‘Art’ of War: Analysis of Weapons of the 19th Century Yoruba Civil Wars
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53351/ruhm.v8i17.570Palabras clave:
Artistic Weaponry , weapons, civil wars , Yoruba, Nort-Eastern Yoruba landResumen
The 19th century was no doubt one of the most turbulent periods in the history of the Yoruba people. For most, the period was characterised by revolution and struggle for independence from different authorities. War was a defining factor during this peri-od and in most cases the determining factor in war was the type of weaponry deployed. This paper attempts an examination of the 19th century civil wars in Yoruba land, focusing on some selected north-eastern Yoruba towns. It traces the evolution of the weaponry system in Yoruba land as contained in historical records and surviving museum artifacts. Towards supporting the significance and justification for such a work, various weapons used during the Yoruba civil wars are also identified and analyzed along the lines of artistry of manufacture and material culture. The paper concludes with a trace of possible effects of syntheses resulting from acquaintance with war equipment from other lands, and that the 19th century Yoruba civil wars revolutionized Yoruba weaponry significantly as contact with the Europeans introduced weapons that were more deadly in an unprecedented manner, particularly judging from the gross increment in fatality. The introduction of European weapons did not however obliterate local weapons as these continued to exist side by side even till the 20th century. Significant contribution to knowledge is derived from the analysis of the military weapons employed in the prosecution of the 19th century Yoruba civil wars, especially the attempt to trace the evolution of military weapons in Yorubaland. This focus is managed without prejudice to how the manipulation of such weapons influenced the course of the wars, with cases in point being the transformation of defeat to victory for the allied forces in the Owu war in 1823 and the Kiriji war of 1876-1893. This work makes use of written and oral sources, relevant artifacts found in north-eastern Yoruba Palaces and surviving mu-seum artifacts.
Descargas
Citas
A. OGUNTUYI: History of Ekiti from the Beginning to 1939, Ibadan, Bisi Books, 1979.
Isaac AKINJOGBIN: “The Causes of the 19th Century Yoruba Civil Wars,” in Adeagbo AKINJOGBIN, (ed.), War and Peace in Yorubaland 1793-1893, Ibadan, Heinemann Educational Books Plc, 1998, pp. 138-146.
Isaac AKINJOGBIN: Dahomey and Its Neighbour, 1708-1818, Cambridge University Press, 1967.
Jacob EGHAREVBA: A Short History of Benin, Ibadan, Ibadan University Press,1968.
Ade AJAYI: “Fundamental Causes of the 19th Century Yoruba Wars,” in Adeagbo AKINJOGBIN (ed.), War and Peace in Yorubaland 1793-1893, Ibadan, Heinemann Educational Books Plc, 1998 pp. 145-146.
Ade AJAYI and Robert SMITH (eds.): Yoruba Warfare in the 19th Century, Ibadan, Ibadan University Press in Association with the Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan and the Cambridge University Press, 1971.
Ade AJAYI and Stephen AKINTOYE: “Yorubaland in the 19th Century,” in Obaro IKIME (ed.), Groundwork of Nigerian History, Ibadan, Heinemann, 1980.
John PEMBERTON III: “Art and Rituals for Yoruba Sacred Kings”, Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies, 15:2 (1989) pp. 96-111, 174.
Manuel BARCIA: “Weapons from their land”: Arming strategies and practices among West African-born soldiers in early nineteenth-century Bahia and Cuba, A Journal of Slave and Post-Slave Studies, Vol 39. No. 3 (2018), pp. 479-496.
Rowland ABIODUN: Yoruba Art and Language Seeking the African in African Art, New York, Cambridge University Press, 2014.
R. A. KEA: “Firearms and Warfare on the Gold and Slave Coast from the Sixteenth to the Nineteenth Centuries” in Journal of African History, XII: 1 (1971) p.185.
Robert SMITH: “Yoruba Armament”, The Journal of African History, Vol. 8. No. 1 (1967) pp. 92- 98.
S. ADERINTO: Guns and Society in Colonial Nigeria: Firearms, Culture and Public Order, Indiana, Indiana University Press, 2018.
Stephen AKINTOYE: Revolution and Power Politics in Yorubaland 1840-1893, Ibadan, Longman, 1971.
Samuel JOHNSON: History of the Yorubas from the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the British Protectorate, Lagos, CSS Bookshops Ltd. 2009.
Saburi BIOBAKU: Sources of Yoruba History, London, Oxford University Press, 1974.
Toyin FALOLA et al. (eds.): History of Nigeria 2: Nigeria in the Nineteenth Century, Lagos, Longman, 1991.
Toyin FALOLA and G.O OGUNTOMISIN: “Military Leadership and Political Structures: Yoruba Warlords of the Nineteenth Century” in Robin LAW (ed.), The Journal of African History, Vol.43, Issue 02, (2002,) pp.313-376
T.M ILESANMI, “The Yoruba Worldview on Women and Warfare”, in Toyin FALOLA and Robin LAW eds., Warfare and Diplomacy in Nigeria, Madison: African Studies Program, University of Wisconsin, 1994
Williams DENNIS: Icon and Image: A Study of Sacred and Secular forms of African Classical art, London, Penguin Book Ltd.,1974.
Descargas
Publicado
Cómo citar
Número
Sección
Licencia
Derechos de autor 2019 Revista Universitaria de Historia Militar
Esta obra está bajo una licencia internacional Creative Commons Atribución-NoComercial-SinDerivadas 4.0.
Licencia Creative Commons Atribución-NoComercial-SinDerivar 4.0 Internacional
Esto es un resumen legible (y no un sustitutivo) de la licencia.
Usted es libre para:
Bajo los siguientes términos:
-
Atribución — Usted debe darle crédito a esta obra de manera adecuada, proporcionando un enlace a la licencia, e indicando si se han realizado cambios. Puede hacerlo en cualquier forma razonable, pero no de forma tal que sugiera que usted o su uso tienen el apoyo del licenciante.
-
NoComercial — Usted no puede hacer uso del material con fines comerciales.
-
Sin Derivar — Si usted mezcla, transforma o crea nuevo material a partir de esta obra, usted no podrá distribuir el material modificado.
No hay restricciones adicionales — Usted no puede aplicar términos legales ni medidas tecnológicas que restrinjan legalmente a otros hacer cualquier uso permitido por la licencia.
