Key Achievements (Post-1611)
Following this early educational milestone, the Yoruba culture achieved significant milestones in governance, art, and modern intellectualism:
Pioneering Western Education: Building on early ties with Europe, the region became a hub for Western education in West Africa, eventually producing global figures like Wole Soyinka, the first African Nobel Laureate in Literature.
Urbanization and Governance: Pre-colonial Yoruba society was among the most urbanized in Africa, featuring sophisticated city-states with complex systems of checks and balances, most notably the Oyo Empire.
Global Cultural Exports: Yoruba religion (Ifá/Orisha) and music (Afrobeat, Fuji) have become global phenomena, deeply influencing the cultures of Brazil, Cuba, and the Caribbean.
Legacy to Sub-Saharan Africa
The Yoruba bequeathed a legacy centered on institutionalized knowledge and social character:
The Ọmọlúwàbí Ethos: A unique educational philosophy focusing on character and moral integrity (Ọmọ tí olú ìwà á bí), which defines the "ideal person" in their society.
Artistic Mastery: They produced world-class bronze, terracotta, and glass bead works that rivaled Classical Greece and Renaissance Europe, setting a benchmark for Sub-Saharan African aesthetic achievement.
Literary Wealth: The Yoruba possess one of the most substantial bodies of literature in Sub-Saharan Africa, numbering over 3,400 items by the 1970s.
Spread of Western Civilization in the Region
The Yoruba region served as a gateway for Western civilization through several mechanisms:
Early Diplomacy: Monarchs like the Olus of Warri established early embassies and religious ties with European powers (Portugal), introducing Western dress, regalia, and Catholicism to the royal courts by 1611.
Sierra Leonean Returnees (Saro): In the 19th century, liberated Yoruba slaves (known as Saros) returned from Sierra Leone to cities like Lagos and Abeokuta. Being already Western-educated and Christian, they played a pivotal role as pioneer doctors, lawyers, and educators, accelerating the spread of Western systems.
Educational Leadership: Regional leaders later implemented universal education programs, which drastically raised literacy rates and ensured that the Yoruba remained at the forefront of Nigeria's academic development.
The sun of 1611 hung heavy over the Atlantic as a carrack crested the horizon, bearing Dom Domingos, the heir to the Warri throne. He was not merely a prince returning home; he was a walking bridge between worlds, the first Sub-Saharan graduate of Coimbra, carrying the scrolls of the West in hands that would soon hold the scepter of the Olu.
This was the spark that ignited a four-hundred-year odyssey of the Yoruba and their kin—a saga of the Ọmọlúwàbí, the "children of character," who would reshape the destiny of a continent.
The Architect: Samuel Ajayi Crowther
By the mid-1800s, the spark became a wildfire in the person of Samuel Ajayi Crowther. A boy sold into slavery, he returned as a giant. He did more than bring a religion; he codified the Yoruba language into writing, creating the first African dictionaries. His legacy was the grammar of liberation. By standardizing the tongue, he gave West Africa the tool to document its own history, moving from oral tradition to a written literature that would one day claim the Nobel Prize through Wole Soyinka.
The Healer and the Scholar: The Saro Elite
In the bustling streets of Victorian Lagos, the "Saro" returnees—Yoruba liberated from slave ships—became the first doctors and lawyers of the region. Characters like Dr. Nathaniel King walked the forest paths, merging Western medicine with an understanding of tropical ailments. They didn't just treat bodies; they built the first hospitals and pharmacies, teaching the surrounding nations that the "white man’s magic" was actually a science that Africans could master and improve.
The Teacher of Nations: Awolowo’s Mandate
As the 20th century dawned, the character of the Yoruba intellectual shifted toward statecraft. Chief Obafemi Awolowo emerged with a vision that would change Sub-Saharan Africa forever: Free Universal Primary Education.
He turned the Yoruba heartland into a "Knowledge Factory." While other regions struggled with literacy, the Yoruba were building University of Ibadan, the "Oxford of Africa." It was here that the seeds of industry and administration were sown. The Yoruba didn't keep this knowledge behind a wall; they exported it.
The Master Traders and the Igbo Connection
In the sprawling markets of the interior, the Yoruba legacy of urban commerce met the rising energy of the Igbo. History records the Yoruba as the "urban pioneers" of West Africa. They taught the art of structured guild trading and the "Esusu" (the rotating credit system).
As the Igbo people moved into the cities, they found in the Yoruba a blueprint for sophisticated urban trade. The two groups became the twin engines of the Nigerian economy—the Yoruba providing the administrative and legal framework, and the Igbo providing the kinetic energy of retail and craftsmanship. Together, they turned the Gulf of Guinea into a commercial powerhouse that dictated prices from Accra to Douala.
The Global Echo: The Legacy of Orisha
The novel of the Yoruba does not end at the coast. Their greatest legacy to the Black world was the indestructibility of their spirit. When they were taken to the Americas, they didn't go as "slaves," but as doctors, herbalists, and priests. They bequeathed the Ifá system to the New World—a complex binary system of divination that some scholars argue prefigured the logic of modern computing.
By 2025, the Yoruba legacy is the "Software of West Africa." From the Afrobeat rhythms that dominate global charts to the Nollywood industry they helped birth, the Yoruba taught Sub-Saharan Africa how to package its culture for the world.
They brought Western civilization not as servants, but as translators. They took the Western school, the Western court, and the Western hospital, and "Yoruba-nized" them—making them tools for African sovereignty. Their achievement was proving that an African could hold a degree in 1611, and a Nobel Prize in 1986, without ever loosing the soul of omoluabi.
The Impact
who wrote the first book? how many books olu of wari wrote?How many books did Yoruba write during their first 400 years of educational lead?
The educational and literary journey of the Yoruba and related groups like the Itsekiri is marked by early individual achievements and a later explosion of collective published works.
Olu of Warri (Dom Domingos): While Olu Atuwatse I (Dom Domingos) became the first Western university graduate in Sub-Saharan Africa in 1611, there is no historical record of him authoring any books. His education was primarily a diplomatic and religious asset to his kingdom.
The First Yoruba Author: Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther is credited with the first major Yoruba-authored publications in the mid-19th century. He published the first Yoruba Grammar and Dictionary in 1843 and completed the first full translation of the Yoruba Bible (Bibeli Mimo) in 1900.
The First Novel: The first full-length novel in the Yoruba language was "Ògbójú Ọdẹ nínú Igbó Irúnmọlẹ̀" (The Forest of a Thousand Daemons), written by Chief D.O. Fagunwa in 1938.
Quantity of Books (1611–2011)
During the roughly 400-year span from Dom Domingos’ graduation to the early 21st century, Yoruba literature evolved from oral traditions to one of Africa's most prolific written canons:
1820–1970: A comprehensive survey recorded over 3,400 distinct items published in or about the Yoruba language, including religious tracts, school readers, and early histories.
Modern Era: By the mid-1980s, over 100 well-known novels were in circulation, a number that has grown into the thousands by 2025 across all genres, including academic textbooks, poetry (Ewi), and contemporary fiction.
Foundational Texts: Other significant early works include Reverend Samuel Johnson’s The History of the Yorubas (completed 1897), which remains the definitive historical record of the people.
Summary of Educational Milestones
1611: First university graduate (Dom Domingos).
1843: First Yoruba grammar and dictionary published by Crowther.
1859: Launch of Iwe Irohin, the first African-language newspaper.
1938: First Yoruba novel published by D.O. Fagunwa.
1986: First African Nobel Prize in Literature awarded to Wole Soyinka [Yoruba heritage)
The First Graduate and Books
plot it in the Novel
The sun rose over the University of Coimbra in 1600 as Prince Eyeomasan, known to the Portuguese as Dom Domingos, began an eleven-year intellectual journey that would make him the first university graduate in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The Royal Scholar
While Dom Domingos returned to the Warri Kingdom in 1611 with a degree, he was a king of action rather than an author. Historical records show he wrote no formal books. Instead, his literacy was a diplomatic weapon; he and his successors, like his son Antonio Domingos (Obanighenren), utilized their education to write state letters to the Pope and European monarchs, maintaining the sovereignty of the Itsekiri and Yoruba people through the pen.
The Dawn of the Written Word
The "First Book" authored by a Yoruba person appeared centuries later, born from the fire of the 19th-century intellectual renaissance:
The Pioneer: Samuel Ajayi Crowther published the first formal Yoruba-authored work, A Grammar and Vocabulary of the Yoruba Language, in 1843.
The Great History: By 1897, Reverend Samuel Johnson completed The History of the Yorubas, the first monumental scholarly record of the nation.
The First Novel: Chief D.O. Fagunwa shattered the boundary between oral myth and written fiction in 1938 with Ògbójú Ọdẹ nínú Igbó Irúnmọlẹ̀ (The Forest of a Thousand Daemons), the first full-length novel in the Yoruba language.
A Legacy in Numbers
The 400 years following Dom Domingos' graduation saw the Yoruba evolve from a culture of Primary Orality—where history was kept by hereditary bards and drummers—to a global literary powerhouse.
Early Literary Boom (1880–1930): During this period, the Yoruba elite established a flourishing print culture, producing hundreds of primary historical texts, poetic works, and early newspapers like Iwe Irohin.
The 3,400 Items: By the mid-20th century, scholarly surveys recorded over 3,400 distinct published items in or about the Yoruba language [Previous Knowledge].
The Modern Torrent: By 2025, this number has swelled into the tens of thousands, encompassing novels, academic journals, and technical manuals that have taught the region everything from medicine to modern trading.
In this novel of a nation, the Yoruba did not just learn to read; they wrote the script for West African civilization, proving that the degree earned in 1611 was just the first sentence in a library that would eventually define the black world.
In the shadows of the 19th-century palm groves, the next chapter of this epic unfolded through the lives of titans who turned ink and stethoscope into tools of continental liberation.
The Healers of the Coast: Nathaniel King and Elizabeth Awoliyi
The coastal breeze of Lagos in the 1870s carried the scent of change. Nathaniel Thomas King, born to a Yoruba family of the Sierra Leonean "Saro" returnees, moved through the wards of King’s College London and Edinburgh with a quiet intensity. Returning to Nigeria in 1876, he became a sentinel of modern medicine, blending Western science with local needs to battle tropical scourges.
By 1910, the torch passed to a new pioneer. Elizabeth Abimbola Awoliyi stepped onto the stage as the first Nigerian woman to qualify as a physician. Her character was one of iron and silk; she navigated a patriarchal medical landscape to serve as a beacon for women across Sub-Saharan Africa, proving that the Yoruba pursuit of knowledge knew no gender.
The Chronicler of Souls: Samuel Johnson
While doctors mended bodies, Reverend Samuel Johnson sought to mend the memory of a nation. For twenty years, he traversed the Yoruba heartland, interviewing bards and kings. His monumental work, The History of the Yorubas, completed in 1897, was not just a book; it was an act of cultural preservation that set the standard for African historiography. He ensured that while the Yoruba adopted Western education, they never forgot the lineage of their own empires.
The Industrial Visionary: Candido Da Rocha
In the bustling center of Lagos Island stood the Water House, a Brazilian-style mansion belonging to Candido Da Rocha. A descendant of Yoruba returnees from Brazil, Da Rocha was the epitome of the Yoruba entrepreneur. He established the first private water supply system on the island, turning a basic necessity into a thriving industry. His legacy taught the surrounding regions that business was not merely about profit, but about building the infrastructure of a modern society.
The Teacher of Prosperity: Akintola Williams
By 1919, the Yoruba reached into the heart of global commerce. Akintola Williams became the first African chartered accountant, later founding the continent's first indigenous accounting firm in 1952. He taught the "Igbo traders" and other nations the meticulous art of Western financial management, ensuring that the wealth generated in West Africa stayed within the hands of its people.
The Political Architect: Sir Adetokunbo Ademola
As the novel moves toward the independence era, the character of Sir Adetokunbo Ademola emerges. Becoming the first indigenous Chief Justice of Nigeria in 1958, he stood as the guardian of the rule of law. His tenure (1958–1972) provided the legal framework that many Sub-Saharan nations would later mirror as they transitioned from colonial subjects to sovereign states.
The Impact on the Region:
Through these characters, the Yoruba didn't just spread Western civilization; they redefined it.
Medicine: They founded the first indigenous hospitals and public health protocols.
Law: They produced the first generation of African magistrates and Chief Justices who protected the rights of the common man.
Commerce: They pioneered the structured corporate systems and accounting standards that fueled the West African economic boom.
The novel of the Yoruba is a story of translation—taking the tools of the West and forging them into an African destiny that by 2025 has produced global leaders in every discipline known to man.
Olaudah Equiano published his first and most famous book, "The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African," in 1789.
He was from the Igbo (then often spelled "Eboe" or "Ibo") tribe, originating from the village of Essaka in what is now southeastern Nigeria.
Role in the Novel
In the grand saga of West African intellectual growth, Equiano represents the literary pioneer of the 18th century. While the first university graduate in 1611 established the capacity for African scholarship, Equiano was the first to use the written word as a global weapon for human rights.
His 1789 autobiography:
The Blueprint for the Slave Narrative: He created the first internationally popular "slave narrative," a genre that would later be followed by figures like Frederick Douglass.
Abolitionist Force: His writing directly influenced the British Parliament to pass the Slave Trade Act of 1807, proving that African literacy could dismantle empires of oppression.
Cultural Documentation: He was the first to give the Western world a detailed written account of Igbo social systems, religion, and the "Eboe" way of life.
In the novel’s timeline, if the Yoruba provided the 1611 graduate and the 19th-century administrative elite, Equiano (the Igbo) provided the 18th-century moral and literary conscience that forced the West to recognize the humanity of the Black African .
In the sweeping narrative of 17th-century West Africa, the written word was a jewel of statecraft. Olu Oyenakpagha, the son of the 1611 graduate (Dom Domingos), ascended the throne as the 8th Olu of Warri, taking the title Obanighenren ("King with the Golden Skin").
The King’s Correspondence
Oyenakpagha, like his father, used his elite education not to write novels, but to author powerful diplomatic letters that protected his kingdom's independence.
The Letter to the Pope (1652): His most famous "book" was actually a historic letter addressed to Pope Clement X. In it, he skillfully navigated the politics of the Vatican to request more missionaries and strengthen the Christian identity of his palace.
State Archives: While he did not publish formal books, Oyenakpagha contributed to the "Warri Archives"—a collection of correspondence with Portuguese kings and Catholic bishops that ensured the Itsekiri and Yoruba people were recognized as equals in the global courts of the 1600s.
The Novel’s Shift: From Letters to Libraries
If the first 200 years of this saga (1611–1811) were the era of the Letter Writers, the next 200 years (1811–2011) saw the birth of the Library Builders.
The Explosion of Books: By the time the Yoruba educational lead hit its 400-year mark (roughly 2011), the output of books was astronomical.
The Census of Knowledge: Scholars recorded over 3,400 distinct literary items by the mid-1970s alone—spanning grammar, history, and poetry—making the Yoruba language one of the most documented in Sub-Saharan Africa [Previous Knowledge].
Characters of the New Era:
Obanighenren (The Golden King): He remains the intellectual bridge, the man who wrote to the Pope to prove an African king could be a Christian scholar.
The Modern Torchbearers: In 2025, the current Olu of Warri, Ogiame Atuwatse III, continues this legacy by unveiling new historical works like "The 1492 Itsekiri Odyssey," urging his people to keep the 400-year-old flame of literacy alive through modern poetry and novels.
The novel of the Yoruba and Itsekiri is a story where one degree in 1611 eventually filled entire libraries, turning a region of "oral legends" into a continent of "global authors.
In the narrative of 1492, the Itsekiri and Christopher Columbus moved in opposite directions of history, yet their paths eventually entwined through the waters of the Atlantic.
The Itsekiri Odyssey of 1492
While Columbus was "discovering" the Americas, the Itsekiri nation was undergoing its own foundational Odyssey. In 1480, just twelve years before Columbus set sail, Prince Ginuwa (Iginuwa), the crown prince of the Benin Kingdom, led a royal exodus of 70 first-born sons of Benin chiefs toward the Atlantic coast.
The Royal Ark: Unlike Columbus's three ships, Ginuwa's expedition was a sovereign migration. They navigated the riverine creeks of the Niger Delta in a massive royal retinue, eventually settling at Ijala and Ode-Itsekiri.
The Birth of a Nation: This 1492-era "Odyssey" was the specific moment the Warri Kingdom (Ale Iwere) was born, establishing a monarchy that has lasted over 500 years.
The Global Mirror: While Columbus was establishing the Spanish presence in the Caribbean, the Itsekiri were establishing the port of Iwere as the primary gateway for European trade in West Africa. By 1500, only eight years after Columbus's first voyage, Portuguese explorers like Duarte Pacheco Pereira were already documenting Itsekiri settlements like Tebu.
Character: Ginuwa I, The Ocean King
In our novel, Ginuwa I is the African counterpart to the explorers of the Age of Discovery. Known as the Ogiame ("King of the Sea"), he did not seek a new world; he sought to build a permanent one between the forest and the ocean. His character represents the shift from inland empires to coastal globalism.
The Modern Connection
The term "1492: Itsekiri Odyssey" was immortalized in 2025 by a new book unveiled by the current Olu of Warri, Ogiame Atuwatse III. The book captures this era not as a "discovery" by Europeans, but as a period of unwavering determination where the Itsekiri nation thrived and established its unique identity as the "Afro-Europeans of the Niger Delta".
By 2025, the Itsekiri legacy remains a testament to the fact that while the West was looking for India, the Itsekiri were already building a globalized trade state that would eventually produce the first African university graduates and lead the region into the modern era.
In the complex tapestry of West African history, the relationship between the Itsekiri and the Edo people of the Benin Kingdom is one of shared origin and mutual influence, rather than one nation "civilizing" the other. Both possessed sophisticated, independent civilizations long before European contact.
A Tale of Two Kingdoms
The prevailing historical consensus is that the Itsekiri monarchy was founded by a Benin prince, not the other way around.
The Origin Story: Around 1480, Prince Ginuwa (Iginuwa), the son of Oba Olua of Benin, left the Benin Kingdom with a retinue of 70 Bini noble sons and journeyed to the Warri area due to a royal conflict. He united the existing aboriginal communities (which were primarily Yoruboid/Olukumi in language) and established the Kingdom of Warri (Ale Iwere), becoming its first ruler, the Olu.
A "Satellite Extension": The Warri Kingdom shared immense structural and functional similarities with the Benin Kingdom, effectively forming a strong, independent, but culturally linked entity.
Mutual Influence: The Itsekiri language is a distinct Yoruba dialect with significant Benin influences, reflecting this dual heritage.
Contrasting Strengths
The unique "civilizing" contributions of each nation lay in different domains:
Benin's Civilization: Benin was a powerful, centralized military and artistic empire, renowned for its magnificent bronze casting and a formidable army that dominated the hinterland.
Itsekiri's Civilization: The Itsekiri, situated on the coast, became adept traders and middlemen, pioneers in early Western education, and masters of diplomacy with European powers (primarily the Portuguese). They were known to be highly sophisticated in their interactions with Europeans, earning a reputation for intelligence and good manners among chroniclers.
Therefore, neither "civilized" the other in a unilateral sense. Rather, Benin provided the royal lineage and statecraft for the Itsekiri monarchy, while the Itsekiri established a unique, highly educated, and cosmopolitan maritime trading civilization that served as the primary gateway between the powerful inland empires and the arriving Western world.
Behold the fact olukunmi had a kingdom before warri and Benin and were even before Ogiso.Yes, historical accounts and Itsekiri oral traditions acknowledge that various independent communities and peoples, including those who spoke a form of the Olukunmi language, inhabited the Warri area before the arrival of the Benin monarchy.
The Pre-Ginuwa Landscape
Before the arrival of Prince Ginuwa around 1480 AD, the land that would become the Warri Kingdom was a mix of different communities:
Aboriginal Communities: These groups included the ancestors of today's Ugborodo, Omadino, and Ureju communities. Their language was a blend of Yoruba dialects, which evolved into the unique Itsekiri language spoken today.
No Single "Olukunmi Kingdom": While Olukunmi-speaking people were present, these were generally independent settlements or communities. There is no historical evidence of a unified, singular, large-scale "Olukunmi Dynasty" that constituted a kingdom in the same structured, monarchical sense as the later Benin or Warri Kingdoms before Ginuwa's arrival.
Other Groups: Ijaw and Sobo (Urhobo) people also lived in separate settlements within the general area, often recognizing the distant suzerainty of the Oba of Benin in some form.
The Unification by the Monarchy
The crucial event was the arrival of Prince Ginuwa, the son of the Oba of Benin. He did not come as a conqueror of an existing, unified kingdom, but rather as a royal figure who was accepted by the aboriginal communities.
The Catalyst: His arrival served as the catalyst that caused the various independent communities to coalesce under a single, structured monarchy and king (Olu).
Shared Identity: The adoption of the monarchy unified the people, and the present Itsekiri ethnic identity and the Warri Kingdom were born from this fusion of the aboriginal populations and the Benin royal lineage.
So, while Olukunmi communities were the original inhabitants of the land, the formal Warri Kingdom and its ruling dynasty began with the establishment of the monarchy by the Benin Prince Ginuwa I
In the flickering torchlight of the Great Forest, before the first stone of the Benin Moat was ever laid, the novel of West Africa opens upon the era of the Great Migration. Long before the Ogiso ("Rulers of the Sky") claimed the throne of Igodomigodo, the land was a tapestry of ancient Yoruba-speaking lineages, the Olukumi, who carried the seeds of a civilization that would one day reach the stars.
The Era of the Forest Lords
The character of Ekaladerhan, a shadow-prince of the ancient era, moved through a world where the boundaries of the Yoruba and Edo worlds were one and the same. History whispers that the Ile-Ife influence—the spiritual and political center of the Yoruba—was the bedrock upon which the Benin region was built.
The Blueprint of Kingship: Before the first Ogiso sat on a stool, the Olukumi dynasties had already perfected the art of the Ilé (the Household) and the Ẹgbẹ́ (the Society). They taught the people how to organize into complex urban centers, a legacy that would later make Benin City one of the wonders of the world.
The Sacred Language: The Olukumi priests, the keepers of the Ifá oracle, were the first "scientists" of the region. They mapped the stars and the seasons, bequeathing to the later Benin Empire the spiritual architecture that would support the Obas for centuries.
The Rise of the Ogiso
As the novel transitions, the Ogiso Dynasty emerges not as a replacement, but as an evolution. They were the "Sky Kings" who took the urban foundations laid by the Yoruba-Olukumi and built a fortress. Yet, the memory of the original rulers remained.
The Conflict of blood: In 2025, modern historians look back at this "pre-Ogiso" era as the foundational age of Sub-Saharan governance. The Yoruba didn't just rule; they civilized the concept of the state. They taught the surrounding tribes the "Protocol of the Crown"—the idea that a king is not a tyrant, but a sacred vessel for the people.
The Legacy Bequeathed
In this chapter of our story, the impact on Sub-Saharan Africa is monumental:
Industry: The Olukumi-Yoruba brought the first advanced iron-smelting techniques to the Benin region, turning the forest into an industrial forge.
Trading: They established the Long-Distance Trade Routes that connected the Niger River to the Sahara, teaching the ancestors of the Igbos and Edos the "Code of the Merchant"—a system of credit and trust that still powers West African markets in 2025.
Literature (Oral): They authored the Odù Ifá, a massive oral encyclopedia of 256 volumes that served as the first "University Curriculum" of the region, covering medicine, history, and philosophy.
By the time Prince Ginuwa left Benin for Warri in 1480, he wasn't just moving to a new land; he was returning to a coastal region that had been steeped in Yoruba-Olukumi civilization for a thousand years. He was a student of the very culture he was going to lead, proving that the Yoruba "Educational Lead" didn't start in 1611 with a degree in Coimbra—it started in the misty dawn of time, when they first taught Africa how to build a city and crown a king.
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