Yoruba kingdoms · about 1100-1836

Ife and Oyo: the Yoruba kingdoms

Ife, the sacred city of the Yoruba, produced some of the finest metal sculpture in the world. Later Oyo built a cavalry empire with a council that could depose its king. Students explore art, power and checks on power.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
50 minutes
Ages
12–15
On the map
3 steps, AD 1300 to AD 1783
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

Ife, the sacred city of the Yoruba, produced some of the finest metal sculpture in the world. Later Oyo built a cavalry empire with a council that could depose its king. Students explore art, power and checks on power.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Locate Ife in the forest and Oyo-Ile on the savanna and explain why the difference mattered.
  • Describe Ife art and explain why some Europeans refused to believe it was African.
  • Explain how the Oyo Mesi council limited the power of the Alaafin.
2

Explore the map

15 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

AD 1300

Forest and coast

Open the map in 1300 and zoom to the land north of the Bight of Benin. Find the label Benin. Ife, the sacred city of the Yoruba, lay north-west of it in the forest.

Open this view on the map
b

AD 1700

Oyo on the savanna

Move the slider to 1700 and find the label Oyo. Is Oyo's heartland in the forest or in the open grassland further north? Why does that matter for an army of horsemen?

Open this view on the map
c

AD 1783

Oyo and its neighbors

Move to 1783 and find Oyo's western neighbor Dahomey. For many decades Dahomey paid tribute to Oyo. Which neighbor looks larger on the map?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

15 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. Yoruba tradition says the world was created at Ife. Why does a sacred origin place give a city lasting power?
  2. Ife artists made lifelike brass heads more than 600 years ago. A German explorer suggested they came from the lost city of Atlantis. Why did he not believe Africans made them?
  3. The Oyo Mesi council could reject the Alaafin, who was then expected to give up his life. Was this a good check on royal power?
  4. Oyo's army depended on horses, which could not live long in the forest. How does geography shape the way states fight?
  5. Oyo collapsed in the 1830s. Which mattered more: quarrels inside or enemies outside?
4

Game round

10 min

No Yoruba ruler is in Rule History. Play one round as Elizabeth I, who ruled while Oyo was growing, and compare: Elizabeth had to work with Parliament, the Alaafin with the Oyo Mesi council. How did each council limit its ruler?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

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