Alaafin

Alaafin is a title and pre-nominal honorific for the supreme ruler of the Oyo Empire and of modern Oyo, and by extension the ancient Kingdom of Benin. The Alaafin of Oyo is also used commonly to refer to a powerful Yoruba monarch whose reign in the 17th to 18th centuries was vast. He ruled the Oyo Empire which extended from the present day Benin Republic to Nigeria originating from states in the South East and West to the North. The first female Alaafin was Oronpoto, in the 16th century. The people under the Alaafin are Yoruba people and they speak the Yoruba language.