The Fall of Oyo: How West Africa's Greatest Empire Collapsed

Yorùbá — History, Identity & the In-BetweenEpisode 1Season 1The Fall of OyoThe Oyo Empire was one of West Africa’s most powerful political formations — a cavalry state that dominated the region for over a century, commanding trade routes, vassal kingdoms, and tribute networks stretching across the savanna. But by the early 19th century, it was hollowing from within.This episode traces the structural collapse of Oyo: the constitutional tensions between the Alaafin and the Oyo Mesi council, the unchecked rise of Afonja and the military faction, the Fulani jihad pressure from the north, and the slave trade’s corrosive effect on internal loyalty.This wasn’t a story of defeat by superior enemies. It was a story of a system that stopped maintaining itself — and the catastrophic displacement it unleashed across Yorubaland.The fall of Oyo is the engine that drives all of Season 1.Researched & Written by Zack Shittu  |  Produced by Femi ShittuFull list of sources → patreon.com/zackShittu