Editing Ifẹ (section)

==History==
{{Main|Timeline of Yoruba history}}
{{Main|Oke Ora}}
{{Further|Ife Empire}}

===Origin of Ife: Creation of the world===
[[File:Yoruba-bronze-head.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Yoruba culture|Yoruba]] Copper mask for King Obalufon, Ife, Nigeria c. 1300 CE]]

According to [[Yoruba religion]], [[Olodumare]], the Supreme God, ordered [[Obatala]] to create the earth, however on his way he over indulged in palm wine and got drunk. Thence, a contemporary [[Orisha]] to the former, [[Oduduwa]], took the items of creation from him, descended from the abode of the Orisha on a chain and cast the handful of earth on the [[Primordialism|primordial]] ocean. The earth rose and became a mound called [[Oke Ora]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Bazylinska |first1=Karolina |last2=University |first2=Cleveland State |title=Afewonro Park – The Heart of Creation |url=https://access.thebrightcontinent.org/items/show/17 |website=Bright Continent |access-date=5 August 2023 |language=en}}</ref> He then put a five-toed [[Rooster|cockerel]] on this primordial mound so that it would scatter the earth around, thus creating the land on which Ile Ife, the first city would be built.<ref name="Bascom, p. 10"/> Oduduwa planted a palm nut in a hole in the newly formed land and from there sprang a great tree with sixteen branches, a symbolic representation of the 16 clans of the early Ife pre-urban confederation; ''Elu Merindinlogun'', (Thirteen initial and 3 later ones).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Owo {{!}} Igbo-Yoruba, Ondo State, Benin-Nigeria {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Owo |access-date=2024-12-31 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> 

The usurpation of creation by Oduduwa, gave rise to an ever-lasting conflict between him and his contemporaneous rival Orisha, Obatala. This symbolic rivalry is still re-enacted in the modern era by the votary groups of the two divinities during the Itapa New Year festival.<ref>Olupona, ''201 Gods'', 144–173; Lange, [https://books.google.com/books?id=syATJKcx5A0C&q=lange,+kingdoms ''Ancient Kingdoms''], 347–366; ''idem.'', [http://dierklange.com/pdf/lange_vitality.pdf "Preservation"], 130–1.</ref> On account of his creation of the world, Oduduwa became the ancestor of the first divine king of the Yoruba, while Obatala is believed to have created the first Yoruba people out of clay. The meaning of the word "''Ife''" in Yoruba is "expansion"; "Ile-Ife" is therefore in reference to the myth of origin as "The Land of Expansion" (the word, Ile, as pronounced in modern Yoruba language, means house or home, which would make the name of the city mean "The Home of Expansion").<ref>{{Cite web |title=Owo {{!}} Igbo-Yoruba, Ondo State, Benin-Nigeria {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Owo |access-date=2024-12-31 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

===Origin of the regional states: Dispersal from the holy city===
[[Oduduwa]] had sons, daughters, and grandchildren, who went on to found their own kingdoms and empires, namely; [[Ila Orangun]], [[Owu kingdom|Owu]], [[Ketu (Benin)|Ketu]], [[Savè|Sabe]], [[Egba Ake|Egba]], Popo and [[Oyo Empire|Oyo]]. [[Oranmiyan]], Oduduwa's last born, was one of his father's principal ministers and overseer of the nascent [[Kingdom of Benin|Edo kingdom]] after Oduduwa granted the plea of the [[Edo people]] for his governance. When Oranmiyan decided to go back to Ile Ife, after a period of service in [[Benin City|Benin]], he left behind a child named Eweka that he had in the interim with an indigenous princess of Benin, Erinmwinde, daughter of the King (Ogie) of [[Egor]], a neighbouring settlement to nascent Benin. The young boy went on to become the first widely accepted ruler and Oba of the second [[Edo people|Edo]] dynasty that has ruled what is now [[Kingdom of Benin|Benin]] from that day to this. [[Oranmiyan]] later migrated northwestwards into the savanna plains to found the [[Oyo empire|Oyo]]. Oyo later became an empire that stretched at its height from the western or right bank of the [[Niger River]] to the eastern or left banks of the [[Volta River]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Schorkowitz |first1=Dittmar |last2=Chávez |first2=John R. |last3=Schröder |first3=Ingo W. |title=Shifting Forms of Continental Colonialism: Unfinished Struggles and Tensions |date=28 September 2019 |publisher=Springer Nature |isbn=978-981-13-9817-9 |page=240 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qpyyDwAAQBAJ&dq=oyo+empire+volta+river&pg=PA240 |access-date=5 September 2023 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Oyo empire {{!}} History, Definition, Map, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Oyo-empire |website=www.britannica.com |access-date=5 September 2023 |language=en}}</ref> It would become known as one of the most powerful of Africa's medieval states, prior to its collapse in the mid 19th century.<ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref>{{Cite web |title=Owo {{!}} Igbo-Yoruba, Ondo State, Benin-Nigeria {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Owo |access-date=2024-12-31 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>