100 GREATEST AFRICANS OF ALL TIME - Oranmiyan: The African Great Warrior Prince and King

in #history7 years ago

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#Source:https://m.facebook.com/groups/142387942535037?view=permalink&id=1310254135748406
an artist reimagination of Oranmiyan posted on Nigeria Nostalgia on Facebook

Oranmiyan: The African Great Warrior Prince

It is now established in recorded history that Oranmiyan ruled three great kingdoms that survive up to the present. That is, Ife, Benin and Oyo. Historians from these three great kingdoms agree to that. According to the erudite and renowned historian, Prof. Ade Ajayi, Oranmiyan, the youngest son of Oduduwa was a man of great physical power and strength and a conqueror. Another version has it that he was a grandson of Oduduwa. However, he was the first monarch of Benin to bear the title Oba, after putting a permanent stop to the Ogiso dynasty. He founded Oyo and installed his son, Ajaka as the first Alaafin of Oyo. He, also installed his son, Eweka (owo mi ka) in his place at Benin, giving the Edos the long line of kings from the Oranmiyan dynasty, before returning to Ile-Ife to occupy the throne of his father, Oduduwa as the fourth Ooni of Ife until his death.

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#Source: http://thenationonlineng.net/myths-surrounding-oranmiyan-staff/
The exploits of Oranmiyan, either as crown prince or as king at different places in the part of Africa now regarded as south-western Nigeria cannot be over-emphasized and deserve thorough academic research on its own. The famous opa Oranmiyan, a 5 meter tall granite obelisk with iron stud at Ile-Ife is named after him from antiquity, either by his family as commemorative stele or attributively by the people. Legend has it that the “staff of Oranmiyan” was a walking stick for the prince when he was alive and which he erects on conquered lands to signify his control. But evidently, this is a metaphor of some sort.
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#Source: http://thenationonlineng.net/myths-surrounding-oranmiyan-staff/

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