Sack of Old Oyo

Sack of Katunga or Old Oyo
Date 1830s Location Oyo Result Decisive Sokoto Caliphate victory Territorial changes Abandonment of Oyo Empire Capital City Beginning of Fula settlements in Southwest Nigeria
Belligerents
Sokoto Caliphate Ilorin Emirate	Oyo Empire Yoruba Alliance
Strength
Unknown	Unknown
Casualties and losses
Unknown	Unknown

The Sack of Old Oyo, also known as the Sack of Katunga, refers to the destruction and abandonment of Old Oyo, the capital and largest city of the Oyo Empire, ^{[1] [2]} in the 1830s, during the period of the Fula jihads in West Africa.

The event was a turning point between the Ilorin Emirate and its ally the Sokoto Caliphate and the Yoruba Oyo Empire in modern-day Oyo, Nigeria. ^[3]

Aftermath

After the sack of Katunga, the Oyo royal family and many nobles fled southward. They relocated and established a new capital at Ago d'Oyo (New Oyo), ^[4] retreating from their original power base in the north. This move marked the end of the Old Oyo Empire. ^[5]

Katunga and its surrounding territories were abandoned, and the area became a no-man's-land, exposed to slave raids and pressure from Fula and Nupe forces. ^[6] It did not immediately become a core Fula outpost. ^[7] Ilorin—under Fula leadership—gained control of former Oyo territories in the north. ^[8] Ilorin was once a Yoruba town, but after Afonja (a rebel Yoruba warlord) invited Fula help and was eventually killed, Shehu Alimi's descendants took over, establishing Ilorin as a Fula emirate. ^[9] Ilorin became a tributary of the Sokoto Caliphate and was governed under Sokoto's spiritual and political authority. ^[10]

This incident led to the collapse of central authority and the rise of smaller, rival Yoruba states. ^[11] This power vacuum triggered widespread instability, with increased Fulani raids from the north and internal conflicts among Yoruba polities vying for dominance. All the towns showing "any allegiance to Oyo, and hence Gbodo" were besieged. ^[12]

References

1. Bascom, William (1959). "La Chute de l'ancien Oyo ou de Katunga". Présence Africaine (24/25): 299–304. ISSN   0032-7638. JSTOR   24349019.
2. Johnson, Obadiah; Johnson, Samuel, eds. (2010), "The Last of Katunga" , The History of the Yorubas: From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the British Protectorate, Cambridge Library Collection - African Studies, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 258–268, doi:10.1017/CBO9780511702617.026, ISBN   978-0-511-70261-7 , retrieved 6 April 2025
3. "Oyo | Nigeria, Map, History, & Population | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 4 July 2025.
4. Usman, Aribidesi (21 August 2024), "Warfare among Yoruba in the Nineteenth Century" , Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History, doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.013.277, ISBN   978-0-19-027773-4 , retrieved 6 April 2025
5. "The fall of Old Oyo or Katunga". WorldCat.org. Retrieved 4 July 2025.
6. Johnson, Obadiah; Johnson, Samuel, eds. (2010), "The Last of Katunga" , The History of the Yorubas: From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the British Protectorate, Cambridge Library Collection - African Studies, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 258–268, doi:10.1017/CBO9780511702617.026, ISBN   978-0-511-70261-7 , retrieved 4 July 2025
7. Johnson, Samuel (2001). The history of the Yorubas : from the earliest times to the beginning of the British Protectorate. Internet Archive. Nigeria : CSS. ISBN   978-978-2951-82-3.
8. Lockhart, Jamie Bruce; Lovejoy, Paul E., eds. (1 January 2005), "Residence at Eyeo-Ile or Katunga, the capital of the Youriba" , Hugh Clapperton into the Interior of Africa, Brill, pp. 143–166, doi:10.1163/9789047406600_007, ISBN   978-90-474-0660-0 , retrieved 4 July 2025
9. The Eclectic Review. 1832.
10. Glasgow, Royal Philosophical Society of (1898). Proceedings of the Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow. Royal Philosophical Society.
11. Scottish Geographical Magazine. Royal Scottish Geographical Society. 1907.
12. The History of the Yorubas from the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the British Protectorate. G. Routledge & sons, Limited. 1921. ISBN   978-978-32292-9-7.