| Total population | |
|---|---|
| ~907,370 (2011) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Ogun State- 907,370 · Imeko Afon: 97,830 · Yewa North: 216,820 · Yewa South: 198,530 · Ipokia: 177,370 | |
| Religion | |
| Christianity · Yoruba religion · Islam |
| Part ofa series on |
| Yorùbá people |
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TheẸgbado (Morphology: Ẹgba l'odo), nowYewa, are a subgroup of theYoruba people and mostly inhabitOgun West Senatorial District,Ogun State, in south-westNigeria,Africa. In 1995, the group's name was changed to Yewa after theYewa River, the river (odo) they foraged towards. The name of this river is derived from theYorubagoddess Yewa. Yewa/Ẹgbado mainly occupy four Local Government Areas in Ogun State,Yewa South,Yewa North,Imeko-Afon, andIpokia, while theAdo-Odo/Ota LGA forms the fifth Awori part of the senatorial district. Other Yewa/Ẹgbado are located in Lagos West, Lagos East, Oyo North, and Oyo South senatorial zones.
Before the creation of the Southern Nigeria Protectorate, Egba territory and people is bordered by theKetu (Benin) in the West, theLagos Colony in south, Ijebu in the east, and Oyo, Ibadan and Isoya near Ile Ife in the north. The people are directly connected to theOgun River, but detached from the swampy coast of Lagos. Through the Egba land, there are direct routes to other Yoruba towns, including Lagos, Ibadan, Ijebu-Ode, Ketu (Benin), and Porto Novo (Àjàṣẹ́) in the Benin Republic.[1][2]
The Ẹgbado appear to have migrated - possibly from theKetu,Ile-Ife, orOyo - to their current area early in the 14th to 18th century. Ẹgbado towns, most importantly Ipokia, Ado Odo,Ayetoro,Imeko Afon, Ilaro, and Igbogila, were established in the 11th to 18th century to take advantage of theslave trade routes from the inlandOyo empire to the coast atPorto-Novo. Other towns wereIlobi andIjanna, which were strategic in protecting the flanks of the slaving routes. The Ẹgbados' were subject to the rule of the Oyo kingdom, which managed them via governorOnisare of Joanna. The Oyo were unable to deploy their cavalry force to protect the routes, due totsetse fly and lack of horse fodder and thus had to rely on the Ẹgbado and Ẹgba people to manage the routes. Thehistorians Akinjogbin, Morton-Williams, and Smith all agree that by the early 18th century this route to the coast was heavily engaged in slave trading and that slaves were the mainstay of the Oyo economy.
The Ẹgbado later achieved a fragile independence after the fall of the Oyo kingdom, but were subject to frequent attacks from other groups such as the slave-raidingDahomey (who seized, among others,PrincessSara Forbes Bonetta), and various tribes who wished to force open their own slave-trading routes to the sea.Ilaro and Ijanna towns had been destroyed in the 1830s. By the 1840s the Ẹgbado had come under the control of the adjacentEgba group, who used the Ẹgbado territory to forge routes toBadagry and the ports ofLagos. By the 1860s the Egba abandoned the route because the British were actively using their formidablenavy to try to abolish theslave trade. Consequently, the Egba expelled British missionaries and traders from the area in 1867.
After 1890 the Ẹgbado asked for aBritish protectorate and got a small armed garrison, thus becoming independent of the Egba. This area became part of the British Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria in 1914, asẸgbado Division inAbeokuta Province. The administrative headquarters were later transferred away, after the creation of the new Ogun State, which subsumed the old Abeokuta Province.
In 1995 the Ẹgbado chose to rename themselves the "Yewa", after the name of theYewa River that passes through the area they inhabit. They are primarily agriculturalists, but there is someartisan andtextile processings. They are located mainly in the areas of:Ado-Odo/Ota,Ipokia,Yewa South,Yewa North,Imeko Afon, and part ofAbeokuta North. There were complaints that the system ofpatronage andnepotism in Nigerian politics has caused the area to be neglected in terms of investment.[3]
The area developed a popular style of music, calledBolojo, in the 1970s.
The Yewa Villages and Towns are also in Lagos State.The Olu of Ipaja, Lagos State is Yewa's.
The Population of people living in Yewa South, Yewa North, Ipokia, Imeko Afon, Ado Oddo /Otta Local Government Areas are above Three Millions people.
Ado-Odo / Otta Local Government Area is the most populated Local Government Area of Ogun State.
Source : Nigerian Census Population Commission.[citation needed]
Source of Reference: Yewa People Development Council.
The notable Yewa individuals include:
Yewa People Development Council.