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Militarism and Economic Development in Nineteenth Century Yoruba Country: The Ibadan Example

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2009

Bọlanle Awẹ
Bọlanle Awẹ
Affiliation:
University of Ibadan
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Extract

The ingredients for economic development were certainly present in the Yoruba country in the nineteenth century: land was available; labour was cheap and some of the towns like Ibadan were well placed for trade. But for this economic growth, militarism was a double-edged weapon. The needs of a military state, such as Ibadan, certainly gave it tremendous impetus; trade, agriculture, arts and crafts developed in response to the demands of the military, who constituted the new leadership. But in the final analysis all these economic activities needed peace for their full development; Ibadan, by the very nature of its birth and its commitment to military ideals and military solutions to the problems confronting the Yoruba country, could not, however, guarantee this peace. On the contrary, in its struggle for power and leadership within that country, it took actions which jeopardized the chances of peaceful economic development in Ibadan and other parts of the Yoruba country. Moreover the intermittent warfare, which characterized this country generally in the nineteenth century, injected an element of discontinuity into its economic growth, and placed some constraint on lasting economic development. The fact that agriculture, trade and industry still flourished in the Yoruba country, particularly in Ibadan, can therefore only be regarded as a pointer to the country's economic potentialities, rather than as an evidence of normal economic growth. But with the restoration of peace at the end of the century, and the introduction of British rule, Ibadan and the rest of the Yoruba country were poised for rapid economic development.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of African History , Volume 14 , Issue 1 , January 1973 , pp. 65 - 77
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1973

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References

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4 The praise names (Oriki) of these Ibadan warriors indicate too well the attributes of a leader within the community. For example, part of the Oriki of Balogun Ibikunle, the commander in chief of Ibadan's army in the 1850s reads thus: Ibikunle! the Lord of his Quarters, The Warrior! as regular as the Muslim prayers. The affluent with enough to spend and to spare at the brewery. Owner of farm land at Ogbere, Ibikunle also has a farm at Odo-Ona, A wide expanse of farm land, Extensive as far as the city wall at Adesegun, (Ibikunle) A stockist of bullet and gunpowder.

5 C.M.S. Archives, G. 3A2/03, Wood to Lang, 19 Aug. 1885.

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12 C.M.S. Archives, CA2/0496. D. Hinderer, op. cit.

13 Silversmithing is a general term for the art of working in metals other than iron, particularly copper, lead, silver and brass. In Ibadan, the silversmiths were responsible for making in these different metals the various accoutrements for the horses used by the Ibadan cavalry—Kese, spurs; Gaari, saddles; Ijanu, bridles; as well as Alukembu, special slippers worn by horsemen. They also made special containers, Ado, for holding poisoned bullets and the charms and medicines which the warriors took to the battlefield.

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17 J. F. A. Ajayi and R. Smith, op. cit., part II.

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23 Oluwo Labosinde and others.

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29 S. A. Akintoye, op. cit.