Once the Obatálá-Odùduwà conflict ended, a new era began, known as the Classical period. The sociopolitical outcome of the following instability was qualitatively different from that of the preceding era. The hallmarks of the Classical period include the development of an urban capital with concentric embankments. There were also life-size
terracotta and copper or brass sculptures with detailed, idealized naturalism. Craft specialization defined everyday economic life in which the production of high-value crafts, such as glass-bead production, featured prominently. Ife grew to have a robust industry in metals, producing high-quality iron As the population grew, a second wall was built in the capital city Ilé-Ife during the thirteenth century and the construction and pavement of several major roads began as well. The occurrence of potsherd pavements in virtually every part of the area within the Inner and Outer Walls and beyond indicate that the city was densely populated. It is estimated that the city of Ilé-Ifè had a population of 70,000–105,000 during the mid-fourteenth century. At its zenith in the 14th century, the Ife empire stretched across around three hundred kilometers or one hundred eighty-six miles, and encompassed
Owu,
Jebba, Tada, and
Oyo in the north and
Ijebu in the south. Glass beads were one of the most sought-after items in West Africa during this time and Ife had a near monopoly of this market. Ife was likely the third place in the world glass was indigenously invented. Kissi in Burkina Faso, Diouboye in Senegal,
Gao Ancien,
Essouk in Mali, and
Koumbi Saleh in Mauritania, all in twelfth- to fourteenth-century contexts. Ilé-Ifè was the only known industrial center for HLHA glass production. Glass beads were used as a form of currency in Ife, and strings and other standard measurements of Segi beads were used for purchasing high value products and services. to the south called Yufi, which he described as “one of the most considerable countries of the Sudan, and their sultan, one of the greatest sultans". He goes on further calling Yufi as a country that “no white man can enter . . . because the negroes will kill him before he arrives”, "White man" probably meaning
Arabs or
Berbers. Ife was almost certainly Yufi, Akinwumi Ogundiran writes. He continues The Bead Road is the name given by Akinwumi Ogundiran of the trade route which stretched from Ilé-Ifè to the Moshi-Niger area and as far as the Niger Bend in present-day Mali. Items traded to Ife were Saharan copper and salt, Mediterranean and Chinese silk and other clothing materials, they entering the region from across the Niger by the eleventh or twelfth century. In exchange, Ife would trade sundry rainforest goods, of which glass beads and ivory were the most highly prized.
Agriculture Recent archaeological findings have provided new insights into the crops cultivated and the trade networks that influenced agricultural practices in the region. Excavations have revealed a variety of plant remains. The primary crops identified include
Cowpea,
Okra,
Palm oil,
Pearl millet,
Sorghum,
Cotton, and
Wheat. Most of the potsherd tiles were arranged linearly in
herringbone patterns, and colored sherds were arranged in geometric
mosaics.
Leo Frobenius, a 20th-century archeologist who visited Nigeria, also noted that the foundations of historical buildings at Ile-Ife were built of burnt bricks. By the early 20th century, he said Ife's architecture has greatly regressed from what it reached in antiquity. The capital
Ile Ife was surrounded by two concentric walls, which were around 15 feet high and 6 feet thick. Remains of
impluvia, paved with Potsherds and Quartz stone, have been revealed through archaeological work. The impluvia were drained by clay or grindstone pipes underneath the floor.
Military and Conflicts Ife wasn't as imperialistic as many other empires and spread influence primarily through its cultural, religious, and economic superiority over other Yoruba states. ==References==