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Owo is a Yoruba kingdom in the forest country between Ekiti and Benin. Its rulers, known as the Olowo, presided over a court whose art and ceremonies shared features with neighbouring Yoruba and Edo kingdoms. By the fifteenth century Owo had established a substantial kingdom, with routes leading towards Benin. In the eighteenth century the Olowo Ajaka campaigned repeatedly in the Akoko hills, extending Owo’s influence over a number of neighbouring kingdoms.