State · 1400 – 1905

Oyo Empire

A state of 1400 – 1905 — 505 years in sub-Saharan Africa. Its line of rulers holds 1 person.

For the full story, the article on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0); this page holds what the record says of the state.

Stood: 505 years; 1400 – 1905
Rulers: 1; the Alaafin (List)
Most ground: 88,400 km²; in 1769

Map: Oyo Empire in 1769, its borders in gold among its neighbours — Oyo Empire in 1769, when it held the most ground the borders dataset draws for it: 88,400 km². Its neighbours wear their tints, as on the atlas's own map. Borders from Cliopatria (CC BY 4.0), coast and rivers from Natural Earth, cities from Reba, Reitsma & Seto 2016 (CC BY 4.0), each city under the name it bore that year.

Oyo Empire in 1609, first mapped — The rise and the fall in one frame: the same ground at the years the borders dataset first maps it, maps it largest, and last maps it.

Oyo Empire in 1769, at its largest — The rise and the fall in one frame: the same ground at the years the borders dataset first maps it, maps it largest, and last maps it.

Where it sits in time

Five thousand years, 3000 BCE to 2026; the state in gold.

Rulers

Read from the state’s own English article and its rulers’ articles, where Wikidata names no ruler.

ending not on record

Ruler	Reign	Length	How it ended · source	To the ruler before
Adeyemi I Alowolodu	1876 – 1905	29 years	ending not on record

1 rulers, 1 with terms dated as terms, covering 1876 – 1905. Only 29 years of the line are dated - too short for a median. A blank in the last column means no kin on record, which is coverage, never “unrelated”.

Ground held, by year

km² inside its borders as the borders dataset draws them, measured on an equal-area grid; a step series, held between the years the dataset maps.

6,100 km² in 1625, 66,600 km² in 1825; at its largest 88,400 km² in 1775. Cliopatria, CC BY 4.0.

Among all states

Each measure against the states that carry it, never against all of them: a bar is the share of those states below this one.

How long it stood505 years
stood longer than 87% of 3,187 states with a recorded end or still standing.
The most ground it held88,400 km²
held more ground at its peak than 42% of 1,465 states with a border in Cliopatria.
Wars recorded per centurynone
had more wars on record per century than 44% of 3,187 states, counting the wars the atlas hosts under each.
Rulers on record1
has more rulers on record than 13% of 1,968 states with a line of rulers.

Open in the atlas

On the timeline, 1349 – 1956, with everything that stood beside it.
On the map in 1769, live: scrub the year and watch its borders move.
Investigate it: what led to it, what came of it, and its succession analysed.

Wikidata Q849623 (CC0) · borders Cliopatria, CC BY 4.0 · coast and rivers Natural Earth · data built 2026-10-06 · Pastlas v2.9.1, by Oleh Voronko. The published atlas and its data are for non-commercial use.