Adeyemi I Alowolodu

Adeyemi I was the ruler of the Oyo Empire from 1876 to 1905.^[1] Starting in 1888, he came under increasing British control with his independence clearly ending by 1896. He was the Alaafin during the 16 years Yoruba civil war which went on from 1877 to 1893.^{[citation needed]}

Peace treaties and diplomacy

Adeyemi was in a crucial part of the Oyo Empire, when it was collapsing, during the Kiriji civil War,^[2] Dahomey aggression,^[3] and Sokoto Caliphate expansion.^[4] Dahomey laying to the west of Oyo, made it a subject to constant raids. Adeyemi started creating multiple treaties, and alliances, with the British like King Adeyemi Letter To The British Empire, and the treaty of 1888,^[5] to bring the Oyo empire under British protection.^[6]

References

1. "King of Oyo [Adeyemi I Alowolodu, r. 1876-1905]". www.metmuseum.org. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 29 April 2020. Photograph
2. foluoyefeso (2023-11-03). "Unveiling the Epic Saga: The Kiriji War - Yoruba's Longest Civil Conflict". FoluOyefeso. Retrieved 2025-12-15.
3. Akinjogbin, I. A. (1967). Dahomey and its neighbours, 1708-1818. Internet Archive. Cambridge, Cambridge U.P.
4. Johnson, Samuel (2010). Johnson, Obadiah (ed.). 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. ISBN 978-1-108-02099-2.
5. https://opil.ouplaw.com/display/10.1093/law:oht/law-oht-170-CTS-396.regGroup.1/law-oht-170-CTS-396
6. https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803125401609