The Oyo Borgu Military Alliance Of 1835

Before the coming of the Europeans, Nigerian ethnic groups had a way of relating with one another taking into consideration the importance of military victory in inter-group relations. Military alliance was one of these. This paper examines the objectives, collapse and the impact on inter-group relations of the defeat of the allied powers. Oyo and Borgu were both military powers before the emergence of Ilorin (Ilorin was formerly a military outpost of Oyo). The emergence not only led to a change in power structure, in which Oyo was brought under Ilorin, Borgu power was also threatened at the same time.