Kings, traditions and chronology in pre-colonial Africa: conjectures on the Yoruba kingdom of Ketu

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Periodical article

Title:	Kings, traditions and chronology in pre-colonial Africa: conjectures on the Yoruba kingdom of Ketu
Author:	Adediran, Biodun
Year:	1987
Periodical:	Afrika Zamani: revue d'histoire africaine
Issue:	18-19
Period:	December
Pages:	74-87
Language:	English
Geographic terms:	Benin Nigeria
Subjects:	Ketu polity historiography chronology Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) History and Exploration
Abstract:	A close scrutiny of regnal lists of major African States shows that the major criticisms levelled against the chronology of kinglists - that they contain fictitious names as well as omissions, that they often do not recognize collateral rulers, that they telescope or artificially lengthen time - are not valid. In most centralized African societies, oral traditions are narrated in such a way that make the establishment of a reliable chronological framework from available kinglists possible. This is illustrated with reference to four kinglists from the Yoruba kingdom of Ketu (present-day Benin and Nigeria). Two major issues are relevant to the question of the reliability of the Ketu traditional kinglists: that of the antiquity of the Ketu kingdom, and that of the proper sequence of events in the kingdom's early history. The author argues that it is possible to obtain from the Ketu kinglists and oral accounts an adequate chronological framework more reliable than precise dates based on computed regnal lengths. Notes, ref.