Ijesha

Sub ethnicity of the Yorubas of West Africa

The Ijesha (written as Ìjẹ̀ṣà in Yoruba orthography) are a sub ethnicity of the Yorubas of West Africa. Ilesha is the largest town and historic cultural capital of the Ijesha people, and is home to a kingdom of the same name, ruled by an Oba locally styled as the Owa Obokun Adimula. The present ruling family of Ijesha is the Aromolaran family with the current reigning Owa Obokun being Oba Gabriel Adekunle Aromolaran.

Ijeshaland is located at latitude 8.92°N and Longitude 3.42°E. It lies in a forested region at the heart of the Yoruba country, west of the Effon ridge which separate the Ijeshas from the Ekitis to their east, and at the intersection of roads from Ile Ife, Oshogbo, Ado Ekiti and Akure. The Ijesa cultural area presently covers six local government councils within Osun state and Okemesi currently the headquarter of Okemesi/Ido ile LCDA in Ekiti State of Nigeria. The Ijesha territory is adjoined by the Ekiti on the east, the Igbomina to the north, the Ife to the south, and the Oyo and Ibolo to the west. The nationally famous Olumirin waterfalls, more popularly known as Erin Ijesha Waterfalls is located in Ijeshaland. Ijeshaland is rich in Gold and has the largest deposit in Nigeria.

The word Ìjèsà comes from eating with the god (Orisha). The people were devoted Orisha worshippers and are always celebrating one festival or another eating and celebrating hence those who eat Orisha's food The Ijesha may have lost some territory to their neighbours during various conflicts and wars of the nineteenth and preceding centuries. The people of Oke Ako, Irele, Omuo Oke are said to speak a dialect similar to Ijesha.

The city state of Ilesa (Ile ti a sa, which means "a homeland we chose") is the traditional headquarters of Ijesaland. It was founded in c.1250 by Owaluse, a grandson of Ajibogun Ajaka Owa Obokun Onida Arara, one of the most accomplished great grandsons of Oduduwa, the royal progenitor of the Yoruba race of South Western Nigeria, Benin Republic and Togo. His father became mysteriously blind and Ifa concluded that he has to wash his eyes with sea water to be able to see again. Owa volunteered and got the water from the sea hence the name Owa Obokun The city was described by Rev. William Howard Clark in 1854 as:

For its cleanliness, regularity in breadth and width, and the straightness of its streets, the ancient city of Ilesa far surpasses any native town I have seen in black Africa.