Heriberto Feraudy Espino

Born in 1940, writer, investigator, and polyglot. Graduated from the Administracion Publica and Licenciado in Political Science (University of Havana), he completed various tutorials and postgraduate courses. He took on various positions below. Most recently, he is heading a new UNEAC commission, la Comisión de lucha Contra el Racismo y la Discriminación, which succeeds the Color Cubano working groups.

Ministry of the Interior, functionary, 1959-1964
Director de Asistencia Tecnica, Universidad de la Habana, 1965
Ministry of Light Industry, functionary, 1968
Provincial Delegation, Ministry of Culture, Provincia de la Habana, Vicepresident, 1969
Centro Nacional de Ferias y Exposiciones Agropecuarias, Vice Director, 1971
Transport Ministry, functionary, 1974
Instituto Cubano de Amistad con los Pueblos (ICAP), Director for Africa and the Middle East (1975)
Ambassador of Cuba in: Zambia y Botswana (1981), República Federativa de Nigeria (1985), República de Mozambique y Reino de Lesotho, (1992)
Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Subdirector for the Dirección de Africa Subsaharian (1989);
Corporación Automotriz Latinoamericana, Manager (199597); 
United Nations, Consultant (2001). 

He has led seminars in various countries on issues around Cuban culture and the African presence in Cuba.

Heriberto Feraudy Espino (Cuba, 1940). Escritor, investigador y políglota. Graduado de Administración Pública y Licenciado en Ciencias Políticas (Universidad de La Habana). Ha realizado varias tutorías y cursos de postgrado. Ha desempeñado diversos cargos: 
Funcionario del Ministerio del Interior (1959/64); 
Director de Asistencia Técnica en La Universidad de La Habana (1965); 
Funcionario del Ministerio de la Industria Ligera (1968); 
Vicepresidente de la Delegación Provincial del Ministerio de Cultura en la Provincia de La Habana (1969); 
Vice Director en el Centro Nacional de Ferias y Exposiciones Agropecuarias (1971);
Funcionario del Ministerio de Transporte (1974); 
Director de Africa y Medio Oriente en el Instituto Cubano de Amistad con los Pueblos (1975),
Embajador de Cuba en: Zambia y Botswana (1981), República Federativa de Nigeria (1985), República de Mozambique y Reino de Lesotho, (1992); 
Subdirector de la Dirección de Africa Subsahariana en el Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores (1989); 
Gerente de la Corporación Automotriz Latinoamericana (199597); 
Consultor de las Naciones Unidas (2001). 

Ha impartido conferencias en distintos países sobre temas relacionados con la cultura cubana y la presencia africana en Cuba.

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Contact: feraudy1 at cubarte.cult.cu

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As it has been said, the creation of the new yorubas ´ kingdoms and emprires started with Ilé-Ifé and the legendary Oduduwa .

According to the tradition, before Oduduwa died, old, tired and almost blind, he gathered all his children and ordered them to found their own kingdoms, and each of them gave him a royal symbol.

The place where they met, in Ilé-Ifé is known as Ita Ijero (consultation place). Once there, they agreed on the best route to continue, and on the best way to maintain the future contacts.

Apparently, they established that any king´s title should be first recognized by the Ilé-Ifé ´s authorities.

It has been asserted that emigration was carried out in a martial and organized way, and that there was order and comradeship among the population.

The legend tells that the princes that went to the Northwest and the Southwest regions traveled together to a place called Ita-Marun , in Ipetumodu .

In the same way are remembered those who emigrated to the East, and finally settled down in Ado , Owo and Benin .

According to the traditions, these migrations were founders of many kingdoms; though it is probable that only some had suffered a change in their government, as it probably was the case of Benin .

It is difficult, maybe impossible, to know how many kingdoms arose from this movement; the number given ranges between seven and twenty-six.

It seemed that the dispersion took place at the end of the 7th Century, or the beginning of the 9th Century.

The historical events that took place in most of the kingdoms after the creation of this movement are not very clear, since most of the traditions or those who have collected them usually overlook the facts after the foundation, relatively focusing on the last period.

Notwithstanding, Atanda enumerates several factors that contributed to the creation of Ilé-Ifé movement, among which were:

a) Ambition on the side of the most adventurous members of the ruling families, who were looking for powerful areas;
b) A big pressure exerted by the population, since the soil available at Ilé-Ifé and its surroundings were inadequate.
c) A natural catastrophe, like an epidemic, or even a drought, which caused the population´s flow.
d) A political crisis as a result of which many or all the members of the Oduduwa dynasty had to migrate from Ilé-Ifé to other areas in Yorubaland.

According to this author, the main Ile-Ife kingdoms that settled in Yorubaland until 1 800, following the principle of dialectical homogeneity, the territorial unit and the political bonds and association, were: Owu , Ijebu , Ijesa , Ketu , Popo , Egba , Sabe , Dassa , Egbado , Igbomina , and the sixteen principalities Ekitiis , Owo and Ondo .

Owo is considered the oldest of all kingdoms, as well as its first king, Asunk Ungbade , whose mother was, according to the tradition, Oduduwa´s eldest daughter.

Owu established the capital in a prairie, to the north of the current Orile Owu . From here, Owu extended his domain, and there´s evidence that he, at a certain time, imposed his authority on the rising Oyo and Igbomina kingdom.

Because the original nucleus of this town was in the plains, it was possible that they developed a chivalry force before kingdoms as the Oyo .

This kingdom was destroyed during the civil wars that took place in the 19th Century.

Oyo ´s Empire

Oyo ´s Empire was the biggest and more powerful of all Yorubás kingdoms and, probably, the most interesting of those that emerged in the coastal and wooded regions of the Western Africa .

Oyo included non- yorubás states as Dahomey kingdom, and other yorubás regions as Ekiti and Ilesa .

Some authors coincide that it was created by the middle of the 14th Century, possibly between 1 388 and 1 431, and that its founder was Oranyán .

It is said that Orangan , embeded by with an adventurous spirit, traveled toward the Northwest of Ilé-Ifé with the purpose of creating a great kingdom. Stick to this idea, he settled in some place, approximately thirty miles from the Niger river, next to the territories of Nupe and Borgu .

This place, known as “Old Oyo-Ilé ”, became, provitionally, the empire´s capital. The region had between sixteen and thirty-two km.

At the beginning of the 16th Century, Oyo continued being a small state, hardly able to defend itself against the powerful neighbors: Borgu -to the North, and Nupe , to the Northwest. It was even conquered by the N upe by 1 550.

The story tells that once the empire was founded, Orayán abandoned Oyo and moved to Ilé-Ifé, where he died and was buried.

He was succeeded by his son, Ajaka , who was not very skillful in politics and the military art.

The empire needed a strong and audacious head; so Ajaka was deposed and substituted by his younger brother, Shangó , a powerful and ferocious warrior who became the fourth Alafín ( Oyos ´ king).

One of the feats attributed to Shangó is having freed Oyo from Owu , and having transferred the government´s headquarters from Oko –the place where Oranyán used to live-, toward Oyokoro or Oyo Ajaka – a much easier defending place.

Shangó ´s kingdom didn´t last so long, and it turned soon into misfortune, due to his hard and difficult relations with the main heads.

These contradictions and internal fights of all kind are constantly present in the political and military history of the yorubás .

The legend tells that alafín Shangó , disappointed and bored by the so many conflicts, went to Nupe , dying in the middle of the road. Some say he hung himself, others that he buried in the soil, helped by a chain.

Ajaka was called again to the throne, due to his peaceful nature. Shangó had been censored by his personality. People believed that this change would modify everything, but it happened that Ajaka , during the time he was far from the throne, had changed his personality, becoming an irascible, dynamic and aggressive man.

He immediately organized and declared a war against the nupe , which gave him some prestige among the population, as warrior and governor, in such a way that the internal authority of the alafinato was stable for some time.

The four following governors of Oyo , Agaju , Kori , Oluaso and Onigbogi continued with their task of building the kingdom and achieving a unique and long-lasting stability.

Agaju ´s kingdom was, above all, peaceful and prosperous; Kori was very young, something that gave birth to a constitutional problem, whose solution was the appointment of regents. The first one chosen was Basoru and, later on, L ayanyun , Kori ´s mother.

Once Kori achieved the coming of age, this young alafin recovered all his rights as governor. During his term, the frontier that separated Oyo from Ijesha was settled. Ede became Oyo´s border town; and Ijesha created Oshogbo town with a similar purpose.

Oluaso ´s kingdom continued being a quiet and prosperous state. Around fifty-four palaces were built there. It is affirmed that its main palace had one-hundred and twenty kobis (lateral walls).

The quietness and harmony began to crumble at the end of Onigbog i´s government, provoking a great disaster. It had begun well, with a government based on hopes and trust; but Borgu ´s neighbors, who had been defeated during the Ajaka period, waited for an opportunity to retaliate.

It is alleged that this opportunity arose when Oyo ´s army left their town to fight against the people of Ita Ibidun , leaving the capital defenseless. The tapa (Borgu´s population) took advantage of this, and invaded Oyo , defeating Oyo ´s army and expelling the residents from their land.

The defeat was a great lesson for the Oyos . It was made much more evident for the Oyo ´s population the need to develop a strong and powerful army, similar to that one of Borgu and Nupe .

They needed to strenghten their chivalry. The decision was made by alafin Onigbogi, and implemented by alafin Orompoto . This happened between 1 530 and 1 542.

To create the chivalry in Oyo ´s army was very difficult. The Northern part of Yorubaland , and other regions of Western Africa , was populated by two types of Tsé Tsé flies, which were very harmful for the horses.

The yorubás inhabiting the North region could maintain the equine, but they could not raise them. The solution was to buy stable supplies at the North of Niger, and train the soldiers after the tactics of the chivalry war

Orompoto organized an army with a rearguard integrated by 1 000 infantry soldier and 1 000 horsemen, becoming a good example of dexterity, training and leading military expeditions, aimed at enlarging and strengthening the empire.

This way Oyo had, for the first time, a chivalry army that shivered the entire region and others.

With this army the Oyos defeated their enemies Tapa and Barriba , and around 1 610, they were as powerful as to recover their previous capital Old Oyo , something they achieved during the reign of alafin Abipa.

Between this period and mid of the 18th Century existed a very advanced army, sufficiently strong to support the structure of the empire, having a powerful chivalry, a high level of discipline and a good organization.

The Oyo-Yoruba army had, as a habit, not to kill a defeated hero. If it was necessary to punish the enemy chiefs with the death penalty, the winners tried to ignore their existence. Such a practice meant that they would not intervene if the soldiers decided to eliminate him. If there was a king among the prisoners, they requested him to commit suicide, taking into account that he was sacred character.

Within the military structure we had the " eso "; that is, those military chiefs who were designated according to their merits, the same as the " are-ona-kakanto ".

The latter was the supreme Commander-in-Chief and head of the army. Following the tradition, he used to live in a border town of high strategic importance. In this way, he could be able to detect any threat or foreign attack.

This measure hindered him to intervene in political internal issues of great importance. His position was inherited.

Those Commanders who won the battles were honored in public, but if the kakanto or another chief was defeated during the battle, they could not return to their positions –according to the tradition-; they were humiliated and, in general, committed suicide or left their state for another, ashamed of their defeat.

According to the tradition, any important official that failed, the alafin or the are-ona-kakanfo , should die so that the empire could live.

It is said that by 1 750, Alafín Oyo was emperor of a territory that included Oyo´s Kingdom, Egba and Egbado, some regions of Igbomina , the whole kingdom of Ajase , Weme , and some territories of Tapa and Ibariba .

During that time, he maintained a strict control on the sea trade with the Europeans in Ajase (Porto Novo). One of the most significant victories during this expansion period was the conquer of Dahomey , which also became a tributary State.

It is estimated that the empire was extended over 200 miles toward the interior, and that the conquest lasted more than 200 years. More than 6 000 towns and villages were dominated in a direct or in an indirect way. Professor Abímbola affirms that the empire was extended up to some areas in Ghana , Togo and Benin .

According to him, there is more than twenty yorubas towns in Ghana at present. He also says that Nupe , B orgu and Igala were submitted to the Oyos for more than 300 years.

He´s categorical when affirming that the force of the empire lied in its diplomacy; that is, in its capacity to face the problems.

Although his power didn´t cover the entire Yorubaland , the Oyo´s empire became the biggest political unit and a stabilizing factor within the area. It is not surprising to hear that when the empire fell, at the beginning of the 19th Century, the effect of its collapse caused a great impact on the yorubas .

But what other factors, besides the military, contributed to the splendor of the empire?

Oyo´s geographical position was one of the factors. Its location along the trade route and the fact of being a main trade center to the South of Niger was extremely advantageous for the empire.

These routes connected it with many important markets, such as the hausa- located in one direction- and Gao , Timbuktú and Jenne -in the other.

Besides, it was located where the forest products were sold to the people from the savanna.

They also traded, as we have previously mentioned, with the Europeans through Porto Novo; but the Oyos were not only fortunated merchants; their industrial ability also accelerated the growth of the empire; their abilities with the spun, and the dyeing and knitting of cotton suits; the engravings and decoration of objects drew the attention of the merchants all-round-the-world.

The casters were also very famous. They used to import different products, among which were salt, leather and glassware. They also had fertile lands that favored agriculture. All this allowed became them very rich.

It is said that the alafin from Onisile built seven silver doors for the seven entrances of his bedroom in the palace.

During the same royal period the shekere was made with very expensive materials.

For Olatun Bosun : "The ethnic homogeneity also contributed to the growth of Oyo ´s empire. A vast majority living there had similar customs. They spoke, for example, the same language, considered Ifé their spiritual house and Oduduwa the creator of their race"

The fact of having a central government and a strict control over the different states that paid tribute to this empire, plus a great economic development and ability to lead and solve the main problems, made Oyo a true power region in all Western Africa.

Translation: Roxana Marquez Herrera 

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