Yoruba Diaspora

Map of 1822

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Conflict Heat Map of 1822

This year marked the last year of the Owu war and the presumed destruction of Owu Ogbere and Owu Ipole. Meanwhile, the Borgu states continued raiding Oyo’s northwestern territory, while Adele controlled trade at Badagry. However, Afonja, who had miscalculated “in seeking to make use of militant Islam for opportunist ends … attempted to persuade the Fulani and Hausa to leave Ilorin and settle separately to the east.” Consequently, the map depicts the territory of Ilorin receding to some degree as Muslim raids seem to have subsided. After the defeat at Hundjroto, Gezo shifted his campaigns southwards laying siege to “Gbédjêwin,” which is place name that relates to a neighborhood in Cotonou on the southern shores of Lake Nakoué. By this time, Samuel Ajayi Crowther had arrived at Lagos and boarded a Portuguese slave ship, which was then captured by the British and escorted to Sierra Leone. His hometown of Osogun was destroyed the year before, but he went north from Osogun to Iseyin before being taken to the coast.  

At the coast, the slave trade reached its highest levels since 1816, whereby 26 slave ships departed. One left Porto Novo, eight left Ouidah, three left Porto Novo, one left Badagry, nine left Lagos and four departed from unspecified ports. Of these ships, seventeen went to Brazil, eight went to Sierra Leone and one French ship went to an unspecified place probably in the Caribbean. Total documented embarkations were 6,722 people, while estimates were 6,923.

For citations see: Henry B. Lovejoy, "Mapping Uncertainty: The Collapse of Oyo and the trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, 1816-1836," Journal of Global Slavery 4, 2 (2019): 127-161. (Open source access).

Shango, Shango, Shango

Samuel Ajayi Crowther, 1864

Farmer Sitting on the Ground

Documented Slave Voyages in 1822

*Ship totals with the same number based on imputted data. See Voyages: The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database (www.slavervoyages.org).