What the century of wars did to Yoruba women: as captives and ransomed persons, as provisioners and arms dealers, as slaveholders and traders, as returnees building a new elite, and what it did to their position overall.
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 nineteenth century na di period wey get violence pass for Yoruba history, and e change women position for ways wey drag go opposite directions at di same time. Di wars turn plenti women to captives and slave. E still create business conditions wey make small number of women gather plenti wealth and political power wey no earlier period record don ever show. Di two things happen for di same decades, and many times inside di same towns.
Di general story of di wars dey inside The Nineteenth-Century Wars, and di biography of Ẹfúnṣetán Aníwúrà and Ẹfúnróyè Tinúbú dey inside The Ìyálóde. Dis writeup dey look di century as e affect women generally.
Di biggest single tin wey happen to Yoruba women for di nineteenth century na say dem capture plenti of dem.
War and slavery join bodi well well. Di American Baptist missionary Thomas J. Bowen record for mid-1850s say all prisoners wey dem catch for Yoruba war na slaves, and if dia own people no pay ransom to free dem, di people wey capture dem go make dem work or sell dem give dealers . One Ìjẹ̀ṣà song wey Ọlátúnjí Ojo quote bring out dis same logic for di tradition own voice, say broken pot dey turn to pieces of pot and person wey war capture dey turn to slave .
Ojo demographic work on Ìbàdàn show say slaveholders dey select by ethnicity, sex and age, and say di slave population for there change over di century from Hausa to Yoruba speakers, from western to eastern Yoruba, from men to women, from adults to children, and from soldiers to farmers and manufacturers . Di shift go women and children na di main important one, and e get clear reason wey dem state: masters dey give enslaved men wives from among di enslaved women, and di children wey dem born belong to di master . Dem value female captives therefore not just for work, but because dem dey multiply di master property.
Na dis be di bitter truth of di century for Yoruba women, and di stories of powerful women wey follow no suppose make person soften am. Di women wey become Ìyálóde just few. Di women wey dem capture plenti reach to change di population of di region biggest city.
Ojo study on ransoming na di best evidence about wetin dey happen between di time dem capture person and di time dem turn am to slave, and e show big system wey operate on market terms but get some exceptions wey no follow market rules.
Ransoming dey restore captive to freedom once dem pay money and e dey prevent di change into slavery, and di people wey capture dem support am because e dey bring money pass to sell di same captive . Wetin Ojo find out na say market forces, plus di ethnicity, gender, religion, class and skill of di captive, all of dem play big role on whether ransoming go succeed .
Di prices dey recorded. For Ìbàdàn around 1870 di average ransom na ten bags of cowries or one prime slave . For 1859 Ìjàyè forces catch around two hundred and forty Ọ̀yọ́ citizens and fix ransom at ten bags of cowries, wey be double di price of one prime slave for dat period . For 1881 di family of one old woman for Ejio near Kétu pay ransom for am by exchanging one prime female .
Three of Ojo cases show women inside di system from different angles.
Woman as captor: for 1883 at Abẹ́òkúta, Madam Ẹfúnpọ̀róyè Tinúbú catch one man wey im relative sleep with her female slave and demand di value of two and a half slaves as ransom, say if dem no pay she go sell am. Di captive family borrow di money and pawn eight of dia family members to pay di loan .
Woman as ransomer: for 1871 di wife of one Lagos trader wey dem hold for Porto Novo pay ten heads of cowries give chiefs make dem beg for her husband case and twelve bags of cowries plus eight cases of gin for di ransom itself .
Woman as di object: around 1838 civil war for Abẹmọ bring captives, and Ọlúyọ̀lé of Ìbàdàn accept one fine female captive as gift to appreciate am for di peace wey e make. Di girl mama mention family connection, tell am say "she cannot be your wife for she is your relative; we also are of the Basorun descent like yourself," and e release her after e collect fifteen heads of cowries, amount wey dey below market price wey act like fine for wetin for be incest .
Ojo still document two ritual ways wey women take escape slavery. Ọ̀yọ́ custom believe say person wey dey worship Òrìṣà Oko no suppose be slave, so if dem capture worshipper dem go release am without ransom, and as di cult spread from Ọ̀yọ́ enter Ẹ̀gbá districts, dat protection follow am; dem dey identify female devotees with small flat piece of white and red clay for dia forehead . To belong to di cult na, among other things, insurance.
When we put everything together, ransoming show society wey woman fate after capture depend heavily on whether family wey get money go act for her, wey be another way to say dat birth family tie wey dem describe for Marriage from the Woman's Side na, for dis century, wetin sometimes decide whether person go dey free or dem go sell am.
Di wars no only consume women. Dem create war economy, and women control big parts of am.
Yoruba armies dey operate far from home for long periods and dem need food, supplies and money. To supply food to camps, to move goods pass roads wey run through war zones, and especially to import and distribute firearms na di main business of di century, and women be key players for all di three.
Bọ́lańlé Awé main argument about di Ìyálóde dey follow straight from dis: di office get heavy power for nineteenth century against wetin be custom . Di office no become powerful because tradition make arrangement for am, but na because di century of wars expand di commercial and logistical role of women well-well, and di Ìyálóde come be di constitutional road wey dat new economic power take enter politics. For dis kind view, di most celebrated institution of Yoruba women authority na nineteenth-century product of di wars, no be ancient inheritance.
Di trade of weapons na di specific way e take happen. Di political power wey Ẹfúnṣetán Aníwúrà get for Ìbàdàn depend mostly on how she dey supply di town with weapons and military equipment . Tinúbú trade enslaved people take get guns from Brazilian and Portuguese traders, and she supply weapons to Abẹ́òkúta during di war with Dahomey . For state wey di whole constitution dey organized around war, person wey dey supply weapons get di kind power wey no formal title fit give.
Dis one na wetin person must talk plain without hiding anything, because di record of Yoruba women authority no be record of moral superiority.
Ẹfúnṣetán Aníwúrà, second Ìyálóde of Ìbàdàn from 1867 to 1874, get credit for roughly two thousand enslaved people and plenty farms, wey be traditional round number wey person suppose take as estimate. She trade farm produce, tobacco, enslaved people, local cosmetics and kìjìpà cloth for routes wey go reach Porto-Novo, Badagry and Ikorodu .
Ẹfúnróyè Tinúbú use her second husband connection take build business for Badagry wey dey exchange European salt and tobacco for enslaved people from Abẹ́òkúta, get credit for pass three hundred and sixty personal slaves, and continue slave trade for secret after di 1852 treaty ban di Atlantic trade for Lagos .
Na men destroy di two of dem politically: Ẹfúnṣetán wey di Àrẹ̀ Látòóṣà remove from position on 1 May 1874 and kill for her sleep on 30 June, and Tinúbú wey British consul pursue commot Lagos for 1856 . Di history debate on whether di offence wey dem record against Ẹfúnṣetán's na wickedness or disobedience dey set out for The Ìyálóde, where di argument say di story of wickedness na to justify di action of di man wey kill am dey examined against Foluke Ogunleye work and Akínwùmí Ìṣọ̀lá's play.
Wetin matter here na di structural point. To hold slaves na di normal way to hold wealth for nineteenth-century Ìbàdàn and Lagos. Women wey gather wealth gather am for di same way wey men do. No separate women economy dey for dis century wey free from am, and any record wey present di big Yoruba women traders as people wey dey against slavery dey go against wetin evidence show. Di popular talk say Tinúbú na repentant slave trader wey help end di practice dey spread well-well, and dis work reject am .
Another structural point dey, from Karin Barber material on Okuku, wey explain why na only few women reach dat level. "Big Women" no fit change wealth to reputation di way "Big Men" take dey do am, through land, wives and plenty children, and any woman wey show wealth like man go face accusation of àjẹ́ . Di Ìyálóde title na one of di very few proper routes wey woman fit take turn wealth to public respect, wey be part of why di office matter so much and why competition for am dey hot. Look Àjẹ́ and Our Mothers.
From di 1830s, Sierra Leonean recaptives wey come from Yoruba origin, di Ṣàró, begin return come Yorubaland, followed by Brazilian and Cuban returnees, di Àgùdà. Dem settle mostly for Lagos, Abẹ́òkúta and Ìbàdàn, and dem bring literacy, Christianity, European business connection and different model of family life.
Returnee women hold special position. Dem be traders, wey often get access to European credit and goods wey local traders no get, and na dem be di first group of Yoruba women for mission schools, wey make dem be di pool where di twentieth century educated women leaders come from. Fúnmiláyọ̀ Ransome-Kuti, wey dem born for Abẹ́òkúta for 1900 to father wey come from Sierra Leonean recaptive family wey go Anglican mission school, na direct product of dis community, and dem treat her career inside Colonial Encounter and Women's Resistance .
Di most important scholarly work on wetin happen to women for dis community na Kristin Mann Marrying Well (Cambridge University Press, 1985), study of marriage among di educated elite of colonial Lagos . Mann compare di two types of marriage wey di elite dey do, Yoruba and Christian, and examine how their conflicting legal rights and duties, house roles and views on polygamy and monogamy operate. Her conclusion na wetin matter for dis section: di two sexes react differently to marriage, because Christianity, Western education, and colonial legal and economic changes affect di roles and opportunities of women and men in different ways .
Di direction of dat difference dey set out inside Colonial Encounter and Women's Resistance. In short, Christian marriage and di ordinance form wey follow am put di couple economic interests together under di husband, for inside society where wife separate trade capital na di foundation of her independence before. Educated Lagos women gain schooling, status and access to new elite, and dem lose di economic separation wey make Yoruba wife an independent person on her own right.
Di evidence dey support one clear answer wey fit dey uncomfortable small: di century bring di highest documented level of female political and economic power for Yoruba history, and at di same time, di highest documented mass suffering of Yoruba women. Dis two things no dey fight each other. Na di same cause dem get.
Di argument say e lift women position. Di argument wey Awé make say di prominence of Ìyálóde na war-century development wey happen against custom, na im be di strongest version . Di wars expand di commercial sector wey women dey control, make supply and weapons become di main strategic things wey matter, and e give small number of women power and influence wey no structure before dat time offer dem. Dem don describe Tinúbú as di first woman wey play part for resistance against British rule .
Di argument say e bring am down. Majority of di women wey di wars affect, e affect dem as captives, as slaves, as pawns wey dem take pay ransom debt, and as di reproductive base for slaveholding. Di demography wey Ojo Ìbàdàn do document di shift towards female captives, with di reproductive reason clear . If you compare am with di few Ìyálóde, na dis one be di bigger reality.
Di synthesis. Both effects come from how dem militarise di economy. War pack trade put for di hands of people wey fit finance and move goods under dangerous condition, wey give few women big reward, and war bring captives, wey women dey among dem more and more. Di century no get single effect on top women because e no treat women as one single group: e give big advantage to small commercial elite among dem, and bring massive disaster for di rest. Dat na class outcome inside gender category, and if person look di century as golden age of Yoruba women power or as total suffering without relief, e go miss di point.
Another consequence follow enter di next century. Di wealth and di offices wey dem build for dis period rest on top one foundation, weapons trade and slave trade, wey colonial rule wipe commot. Di Ìyálóde continue as title enter twentieth century without di economic function wey make am get power before, and na part of why di office drop even before indirect rule finish di work.
How market authority was structured, how trade wealth converted into political leverage and where that conversion was blocked, the credit system that financed women's trade, and the twentieth-century associations that turned market organisation into a political instrument.
What mission schooling and Christian marriage did to women's economic independence, how indirect rule removed their political channel while continuing to tax them, and the Abẹ́òkúta Women's Union revolt that brought down an Aláké.
The fall of Ọ̀yọ́, the Ilọrin and Sokoto dimension, the Ọ̀wu war, the rise of Ìbàdàn, the Sixteen Years War at Kiriji, and the political map they left behind.
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 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.
An examination of Yoruba women during nineteenth-century warfare as military financiers, logisticians, captives, slaveholders, and political leaders under changing militarized state structures.