Ifẹ
Ifè (or Ilé-Ifẹ̀, as it is properly known) is an ancient Yoruba city in south-western Nigeria. Evidence of settlement of the city has been discovered dating back as far as 500 BC.
Today a mid-sized city, Ilé-Ifè is home to the Obafemi Awolowo University and Nigeria's Natural History Museum.Ilé-Ifè has a strong claim to be the spiritual centre of the Yoruba people. According to Yorùbá legend, Ilé-Ifè is where the founding deities Odùduwà and Obàtálá began the creation of the world, as directed by the paramount deity Olódùmarè. Obàtálá created the first humans out of clay, while Odùduwà became the first divine king of the Yoruba. The Oòni (King) of Ifè claims direct descent from the god Oduduwa, and is counted first among Yoruba kings. Until today many of the surviving cult-groups of the city celebrate the creation of the world during the Itapa-festival.
Between 700 and 900 A.D., Ilé-Ifè began to develop as a major artistic centre, and the city was a settlement of substantial size between the 9th and 12th centuries, with houses featuring potsherd pavement. Ilé-Ifè is known worldwide for its ancient and naturalistic bronze, stone and terracotta sculptures, which reached their peak of artistic expression between 1200 and 1400 A.D. After this period, production declined as political and economic power shifted to the nearby kingdom of Benin which like the Yoruba kingdom of Oyo, developed into a major empire.
It is located in the present day, Osun State, with a population of 501,952. Ife people are of the Yoruba ethnic group, one of the largest ethnic groups in Africa. Ife has a local television station called NTA Ife, and is home to various businesses. Ife is also the trade center for a farming region. Yams, cassava, grain, cacao, and tobacco are grown. Cotton is grown and used to weave cloth. Hotels in Ilé-Ife include Hotel Diganga Ife-Ibadan road, Mayfair Hotel, Obafemi Awolowo University Guest House etc. Ilé-Ife has a stadium with a capacity of 9,000 and a second division professional league football (soccer)team.
Bronze and terracotta art created by this civilization are one of the earliest and most significant instances of realism in art, dating back to before the European Renaissance.
Bibliography
- Akinjogbin, I. A. (Hg.): The Cradle of a Race: Ife from the Beginning to 1980, Lagos 1992 (The book also has chapters on the present religious situation in the town).
- Bascom, William: The Yoruba of Southwestern Nigeria, New York 1969 (The book mainly deals with Ile-Ife).
- Lange, Dierk: "The dying and the rising God in the New Year Festival of Ife", in: Lange, Ancient Kingdoms of West Africa, Dettelbach 2004, pp. 343-376.
- Willett, Frank: Ife in the History of West African Sculpture, London 1967 (The book also deals with some oral traditions of Ile-Ife).
Weblink
- Lange, Dierk: "Preservation of Canaanite creation culture in Ife", in: H.-P. Hahn and G. Spittler (eds.), Between Resistance and Expansion, Münster 2004, 125-158.