Oyo Empire Oyo Empire The Oyo Empire was a Yoruba empire of what is today Western and North central Nigeria. Established in the 15th century, the Oyo Empire grew to become one of the largest West African states. It rose through the outstanding organizational and administrative skills of the Yoruba people, wealth gained from trade and its powerful cavalry. The Oyo Empire was the most politically important state in the region from the mid-17th to the late 18th century, holding sway not only over most of the other kingdoms in Yorubaland, but also over nearby African states, notably the Fon Kingdom of
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,