16 Years. Brother Against Brother. The Kiriji War That Handed Nigeria to the British

16 years of civil war. Thousands dead. Entire cities depopulated. And when the smoke finally cleared — the British walked in and took everything. This is the Kiriji War. The longest sustained civil war in recorded human history. And almost nobody taught you this. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN IN THIS DOCUMENTARY In this video, we go deep into one of the most consequential — and most erased — conflicts in African history: ✅ How the fall of the Old Oyo Empire in 1835 planted the seeds of a 16-year war ✅ How Ibadan rose from a refugee camp to the most feared military power in Yoruba land ✅ How the Ekiti-Parapo confederacy united ancient kingdoms against a common oppressor ✅ The role of Ogedengbe Agbogungboro — the defector who nearly changed everything ✅ How European arms traders profited from both sides while Yoruba land bled ✅ The hidden role of British missionaries as colonial intelligence agents ✅ Why the 1893 peace treaty was less a resolution — and more a surrender to colonialism ✅ How the divisions from this war made Nigeria easier to conquer — and harder to unite ABOUT THIS DOCUMENTARY The Kiriji War — also known as the Ekiti-Parapo War or the Sixteen Years' War — was fought between 1877 and 1893 across Yoruba land in what is now southwestern Nigeria. It began as a conflict between the powerful city-state of Ibadan and a coalition of eastern Yoruba kingdoms fighting for their autonomy. It ended with the entire region weakened, divided, and absorbed into British colonial rule. This is not a footnote. This is not a summary. This is the full story — told with the depth, complexity, and cinematic power it has always deserved. ============================================================ IF THIS VIDEO MOVED YOU Subscribe to African Stories With Drey — a channel dedicated to telling Africa's greatest stories with the research, respect, and cinematic power they deserve. Every video on this channel is an act of preservation. Every story we tell is a reclamation.