Economy, Craft and Trade
Farming, iron, cloth and glass; the market system and the women who ran it; cowrie money; and the routes that tied Yorubaland to the Sahara and the Atlantic.
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Farming, iron, cloth and glass; the market system and the women who ran it; cowrie money; and the routes that tied Yorubaland to the Sahara and the Atlantic.
The Yorùbá wey dem quote, the proverbs, oríkì, ẹsẹ Ifá, word list headwords, Odù names and citations dey exactly as the corpus record dem, for every language.
Before twentieth century, farming na di main foundation of Yoruba economy, but wetin make am special na how town dem plenty reach and how their trading system take arrange well to feed everybody. Yorubaland dey among di places wey develop town pass for precolonial Africa, with plenty people wey dey stay inside towns wey get wall round dem and dey go outside to farm, and dis kind arrangement need proper system to transport food, handwork items, and money for large scale. Dat system na di market network: e dey follow fixed timetable or cycle, e dey use shell currency wey dem import, and na mostly women wey hold official traditional titles dey run am.
Two major structural facts shape all other things. First, Yorubaland dey between the savanna and the coast, so e position well to act as middleman between the trans-Saharan trade system for north and the Atlantic system for south, and im business history na mostly about dat middleman position. Second, na import dem import di currency and the region no dey control how e take dey supply, wey come make the whole economy vulnerable to money problems wey dey start from thousands of kilometres far away. Di two facts get advantages and disadvantages, and di two dey important to understand di nineteenth century.
Di main food crop na yam, for inside forest and forest border, and maize wey come from Americas later become important too, alongside cocoyam, cowpea, plantain, and later cassava, wey spread well well for nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Oil palm tree dey grow on its own and people dey take care of am pass say make dem plant am during di early period. Kola, especially Cola nitida and Cola acuminata, na major crop for export because demand for am high across di Muslim savanna and Sahel region where e be one of di few stimulants wey law allow.
Na family lineage dem dey use organize farming: na lineages dey hold land and share am give members instead of to buy and sell am, and na family household labour dey work am, wey bigger farms dey add ẹrú, people wey dey under different kinds of servitude, and ọwẹ̀, reciprocal group labour where farmer go feed and entertain people wey work im land and him go work their own too in return. Di difference between dem dey important and plenty colonial-era descriptions dey mix dem together.
Farm and town dey separate. Yoruba farmers dey live for town and dey travel go farm, and dem dey often stay for farm villages, àbà, during busy seasons. Dis na di main physical reality behind Yoruba town life: town wey get tens of thousands of people wey farm lands around am dey support, wey na di town residents dem self dey work.
To melt iron from stone (smelting) and forge am for West Africa na very old practice, with evidence wey connect to Nok culture as far back as mid first millennium BCE . People wey dey speak Yoruboid languages develop iron work early, before copper alloys come dey popular . Dis order dey important for how people dey describe Ifẹ̀'s bronzes like say na one isolated miracle: di foundation for metal work don deep already, and di copper-alloy tradition just build on top iron industry wey don dey ground for long time.
Na iron support agriculture through hoe, cutlass, and axe, and na iron still support war. E also carry serious religious weight. Ògún, di òrìṣà of iron, na di patron for blacksmiths, hunters, warriors, and now for drivers and mechanics, and swearing oath on top iron still get legal recognition for Nigerian courts as alternative to Bible or Quran. Dat continuity from smelting technology to legal practice show clearly how di metal dey very central.
Smelting na specialized work wey particular families dey keep, and dem usually dey put smelting sites far from town near iron ore and charcoal wood. Local smelting drop sharp sharp for nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as European bar iron wey dem import come cheaper, and di blacksmiths survive while di smelters no survive.
Yoruba cloth weaving dey operate on two different loom traditions based on gender. Men dey weave on top horizontal narrow-strip loom wey dey produce strips wey wide like 10 to 20 centimetres with different lengths, wey dem go come sew together edge to edge make e become full cloth; women dey weave on top vertical broadloom wey dey produce wider single pieces . Di two na native traditions, and di narrow-strip tradition popular pass.
Aṣọ òkè, wey im direct meaning na top cloth or cloth from up-country, na prestige narrow-strip fabric, wey tradition trace go weaving centres like Iṣẹ́yìn, Ọ̀yọ́, and Ẹdẹ, with origin wey dem conventionally put around fifteenth century . Three classic prestige cloths dominate enter early twentieth century: etù, deep indigo wey dark sotey e dey look like black; sányán, wey dem weave from beige silk of Anaphe moth and na im people value pass; and àlàárì, deep red from imported magenta waste silk wey dem lose and weave again . Dem dey use Aṣọ òkè make agbádá and fìlà for men, and ìró, bùbá, and gèlè for women . Di example of àlàárì teach us something: di prestige cloth of Yoruba interior depend on imported fibre, wey be small example wey show how connected dis economy be.
Àdìrẹ na di resist-dyed indigo cloth tradition wey women dey do, wey dey use stitch resist, tied resist, and cassava-paste stencil resist. Im major centres na Abẹ́òkúta and Ìbàdàn. Indigo, ẹlú, na wetin dem plant and process locally, and to dye cloth na women handwork wey get its own guild organisation.
Ilé-Ifẹ̀ na primary glass producer wey dey make glass from raw materials instead of to melt imported glass again, for early second millennium CE. Excavation work for Igbo Olókun bring out pass 12,000 glass beads and hundreds of broken crucible parts wey glass cover, and di glass get high-lime, high-alumina signature, roughly 10 to 20 percent alumina and 12 to 20 percent lime, wey dem no see for European, Middle Eastern, or Asian glass, and wey fit trace back to local high-alumina pegmatite sand mix with lime from snail shell . Ifẹ̀ beads circulate widely across West Africa. Dis na di clearest single evidence wey show say Yoruba manufacture goods for export, and na chemical evidence, no be just guesswork.
Yoruba market dey follow regular cycle, mostly na four or eight days, and di towns wey dey near each other dey arrange dia market days differently so dat traders go fit dey move from one market to another. Every important town get central market, ọjà, wey dey usually dey for front of di palace, and dis one put business both in body and meaning for di centre of political power. Night market, ọjà alẹ́, na normal tin.
Di word ọjà get heavy meaning for Yoruba thought sotey e show for di proverb about human life wey people dey quote pass.
Ayé lọjà, ọ̀run nilé.
World / na-market, heaven / na-house.
Di world na market, di other world na home.
Translator: na from di transcribed Yoruba dem translate am put here; dis proverb don spread well-well and e dey inside many published collection. Di translation na my own and make person take am as medium confidence, no be like say na one specific scholar translation.
Di power of di proverb depend on knowing wetin Yoruba market be: place wey you dey go, do business, and comot, place wey pack people and na temporary tin, no be place to stay. Ilé na di compound, di family house, di permanent seat and di place of ancestors. So di line dey talk say life for dis earth na business waka and ọ̀run na where you really dey stay. English fit carry dat meaning with extra explanation, but no be inside five words. Make you also notice wetin di proverb assume about di people wey dey hear am: say market na di example wey clear pass for wetin quick pass, get purpose, and full with activity wey anybody fit understand. Na statement about how market take dey central reach dat.
Yoruba women dominate market trade, and dia control dey officially recognised through title. Di Ìyálọ́jà, mother of the market, hold authority over market and di traders inside. Di Ìyálóde, title wey di direct meaning be mother wey dey in charge of outside or public affairs and wey dem sometimes describe as king of di women, na chieftaincy wey woman dey hold wey get oversight over women trade guilds and markets, and e get seat for di town council . Dem dey select di Ìyálóde based on merit and standing instead of inheritance .
Dis no be just title for mouth. Di Ìyálóde organize di economic activity wey form di base for local and long-distance business, judge dispute among traders, set market rules, and represent women interest to di ọba and chiefs . Efúnṣetán Aníwúrà, di second Ìyálóde of Ìbàdàn, build one of di biggest wealth for nineteenth-century Yorubaland through long-distance trade for farm produce, tobacco and enslaved people, and e get plenty armed fighters wey dey follow am . Wetin e do correct wrong ideas for two ways at di same time: e show di level of power wey woman fit hold, and e show say women of high standing follow join inside slave trade as main players.
Di dual-sex nature of dis system na real tin and make person state am clearly: Yoruba political organization get parallel title hierarchy for men and women, where women hold real institutional authority, especially over business. E also true say dis authority concentrate inside specific offices instead of say dem spread am everywhere, and colonial administration systematically scatter di women side of di power by dealing only with male chiefs. Oyèrónkẹ́ Oyěwùmí argument say gender itself no be di main category wey dey arrange social relations for precolonial Yoruba society na another position wey people dey argue pass; dem discuss am for di social section of dis work instead of here.
Di money wey dem dey use na cowrie shell, Monetaria moneta, and e dey very important to understand dis economy. Cowries dey in use for Yoruba and Benin regions early reach say European traders for seventeenth century talk say shell money na di standard currency wey dey ground . Cowries get qualities wey make dem good money for dis kind setting: dem dey last, dem almost dey di same size, person no fit fake dem, and dem fit divide dem go reach very small values, wey fit economy wey get plenty small-small market transaction.
Dem also get one dangerous problem. Dem no dey naturally for West Africa. Dem come from Maldives, wey dem first carry through Indian Ocean and trans-Saharan routes, and later in large quantities by European ships directly to di coast. Therefore, di money supply for Yoruba economy dey completely under control from outside .
Di result come out for di nineteenth century. European traders ship cowries in huge and increasing amounts, and from mid-nineteenth century, di introduction of di cheaper East African Monetaria annulus together with steam shipping bring down di cost to deliver am. Di outcome na serious and continuous inflation, where cowries lose almost all dia value against goods within few decades. Dis money shock happen at di same time with di wars, di abolition of Atlantic slave trade, and di change go palm oil export, and na one part of nineteenth-century Yoruba economic wahala wey people never really recognize well. Ogundiran archaeological work for Ìlàrè district and other places use beads and cowries as material evidence for exactly dis Atlantic-era change inside ordinary Yoruba everyday life .
Dem dey count cowries inside string and bag with standard denominations, and di calculation of big cowrie money na specialized skill on its own. Di Yoruba number system, wey dey subtract and dey count in twenties (vigesimal), link well-well to dis counting practice.
Northward. Yorubaland export kola, cloth, and slave go north, and dem import horse, salt, natron, leather, copper and brass, plus North African and European goods wey cross Sahara. Ọ̀yọ́'s reliance on top northern horse supply, since horse no fit breed inside tsetse fly zone, make dis route dey strategically important for di empire . Ifẹ̀'s copper come south through di same system, and dem mention Takedda for di region of present Niger and Mali as one source . Di northern connection pass through Nupe, Borgu, and Hausaland come link into di trans-Saharan routes go North Africa.
Southward. Di lagoon system wey run from Lagos go east and west provide protected inland waterway wey connect coastal ports to di interior through rivers and portages. Ijẹ̀bú control di main corridor and enforce monopoly wey mandate say all trade wey pass through dem territory must pass through Ijẹ̀bú merchants . Before abolition, wetin dem dey export go south na mainly human beings, but after abolition, na mainly palm oil and palm kernel; wetin dem import na cowries, textiles, spirits, tobacco, and firearms.
Internally. Di market cycle dey move goods between towns, and specialized long-distance traders, including women wey dey do business on large scale, carry cloth, kola, salt, dry fish, and craft products move across di region.
Three major shock land for di same century. British naval action stop Atlantic slave trade from 1808 dey go, and dat one remove di biggest single export earner from region wey don already balance around am. Palm oil trade come replace am, and di standard Yoruba processing installation na di ẹkú, one big round container wey dem build on top open rock surface . Palm oil need more labour and di gain spread reach plenty people pass slave trade, wey change who dey make money from export and give women, wey dominate oil processing and local trade, bigger role. And cowrie inflation destroy di value of savings wey people don gather across di whole society.
Di palm oil economy even increase internal slavery instead of make e reduce am, because oil production and carrying load for head go coast need plenty labour. Dis na di general West African pattern for dat period, and Yorubaland fit am well. Di abolition of outside trade no stop slavery for inside land, and nineteenth-century wars continue to supply captives to internal markets long after di Atlantic outlet dey close.
How the collapse of Ọ̀yọ́ and the wars that followed fed the last decades of the Atlantic trade, why so many Yoruba ended up in Cuba and Brazil, and what returned.
Ijẹ̀bú, Ẹ̀gbá, Èkìtì, Ìjẹ̀ṣà, Ondó, Ọ̀wọ̀, Kétu, Sábẹ̀, Ìbàdàn, Abẹ́òkúta and Lagos, each with its own institutions rather than as branches of Ọ̀yọ́.
Ilé-Ifẹ̀ between roughly the eleventh and fifteenth centuries, its sculpture in copper alloy and terracotta, the industries that paid for it, and its relationships with Benin, Ọ̀wọ̀ and the Niger.
Cultural nationalism and the African church movement, the Abẹ́òkúta women's revolt, Awólọ́wọ̀ and the Western Region, the Yoruba in the Nigerian federation, and the present revival of interest in traditional knowledge.
The kinds of evidence historians use to reconstruct the Yoruba past, what each kind can and cannot prove, and how one 1921 book shaped everything written since.
The Odùduwà traditions and the versions that compete with them, the argument over migration versus indigenous development, and what excavation at Ilé-Ifẹ̀ has actually dated.