- Tenure
- c. 1300 (founding at Oyo-Ile) — 3 February 1893 (Carter Treaty)
- Era
- Traditional Rulers — the pre-colonial polities (pre-1879)
- Mode of entry
- Oranmiyan dynasty descended from Ile-Ife; capital at Oyo-Ile (Old Oyo) until destroyed by the Fulani jihad and Ilorin in c. 1835
- Mode of exit
- After the Kiriji War (1877–1893), Alaafin Adeyemi I signed the Carter Treaty of 3 February 1893 placing Oyo under British protection
The greatest pre-colonial Yoruba state — its cavalry empire stretched from the Niger to the Volta at peak. Overlaid by: Sir Gilbert Carter, Governor of Lagos, via the 1893 Carter Treaties that ended the Kiriji War and converted the Alaafin from sovereign to salaried agent of indirect rule.
Oyo rose in the 17th–18th centuries to dominate the Yoruba interior and the Aja kingdoms of present-day Benin and Togo. Its decline began with the Owu War (c. 1820s), the loss of Ilorin to the Fulani jihad, and the destruction of Oyo-Ile around 1835; a new capital was founded at present-day Oyo town under Alaafin Atiba (r. 1837–59).
The 16-year Kiriji War (1877–93) between Ibadan and the Ekiti–Ijesha–Egba–Ijebu confederacy collapsed Yoruba political unity. After Carter's 1892 defeat of the Ijebu at Imagbon, Alaafin Adeyemi I signed the Carter Treaty on 3 February 1893 at Oyo. The Alaafinate was preserved under indirect rule.
The current Alaafin is HRH Akeem Owoade (44th Alaafin, since 2025), following the long reign of Alaafin Lamidi Adeyemi III (1970–2022).
Tier 1 · primary
Courts. Gazettes. National archives.
Tier 2 · corroborating
OCCRP. HRW. BudgIT. TheCable.
Tier 4 · tertiary, flagged
Wikipedia only where primary is pending. Always labelled.