A very good copy of Ire Irohin, the first newspaper printed in Nigeria.
Founded in Abeokuta in 1859, by the English missionary, Henry Townsend (1815-1886) the paper began mostly as a christian mouthpiece evangelising to its readership and giving information on other missions. However, unlike other newspapers in West Africa, “whose translations from English were done by European missionaries, the Yoruba part of the Iwe Irohin was entirely translated by Egba converts. This had the advantage that the regular translation of a large quantity of material was possibly and the exercise served as a useful means of preparing the translators for other more important translations” (Omu, 38-39).
This issue commences with a patronising entreaty: “Africans should visit England to for a just idea of the vast difference between a civilised country and theirs, and to obtain just notions of what ought to be done here to improve and elevate the county.” The editorial then lays blame at Egban complicity in the slave trade: “The wealth of a country is its population judged both as regards number and quality. If so Africans have been pursuing a course calculated to impoverish their country, they have sold away the population, the great source of wealth to any country, for whom they have met greedy purchasers …”
In the “Recent Intelligence” section, there is a report on a peace embassy from “various towns to the north” (principally the king of Oyo - king of the Yorubas) requesting an interview with the Chiefs of Abeokuta. The notion of peace was well-received on the condition that Yoruban troops withdraw from Abeokuta. There is news of the ongoing efforts of the Governor of Lagos in setting up a meeting with the Ikorudu people, who had refused to entertain the advice offered them. “Had they submitted to what was justly requested of them they would have secured their own safety, but they have committed so many wrongs of their neighbours, they cannot be safe without the protection of Lagos.” Finally, there is news of Ibadan aggression at Iperu “with the usual results.”
Through the course of its publication history, “Iwe Iroyin’s greater contribution is as a historiographical source for the momentous events in Abeokuta, Lagos, and other parts of Yorubaland. The paper captured some of the battles of the Yoruba civil war, the British annexation of the Lagos and the deep fears this produced in Abeokuta and Ibadan, which were to define the complexities of Anglo-Egba relations; and the Egba-Dahomey wars. It is to this newspaper that Nigeria historians owe much of the knowledge of the internal dynamics of Egba politics. The paper adequately captured the sense of confusion that prevailed in Abeokuta as a result of the cultural dislocations and those caused by European modernization” (Oduntan).
The issue concludes with updates on the missions in Borneo, China, India, Mauritius, and New Zealand as well as some financial matters including donations.
OCLC locates a single holding at the Newberry, it’s unclear whether it’s a complete run, or a single issue.
Oduntan, O.B., “‘Iwe Irohin’ and the Representation of the Universal in Nineteenth-Century Egbaland” in History in Africa, Vol. 32 (2005), p.299; Omu, F.I.A., “The ‘Iwe Irohin’, 1859-1867” in Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria, Vol. 4, No. 1 (December, 1967), pp.35-44.
