Oyo Empire tsetse fly. Cavalry was the long arm of the Oyo Empire. Late 16th and 17th century expeditions were composed entirely of cavalry. There were drawbacks to this. Oyo could not maintain its cavalry army in the south but could raid at will. Cavalry in highly developed societies such as Oyo was divided into light and heavy. Heavy cavalry on larger imported horses was armed with heavy thrusting lances or spears and also with swords. Light cavalry on smaller indigenous ponies was armed with throwing spears or bows. Infantry in the region around the Oyo Empire was uniform in both armor
History of the Yoruba people to earth. They became popular with their trading with the Portuguese, which gave them guns for their trade. The Yoruba people were invaded by the Fulani which pushed the people to the South. In the late 1800's, they formed a treaty with the Fulani people and were colonized with the British in 1901. The people who lived in Yorubaland, at least by the seventh century BC, were not initially known as the Yoruba, although they shared a common ethnicity and language group. The historical Yoruba develop "in situ", out of earlier (Mesolithic) Volta-Niger populations, by the 1st millennium BC. Archaeologically,