Kurunmi dating history

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Kurunmi (died 1861), also known as Are Kurunmi, was a Yoruba military commander and the Aare Ona Kakanfo, or Generalissimo, of the Oyo Empire in the mid-nineteenth century. He ruled Ijaiye, a town situated on the road between Ibadan and Iseyin in what is now Oyo State, Nigeria, and was regarded as one of the most powerful military figures in Yorubaland during his era. His refusal to recognise Adelu as successor to Alafin Atiba following the latter's death in 1859, on the grounds that the installation contravened established Oyo custom, precipitated the Ijaiye War, a conflict in which Ijaiye was defeated by the combined forces of Ibadan and its allies between 1860 and 1862. All five of his sons died in the war. He has since been the subject of substantial historiographical attention and is the central figure in the 1971 play Kurunmi by Nigerian dramatist Ola Rotimi and the play Ijaye by Wale Ogunyemi.