the traditions of these towns, insofar as they are collected, are sparse in complementary references. 98 The only other place where Ilesha's pre-nineteenth century traditions might be datable through an external synchronism is in her later wars with Nupe. There would seem to have beentwo periods before the nineteenth century when the Nupe weremilitarily expansionist at the expense of their Yoruba-speakingneighbors to their south: in the sixteenth century when theysacked Old Oyo and raided as far as the forest zone, and again in the eighteenth century (not later than the 1780s and perhaps a decade or so earlier) when they subjected northeastern Yoruba-land to a period of extensive and destructive raiding.99 Ileshatraditions, most fully recounted in Abiola etc al., attributeNupe wars to two Owa, Waye and Ori -- That is, two of the'female' rulers. This, for reasons we have examined above, isnot chronologically helpful; but happily there are other detailsavailable in Ilesha tradition, both as Abiola records it and elsewhere, which enable us to be more precise. Both Abiolaet al. and Atundaolu (though he places Waye quite differently)link Owa Waye with the establishment of the Arapate title.Chief Arapate is to this day priest of Obalogun, worshiped byhunters and by tradition the hero who led the Ijesha to victory over the Nupe.100 Indeed the Arapate is the pivotal figure of all Ijesha traditions which relate to these episodes, much morethan either of the two Owa. Thus, in the tradition of thesecond war, set in the reign of Ori, the victory is said to havebeen won through a ruse devised by a woman who was rewarded bybeing made the first Arise, Ilesha's chief of the women.101The Arapate presents a new Arise and is the link between herand the Afin (for he is an iwole or "palace-chief"), and inthe common tradition about Ori (except that presented by the royal descent line which goes down through Gbebgaaje and Bepoto Aromolaran!) it was Arapate Agbangbawo who fathered herchildren.The most conspicuous community outside Ilesha associatedwithin this period is Igangan, a town situated some nine milesto the south, which until the late nineteenth century lay atthe extremety of farm settlement in this direction, right on theedge of igbo dudu, virgin forest. Igangan places its foundationin the reign of Waye, and considers its founder Babarake to havebeen a companion of Obalogun in the Nupe war.102 Obalogun is worshipped at Igangan, whose onile (the chief at the capitalthrough whom a subordinate town made representation) was ChiefArapate. Finally, and the most baffling link to elucidate, arethe traditions of ANAYE quarter in Ilesha. Its first chief, theLanaye, is said to have followed his senior brother the Arapateto Ilesha from their original town, Aramoko;103 and its foundingOwa Bilajara, has a name which recalls in the strongest termsone of the oriki of Owa Waye, Osun ajara.Now it is very possible that some of the links of the nexusthat brings together Nupe wars, the 'female' rulers, and the Arapate title are self-conf irming. A community, let us say, linked for some other reason to Chief Arapate (say because anineteenth-century Arapate had held land here) might adoptthe cult of Obalogun and with it tales of Nuper wars, and go onto assume that its origins must have lain in that period. Buteven that argument presupposes that several of the links alreadyexisted; and that is most easily explained on the hypothesis that a certain period did see the wars in which the immigrant Arapate played some key role, enjoying a close relationshipwith the Owa of the day, and acquired rights over communitiesfounded at the time. It might also be noted that, in additionto Igangan, the Arapate was also onile to Ibokun, Ilare, andIlase, three much more ancient communities in the north of Ijeshaland and therefore likely to have been in the forefront of the Nupe wars. Three elements within the nexus pointindependently to a late eighteenth-century date for the wars.Igangan, the nineteenth-century limit of settlement towards thesouthern forests, claims thirteen Loye in cuccession from thefounder to the Loye who was reigning 1900, which is likely toindicate a pre-nineteenth century foundation. 1 0'' ANAYE was determined as falling in phase VII of Ilesha's expansion, that is, before the phase associated with the early nineteenth-century rulers Obara and Odundun. Finally, Ori and Bilajara each stand at the head of a later-recognized royal descent-line; neither can be placed in the nineteenth century and the early eighteenth century would seem too far back for this kind of relationship to be traced. A late eighteenth-century date,synchronous with the Nupe resurgence of the 1770s and 1780sis therefore clearly indicated for this phase of Ilesha'shistory.If we assume that more rulers' names have dropped out of thekinglists from earlier than from later periods, the following seems plausible as a rough chronology for Ilesha's dynastic traditions: 16th cent, or earlier: Owaluse founds Ilesha (not the the first capital of the kingdom). A period of northwards orientation.late 16th-early 17th cent.: Atakunmosa establishes relations with Benin and extends Ijesha influence to Akure and elsewhere in Ekiti. A considerable increase in Ilesha's growth. mid-late 17th cent.: Uyiarere and Oluodo, in whose reigns a further phase of regional dom- inance. Town walls built and again a marked surge in Ilesha's growth. early-mid 18th cent.: 1770s-1780s: Biladu to Bilagbayo (and some 'female' rulers?). Steady founda- tion of quarters. Waye, Ori, Bilajara. Nupe wars. (Bilajila)? late 18th-early 19th cent.: Ojagodo, Akesan, Obara, Odundun. Wars devastate Ijesha communities on northwestern frontier (Otaide, etc.), perhaps creating an influx in the new wave of quarters estab- lished around this time. This is scarcely a history of the three hundred years ofIlesha's growth, but it does establish its scale and span, andindicates something of the institutional framework. In Part II we shall focus more closely on the effects of this long-termgrowth on the political institutions of the community.Notes...102. See S.A. Saraibi, Itan Kukuru Nipa Isedale Ilu Igangan [Short History of the Foundation of Igangan], (Ilesha, n.d.); also interview with Igangan chiefs, 9 Aug. 1974, whose account did not differ from that of Mr. Saraibi.103. Interview, Lanaye and quarter chiefs, along with Chief... (History in Africa, Volumes 6-7African Studies Association., 1979 - Africapaginas 140-142notas na pagina 152.)