The Ife Empire was the first empire in Yoruba history. It was founded in what is now southwestern Nigeria and eastern Benin. The Ife Empire lasted from 1200 to 1420. The empire was formed by Odùduwà, and became well-known for its sophisticated art pieces. Although Yoruba was the main language of the empire, there were also various spoken dialects and languages. It rose to power through trade with Sahelian and forest states. Its capital city, Ilé-Ife, was one of the largest urban centers in 14th century West Africa.
History
Formation and early history
The Ife region began as a small collection of house societies in mid-first millennium, which over time grew to become “mega houses”, or mini-states, due to competition for resources. Over time, as managing resources, population, and conflicts presented opportunities for new organizational structures, several of the mega-houses started organizing themselves into confederacy-like associations. The most prominent of these was the Ife “confederacy". Conflicts over resources continued however, exacerbated by the aridity and a rising population.
During said conflicts, a group of people led by a leader named Odùduwà emerged, who apparently came from Oke Ora, a hilltop settlement to the east, building a large perimeter wall between the 10th to 11th centuries. Measuring about in circumference and in diameter, this wall would soon become the core urban center of Ilé-Ifè. The building of the wall led to a massive conflict between the Odùduwà group and another mega-house, led by a man named Obatálá. The Odùduwà group ended up winning the conflict.
Leaders such as Odùduwà and Obatálá would later be deified after death, becoming core members of the Yoruba traditional religion pantheon of divinities.
According to oral traditions, a conference was soon held at Ita Ijero, a town in Ilé-Ifè following the triumph of the Odùduwà group in the Obatálá-Odùduwà conflict. At the end of the conference, each of the princes present left to establish his or her own kingdom such as Benin and Oyo, with the promise that they would all keep in touch as siblings and support one another in times of trouble.
Benin, one such of the kingdoms under Ife, was brought under Ife's rule when Oranmiyan, a Yoruba prince, was invited by Benin kingmakers to overthrow the former Benin ruling dynasty, the Ogiso dynasty, and establish a new one, the Oba dynasty. Modern scholars place this event as happening between ca. 1200 and ca. 1250. It was under Oranmiyan that the country received a new name: Ile-Ibinu (from its former name of Igodomigodo), which would later be corrupted to "Benin".
Classical Period (1000–1420 AD)
Once the Obatálá-Odùduwà conflict ended, a new era began, known as the Classical period. The sociopolitical outcome of the following instability was qualitatively different from that of the preceding era. The hallmarks of the Classical period include the development of an urban capital with concentric embankments. There were also life-size terracotta and copper or brass sculptures with detailed, idealized naturalism.
Craft specialization defined everyday economic life in which the production of high-value crafts, such as glass-bead production, featured prominently. Ife grew to have a robust industry in metals, producing high-quality iron and steel.
As the population grew, a second wall was built in the capital city Ilé-Ife during the thirteenth century and the construction and pavement of several major roads began as well. The occurrence of potsherd pavements in virtually every part of the area within the Inner and Outer Walls and beyond indicate that the city was densely populated. It is estimated that the city of Ilé-Ifè had a population of 70,000–105,000 during the mid-fourteenth century.
Ife's prominence grew so much that it was even possibly mentioned on a 1375 Catalan trade map known as the Catalan Atlas, and the Castilian Book of All Kingdoms under the name Rey de Organa or Kingdom of Organa. The name Organa alludes to the title of first dynasty of Ife rulers, i.e. Ógáne (Óghéné, Ógéne̩). The same name is referenced in a Portuguese account from the 1480s about an inland ruler who played a central role in Benin royal enthronements.
At its zenith in the 14th century, the Ife empire stretched across around three hundred kilometers or one hundred eighty-six miles, and encompassed Owu, Jebba, Tada, and Oyo in the north and Benin and Ijebu in the south. However Ife's cultural influence spanned westward all the way to southwestern Togo.