‘Art’ of War: Analysis of Weapons of the 19th Century Yoruba Civil Wars

Autores/as

  • Akin Adejuwon Obafemi Awolowo University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53351/ruhm.v8i17.570

Palabras clave:

Artistic Weaponry , weapons, civil wars , Yoruba, Nort-Eastern Yoruba land

Resumen

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.

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Biografía del autor/a

  • Akin Adejuwon, Obafemi Awolowo University

    Akin Adejuwon is the Curator of the Martin Aworinlewo Odeyemi Museum of Antiquities and Contemporary African Art and the Wole Soyinka Museum, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. Between 2014 and 2017, he was the (Director-General) of the National Troupe, Federal Republic of Nigeria.

    Adejuwon is an associate lecturer in the Department of Fine and Applied Arts and a co- editor, of IFE-Annals, a Journal of Institute of Cultural Studies in Obafemi Awolowo University.

    He holds a B.Sc. in Graphic Arts, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, a Master of Philosophy degree in Cultural History and a Master of Arts in African Art Studies from Obafemi Awolowo University. The core of his research is the interpretation of pre- colonial Yoruba history through the visual and performative arts of Yoruba palaces. His area of studio specialisation is Graphic Design and Production of 2-D (Disney type) Cartoon Animation.

Referencias

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Publicado

2019-12-16

Cómo citar

‘Art’ of War: Analysis of Weapons of the 19th Century Yoruba Civil Wars. (2019). Revista Universitaria De Historia Militar, 8(17), 174-202. https://doi.org/10.53351/ruhm.v8i17.570

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