''Oba'' ('King' in the Yoruba language) is a pre-nominal

honorific An honorific is a title that conveys esteem, courtesy, or respect for position or rank when used in addressing or referring to a person. Sometimes, the term "honorific" is used in a more specific sense to refer to an Honorary title (academic), h ...

for

king King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

s in

Yorubaland Yorubaland () is the homeland and cultural region of the Yoruba people in West Africa. It spans the modern-day countries of Nigeria, Togo and Benin, and covers a total land area of . Of this land area, 106,016 km2 (74.6%) lies within Niger ...

. Traditional rulers with dynasties of Yoruba origin, across the modern republics of

Benin Benin, officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It was formerly known as Dahomey. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north-west, and Niger to the north-east. The majority of its po ...

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

, and

Togo Togo, officially the Togolese Republic, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to Ghana–Togo border, the west, Benin to Benin–Togo border, the east and Burkina Faso to Burkina Faso–Togo border, the north. It is one of the le ...

, frequently make use of it. Examples of Kings that do this include Oba Ogunwusi of Ile-Ife, Oba Aladelusi of

Akure Akure is a city in south-western Nigeria. It is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Ondo State. The city had a population of 403,000 as of the 2006 population census. Its current population is estimated at 774,000.Akiolu of

Lagos Lagos ( ; ), or Lagos City, is a large metropolitan city in southwestern Nigeria. With an upper population estimated above 21 million dwellers, it is the largest city in Nigeria, the most populous urban area on the African continent, and on ...

and Oba Ewuare II of

. Although the Benin Kingdom is not located within Yorubaland, its Oba ruling dynasty traces its origin to Ile-Ife, the spiritual and historical center of the Yoruba culture. The title is distinct from that of ''Oloye'' in Yorubaland, which is itself used in like fashion by subordinate titleholders in the contemporary Yoruba

chieftaincy A tribal chief, chieftain, or headman is a leader of a tribal society or chiefdom. Tribal societies There is no definition for "tribe". The concept of tribe is a broadly applied concept, based on tribal concepts of societies of western Af ...

system.

Aristocratic titles among the Yoruba

The Yoruba chieftaincy system can be divided into four separate ranks: royal chiefs, noble chiefs, religious chiefs and common chiefs. The royals are led by the obas, who sit at the apex of the hierarchy and serve as the

fons honorum The fount of honour () is a person, who, by virtue of their official position, has the exclusive right of conferring legitimate titles of nobility and orders of chivalry on other persons. Origin During the High Middle Ages, European knights wer ...

of the entire system. They are joined in the class of royal chiefs by the titled dynasts of their royal families. The three other ranks, who traditionally provide the membership of a series of privy councils,

sect A sect is a subgroup of a religion, religious, politics, political, or philosophy, philosophical belief system, typically emerging as an offshoot of a larger organization. Originally, the term referred specifically to religious groups that had s ...

s and

guild A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular territory. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradespeople belonging to a professional association. They so ...

s, oversee the day-to-day administration of the Yoruba traditional states and are led by the iwarefas, the arabas and the titled elders of the kingdoms' constituent families.

Oba

There are two different kinds of Yoruba monarchs: The kings of Yoruba

clan A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, a clan may claim descent from a founding member or apical ancestor who serves as a symbol of the clan's unity. Many societie ...

s, which are often simply networks of related towns (For example, the oba of the Ẹ̀gbá bears the title " Aláké" because his ancestral seat is the Aké quarter of Abẹ́òkúta, hence the title Aláké, which is Yoruba for ''One who owns Aké''. The Ọ̀yọ́ ọba, meanwhile, bears the title " Aláàfin", which means ''One who owns the palace'') and the kings of individual Yoruba towns, such as that of Ìwó — a town in

Osun Osun (; ), is a States of Nigeria, state in South West (Nigeria), southwestern Nigeria; bounded to the east by Ekiti State, Ekiti and Ondo State, Ondo states for 84 km and for 78 km respectively, to the north by Kwara State for 73&nb ...

State — who bears the title "Olúwòó" (Olú ti Ìwó, ). The first-generation towns of the Yoruba homeland, which encompasses large swathes of Benin, Nigeria, and Togo, are those with obas who generally wear beaded crowns; the rulers of many of the 'second generation' settlements are also often obas. Those that remain and those of the third generation tend to only be headed by the holders of the title "Baálẹ̀" (), who do not wear crowns and who are, at least in theory, the reigning

viceroy A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the Anglo-Norman ''roy'' (Old Frenc ...

s of people who do.

Oloye

All of the subordinate members of the Yoruba aristocracy, both traditional chieftains and honorary ones, use the pre-nominal "Olóyè" (, also appearing as "Ìjòyè" meaning conglomerate of titles) in the way that kings and queens regnant use 'Ọba'. It is also often used by princes and princesses in colloquial situations, though the title that is most often ascribed to them officially is "Ọmọba" (, a contraction of the alternatively rendered "Ọmọọba", "Ọmọ ọba" and "Ọmọ-ọba"). The wives of kings, princes and chiefs of royal background usually make use of the title " Olorì" (the equivalent of ''Princess Consort''), though some of the wives of dynastic rulers prefer to be referred to as "Ayaba" (contraction of 'Aya Oba', lit. "wife of the Oba," the equivalent of ''Queen Consort''). The wives of the non-royal chiefs, when themselves titleholders in their own right, tend to use the honorific "Ìyálóyè" () in their capacities as married chieftesses.

The Oba's crown

The bead-embroidered crown with beaded veil, foremost attribute of the Oba, symbolizes the aspirations of a civilization at the highest level of authority. In his seminal article on the topic, Robert F. Thompson writes, "The crown incarnates the intuition of royal ancestral force, the revelation of great moral insight in the person of the king, and the glitter of aesthetic experiences."

Items of office

The following items or accessories of office often accompany the position of Obaship in

. * Ade - Royal crown - The ultimate symbol of authority. Distributed from Ife to all original Obas. * Irukere - Royal Horsetail - Symbol of grace and peace. * Odigba - Collar of beads. Also known as the Ejigba and Edigba. *Opa Ase - Scepter of authority, also known as Opa ileke. * Ada -

Sword of justice A sword of justice is a ceremonial sword that is used to signify a monarch's supreme judicial power. In some cases, this may have been an executioner's sword that was no longer used for executions, becoming instead a ceremonial one. The Crown ...

, state sword always brought from Ife and invested on all original Obas during coronation. *Ileke - Beads (Coral or Glass). *

Agba ''Prioria balsamifera'', the agba or tola, is a tall forest tree in the family Fabaceae. It is native to lowland tropical rainforest in west Africa, from Nigeria southwards to the Congo Basin in Angola, Cameroon, Republic of the Congo, Democratic ...

- State drums beaten for the Oba. Also called Gbedu, it is the largest of the Yoruba drums. * Ewu Ileke - Beaded gown or tunic, also known as Ewu okun, Including beaded footwear (Bata ileke).

Royal duties

The role of the oba has diminished with the coming of colonial and democratic

institutions An institution is a humanly devised structure of rules and norms that shape and constrain social behavior. All definitions of institutions generally entail that there is a level of persistence and continuity. Laws, rules, social conventions and ...

. However, an event that still has symbolic prestige and capital is that of chieftaincy title-taking and awarding. This dates back to the era of the Oyo warrior chiefs and

palace A palace is a large residence, often serving as a royal residence or the home for a head of state or another high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome whi ...

officials in the medieval period, when powerful individuals of varied ancestries held prominent titles in the

empire An empire is a political unit made up of several territories, military outpost (military), outposts, and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a hegemony, dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the ...

. In

, like in many other areas of Benin, Nigeria and Togo, chieftaincy titles are mostly given to successful men and women from within a given sub-sectional territory, although it is not unheard of for a person from elsewhere to receive one. The

title A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify their generation, official position, military rank, professional or academic qualification, or nobility. In some languages, titles may be ins ...

s also act as symbolic capital that can be used to gain favour when desired by the individual oba that awarded them, and sometimes vice versa. During any of the traditional

investiture Investiture (from the Latin preposition ''in'' and verb ''vestire'', "dress" from ''vestis'' "robe") is a formal installation or ceremony that a person undergoes, often related to membership in Christian religious institutes as well as Christian kn ...

ceremonies for the chiefs-designate, the oba is regarded by the Yoruba as the major centre of attention, taking precedence over even the members of the official governments of any of the three countries if they are present. As the oba leads the procession of nominees into a specially embroidered dais in front of a wider audience of guests and well-wishers, festivities of varied sorts occur to the accompaniment of traditional drumming. Emblems are given out according to seniority, and drapery worn by the oba and chiefs are created to be elaborate and also expensive. Most of the activities are covered by the local

media Media may refer to: Communication * Means of communication, tools and channels used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Interactive media, media that is inter ...

and enter the public domain thereafter. Only the secret initiations for traditional chiefs of the highest rank are kept a secret from all outsiders. Ceremonies such as this, and the process of selection and maintenance of networks of chiefs, are two of the major sources of power for the contemporary royals of

West Africa West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Gha ...

.Lionel Caplan, Humphrey Fisher, David Parkin; ''The Politics of Cultural Performance''. Berghahn Books, 1996, p 30-37.

Priestly duties

As a sacred ruler, the oba is traditionally regarded by the Yoruba as the ex officio chief priest of all of the

Orisha Orishas (singular: orisha) are divine spirits that play a key role in the Yoruba religion of West Africa and several religions of the African diaspora that derive from it, such as Haitian Vaudou, Cuban Santería and Brazilian Candomblé. The p ...

sects in his or her domain. Although most of the day-to-day functions of this position are delegated in practice to such figures as the arabas, certain traditional rites of the Yoruba religion can only be performed by the oba, and it is for this reason that the holders of the title are often thought of as being religious leaders in addition to being politico-ceremonial monarchs.

References

{{Reflist Titles of national or ethnic leadership Noble titles Yoruba words and phrases Yoruba royal titles Yoruba culture Yoruba religion History of the Yoruba people Royal titles Yoruba politics African traditional governments Kingdom of Benin Edo culture