Born around 1798 in the coastal Ijebu town of Makun (now Makun-Omi), Osifekunde belonged to an aristocratic family. His grandfather, Osiwo, named after a popular Orisa, Osi, was born in Oke Ako, located between Ijebu Ode and the port town of Epe. However, his popularity derived from his role as the royal treasurer or Ladeke, a probable corruption of Aladeken, now the title of the king of Oke-Ako. If so, Oke Ako, especially from its location, could have started as a market or toll point in the eighteenth century. ${ }^{6}$ Osiwo's role in the treasury, market, and the fact that he or members of his family later lived in Epe could also account for his wealth and many wives. A market supervisor  
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[^0]:    5 See Olatunji Ojo, 2015, "Amazing struggle: Dasalu, global Yoruba networks, and the fight against slavery," Atlantic Studies 12 no. 1, pp. 5-25.
6 D'Avesac could have mistranslated the title of Oloja (village head/market master) as treasurer.  
regulated access to the market, collected fees and fines, and resolved disputes between competing traders. Also, he, like the Yoruba gatekeeper, became rich from receiving market commissions, bribes and trading in his own right.  
One of Osiwo's fifteen wives, Ogoua Ade [Ogunade], was a descendant of King Osigade, recognized in Ijebu traditions as the head of the aboriginal (pre-Awujale) Idoko group and ancestor of the succeeding Oliworo (of Iworo) dynasty. Having established many villages and communities in western Ijebuland, Osigade proceeded west to Ijebu-Ode and settled at Ilede (OdoEgbo), although Iworo remained his administrative capital. Another group of immigrants led by Ogboroganda (or Obanta) (D'Avezac's Obrogoluda), came and defeated Osigade and created the Awujale dynasty. Osifekunde alludes to this tradition when he described Osigade as the predecessor of Beleboua [Gbelegbuwa], the forty-fourth Awujale, who reigned from $c .1760$ to $c .1790$.