A Tale of Two Empires: A Forensic Analysis of How and Why the Ethiopians Escaped Colonization but the Yorubas Did Not

A millennium ago they cast bronze and brass, smelted iron and copper, built walled cities with tens of thousands of inhabitants and at one point ruled a fine slice of West Africa. By 1886-that momentous year-they had modern weapons including rifles, rockets and The Gatling Gun. Yet they fared no better than the most primitive spear wielding African tribe in the theatre of colonization. Why? This paper examines why given their relative state of advancement The Yoruba people were colonized especially vis-à-vis The Ethiopians who escaped colonization.