Sack of Old Oyo

The Sack of Katunga or Old Oyo was a turning between the Ilorin Emirate, and its ally the Sokoto Caliphate and the Yoruba Oyo Empire in modern-day Oyo. Katunga was the capital,^[1] and largest city of the Oyo Empire.^[2]

Sack of Katunga or Old Oyo
Date 1830s Location Oyo Result Decisive Sokoto Caliphate victory Territorial changes Abandonment of Oyo Empire Capital City Beginning of Fula settlements in Southwest Nigeria
Belligerents
Sokoto Caliphate Ilorin Emirate	Oyo Empire Yoruba Alliance
Strength
Unknown	Unknown
Casualties and losses
Unknown	Unknown

Background

The Sack of Katunga refers to the destruction, and abandonment of the capital city of the Oyo Empire,^[3] known as Katunga (also called Old Oyo or Oyo-Ile), in the early 19th century during the period of the Fula jihads in West Africa,. The Oyo royal family and many nobles fled southward. They relocated and established a new capital at Ago d’Oyo (New Oyo),^[4] marking a significant retreat from the original power base in the north. This move symbolized the end of the Old Oyo Empire.^[5] Katunga and its surrounding territories were abandoned. The area became a kind of no-man's-land, exposed to slave raids and pressure from Fula and Nupe forces.^[6] It did not immediately become a core Fula outpost.^[7] Ilorin—under Fula leadership—gained control of former Oyo territories in the north.^[8] Ilorin was once a Yoruba town, but after Afonja (a rebel Yoruba warlord) invited Fula help and was eventually killed, Shehu Alimi’s descendants took over, establishing Ilorin as a Fula emirate.^[9] Ilorin became a tributary of the Sokoto Caliphate and was governed under Sokoto’s spiritual and political authority.^[10]

Aftermath

Leading to the collapse of central authority and the rise of smaller, rival Yoruba states^[11]. This was the This power vacuum triggered widespread instability, with increased Fulani raids from the north and internal conflicts among Yoruba polities vying for dominance. All the towns owing "any allegiance to Oyo, and hence Gbodo was besieged"[1], showing the lack of centralization, and weakness, opening the Capital, and towns with alligance to the Oyo State often raided, or enslaved. It was a large demoralization, and turning point, as Katunga or Old Oyo was the capital, and the largest city of the Oyo empire.

References

1. "Oyo | Nigeria, Map, History, & Population | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 4 July 2025.
2. Bascom, William (1959). "La Chute de l'ancien Oyo ou de Katunga". Présence Africaine (24/25): 299–304. ISSN 0032-7638. JSTOR 24349019.
3. Johnson, Obadiah; Johnson, Samuel, eds. (2010), "The Last of Katunga", 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, pp. 258–268, doi:10.1017/CBO9780511702617.026, ISBN 978-0-511-70261-7, retrieved 6 April 2025
4. Usman, Aribidesi (21 August 2024), "Warfare among Yoruba in the Nineteenth Century", Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History, doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.013.277 (inactive 1 July 2025), ISBN 978-0-19-027773-4, retrieved 6 April 2025
5. "The fall of Old Oyo or Katunga | WorldCat.org". search.worldcat.org. Retrieved 4 July 2025.
6. Johnson, Obadiah; Johnson, Samuel, eds. (2010), "THE LAST OF KATUNGA", 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, pp. 258–268, ISBN 978-0-511-70261-7, retrieved 4 July 2025
7. Johnson, Samuel (2001). The history of the Yorubas : from the earliest times to the beginning of the British Protectorate. Internet Archive. Nigeria : CSS. ISBN 978-978-2951-82-3.
8. Lockhart, Jamie Bruce; Lovejoy, Paul E., eds. (1 January 2005), "Residence at Eyeo-Ile or Katunga, the capital of the Youriba", Hugh Clapperton into the Interior of Africa, Brill, pp. 143–166, ISBN 978-90-474-0660-0, retrieved 4 July 2025
9. The Eclectic Review. 1832.
10. Glasgow, Royal Philosophical Society of (1898). Proceedings of the Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow. Royal Philosophical Society.
11. Scottish Geographical Magazine. Royal Scottish Geographical Society. 1907.