The African Slave Trade and the Rise of the Oyo Empire in Southwestern Nigeria

This study examines the relationship between the West African slave trade and the political rise and expansion of the Oyo Empire from the seventeenth to the early nineteenth century in what is now Southwestern Nigeria within the South West geopolitical zone. The Oyo Empire's ascent to regional dominance was intimately connected with its strategic control of slave trade routes and its capacity to supply enslaved persons to European traders at the coast in exchange for firearms and other imported goods. Using a descriptive historical design, the study draws on oral traditions, European trading company records, and Arabic scholarly accounts, supplemented by secondary literature published between 2019 and 2024. The Political Economy of Slavery Framework and the African State Formation Theory provide the analytical lenses. Findings reveal that Oyo's military expansion into neighbouring territories was partly driven by the economic logic of capturing enslaved persons for export, creating a feedback loop between military conquest and slave trade participation that shaped the empire's political economy. The eventual collapse of Oyo in the early nineteenth century is partly attributed to the contradictions generated by slave trade dependency. The study contributes to scholarship on African agency and complicity in the slave trade system. Keywords: Oyo Empire, slave trade, political economy, Southwestern Nigeria, African state formation.