inland kingdom (identified as Oyo) to the northeast of Allada is described by Dutchman Olfert Dapper in his work Description of Africa. He also confirmed the status of Yoruba as lingua-franca in Allada when he wrote; — Their own mother tongue is by them little regarded; therefore they seldom speak it; but they are obliged to speak mostly "Alkomijs" which in their country is regarded as a noble language.
1670 AD~		The town of Osogbo was founded by the Ijesha. Oba Gbadewolu Larooye, son of Owa Laage, the sixth Oba of Ipole-Omu settled the town due to famine at Ipole. Olutimehin (a hunter) had discovered a perennial river (Osun) and motivated Larooye to migrate with the town's folk. The town became an Ijesha military bulwark resisting the thrust of the Oyo being launched from the military station of Ede. Other historians such as Peel (1983) however, place the foundation of the town in the 1500s instead, during the period of Ijesha expansion.
		The palace of the Obas of Lagos: Iga Idunganran was built. Its name means; 'The pepper palace' in the local Awori dialect. It was so named because it was built on the site of the Pepper farm (Oko Iganran) of Aromire, the most senior Idejo chief and owner of the lands on Lagos Island.
1688 AD~		Frenchman, Du Casse, noted that the Europeans in the kingdoms of Allada and Whydah bought woven cloth coming from the "Kingdom of Concomi" for resale at the Gold coast (Present-day Ghana). Subsequent accounts of this extensive cloth trade identify the source as Lucamee or Locomin, variants of Olukumi a Yoruba ethnonym. The kingdom producing these clothes was most likely Ijebu, Oyo or both.
1698 AD~		Oyo conquers the coastal Aja kingdom of Allada.

18th century AD

Year	Image	Event
1700 AD~	Approx.	An anonymous French account in Ouidah reports that the diviners in the Kingdom of Whydah locally called Boucots (Bokónó)— Priests of Fa, were nearly all strangers who came from a country called "Laucommis", testament to Yoruba influences on the early development of Vodun and the spirituality of the people groups to the west.
		The Portuguese and Benins attack and destroy the Ikale commercial town of Arogbo ile out of spite and massacre its populace. The King Olu-Arogbo/'Larogbo migrated west with some of the survivors to 'Ode Atijo' which became the Ikale capital, and later upriver on the Owena (Siluko) to found Akotogbo. Others migrated back south to Ode Ugbo their ancestral capital. The events of this period and the involvement of the ‘Oyinbo Potoki’ are still remembered today in Ikale songs, proverbs and folklore, some of which were collected by British administrators between 1920-1930 and fieldwork by Prof Olukoya Ogen from 1998-2004.
1724 AD		The Oyo empire under Alaafin Ojigi begins the conquest of Dahomey. after receiving requests for assistance from other kingdoms who were threatened by Agaja. By 1727, Dahomey had become an Oyo vassal state.
1725 AD	Nago in Brazil,1800's	First appearance/textual mention of the term Nago in reference to the Yoruba people appears at the port town of Ouidah in Chevalier des Marchais's account of Africa. The term is a derivative of the self appellation of a western Yorubaland group called the Anago which became popular in the Atlantic diaspora, especially in the French, British and Brazilian colonies as a 'catch-all' word describing everything Yoruba related including the people, their language and their culture.
1729 AD		The princes of Oueme flee to Oyo. The king of Ouidah also applied to the Alaafin for help against the Dahomeans. By 1730, Dahomey was paying a regular tribute collected every November at Kana (Cana, Calmina), the value of which amounted annually to about £32,000 in 1965 or £791,822 in 2025. It was allowed to keep its military, however, they were considered to be agents that must be used mainly in imperial interests and consult with Oyo to obtain permission before any military operations were taken.
1730 AD		The Oyo Empire abolishes Primogeniture or direct father to first son (Aremo)/crown prince transfer as the rule of succession. Following this change, the Oyo Mesi (7 'Kingmakers') led by the Bashorun became very powerful in the kingdom's political affairs. With the newly found power of making and deposing Obas, they began selecting princes which they deemed generally weak to assume the mantle of kingship. While the official reason behind the change was to discourage patricide, it weakened the monarchy and strengthened the Mesi and the non royal chiefs.
1736 AD		The town of Badagry is founded by Gùn refugees and Dutch trader Hendrik Hertog (Huntokonu) fleeing the wars of Dahomean expansion along the coast on lands which was a farming hamlet granted to them by the Awori kingdom of Apa and Ipokia. Shortly after, it became an important Oyo port which made its population swell and attract other Popo refugees and Aworis from the surrounding area as well as Spanish, Portuguese, French, Dutch and English slave traders.
1747 AD		Oyo penetrates the Popo country of the Hwla people during the reign of Alaafin Onisile (Onishile).
1764 AD		The Oyo Empire (Including the kingdom of Dahomey) and the dissident state of Akyem defeated the Asante Empire and its neighbouring Akan Allies at the Battle of Atakpamé in modern day Togo. An estimated number of 10,000 to 12,000 members of the Ashanti army were either killed or made slaves of, and the reigning Asantehene was destooled and replaced.
1774 AD		Bashorun Gaha (Gaa) was overthrown in Oyo after causing the abdication and deaths of four Alaafins in quick succession beginning at about 1754, until the reign of Abiodun who himself had to keep a bodyguard force of 4,000 Popos under his son's command. After a long confrontation, Kakanfo Oyabi and his men eventually broke through Gaha's defences and put his compound to fire. He was then taken captive and subsequently killed in a ceremonial burning or dismemberment (according to other accounts). However, Gaha's legacy of tyrannical disrespect for the most revered office in the land had dealt a serious blow on the prestige of the Alaafin across the empire.
1783 AD		The Baribas break free from Oyo empire vassalage and achieved practical autonomy during the reign of Alaafin Abiodun.
1784 AD		A joint army from western Yorubaland, Mahi, Lagos and Dahomey commandeered by the Oyo imperial forces attack and destroy the coastal town of Badagry. Two years later in May 1786 the same fate befell Oueme, however the Alaafin commanded the troupes to stop as they attempted to attack Porto Novo which was a protected Oyo vassal and Allada which Oyo considered "Their personal calabash, out of which no one was permitted to eat".
1785 AD	Approx.	Lagos sends a fleet of war canoes east through the inland coastal lagoon system to attack the French factory on the Benin River (Rio Formosa), but this was repulsed by the Itsekiri of the Warri Kingdom and the French with heavy losses.
1791 AD		The Nupes break free from Oyo empire vassalage and achieved practical autonomy during the reign of Alaafin Awole.
1793 AD		Alaafin Awole Arogangan orders the imperial forces to attack the market town of Apomu in the Kingfom of Ife soon after becoming king, a great cultural taboo (As the Yoruba mother city, all Alaafins had to swear oaths never to attack ife before taking office). This, he did because he had earlier been punished by the Baalẹ of Apomu for the Apomu incident. The Baale fled to refuge at the palace of the Ooni Ife his overlord but later commits suicide.
1796 AD		Alaafin Awole orders a sacking of the naturally defended town of Iwere-ile, the maternal town of Alaafin Abiodun who was very popular and much loved in his reign. The attack was to be led by the Aare-Ona-Kakanfo Afonja, the Onikoyi and the Baale of Igbogun. The command (royal plot) was kept secret. On getting to Iwere ile and after the royal order was divulged, the army went into a full mutiny led by its commanders.
		The Egbas revolt massively against Oyo overlordship under Lishabi, born at Itoku but living in Igbein, both in the Alake's province. To avoid suspicion, he grouped fighters into various Egbe Aro (agricultural co-operatives) which then transforms into an underground army, 'Egbe Olorogun'. He made known to the Olorogun war commanders of his plan to massacre the tyrannizing Ajeles (imperial land agents and tax collectors) from the capital and received no opposition. When the time was ripe, he signalled the commencement of revolution by killing the Ajele in his own town of Igbein. Within days, more than 600 other Ajeles were killed all over Egbaland by the Oloroguns. The empire responded by sending an army of Oyos, Egbados (Yewas) and Ibarapas, but they were routed by an elaborate ploy, gaining the Egbas their independence in a single master stroke.

19th century AD

Year	Image	Event
1819		The boundaries of Yorubaland were described by Joseph Dupuis, the British consul and envoy to the Ashanti kingdom. He arrived in 1819 and published his work in 1824 describing the kingdoms of Western Africa. Yoruba is described as the 'Greatest in extent among these sections (south of the desert)'. Its territorial extent was defined by its border with Killinga (Djougou) in the north, 'Ghunja' and Dagomba in the west, Benin and 'Waree' on the south and unknown districts of the Sudan called 'Dakhlata' on the east. This description largely corresponds with the known extent of Yorubaland today.
1820		Osifekunde an enslaved Ijebu taken to Brazil, years later finds himself in Paris. There, he meets ethnographer; Marie-Armand d'Avezac whom he grants an interview in pidgin Portuguese. In the interview which became an important addition to European knowledge of the Guinea Coast, he explains that the town of Apomu was ruled by the [sic] 'Obba Ouve' (king of Ife/Ufe) who was brother to the Awujale of Ijebu Ode. In plainer terms, Apomu belonged to the brother (Ooni) of the king of Ijebu (Awujale).
1821		The town and Kingdom of Owu, then the largest settlement in southern Yorubaland and traditional Oyo allies was destroyed in the war between Owu and a joint Ife-Ijebu coalition for destroying the Ife market town of Apomu earlier. The Owus in turn, continually fled around, first to Erunmu then Ogbere until all the large Owu towns were destroyed.
1823		The kingdom of Dahomey under Ahosu (king) Ghezo breaks free from the Oyo Empire under Alaafin Majotu ending its tributary status.
1825	Dec 7	Captain Clapperton accompanied by his servant Richard Lander visit and travel through Yorubaland starting out from the coastal city of Badagry and reaching Oyo Ile and Kushu during its 'last days' in 1826 which he described as; A large double walled town which was by much the largest town we have seen. His account of this journey was published in 1829 by Lander after Clapperton died in Sokoto in April 1827.
1829		The present/contemporary City of Ibadan' was founded. This Ibadan became home to an eclectic mix of various Yoruba groups, including; Ifes and Oyos (at Oja Oba), Ijebus (at Isale Ijebu), Owus, Isheris and Egbas (at Yeosa). The Owus joined in their numbers after the Owu/Ife-Ijebu war, while the Oyos became numerous due to the wars ravaging their hometowns in northern Yorubaland. The Egbas however migrated out the following year due to group tensions. Maye Okunade, an Ife general was the first Baale and was assisted by Labosinde who was also Ife as Baba-Isale. Lakanle was the leader of the Oyo group. The Ifes lost their political primacy in Ibadan after the Gbanamu war of 1833, during which several Owu settlements were again destroyed as they fled to Abeokuta to join the Egba. Ife towns like Ipetumodu and Apomu were also occupied and the Oyos became the dominant faction in Ibadan. Oluyedun became the first Oyo Baale followed by Oluyole, maternal grandson of Alaafin Abiodun who was then named Bashorun by Alaafin Atiba in 1839.
1830		The city state of Abeokuta is founded by the banks of the lower Ogun River on the site of what was then a small farming village by the Egbas in a migration led by Balogun Shodeke of Iporo. The new city developed into a confederacy with place names being duplications of former towns/origins of the founder groups which populated them, i.e Igbore, Itoku, Ake, Owu, and Ikija. The population continued to grow rapidly, and by 1842, it had swelled to an estimated 45,000 people.
		The Lander brothers (Richard and John) landed in Badagry to explore the course of the Niger River, commissioned by the British government. They took Clapperton's route to Bussa. Based on their report, the northern boundary of Yorubaland was the Moshi river which flowed into the Niger river opposite Rabba.
		The rulers of Lagos Island assert their independence and stop the paying of tribute to their patron state, the Benin kingdom. However they seemed to have maintained a ritual fealty as Akitoye would confirm years later while in exile that the traditional rights to confirm the people's choice as king still rested with the Benin royal court.
		The Oworo people, aboriginal natives of the Lokoja area were successfully persuaded by European pioneers into a gradual descent from their various villages on Mount Patti and the Agbaja Plateau into the lowlands that was eventually made by William Baikie into a new town first christened 'Lairdstown', and later, 'Lukoja' at the confluence in 1859, a Yoruba (Oworo) word derived from the phrase; "Ilu Oke Oja" (The hill market town). The last Oworo chief on Mt. Patti was Menaha whom Baike personally met in 1854. Today, the Oba of Agbaja is the Olu Oworo, the most paramount Oworo traditional ruler.
1835		The Battle of Eleduwe was fought between a joint Oyo - Borgu allied force on one side and the forces of Ilorin on the other. The war ended in a crushing defeat of the Oyo-Borgu alliance and the death of Alaafin Oluewu, as well as two Borgu kings; Sero Kpera (Orukura), the king of Nikki, and the unnamed king of Wawa.
		Final collapse of the Oyo empire and the destruction and abandonment of Oyo Ile.
1838		The emerging state of Ibadan (successor state to the Oyo Empire) defeated Ilorin at the decisive Battle of Osogbo, putting a halt to the expansion of the Jihad further southwards in Yorubaland and marking the end of the Sokoto Fula Jihad in that part of West Africa. In the war, four Ilorin generals were captured or executed. The war marked the rise of Ibadan Republic as the central power in the Yoruba region.
1839		The Egbas attacked and blockaded the Awori town of Ado after sieging Ota in order to monopolize the roads to and from Lagos and Badagry and control (or at least influence) maritime trade to give it greater influence in the interior. Ota fell to the Egba forces around 1835.
1842	Birch Freeman	Christian missionaries start arriving in Yorubaland, led by people like Thomas Birch Freeman of the Methodist Missionary Society in Badagry and Abeokuta, followed in 1843 by Henry Townsend of the CMS in Abeokuta, Ajayi Crowther in 1846, J.T Bowen in 1850 and Anna Hinderer in Ijaye, Ibadan and Ibarapa in 1853. Before then, the Christians in Yorubaland had largely been Catholic South American returnees known locally as Aguda and Amaro who started arriving shortly before. In 1853, there were around 130 Brazilian families, and a smaller group of Cuban families, 'emanzipados' in Lagos.
1843		Samuel Ajayi Crowther authored and published the first ever Yoruba language dictionary, as well as a book on Yoruba grammar, a translation of the Anglican common prayer and a vocabulary of the Yoruba language which he revised some years after in 1852.
1845		The Egba and Dahomey clash in Imojolu, near the Awori town of Ado-odo resulting in an Egba victory, sowing the seeds for further hostile clashes between the two ascending ambitious states. The throne (stool), royal umbrella, war totems/charms and other royal paraphernalia of Dahomey was captured by the triumphant Egba forces, and Ghezo himself only narrowly escaped capture.
1850		Ibadan under Bashorun Oluyole expands eastwards across Yorubaland occupying nearly the whole of the Ijesha, Ekiti, Akoko and the Osse river valley. They took Ikere and Ado in 1845, Akure in 1854 and Ilesha in 1859. This they did, initially to checkmate Ilorin's expansion into northern Ekiti and Ijesha and also to support the most easterly Oyo towns of Ede and Ikirun, but the Ibadan forces soon got engrossed in the prospects of acquiring personal riches via slaving and war booty, hence become despotic.
1851	March 3	Dahomey’s first invasion of Abeokuta (1st Egba-Dahomey war) results in a defeat. The Dahomey army consisted of 15,000 male troupes and 2,500 amazons according to R.F Burton who was in Agbome. On their way to Abeokuta, the town of Ishaga had fed them wrong information making them cross the Ogun river at a deep part, and attack the city at the southwestern or Aro gate which was its most fortified section. About 2,000 Dahomeans were killed, and another 1,000 taken prisoners. The vengeful Dahomeans would later embark on an expedition that destroyed Ishaga in 1862.
		The population of Lagos township is estimated at between 25,000 and 30,000 inhabitants and was at this time the largest town on the entire coastline of West Africa.
		The British Royal Navy bombards Lagos. The Bombardment of Lagos happened under the justification of suppressing the Atlantic slave trade and deposing (Oba) Kosoko of Lagos for refusing to end the slave trade. Kosoko was deposed and replaced with Akitoye, who had previously lost his throne to Kosoko in 1845 and asked the British to help him return to power in return for ending the trade.
1852	Lagos Nigeria January 1	Oba Akitoye and John Beecroft signed the Treaty Between Great Britain and Lagos which required the native ruling elite of Lagos to abolish the Atlantic slave trade, liberate enslaved Africans, expel European slave traders residing in Lagos, and to allow British subjects trade access to Lagos. The British would annex Lagos a decade later.
1858		King Ghezo of Dahomey is killed by gunfire from a Ketu sniper during a military campaign in the Egba country.
1859	Oct 25	The first Yoruba language newspaper, "Iwe Irohin Yoruba fun awon Ara Egba ati Yoruba," lit.: 'A paper of information for the Egba people in the Yoruba country', a bilingual publication in Yoruba and English, and Nigeria's first, was curated by Reverend Henry Townsend in Abeokuta.
1860	May	The Ijaye war breaks out between Ibadan and Ijaye. Aare Kurunmi of Ijaye who had dominated the city and northwestern Yorubaland for decades refused to recognize the leadership of Adelu as successor to Alaafin Atiba his father. The war broke out as a result of an event of defiance of the Kakanfo Kurunmi which necessitated Adelu stamp his authority as king. Kurunmi had repudiated all attempts at diplomacy, so, Adelu ordered Ijaye's eager rival Ibadan to declare war on Kurunmi and Ijaye. The Egbas, resentful of Ibadan based on past treatment, sided with ijaye, while Ibadan was supported by the Remos. Kurunmi died in 1861, and the war ended with Ijaye's destruction on Mar 17, 1862 after a long siege. In October, Awaye was destroyed for coming to Ijaye's aid. Ijaye's Yoruba northwest was then divided up between them, with Oyo taking Oke-Ogun and Ibadan taking in Ibarapa.
1861	August 6	Lagos is declared a British possession after annexation by the British under the threat of force on August 6. Oba Dosunmu (Docemo) of Lagos resisted the cession for 11 days while facing the threat of violence on Lagos and its people, but capitulated and signed the Lagos Treaty of Cession. It becomes a colony one year later in 1862 with status of Crown colony.
1863	March 26	After three separate attacks by Governor Freeman in February and March using the West India Regiments, 24 Hausa foot soldiers and members of the Royal Navy, the town of Epe was taken and a treaty was signed.
		The chiefs of Badagry signed the treaty of cession. Ado-Odo and Oke Odan became British possessions.
1864	March 15	Second Dahomey invasion of Abeokuta under king Glele, son of Ghezo with a corp of 10,000 warriors. The motive behind the second Egba-Dahomey war might have been to recover the kingdom's royal throne and to avenge the defeat (and subsequent death) of his father, Ghezo. Glele thus considered the destruction of Abeokuta his life's mission. At any rate, the ill-fated campaign resulted in severe defeat and a total rout of the invading Dahomeans. Between 4,500 and 6,820 members of the invading force were killed, to Abeokuta's 50. This left the state severely weakened and exposed.
		Palma (Orimedu) and 'Leckie'/Lekki (Ileke) became British colonial possessions.
	June 29	Samuel Ajayi Crowther becomes the first African Anglican bishop. He was ordained and consecrated by Charles Longley, the Archbishop of Canterbury, at the Canterbury Cathedral. He also earned a Doctor of Divinity degree from The Oxford University in the same year.
1865	March 29	The Egba-Remo war ended. In the previous Ijaye war, the Egbas supported Ijaye while the Remos supported Ibadan which got its supply of firearms from the lagoon port of Ikorodu which lay right across the Lagos Lagoon (Ọ̀sà). In retaliation, it was besieged by the Egba and Ijebu in 1862. The British under Governor Glover intervened in support of Ikorodu in order to open up trade between Lagos and its Yorubaland interior which the Egba and Ijebu were blockading leading to Lagos's finances suffering. They expel the Egba force and liberate Ikorodu.
1876		The Ekiti-Parapo (people of the highlands united) society is formed in Lagos to resist Ibadan imperialism and subsequently, support the war effort on the eastern front. They founded the localty of Ayesan in the Ikale country close to the eastern lagoons as a weapons supply entrepot via Ondo into the warfront in 1881.
		Ekiti and Ijesha warriors including Ogedengbe of Ilesa, and Aduloju and Falowo of Ado Ekiti conquered towns and villages of the Afenmai in the Kukuruku Hills, penetrating as far as Iruekpen in Esan. In 1878, Ogedengbe was able to secure the local support of some Ora communities in a local struggle with Iuleha, while other Owans like Otuo fought on the side of Ibadan.
1877	July 30	The Kiriji War (Ogun Ekiti-Parapo) broke out between Ibadan supported by towns in the former Oyo empire e.g Offa, as well as Oyo refugee settlements e.g Modakeke versus the Ekiti confederation–Including Ijesha, supported by the Ijebu and Egba kingdoms, the Akoko and Igbomina confederations and Ilorin. As the rising Yoruba power, Ibadan wanted to re-create a central state akin to the Oyo empire which would be under its control/domination, while the Ekiti, Ijesha, Akoko, Yagba, Ife and Igbomina wanted a Confederation of Yoruba states with mutual interests. The high handedness and tyranny of Ibadan land agents and tax collectors in the eastern provinces also precipitated resent against Ibadan overlordship.
1878		The City of Lagos had an estimated population of 60,219 people. Its religious composition was 74.37% Orisha adherents (44,788), 17.59% Muslim (10,595) and 8.03% Christian (4,836).
1881	October 15	Alaafin Adeyemi writes the Governor of Lagos W.B Griffiths asking for help against Dahomean raids and in settling the war between the belligerent Ibadan and Ekiti sides. He mentions in the letter that all the border towns are in panic and if the government doesn't intervene, he would be making an action move against the Dahomeans in the coming dry season. The governor writes a letter to the belligerents but gets no decisive reply from the Ekiti Parapo.
1885	October 24	Ugbo (Ogbo) and Mahin territories become British possessions as territories of the Protectorate of Lagos. On the 5th of February 1886, the Itsekiri (Jekri) country was proclaimed part of the Lagos protectorate.
1886		After a first invasion of Ketu in 1883 during an absence of its army away on campaign, Dahomey attacks again and destroys Ile-ketu, capital of the Yoruba Kingdom of Ketu.
	Sept 23	The Yoruba peace treaty was signed on September 23 in Imesi-ile, putting an unofficial end to the Kiriji war but skirmishes and hostilities were still going on.
1889	August 10	The Anglo-French border convention divides up Yorubaland, with the Yoruba kingdoms furthest west falling on one side of the new international border.
1892	May 19	British colonial forces defeat the Ijebu Kingdom at the Anglo-Ijebu war (battle of Imagbon) and incorporated the kingdom into the British Empire. Subsequently, the southern portions of the Ijebu homeland consisting of the Lekki Lagoon and the lands between it and the Atlantic ocean (Ẹ̀hìn Ọ̀sà) was made an integral part of the Lagos colony. On the 9th of November 1894, British sovereignty was proclaimed over Ijebu Ode, capital of the kingdom, and the Ijebu territories north of the Lagos and Lekki lagoons.
1893	March 14	Final end of hostilities at the Kiriji war. The Ilorin camp at Offa; Ibadan camp at Ikirun and the Ekiti-Parapo Confederates at Imesi-ile finally dispersed after a meeting with Captain Bower.
1895	Nov 8	A punitive expedition was led by the British resident officer, Captain Bower on Oyo. Bower moved upon Oyo with a detachment of soldiers asking that (Kufo) an Ilari which had been involved in a local judicial case at Okeho (which involved the castration of a local involved in a sexual offence) be given up and that the Alaafin apologize for inhumanity. In an attempt to preserve their independence, the Alaafin and his chiefs refused outrightly. Subsequently, there was an attack on Bower and his troops leading to the military bombardment and shelling of the town by cannons and maxim guns. The palace and the chiefs' houses were destroyed and the Alaafin was hit on the knee.
1897	February	Ilorin was attacked and captured by the British forces of the Royal Niger Company after they attacked a local British garrison at the Odo Otin (Otin River) and failed.
		Anglican priest Rev. Samuel Johnson, a native of Oyo born to a liberated Yoruba in Freetown, completes work on the original copy of the magnum opus titled; The History of the Yorubas, in which he endeavored to record the oral traditions and history of the Yoruba, which he feared were fast fading into obscurity. Lost, rewritten, and then narrowly escaping destruction during WWI, his work became the most influential volume about the Yoruba-speaking people.
1898	Sept 19	Lagos gets connected to, and lit by Electricity, 17 years after its introduction in England. Total power generation at that time was 60 kilowatts (kW). It supplied the Lagos marina from the Government House to the north side of the island. The railway link between Lagos and Abeokuta opens as part of the premier railway link in Nigeria.
1900		The railway link between the cities of Lagos and Ibadan gets completed, It opens to transport the following year (March 4, 1901) as part of the premier rail line in Nigeria. The line was extended to Osogbo in 1907 and Jebba in 1909.

20th century AD

Year	Image	Event
1901		The 2,600 ft Carter Bridge connecting the Islands of Iddo and Lagos, and the 917 ft Denton bridge linking Iddo and Ebute Metta on the mainland were completed (construction started in 1895). At the time of their completion, they were the only bridge connections between Lagos, Iddo and any part of the mainland, and transport had previously been done by boats.
	Nov 26	Slavery was declared illegal in Yorubaland.
1903	Feb 28	Ooni Olubuse I visits Lagos on the invitation of the colonial government to settle the case between the Akarigbo and the Elepe of Epe-Shagamu on the right to wear a crown in Remo. The Elepe had claimed the right to, but the Akarigbo disagreed on the grounds that Elepes don't own a traditional crown from Ife, (Adé). His departure marked the first time the king was leaving the Ife Kingdom, and out of respect, all the Obas in the interior including the Alaafin also vacated their palaces until the Ooni returned.
1906	May 1	The colony and protectorate of Lagos was amalgamated with the protectorate of southern Nigeria, with Sir Walter Egerton as the first governor.
1907		Works started on the expansion of the Lagos harbour to make it accessible to much larger seafaring vessels. Subsequently in 1913, the Lagos seaport complex at Apapa was established and commissioned.
		The Apapa Hoard, a collection of medieval era bronzes from the Kingdom of Owo, the biggest piece of which was similar to one from florescence-era Ife (ram head from Òkè-Ẹ̀ṣọ) was found at Apapa near Lagos, dating to the early 1500s (early 16th Century). Items from the treasure collection consist entirely of bronze jewellery, including bracelets designed in the form of wires, interlocking animals, staff-mounts with pendant bells, ring-shaped armlets, bells, a ring with cascabels and a breast plate in the shape of a ram's head with pendant bells. It is one of the finest cast bronzes ever found in southern Nigeria.
1918	June 13	The Adubi war or uprising (Ogun Adubi) breaks out in Egba land against the British colonial administration. The cause was the imposition of taxation through direct taxes introduced by the colonial government along with existing forced labour obligations and fees. At the end of the uprising, 598 had been killed and 70 Egba chiefs arrested.
1921		Obadiah Johnson eventually succeeds in publishing a re-compiled version of his brother's original work under the title “The History of the Yorubas from the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the British Protectorate”. Regarding the status of the original manuscripts, Obadiah had this to say; "A singular misfortune...befell the original manuscripts of this history, in consequence of which the author never lived to see in print his more than 20 years of labour." The manuscripts were sent to an English publisher in London, England, through a missionary society in 1899 but, "nothing more was heard of them".
		Commercial deposits of Gold was discovered in the Ife-Ilesha division.
1939	Feb 3	The Western Region of Nigeria was officially created as one of the original three regional federating units of the Federation of Nigeria. Its capital was in the city of Ibadan.
1945		Egbe Omo Oduduwa – “Society of the Descendants of Oduduwa” was formed to enhance Yoruba culture and unity. The organization grew in popularity from 1948 to 1951. In 1951, Egbé Ọmọ Odùduwà supported the formation of the Nigerian Political Party Action Group to promote Yoruba political interests.
1954	July 7	The Lagos Federal district or Federal Capital Territory was established based on the provisions of the 1954 Lyttleton constitution on land hitherto administered as part of the Western region. The territory covered 27 sq mi (70 km2) of land centred on Lagos Island.
1967	May 27	The Western Region of Nigeria was officially subdivided into Western State and Lagos State by General Yakubu Gowon after the regional system of government was abolished. The Ikeja, Badagry, Ikorodu and Epe divisions from the Western region were added to the Lagos Federal Capital Territory to create Lagos state.
1976	Feb 3	The Western State of Nigeria was broken up to produce the three new states of; Ogun, Ondo and Oyo.
1991	Aug 27	The new state of Osun was created out of the old Oyo state, with capital at Osogbo.
1996	Oct 1	The new state of Ekiti was created out of the old Ondo state, with capital at Ado Ekiti.

21st century AD

Year	Image	Event
2015	Dec 7	Oba Ọjájá II CFR was coronated as the 51st Ooni, traditional head and ruler of the Ife kingdom after completing the associated traditional rites.
2019	Dec 14	Oba Ọgunoye III was coronated as the 33rd Ọlọwọ (Ọgwa), traditional head and ruler of the Owo kingdom after completing the associated traditional rites.
2023	August 20	After several years of persistent protests and lobby, the Yoruba indigenous belief system, Ìṣẹ̀ṣe gains official recognition by the governments of four states in Southwestern Nigeria; (Oyo, Osun, Lagos, and Ogun) with an annual regional holiday called "Isese Day" to be celebrated every 20th of August. This marked the first recognition of its nature in Nigeria.
2025	March 13	The government of the Republic of Benin passes a law formalizing 16 kingdoms, 80 superior chiefdoms and 10 customary chiefdoms as those officially recognized by the state out of more than 300. According to the government, the law intends to "Give traditional chieftaincy its rightful role in building a new Benin that relies on its heritage to meet contemporary challenges". Among the 16 kingdoms with historically centralized power and established territories, four are of immediate Yoruba provenance; Igbo Idaasha, Ketu, Itakete (Sakete) and Shabe (Savè). Several others were designated 'superior chiefdoms'.
2025	April 5	Oba Ẹlẹ́wù Ẹtù I was coronated as the 46th Alaafin, traditional ruler of Oyo after completing all the associated traditional rites and following a three year Interregnum.

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