Ife
|
Ilé-Ifẹ̀ Ifè Oòyè |
|
|---|---|
 Ilé-Ifẹ̀
|
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| Coordinates: 7°28′N 4°34′E / 7.467°N 4.567°E | |
| State | Osun |
| LGA(s) |
Ife Central Ife East Ife North Ife South |
| Government | |
| • Ọọni | Ojaja II |
| • LGA Chairman, Ife Central | Taiwo Olaiya |
| • LGA Chairman, Ife North | Lanre Ogunyimika |
| • LGA Chairman , Ife South | Timothy Fayemi |
| • LGA Chairman, Ife East | Tajudeen Lawal |
| Area | |
| • Total | 1,791 km2 (692 sq mi) |
| Population (2006) | |
| • Total | 509,035 |
| • Density | 280/km2 (740/sq mi) |
| Climate | Aw |
Ife (Yoruba: Ifè, also Ilé-Ifẹ̀) is an ancient Yoruba city in south-western Nigeria. The city is located in the present day Osun State. Ife is about 218 kilometres (135 mi) northeast of Lagos.
According to Yoruba religion, Olodumare, the Supreme God, ordered Obatala to create the earth but on his way he found palm wine which he drank and became intoxicated. Therefore, the younger brother of the latter, Oduduwa, took the three items of creation from him, climbed down from the heavens on a chain and threw a handful of earth on the primordial ocean, then put a cockerel on it so that it would scatter the earth, thus creating the land on which Ile Ife would be built. Oduduwa planted a palm nut in a hole in the newly formed land and from there sprang a great tree with sixteen branches, a symbolic representation of the clans of the early Ife city-state. The usurpation of creation by Oduduwa gave rise to the ever lasting conflict between him and his elder brother Obatala, which is still re-enacted in the modern era by the cult groups of the two clans during the Itapa New Year festival. On account of his creation of the world Oduduwa became the ancestor of the first divine king of the Yoruba, while Obatala is believed to have created the first Yoruba people out of clay. The meaning of the word "ife" in Yoruba is "expansion"; "Ile-Ife" is therefore in reference to the myth of origin "The Land of Expansion".
Oduduwa had sons, daughters, and a grandson who went on to found their own kingdoms and empires, namely Ila Orangun, Owu, Ketu, Sabe, Popo and Oyo. Oranmiyan, Oduduwa's last born, was one of his father's principal ministers and overseer of the nascent Edo empire after Oduduwa granted the plea of the Edo people for his governance. When Oranmiyan decided to go back to Ile Ife after a period of service in Benin, he left behind a child named Eweka that he had in the interim with an indigenous princess. The young boy went on to become the first legitimate ruler of the second Edo dynasty that has ruled what is now Benin from that day to this. Oranmiyan later went on to found the Oyo Empire that stretched at its height from the western banks of the river Niger to the Eastern banks of the river Volta. It would serve as one of the most powerful of Africa's medieval states prior to its collapse in the 19th century.
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Wikipedia