Dialogues: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series

Below is primary source documentation relevant to the issue under discussion. The Oyo provenance of the name Yoruba is very clearly privileged by these excerpts. The further east away from Oyo influenced or dominated area, the less the self-application of the Yoruba nomenclature, up to the mid-19th c. Hence even by the early 1860s, I find many north-east Yoruba (Eki, Yagba, Bunu), people that feature in my research, tended to distinguish between themselves and the Yoruba.

Also, I find Ahmed Baba's reference significant in the geographical correctness of the west -east positions of the peoles/kingdoms he cited. This indicates to me that he got the information from people who were very conversant with the geographies of Central Sudan, most likely Hausa and Songhai merchants and or itinerant clerics.

Question ["Ahmad Baba, Belief, Unbelief, and Slavery in Hausaland", in Thomas Hodgkins, Nigerian Perspective. A Historical Anthology (Oxford Univ. Press, 1975), p.156

Whoever is taken prisoner in a state of unbelief may become someone's property, whoever he is, as Opposed to those who have become Muslims of their own free will, such as the people; of Kano,- Bornu, Songhay, Katsiina, Kebbi, Gobir and Mali and part of the people of Zaria; they are Muslims and may not be possessed at all. So also most of the Fulani, except that we have heard of a group of them beyond Jenne who are said to be unbelievers, though I do not know whether through apostasy or birth. . .All those who are brought to you from the following groups are unbelievers and remain so to the present day: Mossi, Gurma, Busa, Borgu, Kotokoli, Yoruba, Tabango, and Bobo. .There is nothing against your taking possession of them without further [written in 1614]

A link to the full original ms in Arabic: https://www.wdl.org/en/item/9661/view/1/1/

	Jamie Lockhart and Paul Lovejoy, Hugh Clapperton into the interior of Africa. Records of the Second Expedition 1825-1827 (Brill, 2005)
Page. 98	Sunday 4 [Jan. 1825 in Badagry. Adele, being king there at that time.] Calm & Clear – in the evening we had a visit from the King ~ he is extremely anxious that the English would assist him to take Lagos again – we would not assure him that they would but held out promises – I am daily visited by natives of Haussa – some of whom are Fellatas, Negroes and one Showa Arab from Bornou – they all describe Hio as Yarriba – and Katungwa62 as the Capital – which is only 2 days from the Niger – agreeing with all my Obsns at Sockatoo and Kano
p. 99	The town of ["Badagry" inserted] contains at present abo[ut] five thousand inhabitants – is governed by its own Caboceers [22] – but subject to ad'deley, the ex-King of Lagos – to whom on account of his bravery in difending them against the Dahomies, Alladahs and the people of Lagos united – they some years ago delivered up the sovereignty of their Country ~ He has within a few years raised their character from that of an insignificant people, subject to the inroads of their enemies, the Alladahs, Lagos and Dahomey – to be accepted & feared by the two first and regardless of the friend ship or enmity of Dahomey itself – They are subject to Eyeo or Yarriba as tributaries –
109	at 5-30 P.M- the whole of the things having gone on Mr H. [= Houtson] and I took leave of the Cap- gave him an order for a piece of Cloth and one between Siedo & Ali who had been of consbl assistance to us – their men told me we were now in a dep[t] of Hio11 which is called Yarriba by the Arabs and people of Haussa – and that the name of the capital is called Katunga that they are servts of the King and that it is 30 days journey ~ indeed when they were coming in I asked the people who they were [28] they said Yarribanies
132	– The Caboceer of this town indeed told us so and that he hoped we should settle the war [49] with the Nyffe people and the Filanis or Felatahs – and the rebellion of the Houssa slaves who have risen against the King of Yourriba -
149	[Wed. Jan. 25^th 1825 at Oyo Ile or Katunga, with the King] – that he had sent once to Dahomey to put Dahomey in order they having deposed Adonozan¹² & Made his brother King – that the King of Dahomey was his slave and paid him custom for every vessel that anchored at Whydah ["in old times" at margin]¹³ – That one brother became King of Yourriba [61] one of Jaboo one of Benin, and one of Ketoo a country lying to the East of Dahomey & Mahee ~ that they were independent Kingdoms the other Kingdoms were tributary to them – they were the only great Kings and that they were descended from the Kings of Tappia or Nyfee in old times¹⁴ – The other countrys were tributary to him – that his rebelious slaves traded to Jaboo but that he had lately burnt the large Market where they carried on their barter¹⁵ and if he thought proper he could stop the whole of the trade between Jaboo & Lagos – as he had done that of his rebelious slaves Ftnt 14 Alluding to the traditions of common ancestry of the major Yoruba kingdoms and Benin. The reference to descent from the royalty of Nupe perhaps alludes to Sango, one of the early alaafin, whose mother was a Nupe princess.
156	[February 1825] after this I asked him if he would allow me to have one of his old men that I might examine him how many Kings there had been here where the people came from – &c – at this last question they all laughed – the King said they [p.157] came from heaven30 – that no one could tell how many Kings there had been in Yourriba or what were their names but himself he would tell me – he gave me 2 pieces of what I think is glass he said it was the same as his beads and they found [it] amongst the rocks ~ we also got a present of one fowel & some Gora nuts
162	Kingdom of Yourriba The kingdom of Yourriba extends fom Puka to the South which is within five miles of the sea to Lagos and Whydah in that line – to the North I have not yet ascertained ~ I believe I will not be far out when I say to 10o north Latde ~ it is bounded by Dahomey to the N.W which is a tributary ["lying in dry Tributary" at margin] Kitto and the Mahee country on the North ~ Borgoo on the N.E. ~ the Quarra or Niger to the East on the East bank of which is Tappa or Nyffe ~ Akura41 a province of Benin on the S.E. 5 days journey distant – Jabbo to the South and West – it[s] tributaries are Dahomey, Badagry, Porto Nova, or Alladah, Mahee. – the last doubtfull . . .
164	The city of Eyeo (in Houssa language, Katunga), the capital of Yourriba, is situated in latitude 8˚ 59' north, longitude 6˚ 12' east. It is built on the sloping side and round the base of a small range of granite hills, which, as it were, forms the citadel of the town

Frederick Schon and Samuel Crowther, Journals of the Rev. James Frederick Schon and Mr. Samuel Crowther, who, with the Sanction of Her Majesty's Government, Accompanied the Expedition Up The Niger in 1841, in Behalf of The Church Missionary Society (London, 1842)

p.138

Fulatah army is at present encamped only about a few days' journey from Kelebeh, having a great [p.139] number of horses, guns, cutlases, bows, and arrows. They are said to have killed many people ; and carried away many more, as slaves, to Rabba; from whence they are most probably sold to Katanga, finding their way through Yaruba to the sea-coast, as nearly all the Nufi and Kakanda people who were liberated at Sierra Leone were carried that way.

p.180

Egga is undoubtedly the largest town we have yet seen on the banks of the river : the population may safely be stated at 7000, or 8000. Nufi is the language of the country, though many others are extensively spoken and understood ; as Yaruba, Haussa, Fulatah, Kakanda, Eggarra, Bornou, and several others. Katanga, the capital of Yaruba, is said to be fifteen days journey from Egga. People of many of these nations have joined the Fulatahs, some of their own accord ; others were forced to it ; but many have come to Egga for purposes of trade.

p.190

I was informed this morning by one of our Interpreters, that he learned, from one of his countrymen, that Mamajia, Ezu-Issa, and the Chief of Egga, together with the youngest brother of Sumo Sariki, had entered into a conspiracy [191] against Sumo Sariki ; and that it was their intention, next month, to make an attack upon Rabha with a considerable force. The Yaruba people also informed Samuel Crowther of similar attempts being in contemplation, for the attainment of their former independence from the yoke of the Fulatahs.

p.198

Aliluh is king of Sokotu, in place of his father Bello. Atibah is king of Yaruba; and Sita, king of Illoring or Illorin — generally marked Allorie on the maps. Sita's right is disputed by the Yaruba people ; and properly speaking, he can only be called King of the Fulatah party.

p.307

In the presence of the Prince, the Chief of Gori, and the owner of the slaves, a new suit of clothes was given to each of the slaves ; when their dirty and threadworn-out clothes were taken from them, and committed to the stream of the Niger, the rapid messenger; by them to proclaim, to as many as might see them, the benevolent intention of the Queen of Great Britain in sending out this Expedition, The poor slaves fell on their knees, in token of gratitude for their liberation. Two of the slaves are Yagba women : the Yagba is a dialect of Yaruba.

p.317

Contrary to my expectation, I met here [at Eggan] many Yaruba People who have come from the interior; some only twelve days ago ; and others altogether reside here on purpose to trade. I made inquiry respecting the interior ; when I received the following information. War is still carried on. Katunga, the capital of Yaruba, was deserted after the death of Abiohdung, the king of Yaruba. Atiba, the heir to the throne, removed the seat of government from Katunga to Aggoh, because the former was too near to Illorrin ; while Oluyorle, the commander of the soldiers, or head warrior, took his seat at Kishi, otherwise called Ajanna, in confederacy with Ibariba, a people on the border of Yaruba, nearly speaking the same Ian

[318] guage. Tliey have since had three battles; one at Igbodo, about seven years ago ; and another at Oshogbo, about three years ago ; in both of which Illorrin, headed by Sitah, a Fulatah, was defeated with great loss. They have stripped Illorrin of all its dependencies. The last battle took place at Wodikura, when Atiba made sure of complete victory over Sitah, the head of the Fulatahs; but Atiba lost the battle at this time: his confederate Eledueh, the king of Ibariba, and his brother Oluewu, being killed, the battle was broken up. They are still harassing the people of Illorrin, catching them wherever they are met with. Last year they were reduced to great extremity, being closely confined by Atiba ; in consequence of which they suffered much from scarcity of food. Many of the people of Illorrin, on account of this, found their way here or to Rabba, they being Mahomedans, on the side of the Fulatahs. The principal towns in the country of Yaruba are the following: — Aggoh, Kishi, Ibaddang, Issehin, Shakki, Igboho, Ijaye, Iwo, Eddeh, Oshogbo, Rlah, Awaye, and Wahsimi, belonging to Atiba; and Illorrin, belonging to the Fulatahs. Abbeh Okuta belongs to the Egba dialect, having Shodekkeh for its king.

p. 322

I sent the Interpreter to call them to me, as I should see and know who they were, before I sent them on board with him. He was absent about an hour and a half, when I set out in quest of him. I found him in the court-yard of Obadanwaki, a Yaruba man, the head of the war-men of this place. He was dressed in a turban, as he is now called a Fulatah. This man speaks Haussa and Nufi with great fluency; and appears to understand the Fulatah Language but very little, if at all.

p. 367

I lately learned, that those of the Aku Nation in Sierra Leone have commenced making a collection of money, with a view to offer it to the Church Missionary Society, to enable them to send a Missionary to Badagry— a place in which they feel much interested, it being the inlet to their own, that is, the Yaruba Country. In one village alone the sum contributed amounted, a few days after the subscription was opened, to fifteen pounds.

/Femi Kolapo

From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of OLAYINKA AGBETUYI <yagbetuyi@hotmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, October 26, 2019 10:35 AM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - 2831.pdf

Ladies and Gentlemen:

This has been a superbly exciting foray into the genealogy of the word Yoruba. It started out as a tacit admission that it was an exonym but due to to the evidence supplied by the exemplary interdisciplinary research of Egyptology and linguistic scholar professor Abdul Salau that is an endonym generated morphologically by a Yoruba lexeme no longer extant hence its attribution to foteign languages.

From Professor Salau we now know of the existence of the primal Yara clam in the Yoruba frontier state of Kogi whose Yoruba name is the etymological root of Yoruba from the dawn of Yoruba history in the earliest diasporic movement from Ile-Ife to Oyoro and further afield to Iyara from where Oyo ttaders wete correcttly referred to by Songhai traders in THEIR OWN name Yoruba. The testimonies of Chief Afefila and Olobaagun were remarkable in showcasing the individual trade links of Yoruba trade routes to North Africa even before Islam but given the forest nature of Ile-Ife it is doubtful whether the Arab traders came directly to Ile- Ife. Its more plausible to suggest the raison detre for the foundation of Oyoro was to enable the locus of a trans-Saharan trade easily accessible to Arab and Berber traders and this seem to be the most important reason Oyo eclipsed Ile- Ife in poltical importance. So Ife traders wishing to trade on the trans -Saharan routes would find it more pragmatic to go through the Yoruba controlled Oyo than through unknown and hostile territory

It is now clear that the early Yoruba embraced Yoruba as their group name not because they could not resist the imposition of a foreign act of nomination but ptecisely because they were convinced they were the referents of a name that was genuinely theirs in generation (I wish Farooq Kperogi had acknowledged the parts he lifted from Abdul Salau's essay so he is not guilty of the crime of plagiarism which he accused online writers of perpetrating on his own work.)

I also found fascinating the explanatory force off how only Onitsha of all Igbo townships had a king as well as the spread of the Yoruba kingship model to South-South Nigeria: the indefatigable expansionism of Yoruba princes from Edo land eastwards! (And in addition is his established fact that by and large before the Fodio Jihad Hausa land and Yoruba land had enjoyed a largely cordial relationship so as I have always maintained we are ALL a happy family in Nigeria after all is said and done. I remember my father never referred the war that decimated our flourishing kingdom as ' Ogun Hausa' " Hausa War" but 'Ogun Fulani'. In other words its the Fulani leading the majority Hausa by the nose in the name of religion to decimate other communities.)

I join GE however in expressing my reservations on Abdul Salau's attempt to link the semanto- orthograpihc roots of Egyptian and Yoruba words and indeed other Nigerian languages and Ancient Egyptian.

The consonantisation of hieroglyphics and the consistency of ' great' worked in several parts but is not consistent enough when it comes to semantics.

eg,

Wr= Great》 Iwarefa ( Yoruba

Wr 》 Ewuare/Aworo

It began to creak when we get to

Wni 》 Ya (open)

Whi 》 Yi- danu ((overthrow)

Wr 》 Aworoko

Wr 》 Owelle ( Great)

We might follow this pattern and end up asserting the English word ' write' (Wr) also came from ancient Egyptian! Then all languages can be traced to ancient Egyptian ( which is not impossible. My point is why limit it to Nigerian languages alone?

Let me once again thank everyone who has contributed to this extremely important debate about the provenance of the word 'Yoruba' which has been an unparalleled intellectually enriching experience.

OAA

Sent from Samsung tablet.

-------- Original message --------

From: Gloria Emeagwali <gloria.emeagwali@gmail.com>

Date: 25/10/2019 18:06 (GMT+00:00)

To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com

Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - 2831.pdf

This message is eligible for Automatic Cleanup! (gloria.emeagwali@gmail.com) Add cleanup rule | More info

I see similarities in the Egyptian and Yoruba salutation systems, binary models, and ethical teachings as reflected in IFA and ancient Egyptian admonitions, but this linguistic comparison is quite unconvincing.

Sent from my iPhone

On Oct 24, 2019, at 9:54 PM, Abdul Salau <salauabdul@gmail.com> wrote:

Archeology of Yoruba Name

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<2831.pdf>

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Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - 2831.pdf

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