Ijebu

Ijebu was a Yoruba kingdom based at Ijebu-Ode on the Guinea coast. Its dynasty traced its origins to Obanta of Ilé-Ifè.

The kingdom took shape around the fifteenth century. The Awujale shared power with the Osugbo council, which also acted as a court. A 1508 account described Geebu as a great city surrounded by a ditch; a Portuguese trader in 1620 called it a small but warlike kingdom. From the eighteenth century Ijebu controlled trade between lagoon ports and inland Yoruba towns, requiring goods to pass through its merchants.