Oba, Nigeria

Oba-Igbomina (in Yoruba correctly Ọ̀bà, but also written as Òbà), is an ancient Igbomina town in northeastern Isin Local Government Area of Kwara State. It is one of the five related Yoruba towns named "Oba", the others being

The original Ọ̀bà was the capital of an ancient Ọ̀bà civilization, a kingdom reputed in the oral history of the region as a center of great wealth and enterprise. Most of the extant Oba towns claim to be the original Oba or claim to be the oldest derivative of the ancient civilization.

Recent archaeological research results and published works of oral history experts, anthropologists and archeologists of the Arizona State University, USA and the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, of the region's contemporary and later settlements suggest that Ọ̀bà was founded between the 9th and 10th centuries. Regular conflicts with the neighbouring Nupe resulted in cycles of abandonment and reoccupation of the Òbà mother city.

British colonial records of Oba-Igbomina, indicate that the ancient Ọ̀bà kingdom usedd the "iron crown and rod" as the insignia of the king, perhaps as a result of their early involvement with iron-smelting and iron-working technology. Oratures makes references to idẹ which is brass, not irin, which is iron. Therefore, the "iron" crown and rod are more likely to be made from some alloy such as brass or bronze. Subsequent Yoruba kingdoms (perhaps including Oba), used beaded "crown and rod" insignia, possibly because precious stones and glassware replaced metalware as the symbol of high rank and wealth.

The ancient Ọ̀bà kingdom produced a series of diasporas which influenced several other Igbomina and non-Igbomina Yoruba kingdoms and towns. The earliest diaspora from the ancient Oba civilization is constituted by the five towns in Yorubaland with the name "Oba" (not to be confused with the differently pronounced Oba, a river in Yorubaland): two in Osun State, Oba-Ile near Ikirun, Oba-Oke near Ikirun adjoining Oba-Ile; one in Kwara State Oba-Igbomina - generally called Oba without the Igbomina or the historically recent Isin tag; and two in Ondo State, Oba-Ile near Akure, and Oba-Akoko. Although none of these is the original Oba, but that they are diaspora settlements of Oba people from the more ancient Oba.

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