The Owo Kingdom

This is a history of Owo from her inception to the 20th century. Tracing her origin to Ife, Owo, a city-state located in eastern Yorubaland, developed relationships with her non – Yoruba speaking neighbour, the strong, expansionist Benin kingdom of the Edo people – in trade, culture and governance. Politically, Owo began to be impacted by the Benin system thereby creating a long history of endemic strife and internal instability – the effects of a marcher country. Although Owo’s political life never fully recovered from the disruptions imported by her contacts with Benin, she never ceased to be a relatively prosperous and autonomous kingdom. The same trends continued under British rule and in the context of independent Nigeria.