Oyo (Ọyọ in Yoruba orthography, pronounced ɔyɔ) is the name for a Yoruba city in modern-day Nigeria and also the loose empire which that city controlled in the 17th and 18th centuries. The Yorùbá are estimated to be the second largest ethnic group in Nigeria, after the combined Hausa and Fulani. ...

What was to become the Oyo empire began as the state of Oyo, which was founded sometime before 1400, with its capital at Oyo Ile, (also known as Katunga or Old Oyo). Rising to preeminence through wealth gained from trade and through the possession of a powerful cavalry, the Oyo Empire was the most politically important Yoruba state between the mid-17th and late 18th century, holding sway not only over the lesser Yoruba states, but also over the Fon kingdom of Dahomey (which was located in the state now known as the Republic of Benin.) The Yorùbá are estimated to be the second largest ethnic group in Nigeria, after the combined Hausa and Fulani. ... Dahomey was an African kingdom situated in what is now Benin. ...

In 1796, an Ilorin-centred revolt against Awole, the then-reigning Alaafin, or chief-ruler of Oyo, was initiated by Afonja, the Aare Ona Kakanfo, or chief military commander of the provincial army. The internal power had been weakened since the beginning of the 18th century by a struggle for power between the Alafin and the Oyo Mesi, a council of the 7 principal non-royal chiefs. The revolt, which led to the secession of Ilorin, marked the beginning of the disintegration of the Oyo empire, as other vassal states soon began to follow Ilorin's example. The enlistment to his cause by Afonja of an itinerant Fulani scholar of Islam called Alim al-Salih, in the hope of thereby securing the support of Yoruba muslims, mainly slaves taking care of the Empire's horses, the main military strangth of Oyo, and volunteers from the Hausa-Fulani north, eventually led to the razing by the Fulani Empire of Oyo Ile in 1835, once Afonja had himself been killed by Fulani. Ilorin is the sixth largest city in Nigeria and is the capital of Kwara State. ... Categories: Africa-related stubs | Burkina Faso | Cameroon | Ethnic groups of Africa | Fulani Empire | Mali | Nigeria ... The Fulani Empire was one of the most powerful states in sub-Saharan Africa in the years prior to European colonization. ...

After the destruction of Oyo Ile, the government moved further south. Oyo never regained its prominence in the region. It lingered on until 1888 when it became a protectorate of Great Britain.

List of Oyo Emperors:

Oranyan............................................fl. c. 1400

Ajaka

Sango

Ajaka (restored)

Aganju

Kori

Oluaso

Onigbogi...........................................fl. c. 1500 ?

Ofiran

Eguguojo

Orompoto

Ajiboyede

Abipa..............................................fl. c. 1600

Obalokum

Oluodo

Ajagbo

Odarawu

Kanran

Jayin

Ayibi

Osiyago

Ojigi..............................................fl. c. 1720/8

Gberu..............................................fl. c. 1730

Amuniwaiye......................................... ? -1746

Onisile...........................................1746-1754

Labisi.................................................1754

Awonbioju..............................................1754

Agbolouje.........................................1754- ?

Majeogbe

Abiodun........................................c. 1770-1789

Awole Arogangan...................................1789-1796

Adebo.............................................1796-1797

Maku...................................................1797

vacant

Majotu............................................1802-1830

Amodo.............................................1830-1833

Oluewu............................................1833-1835

Atiba Atobatele (at new capital)...................1837-1859

Adelu.............................................1859-1875

Adeyemi I Alowolodu...............................1876-1888

Adeyemi I Alowolodu as British Vassal.............1888-1905