A PRELIMINARY SURVEY OF PLACE-NAMES IN OGBOMOSO, SOUTHWEST NIGERIA

Onipede Kayode Joseph

Abstract


The  study  of  place-names  is  almost a  neglected  field  in  African history,  despite its great significance in the field of socio-historical studies. At its core, this paper creates a  nexus  between  the  studies  of  place-name  in African historical context  and  how  historical  information  can  be  obtained  through  the  study  of  place-name:  employing historical methods of data collection of primary and secondary sources of data,  which include  oral  and  documentary  evidence, the  paper  examines  the social  and  cultural  relevance of  place-names  in Ogbomoso, southwest  Nigeria.   In Ogbomoso, place-names have fostered cooperation and understanding among the primordial social and cultural groups found in the town. The groups; by coming together,  fostered progress and development of Ogbomoso, however, they revert to social and cultural groupings at  critical  periods  to  resolve  internal  crises.  Consequently, migrants  had  to  maintain  their  names  to  retain  their  socio-cultural identity.  This  paper,  therefore,  served  as  a  means  of  documenting  identities,  experiences,  and  relationships  of  the  people  in  Ogbomoso society.  Place-names  in Ogbomoso correlate  with  the  peopling,   the settlement  pattern  and  thus significant  to  social identity.  The  paper  concludes  that  place-names  in  Yoruba  society  in  general  and in  Ogbomoso in  particular,  are descriptively woven around social identification of the various settlements. The paper is  of  the  view  that  place-names will contribute  significantly  to  the  reconstruction  of  local  and  urban  history  in  Nigeria,  and  enhance  collective  memory  within  everyday  life  and  spaces.  The  present  study  complements  extant  studies  on  Ogbomoso social and cultural identities.

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This study provided valuable insight into the historical geography of Ogbomoso society, illustrating the pattern of settlement as ancestral, and relating it with the 19thcentury demographic changes in Yoruba societies. Besides, place-names in Ogbomoso provide an insight to settler’s origin and culture. Place-names in Ogbomoso fulfill the task of identity, distinguished one community from the other with cultural sentiments and significance in line with Vuolteenaho and Berg culturalist orientations where the focus lies on the etymology of place names in broader socio-historical context. It also assisted the people in their everyday life and business by describing location, locality, and environment; it also gave information on where we have been or where we plan to go supporting George Seddon and Brian Jackman’s view place-names tell us not only where we want to go but where we have come from; clues to our past and the forces that have shaped the land we live in. In addition and as shown in the paper, some place-names in Ogbomoso are reflections of geographical extension brought about by colonial activities and social development, due to the activities of modern government. It is descriptive and referential, thus, it aligned with Bertrand Russell Causal theory of names popular with linguistics history. Other functions of place-names in Ogbomoso include trade and commerce, transportation, environmental planning, provision of social amenities. Place-name(s) in Ogbomoso reveals the peoples’ culture and ideology of naming as an attempt to preserve their primordial traditions. It is; thus, a means of cultural continuity. The narrative reveals the relevance of place-names as identity builder in historical standpoint. It also addressed the importance of place-names, their role as links to the past with the social and cultural identity-building capacity, for identification and place marking. The paper noted that an intimate relationship between a place and the name exist in Ogbomoso, and therefore, conclude that place-names in Ogbomoso is a reflection the peoples past and their cultural heritage, thereby, it gives rise to feelings of citizen's collective socio-cultural and national identity. Place-names meaning in Ogbomoso therefore has real-world referents that arehistoric, with conceptual meanings within which scholars and individuals could assess the integration of the various sub-groups into the Ogbomoso metropolis. Several of the place-names easily points to the cultural heritage of the people by revealing and describing their origin, the history of the place and the space,explaining family history and settlement in relationship to public space such as Oke-Ado Akintola, described Chief S.L.A. Akintola, the Premier of the old Western Region (1962-1966) country home. Gaa-Masifa, and Ago-Ife described the settlers as who came from Masifa and Ile-Ife, two separate towns from the present Osun state, running from the internecine war settle in the early part of the 19th century.


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