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Enclosures of the Old Oyo Empire, Nigeria

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Abstract

According to the oral tradition of Oyo people, Koso was a former capital city of the Oyo Empire. There are three earlier capitals near the Niger River. The people moved to Koso for security reasons and settled on Koso Hill and below the Bara Mountain. They later moved further South to Oyo Ile, then to Ipapo Ile, Igboho, and back to Oyo Ile before they finally settled at the present Oyo, 52 km northeast of Ibadan (Abimbola, 1964; Agbaje Williams, 1989; Aremu, 1997; Babayemi, 1980; Morton-Williams, 1967). Bara is about 3 kilometers northwest of Koso. It was a settlement site where late Alaafins were buried. Extending Oyo Ile to Koso and Bara would provide some of the rich historical, archaeological and cultural materials of the ancient Oyo.

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Aremu, D.A. (2016). Enclosures of the Old Oyo Empire, Nigeria. In: Emeagwali, G., Shizha, E. (eds) African Indigenous Knowledge and the Sciences. Anti-colonial Educational Perspectives for Transformative Change. SensePublishers, Rotterdam. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6300-515-9_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6300-515-9_11

  • Publisher Name: SensePublishers, Rotterdam

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-6300-515-9

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