THE MILITARY SYSTEM OF BENIN KINGDOM, c.1440 - 1897

mostly been written from oral traditions, 105 reveals the historical values of non-written sourcesfor the reconstruction of early African history. Its use, of course, demands a thoroughanalysis.In every society there are multitude and variety of traditions: of the ruling aristocracy,of marginalised people, of women and of the underprivileged. Traditions of the differentgroups in the society have been transmitted through generations for private purposes orpurposes connected with their positions in the society. Thus, individual tradition attempts toilluminate the past experiences of individual families, the underprivileged or other groups insuch a manner that it presents historical knowledge with familiar landmarks or milestones inthe general history of the society. This kind of tradition presents personal detail in the form ofremembered reminiscence of bygone times. The variety of traditions of the Uzama in theKingdom of Benin, for example, are narratives of the different family histories that constitutethat order of chiefs. The traditions are narratives of the most remarkable occurrences thatchronicles local events and episodes. The different traditions of the members of the Uzama,therefore, enlarge the range of sources from oral traditions, and further suggests a moreintimate frame of reference for historical inquiry on aspects of the history of the Kingdom ofBenin. On this ground, there is being contributed something of value to the understanding ofepistemological problems in Benin history. An explanation of individual tradition has beengiven by Bassey Andah who has noted in his study that "the preservation of material from onegeneration to another by individuals, but not necessarily known by the community would betypical of individual tradition." 106 His contention is that the concepts of tradition andindividual knowledge are very different, although many critics of oral tradition have tended toconfuse the two as being one and the same thing. 107 From a study of oral tradition, it is veryobvious that all memory information is not tradition, nor does all individual knowledgeconstitute tradition. On the one hand, group traditions of different families, of themarginalised people, of women and the underprivileged constitute the informal traditions ofthe society. On the other hand, group traditions of age-grade associations, of guilds, the rulingaristocracy, all belong to a different level of formal traditions. The rationale for formal105 See David L. Schoenbrun, 1999, “The (in)visible Roots of Bunyoro-Kitara and Buganda in the Lakes RegionAD 800-1300,” In: Susan Keech McIntosh (ed.), Beyond Chiefdoms: Pathways to Complexity in Africa.Cambridge University Press; C. C. Wrigley, 1996, Kingship and State: The Buganda Dynasty. CambridgeUniversity Press; R. L. Tantala, 1989, “The Early History of Kitara in Western Uganda: Process Models ofReligious and Political and Political Change,” Ph.D dissertation, University of Wisconsin, Madison; C. A.Buchanan, 1975, “Of Kings and Traditions: The Case of Bunyoro-Kitara,” International Journal of AfricanHistorical Studies. 7, pp.516-527; C. A. Buchanan, 1974, “The Kitara-Complex: The Historical Tradition ofWestern Uganda to the Sixteenth Century,” Ph.D dissertation, Indiana University.106 Andah, 1987, “The Nature of African Oral Traditions,” p.11107 ibid.34