The most powerful women in nineteenth-century Yorubaland, both of them large-scale slave traders, one killed by the ruler she had armed and the other exiled by a British consul, and the political office that made their power constitutional.
Machine na im translate dis page and no person don check am. The Yorùbá wey dem quote, the proverbs, the meanings and the citations dey exactly as the original. Everything else fit wrong.
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.
Di Ìyálóde na chief with title wey get seat for di council, wey hold di women constituency of one Yoruba town as political office. For di nineteenth century, two people wey hold am, Ẹfúnṣetán Aníwúrà for Ìbàdàn and Ẹfúnróyè Tinúbú for Lagos and later for Abẹ́òkúta, become part of di most powerful individuals—man or woman—for di whole of Yorubaland. Dem two build dat power on top long-distance trade, and dem two sell plenty slave well well. Men wey feel say dem don powerful pass dem self come scatter dem politically: di ruler of Ẹfúnṣetán own town destroy am, while British consul destroy Tinúbú.
To treat dem mata with honesty mean say person must hold two things together. Dem importance na real thing and people reduce am well well; for Ẹfúnṣetán's case, tradition wey no like am and one twentieth-century play na dem don almost replace wetin history write for people mind. Di trade wey dem do for slaves na also real thing, and dem importance or di fact say dem na women no cover am at all. Di two things dey clearly stated here.
Ìyálóde join ìyá, wey mean mother, with di meaning of outside or public domain, and dem dey usually explain am as "mother in charge of external affairs" or, for one tradition, Ọba Obìnrin, king of women. Di person wey hold di office sit down for di council of chiefs, represent women for di political process, and give women voice inside government wey for be only men mata .
Bọ́lańlé Awẹ́ make di office become serious subject for historical study, and wetin she observe about am na di main thing: say how di office take get power for di nineteenth century pass wetin tradition allow . Dat is, di Ìyálóde no get power because say tradition make provision for am. E get power because di century of war make di commercial and logistical role of women expand well well, for food supply, to prepare things for army, and pass everything, for di trade of weapons; and di office come be di constitutional channel wey dat new economic power pass enter politics.
To pick person for precolonial period no be matter of say na king choose, but na to recognise wetin di woman don achieve by herself for economic and political matas; for modern period, di title don turn gift wey ọba dey give, wey show say real change don happen from status wey person work get go status wey dem just dash person .
People wey record show say dem hold am for Ìbàdàn: Ìyálóde Subuola, 1850 to 1867; Ẹfúnṣetán Aníwúrà, 1867 to 1 May 1874; Ìyálóde Iyaola, 1874 to 1893 . Dem make Ẹfúnróyè Tinúbú di Ìyálóde of Ẹ̀gbá for 1864 . Books also mention people wey hold am for Ondo, Ìjẹ̀bú and Ifẹ̀; na Awẹ́'s 1977 essay be di place to find dem, and dis corpus no fit provide dem names and dates .
For di modern Ìbàdàn constitution, di Ìyálóde dey head one separate female line, wey be one out of four lines, she dey sit down for Olúbadàn-in-Council and na kingmaker, but di female line no fit produce Olúbadàn .
Di byname Aníwúrà mean person wey get gold.
Dem born am around 1820s for Ikija for di Ẹ̀gbá area near Abẹ́òkúta. She be daughter of Chief Ogunrin, wey be warlord for Ikija, and mama wey come from Ilé-Ifẹ̀ wey dey do small-small trade. She get one daughter wey die for 1860, and one adopted son wey dem dey call Kumuyilo . Di fact say she no get child dey important, because e dey central to both di historical charges dem bring against am and di drama tradition wey dem build on top am.
Na she be di second Ìyálóde of Ìbàdàn, and she hold di office from 1867 until dem remove am on 1 May 1874 .
She dey among di top traders for nineteenth-century Ìbàdàn. Dem say she get like two thousand slaves and many farms, but dat figure na normal traditional round number wey person suppose take as estimate instead of exact count . She trade farm produce, tobacco, slaves, local cosmetics and kìjìpà cloth, on routes wey reach Porto-Novo, Badagry and Ikorodu .
Her political power depend on one main thing pass all: she supply Ìbàdàn with weapons and war equipment . For one state wey dem arrange di whole constitution around war, di person wey dey supply weapons get di kain power wey no formal title fit give and wey nobody fit easily control.
Àrẹ̀ Látòóṣà remove am from office on 1 May 1874. Di three formal charges na say she no follow her ruler go di war against Adó-Èkìtì dat year, say she no send supplies to her lord during di campaign, and say she no come meet di Àrẹ̀ in person outside di town wall to congratulate am say di campaign succeed .
Read dem again. Na charges of say person refuse to do duty wey she owe her ruler. Dem no be charges of wicked behaviour. Dat difference na di main point of di whole historical question.
Before two months go reach, on 30 June 1874, two of her own slaves kill am for sleep, through her adopted son Kumuyilo wey Látòóṣà don give bribe .
Two different stories about why she die dey go round, and di two no agree with each other at all.
Di main story wey plenty people know come from Akínwùmí Ìṣọ̀lá's Yoruba play Efunsetan Aniwura (1970), and di 1981 and 2005 films wey come out from am, wey show am as one wicked slaveholder wey dey kill pregnant slaves and wey dem remove with good reason . Na dis image dey rule wetin ordinary Nigerians remember about am, and na pure literature make am so.
Di academic account start from di charges wey dem record. Foluke Ogunleye article, wey di title na di main argument itself, "A Male-Centric Modification of History: 'Efunsetan Aniwura' Revisited," compare Ìṣọ̀lá's drama against wetin Johnson write, against I. B. Akinyẹle's Ìwé Ìtàn Ìbàdàn of 1911 and against Awẹ́'s scholarship, and argue say di play change wetin history record pass through male-centred lens . Di direction of di scholarship na say dem remove am no be because say she maltreat slaves, wey be normal thing for Ìbàdàn and nobody talk anything when men do am, but because she don too get power wey Kakanfò no fit tolerate again. Even Wikipedia summary of di dispute agree say division dey, as e note say some people see di removal as something wey sexism and jealousy cause, while others see am as response to how di town take depend on am for military equipment .
She be big slaveholder and slave trader. Nobody dey argue dat one and we no dey try soften am here.
Wetin dem dey argue na whether di offence wey dey record against am na wickedness or insubordination, and di charges wey dem write down support insubordination. Di story of wickedness help justify wetin di man wey make dem kill am do, and dem come blow am bigger one century later through one play wey turn to wetin people take as popular history. Woman wey give state weapons na di same state come destroy am, and di story wey dem tell after be say she deserve wetin happen to am because of how she treat her slaves, story wey come from people wey their own household sef dey run on di same slaves.
Dem born am Ẹfúnpọ̀róyè Ọ̀ṣuntinúbú for Ijokodo, wey be Ojokodo now, for Ẹ̀gbáland. Ọ̀ṣuntinúbú show say she be pikin of Ọ̀ṣun devotee. Some sources talk say di year dem born am na around 1805, while others talk say na around 1810; we mention di two here. She die for 1887 for Abẹ́òkúta and dem bury am for Ojokodo quarters .
She marry four times. First husband na one Owu man wey dem no record im name, before 1830, wey she born two sons for am and wey die before am, leaving am to trade tree bark and leaves to survive. Di second marriage, for 1833, na to Ọba Adélé Àjọ́sun, di exiled Ọba of Lagos, wey die for 1837. Di third na Yesufu Bada, wey dem also dey call Obadina, one war captain. Di fourth na Momoh Bukar, one Arabic scholar .
Di second marriage na di turning point for her career: e turn petty trader to major political principal.
She follow Adélé move go Badagry and use im connections take build business wey dey exchange European salt and tobacco for slaves from Abẹ́òkúta. Record show say she get pass three hundred and sixty personal slaves. She trade slaves take collect guns from Brazilian and Portuguese merchants. She continue di slave trade for secret after di 1852 treaty ban Atlantic trade for Lagos .
Dem record two statements from am for di consular record. For di Amadie-Ojo affair of 1853, dem record say she talk say she prefer to drown twenty slaves pass make she sell dem on discount. When dem accuse am say she sell small boy into slavery, dem record say she answer say she get large household and must feed dem well, and she need money to do dat one . Dis ones come through British consular record and through how Wikipedia present am, and person suppose check dem against Robert Smith The Lagos Consulate and Kristin Mann before person quote dem word-for-word as primary text. Dis corpus report dem because na dem be di specific evidence basis for di claim, and e flag di chain of sources.
Di popular way wey dem dey portray Tinúbú as slave trader wey repent and help stop di practice dey circulate well well for Nigerian and diaspora websites. Di evidence say she continue secret trade after 1852 contradict am, and dis corpus reject am .
She support Ọba Akítóyè bid against Kòsọ́kọ́ for 1841, and when Akítóyè enter throne, she receive better business concessions and land wey later turn to Tinubu Square and Kakawa Street. When Kòsọ́kọ́ seize power for 1845, she run follow Akítóyè supporters go Badagry and work make e return to throne, and after British bombardment of December 1851 bring am back, she dey at di center of di new government .
Under Ọba Dòsùnmú, wey she first support after Akítóyè die for 1853, she maintain large private security force made up of slaves and sometimes carry out orders wey na king suppose give; Dòsùnmú come start dey fear am. For 1855, dem implicate am for agitation against Saro and Aguda returnees, and she pressure Dòsùnmú make e reduce their influence .
Consul Benjamin Campbell demand say make dem remove am, and Dòsùnmú obey. Dem banish am go Abẹ́òkúta for May 1856. Accounts talk say she plan to remove British influence and kill Campbell; dat allegation come from Campbell himself, wey be interested party, and we flag am as such .
For Abẹ́òkúta she trade weapons and supply di town with munitions against Dahomey, and because of dat one, dem make am Ìyálóde of all Ẹ̀gbáland for 1864 . Different sources mention 1863 and 1864 for di campaign wey connect to am; di 1864 date for di title dey consistent.
Di pattern be exactly Ẹfúnṣetán's. Political title wey woman get come from supplying weapons to a state, for century wey weapons na di currency of politics.
She survive one big fire outbreak for 1865 wey damage her shops but e no break am, and she continue to dey active for king-making, as she support Prince Oyekan instead of Adémọ́lá for di Aláké title, contest wey di date for sources fall small before di reported year and make person treat am as approximate .
Dem no be victims and dem no be heroines, and di two frames wey Nigerian popular culture dey usually use, di wicked woman and di celebrated foremother, both of dem fail when person look di evidence.
Wetin dem be na di clearest proof wey dey show say Yoruba political authority for di nineteenth century dey open to women wey fit hold economic power, and say di economic power wey dey dat century come mainly from war and from slave trade. Di Ìyálóde office na real constitutional authority. Di two women reach di top of am. Di two of dem do am through trade in human beings. Men remove di two of dem wen dem become inconvenient, one by im own state and di oda by one empire.
The town that replaced Ọ̀yọ́ as the dominant Yoruba power, the achieved-title constitution that let a farmer or an Ifá priest rise to command it, and the men who did.
A dynastic quarrel inside one Lagos family, a British bombardment in December 1851 justified by the slave trade, and the cession of 1861 that made Lagos a British colony and began the conquest of Nigeria.
How Abẹ́òkúta went from a chief without a crown to a crowned Aláké in 1854, and the attempt by returnee intellectuals and traditional chiefs to build a modern state there that collapsed in 1874.
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.
The life, political career, economic empire, and contested death of the nineteenth-century merchant who became the second Iyalode of Ibadan.
A historical analysis of Madam Ẹfúnpọ̀róyè Ọ̀ṣúntinúbú, examining her career as a nineteenth-century merchant magnate, political kingmaker in Lagos and Abeokuta, and first Iyalode of Egbaland.