The Yoruba: A New History: Collective vs. Individualist Approach to Life (Yoruba Life Lessons)

According to Dr. Walter Rodney, author of How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, Politico-military development in Africa from 1500 to 1885 meant that African social collectives had become more capable of defending the interests of their members, as opposed to the interests of the people outside the given community. It also meant that the individual in a politically mature and militarily strong state would be free from the external threat of physical removal. He would have more opportunities to apply his own skill in fields as diverse as minstrelsy and bronze-working, under the protection of the state. He could also use his creativity and inventiveness to refine the religion of his people, or to work out a more manageable constitution, or to contribute to new techniques of war, or to advance agriculture and trade. Of course, it is also true that the benefits of all such contributions went mainly to a small section of African society, both within and without the zone of slaving.

Since the Oyo Empire and the rest of the Yoruba kingdoms were within an intensive area of slave trading, their fate, unfortunately between 1500 and 1885 is of considerable significance.  

Image II (Right): Courtesy of Henry Stokes, via Pinterest

“On the road to riches and diamond rings in the land of the blind, the one with one eye (i.e., the third eye) is the king.” – Nas

Excerpt from The Yoruba: A New History, by Dr. Akinwumi Ogundiran, p. 310-311

With the opportunities for accumulation offered by a monetized economy, virtually all the deities of the Atlantic-age (i.e., the Transatlantic slave trade era) Yorùbá community of practice valorized merchant capital. However, there was one exception among them who sounded a warning of modernization and caution against the atomistic and individualistic pursuit of wealth. The voice of caution came from Obàtálá (Obàtálá is one of the “Calm and Strong” leaders of the Ife Kingdom, and the most senior of the Yoruba Gods or Orishas. He is the personification of light in the world and in this universe) school spoke against the unbridled pursuit of money and the elevation of individual interest over communal needs.

According to the old Òrìṣà (Orisha), these were vices, the source of death, trouble, self-destruction, and societal collapse. As acute observers of their time and its contradictions, the Yorùbá intellectuals of the Atlantic age invoked the moral authority of Obàtálá in ọ́bárá kosún, a chapter in the ọ́bárá book of Ifá, to critique the implications of atomistic self-interest at the expense of the community.

The ọ́bárá kosún tells the story of how three brothers destroyed one another in the bid by each of them to have Ajé (deity of the market and commercial wealth) all to himself. According to the story, one day Obàtálá and three brothers were traveling from Ìrànjé-Ilé to Ìrànjé-Oko. In the course of their journey, they encountered the corpse of a rich woman. Obàtálá identified her as Ajé, a daughter of Olókun (Olókun is the goddess of glass beads, the ocean, and wealth). A large heap of cowries and other valuables covered her corpse. The three brothers rushed with the intention of scooping up as much of the money (cowries) as they could, but Obàtálá sternly warned them not to go near the corpse of Ajẹ́ “Can’t you see she is the beginning of all evil, death, and trouble?” he asked them.

He implored the men to go forth on their journey and not to look back. The three brothers feigned deference to Obàtálá and assured him they would not return. But as soon as Obàtálá was gone from sight, they returned to Ajé’s corpse. They took as much money and other valuables as they could carry, but then each began to think how wonderful it would be to have all the wealth to himself. The older two brothers connived and sent their youngest to go and buy them food. Their plan was to kill him on his return. The youngest brother had his own plan. He poisoned the food he bought so he could kill his older brothers. As soon as he returned, the older brothers clubbed the younger to death, and as soon as they ate the food, they also died.

Soon after, Obàtálá finished his business in Ìrànjé-Oko and was returning to Ìrànjé-Ilé. On his way, he encountered the remains of the three brothers. He saw their lifeless bodies amid the wealth of Ajẹ́ Obàtálá lamented the trouble that Ajé had brought to the world: “In the search for money, people’s struggles had multiplied; they worked more, accumulated more, but they had no satisfaction. The spirit of the brotherly love had gone from their heart; money had dissolved the familial bond and had replaced communal ethos with atomistic selfishness.”

This critique by Obàtálá, the most ascetic of Yorùbá deities and the father of the pantheon, called out the antisocial dimension of merchant capital and contested the idea of merchant capital “as signs of divine benefits and mythic bestowals,” according to the royalist ideology of wealth in the Benin Kingdom, which is also ingrained in the Atlantic-age Òrìṣà pantheon. The possession of merchant capital and participation in the market economy had become necessary to social life in the course of the 17th and 18th centuries.

Therefore, it can be argued that the (Yoruba) intellectuals who composed the ọ́bárá kosún narrative as a moral critique of merchant capital were not trying to negate the pursuit of wealth, money, and self-realization. Rather, they were asking for moderation, patience, and satisfaction; avoidance of greed and selfishness; and attentiveness to civic order and community building in the process of self-realization.

“The Yoruba king was a sacred king. His selection, installation and daily life as king were all shrouded in religious mystery, rituals, observances and sacrifices.” – Dr. Stephen Adebanji Akintoye, author of A History of the Yoruba People

The Yoruba God-Kings of West Africa

17. Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Adeniran Adeyemi II in ceremonial regalia surrounded by members of his family. Photo: R. Mauny, 1948-49, IFAN.

“What Can Become of Kings?”

– Blu & Exile

The human body of the Yoruba king was more than the vessel in which the Orishas (i.e., Yoruba deities) and the ancestors were manifested. In fact, the Yoruba king was an Orisha, a God or divine being in his own right. During the Classical period of Ife (Ife Empire: 1000-1420 AD), Yoruba kings did not have to wait till death to become ancestors and deities, because they were living gods who could not die. He did not have to wait to be deified after his death, since he was already chosen and anointed as the “Lieutenant of God on Earth.” The Yoruba king was deified upon assuming the office, and putting on an adé (i.e., adé is a beaded crown, and the Yoruba king was known as “the beaded-crown leader”). It was from that moment that the Yoruba king was believed to have attained immortality and joined the ranks of the Orishas and Gods in the heavens.

“The idea of a living god in human form sitting atop the political organization of the ìlú (i.e., a city-state, kingdom, town, or urban space) was a profound shift in Yorùbá political ideology.” – Dr. Akinwumi Ogundiran

Millions of Yoruba People forcibly taken to the so-called “New World” as Enslaved People’s during the Transatlantic Slave Trade Era

The country of the Yoruba people. The Yoruba country consisted of present-day Southwest Nigeria, a smaller part of Benin Republic, and still a smaller part of Togo Republic (West Africa)

Image courtesy of Wikipedia

“The typical political life in a Yoruba kingdom and community tended, on the whole, to nurture confidence and a spirit of freedom; and it is significant that many of the young Yoruba men taken into slavery in the early nineteenth century had taken part in wars in their country, and therefore had come to Bahia with some military training, skills and experience.” - Dr. Stephen Adebanji Akintoye

Overview of the Transatlantic Slave Trade out of Africa, 1500-1900 AD. Captive Africans followed many routes from their homelands to other parts of the world. This map shows the trans-Atlantic movement of these captives in comparative perspective for the centuries since 1500 only.

Image courtesy of Slave Voyages

The Yoruba people were latecomers to the enforced transportation of Africans to become enslaved in the Americas. The Transatlantic slave trade started in the 15th and 16th centuries, but it wasn’t until the 17th century when any Yoruba people were recorded in the trade. The Yoruba people were taken to most regions of the Americas as enslaved peoples, which has been estimated to be about 1.12 million, representing a little less than 9% of all Africans taken to the Americas to be enslaved during the three centuries of the European Transatlantic slave trade. For example, Yoruba people were taken to the area of Chesapeake Bay in North America and Rio de la Plata in South America, along with the Caribbean Islands of Cuba, Saint-Domingue (Haiti), Jamaica, Trinidad, Tobago, Barbados, Guadeloupe, Martinique, St. Lucia, etc.

The estimated total Yoruba imports of 439,000 represented about 40% of all enslaved African peoples received by Bahia (Bahia is a province in Brazil, South America) throughout the European Transatlantic slave trade era. Furthermore, various sizes of Yoruba enslaved groups emerged in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida in North America. They were also taken to some countries of Central America, like Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama, and others. In South America, Yoruba people were taken to Guyana, Surinam, Venezuela, and of course, Brazil.

On the authority of Dr. Stephen Adebanji Akintoye, manifestations and expressions of Yoruba cultural heritage in the African Diaspora have received increasing attention since the late 20th century, just as studies of Yoruba civilization at home in West Africa have intensified. What all this seems to point to is an advancing transatlantic development of major significance in the history of Black people.

“Death to the pessimistic mind state. Lack of hope low-spirit mother*******. Life to kings

getting a king’s ransom, living handsome.”

– Nas

Sources:

Akintoye, S. A History of the Yoruba People. Amalion Publishing. (Jan 1, 2010). Nov. 1, 2025. p. 104, 186, 188, 205, 528, 534-536, 545, 562, 564.

Aye, O., Normandia, O. God’s Mysteries: Lwas and Orishas. African Output LC; 1st edition. (Nov. 29, 2017). Nov. 3, 2025. p. 19.

Eltis, D., Richardson, D. Introductory Maps. Slave Voyages. Atlas of the Transatlantic Slave Trade (New Haven 2010). Reproduced with the permission of Yale University Press. For permission to reuse these images, contact Yale University Press. Nov. 2, 2025. https://www.slavevoyages.org/blog/tag/intro-maps

Genius. Blu & Exile. Valley of Kings. Love (the) Ominous World. Genius. Sept. 20, 2024. Nov. 2, 2025. https://genius.com/Blu-and-exile-valley-of-kings-lyrics

Genius. Nas. Nas is Good. King’s Disease II. Genius. Aug. 6, 2021. Nov. 2, 2025. https://genius.com/Nas-nas-is-good-lyrics

Genius. Nas. N.I.G.G.E.R. (The Slave & the Master). Untitled. Genius. July 15, 2008. Nov. 2, 2025. https://genius.com/Nas-nigger-the-slave-and-the-master-lyrics

Ogundiran, A. The Yoruba: A New History. Indiana University Press. Nov. 3, 2020. Nov. 1, 2025. p. Cover, 6-7, 52, 55, 61, 70, 109, 298, 310-311.

Rodney, W. How Europe Underdeveloped Africa. Verso. (Nov. 27, 2018). Nov. 1, 2025. p. 132-133.

Stokes, H. Iwa image (Yoruba). Henry Stokes. Pinterest. Nov. 1, 2025. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/690739661642516023/

Wikipedia. Yorubaland. Nov. 2, 2025. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yorubaland

Williams, C. The Destruction of Black Civilization: Great Issues of a Race from 4500 B.C. to 2000 A.D. Third World Press; 3rd Revised ed. edition. (Feb. 1, 1992). Nov. 2, 2025. p. 250.