The Ijaye War grew from a constitutional dispute into a major struggle over power in nineteenth century Yorubaland. Its central military campaign began in 1860 and ended with the destruction of Ijaye in March 1862, while conflicts generated by the war continued for roughly three more years. Historians have therefore also treated the wider struggle as extending from 1860 to 1865.
At the centre of the crisis stood Kurunmi, the Aare Ona Kakanfo and ruler of Ijaye, Alaafin Adelu of the reconstructed Oyo monarchy, and the increasingly powerful military state of Ibadan.
The war cannot be understood simply as the story of an old general resisting a new king. It emerged from the political transformation that followed the collapse of Old Oyo. The Alaafin still commanded enormous prestige, but military power had become dispersed among new centres such as Ibadan and Ijaye. Atiba had managed this unstable system through personal authority, political alliances and the distribution of important titles.
His death exposed its weaknesses.
Yorubaland After Old Oyo
The collapse of Old Oyo during the early nineteenth century transformed the political geography of Yorubaland. Refugees, warriors and displaced communities established or strengthened new towns, while the reconstructed Oyo monarchy was established at Ago Oja, the settlement that became the new Oyo.
Ibadan developed into the most formidable of the new military centres. Its victory over forces from Ilorin at Osogbo around 1840 strengthened its reputation and helped establish it as a major regional power.
Ijaye also became an important military and agricultural centre. Kurunmi, one of the leading soldiers of his generation, was appointed Aare Ona Kakanfo under Alaafin Atiba, holding one of the greatest military offices in the Oyo political tradition.
Kurunmi and leading Ibadan commanders had not always been enemies. Ijaye and Ibadan had shared interests and connections, and both belonged to the political world reconstructed after the collapse of the old empire.
By the late 1850s, however, the relationship between Kurunmi and the Oyo crown had deteriorated.
Ijaye War and the Succession Crisis
The immediate constitutional controversy concerned the position of the Aremo, the crown prince.
In the earlier period of Oyo history, the eldest son could succeed his father. Over time, however, the Aremo acquired substantial political authority while the Alaafin was still alive. A practice eventually developed under which the Aremo was expected to die when his father died.
That practice remained influential until Alaafin Atiba changed it.
In 1858, Atiba abolished the requirement in favour of allowing his eldest son, Adelu, to succeed him through the royal succession process.
Atiba anticipated resistance. Before his death, he reminded the Ibadan chiefs of the succession arrangement and asked them to support Adelu. They agreed.
After Atiba died in 1859, Adelu became Alaafin.
Kurunmi rejected him.
For Kurunmi, the established custom of his time required the Aremo to die with his father. He refused to travel to Oyo to pay homage to Adelu and favoured the selection of another prince.
The disagreement was serious because Kurunmi was not merely an individual protesting a royal decision. He controlled Ijaye, commanded soldiers and held one of the most prestigious military titles inherited from the Oyo political system.
Relations between Atiba and Kurunmi had already deteriorated before the succession. Adelu’s accession therefore widened an existing political breach rather than creating the entire dispute from nothing.
The Ijanna Incident That Turned Rivalry Into War
The crisis became more dangerous after the death of a wealthy woman named Abu at Ijanna.
Abu died intestate and without heirs. Under the rule recognised by the Oyo crown, her property reverted to the Alaafin. The situation was complicated because Ijanna was directly under Ijaye’s influence.
Different groups in the town appealed to Oyo and Ijaye.
Adelu sent representatives with an armed escort to take possession of Abu’s property. Kurunmi also sent forces. The Oyo party was attacked and dispersed.
A later confrontation occurred as Oyo soldiers and traders travelled between Iseyin and Oyo. Ijaye forces intercepted them and captured about 240 people, excluding several minor chiefs.
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Adelu repeatedly demanded the captives’ release.
Kurunmi refused.
The confrontation was no longer simply about succession. Kurunmi was now directly resisting the exercise of royal authority associated with Adelu.
The Alaafin turned to Ibadan.
War Begins in April 1860
Ibadan’s leaders debated the proposed campaign. Balogun Ibikunle, the commander in chief, was initially reluctant to fight Ijaye.
The two cities had deep social and economic connections. Their inhabitants intermarried, shared traditions and had previously fought within the same broader political world. Ijaye’s productive agricultural country also supplied food to Ibadan.
Other voices in Ibadan nevertheless favoured war.
Formal preparations followed. On 10 April 1860, Ibikunle carried Ibadan’s war standard out for the campaign.
The Ijaye War had begun in earnest.
Kurunmi prepared his defences, while both sides sought allies and supplies. The conflict quickly expanded beyond a confrontation between Ijaye and Ibadan.
The Egba eventually became major supporters of Ijaye. Other towns and political interests became involved as the war disrupted trade routes, access to ammunition and communications across the region.
What had begun with disagreement over the Oyo succession was becoming a wider contest over the balance of power in Yorubaland.
The Long Siege of Ijaye
The campaign demonstrated that neither side could easily defeat the other.
Fighting moved progressively closer to Ijaye. The Ose River became an important military position as Ibadan forces attempted to advance towards the city while Ijaye and its allies resisted them.
Supply lines became crucial. Armies required food, ammunition, reinforcements and access to trade routes. Warfare therefore extended far beyond direct battles between soldiers.
Ibadan itself faced difficulties. At one stage, its ammunition was severely depleted. Hostile activity along important routes threatened its communications and trade.
Ijaye, however, suffered increasingly severe pressure as the campaign continued.
The destruction or loss of communities supplying the city became particularly damaging. Ibadan forces under Ogunmola attacked areas connected to Ijaye’s food and military supply network. The cutting of supplies from the Oke Ogun area became a major blow.
For a defended nineteenth century city, losing access to productive farms could be as destructive as losing a battle.
The siege increasingly became a struggle over survival.
Kurunmi’s Final Reverses and Death
The military situation deteriorated dramatically for Kurunmi.
Several of his sons were killed during the campaign, including during operations associated with Ogunmola’s attack on Iwawun. The loss of important supporters and supply routes compounded Ijaye’s difficulties.
Kurunmi continued to resist but was an ageing commander confronting an Ibadan military establishment dominated by experienced fighting chiefs.
Kurunmi died in June 1861, while the war was still under way and after severe military and personal reverses.
Leadership of Ijaye subsequently rested heavily with Abogunrin, Kurunmi’s head slave and trusted subordinate, who controlled important resources and played a major role in the city’s remaining resistance.
The death of Kurunmi did not immediately end the war.
How Ijaye Was Defeated
By early 1862, Ibadan forces had crossed the Ose and established themselves closer to the city. Ijaye’s access to supplies had narrowed severely. Food shortages and the inability to use surrounding farmland placed extraordinary pressure on the population.
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Christian missionaries were present during the final days of the city.
On 15 March 1862, Lieutenant Dolbein of HMS Prometheus arrived at Ijaye accompanied by Edward Roper of the Church Missionary Society. They had come in connection with the mission headed by the Rev. Adolphus Mann.
A battle was fought on 16 March.
The following day, Adolphus Mann and Mrs Mann left Ijaye with Lieutenant Dolbein because of Mrs Mann’s poor health. Roper remained temporarily at the mission.
Their departure coincided with the final collapse of resistance. Egba forces and large numbers of inhabitants began leaving. Ibadan forces entered the city soon afterwards, and Ijaye was destroyed.
By the second half of March 1862, the great military centre that had challenged both the Oyo crown and Ibadan had ceased to exist as an independent regional power.
The Human Cost of the Ijaye War
The conflict caused heavy losses among soldiers and civilians.
One striking account concerned Ogunmola, an Ibadan commander who reportedly ordered the caps of his soldier slaves killed in battle to be collected. At the end of the Ijaye campaign, 1,800 caps were said to have been counted.
Deaths in combat represented only part of the human cost.
Siege conditions brought hunger. Captivity and enslavement accompanied nineteenth century warfare. Families were dispersed, farms were abandoned and communities were broken apart.
Many surviving Ijaye inhabitants fled towards Abeokuta. An Ijaye refugee settlement known as Ago Ijaye developed there.
The destruction of the city therefore altered not only the military balance of Yorubaland but also its demographic landscape.
Why the War Continued Beyond 1862
The direct campaign against Ijaye ran from 1860 until the city’s destruction in March 1862. The political and military struggles created by the conflict, however, continued for approximately another three years.
Among the places caught in the aftermath was Awaye, which had supported Ijaye with supplies and later faced an Ibadan campaign.
The broader Ijaye War of 1860 to 1865 therefore encompassed more than the siege of Ijaye itself. The destruction of the city removed Kurunmi’s stronghold, but it did not immediately end the alliances, grievances and military struggles generated by the conflict.
The fall of Ijaye in 1862 did not bring regional peace.
Misconceptions About the Ijaye War
The war is sometimes reduced to the idea that Kurunmi fought merely because he was a stubborn defender of tradition.
His objection to Adelu’s succession was genuine, but the political dispute was deeper. Relations with Atiba had already deteriorated, and Ijaye possessed enough military power for Kurunmi to challenge the crown in practice.
Another misconception is that Ibadan’s victory was inevitable.
It was not.
Ibadan suffered serious losses and experienced shortages during the campaign. Ijaye resisted for almost two years and had important allies. Victory depended on sustained campaigning, the preservation of Ibadan’s own supply networks and the gradual destruction of those available to Ijaye.
Nor did the fall of Ijaye make Ibadan the uncontested ruler of all Yorubaland.
It greatly strengthened Ibadan by eliminating a formidable western rival, but regional resistance to Ibadan continued and contributed to later conflicts during the nineteenth century.
How Osogbo Fits Into the Story
The Battle of Osogbo around 1840 did not cause the Ijaye War.
Its significance lies in what it reveals about Ibadan’s rise.
Ibadan’s success against Ilorin forces at Osogbo helped establish its military reputation at a crucial period after the collapse of Old Oyo. During the following two decades, the city expanded its influence and developed one of the most powerful military establishments in Yorubaland.
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By 1860, Alaafin Adelu was therefore turning to an established regional power when he sought support against Kurunmi.
Osogbo demonstrated Ibadan’s growing strength.
Ijaye demonstrated how decisively that strength could alter the balance among Yoruba powers themselves.
Conclusion
The Ijaye War was simultaneously a succession crisis, a contest over political authority and a military struggle between powerful centres created by the transformation of the old Oyo world.
Atiba’s decision to alter the rule governing the Aremo prepared the ground for Adelu’s accession. Kurunmi rejected that succession and refused to recognise the new Alaafin. Existing tensions between Ijaye and the crown then intensified.
The dispute over Abu’s estate at Ijanna converted political hostility into direct confrontation. Captures, failed negotiations and Adelu’s appeal to Ibadan eventually produced open war in April 1860.
For nearly two years, Ijaye resisted.
Ibadan eventually prevailed through sustained military pressure and the progressive disruption of Ijaye’s food and supply networks. Kurunmi died in June 1861. Ijaye collapsed in March 1862.
Its destruction transformed the regional balance of power, but it did not bring immediate peace. The struggles flowing from the war continued for several years, extending the wider conflict to about 1865.
The ruins of Ijaye marked one of the most consequential turning points in nineteenth century Yoruba political history.
Author’s Note
The central lesson of the Ijaye War is that political institutions can survive the collapse of an empire without restoring the balance of power that once sustained them. New Oyo preserved the Alaafin and the legitimacy of the monarchy, while cities such as Ibadan and Ijaye accumulated formidable military strength of their own. Alaafin Atiba managed that tension during his lifetime, but his death exposed the unresolved question of where effective authority rested. Kurunmi’s dispute with Adelu brought that contradiction into the open. What followed was not merely a quarrel over custom, but a struggle over succession, sovereignty, resources and regional power. Ijaye’s destruction strengthened Ibadan, displaced thousands of people and left political consequences that endured long after the city itself had fallen.
References
Samuel Johnson, The History of the Yorubas: From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the British Protectorate, edited by Obadiah Johnson, London, 1921, Chapters XVIII and XIX.
R. S. Smith, “Ijaiye, the Western Palatinate of the Yoruba”, Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria, Vol. 2, No. 3, 1962, pp. 329–349.
J. F. Ade Ajayi and Robert Smith, Yoruba Warfare in the Nineteenth Century, Cambridge University Press in association with the Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan, 1964.
