Impact of the Ekiti Parapo War on Ado Ekiti, 1800-1900

Student: Faith Favour Azeez (Project, 2025)
Department of History and International Studies
Federal University Oye-Ekiti, Ekiti State

Abstract

This study critiques the impact of the Ekiti Parapo War on Ado Ekiti between 1800 and 1900, with particular emphasis on its political, economic, and social effects. The Ekiti Parapo War, a defining war between the Ekiti, Ijesha, and other Yoruba subgroups and Ibadan imperial soldiers, was pivotal to rechanneling the historical trajectory of Ado Ekiti. The work analyzes how the war had impacted the indigenous political structure of Ado Ekiti and had introduced changes in traditional leadership, administration, and the town’s interaction with neighboring communities. Economically, the war impacted farm production, trade networks, and commerce, contributing to displacement of persons and overall deprivation. Socially, it reorganized patterns of migrations, fostered inter-communal solidarity, and enabled the articulation of collective identity among the people of Ekiti. Alleged on the basis of oral traditions as well as on books and journals, this study presents a balanced analysis of how war, in addition to its expressed violence, can alter the political and socio-economic landscape of a community. Following its findings, it believes that although the Ekiti Parapo War militated against the town in certain respects, it further united the Ekiti states and laid the foundation for later nationalist consciousness in the region.

Keywords
Ekiti Parapo War Ado Ekiti Yoruba history 19th century warfare socio-political impact migration economy traditional leadership Yorubaland
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