Ijebu is the Yoruba kingdom of the forest behind the Lekki lagoon, with Ijebu-Ode as its capital.
Round it runs Sungbo's Eredo, a ditch and bank more than 160 km long and up to 20 m from ditch floor to bank top, enclosing an area about 40 km from north to south; local legend makes it the memorial of a rich childless widow, Bilikisu Sungbo, whose grave is venerated at Oke-Eri near Ijebu-Ode. Patrick Darling dated the Eredo to the tenth and eleventh centuries, which would mean that a large polity already stood here on 1 January 1200; newer excavations point to the late fourteenth and early fifteenth century, and Wikipedia's Ijebu article puts the kingdom's formation in the fifteenth century. The later kingdom was governed by the king with the Osugbo, the council of titled freeborn men that sat as the courts, headed by the Oliwa; how much of this existed in 1200 is not known.
The Portuguese described the city (Geebu) and its great ditch in 1508.
Who he is
- Name
- Not known. The tradition makes Obanta (personal name Ogborogan), a prince from Ife, the founder of the ruling dynasty; other Ijebu traditions name earlier leaders. No date attaches to any of them.
- Title
- Awujale of Ijebu (the title of the later kings; its use in 1200 is not pinned)
- Since
- not pinned
- Family
- The house of Obanta in the tradition
- Confidence
- low
What it holds
- Ijebu-Ode
- the country inside the Eredo, if it stands
- lagoon landings towards Epe
Allies and rivals
Not attested for 1200. The tradition ties the dynasty to Ife.
How things stand that morning
Not pinned: either the ruler of a large walled polity (on Darling's dating) or one of several smaller Ijebu communities (on the later dating).
Wealth
Forest farming, cloth, lagoon fish and salt; the later trade monopoly between the coast and the interior is of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Military
The Eredo, if it stands, is the largest earthwork in the region; nothing else is attested.
Threats
- Not attested
What the year holds
What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.
- 1200No dated event.Depends on: Not applicable Stopped by: Not applicable
Places of note
- Grave of Bilikisu Sungbo, Oke-Eri: Shrine near Ijebu-Ode venerated as the grave of the Eredo's legendary builder (position given by Ijebu-Ode).
Where the sources disagree
- The Eredo's dating is disputed by about four centuries; Wikipedia's Ijebu Kingdom article gives both 800-1000 for the Eredo's construction and the fifteenth century for the kingdom without reconciling them.
Evidence: Oral tradition plus the disputed archaeology of the Eredo.
On the map: The ring is approximate and its existence in 1200 depends on the dating.
Primary sources for Yoruba towns
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- Ife, Benin, Nri, the Yoruba towns and the Akan: archaeology and recorded tradition (no contemporary text; traditions written down from the 1890s). No text of any kind exists for the forest belt in 1200.
Sources and studies
- Wikipedia, Sungbo's Eredo (Darling's dating to the tenth and eleventh centuries; later excavations pointing to about 1400)
- Wikipedia, Ijebu Kingdom
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.