The Old Oyo Empire

The Oyo Empire dominated the central part of Yorubaland. The Oyo Empire is often divided into Old and New eras. The western area of Yorubaland was dominated by the Dahomey, who initially were subjects of the Old Oyo empire but later became rivals of both the old and the new empires. The eastern regions were dominated by Benin.

The Oyo were often at later with its northern neighbors. This became serious during several migrations of the Fulani and the jihads conducted by Sokoto border rulers. The horse mounted Fulani were often at an advantage over the Yoruba who fought mainly on foot. In the 1800s Dahomey found it easier to briefly ally with the Fulani against the Oyo Empire rather than fight both groups.

By far the major factor that caused the weakening of the Oyo Empire was the rivalry between noble houses whose power was centered on a specific city. As a result the 1700s and 1800s the cities fought frequent wars with each other as well as combating outside ethnic groups.

Examples of equipment carried by Oyo/ Yoruba forces indicate a majority of troops fought with traditional weapons including a spear, curved sword or bow. Most troops fought on foot. Horses were regarded as a very valuable asset and if any cavalry was present, they were often numbered only in the tens. Cities near the coast often as the years progressed had a higher percentage of troops, normally a bodyguard force, armed with firearms. As a result northern cities tended to field some horsemen but few musketeers. On the other hand, southern cities tended to field more musketeers but almost no horsemen.

1809 The Itsekiri Wars. Various cities fight for control over the New Oyo Dynasty.
1840. Osogbo vs invading Fulani tribemen
1860-65 The Batedo War. Ijaye fought but lost to the families from Ibandan.
1872 The Benin Civil War
1886 The Yoruba Wars. Various civil wars between Yoruba cities.

The Jolof Empire

It was sentered around one of the oldest city-state empires in the Sengal-Gambia River basin. It was considered to be founded in 1434 by Mandingos. It was originally ruled by the Sereres and consisted of a large Wolof population base. Later migrations contributed to make Jolof a multi-ethnic country. The people were a mix of Wolof, Moor, Tukulor, Fulani and Mandingo. It was once a strong federation of towns in which each town tended to be ruled by a different ethnic group. The areas controlled by various towns included Walo, Dimar, Baor, Kayor and Sin-Saloum. The multi-national empire lasted a little more than a century and it was torn by civil war... By the time of the 1850s, it was a loose confederation whose members spent more time with internal war than protecting their borders.

The Empire of Masina

It originally was a Songhai successor state but ruled by the pagan Fulani Rari clan. It was conquered by Segu around 1620. The Rari continued to ruled it but were vassals of the Segu Bambaras ,,until 1818. The Cisse’ revolution was in fact a civil war between pagans supported by Segu and Moslems supported by the Moors and Tauregs. There were several massive field battles in which the Moslems defeated the Pagans including Nokuma and Geri. The Moslem Cisse’ rulers then went on to conquer Timbuktu in 1831 and Jenne from fellow Moslems. They fought numerous wars with their neighbors and wars of internal consolidation. The wars with their neighbors including Taureg, Segu, Ka’arta, Mossi were more aggressive in nature than defensive. But their expansionist efforts were mor often than not resulted in military defeats. They continued to quell revolts by the Kounta until 1846 and the Tauregs of Timbuktu. Even as the Tukulors were preparing to invade Masina, they continued to campaign against Segu.

The Segu Empire of the Bambaras

Segu was originally one of the successor kingdoms of the Moslem Songhai Empire. But by 1670 the most powerful group in Segu were the Bambara a Pagan Mande people located east of the Senegal River. In the 1600s it conquered Masina which remained a vassal until 1818. In the 1700s it conducted several campaigns against various Mossi towns. Segu had a civil war in the 1790s in which Ka’arta gave military support to the losing side. As a result by 1796 one of several Segu campaigns was launched by the victor Mansong against the Ka’arta kingdom. Mansong was able to ally with the Moors who controlled Timbuktu but this alliance did not last and the Moors end up supporting Ka’arta who was a closer neighbor. Unfortunately Segu was considered by Tukulor’s Umar as one of his most serious threats and blocked his expansion efforts to the East. Segu would resist the Moslem expansion until defeated in 1860. Isolated pockets of Bambara would continue to resist the Tukulors for much of the period. Only in the final defeat by the French would the pagan Bambara ally with the Moslem Tukulor.

Other Local Empires of the area

Many towns gained control over their local area but their dominance was only temporary. For Example, the towns of Khasso and Ka’arta were able to consolidate their power and control their area for a long period of time. However, much of the resources of these towns were devoted to stopping internal clan feuds which weakened their ability to influence events outside their borders or even to repel invaders. This scenario played out numerous among the various pagan city states of the region.

Empires of Western Sudan 1600-1900

Introduction
Descriptions of Benin Warriors
Empires: Oyo, Jolof, Masina, and Segu