WHY THE TIMI OF EDE WEARS A LEATHER CROWN.
Unlike most Yoruba Obas who traditionally wear crowns made of glass or coral beads, the Timi Ede wear leather crowns (Adé Awọ Ẹkùn) which shows their Militaristic origin as warriors from the Oyo empire.
Ede was established in 1500 by Timi Agbale Olofa Ina under Alaafin Kori of Oyo as a warrior camp to secure the trade route between Oyo with the Coast in the south and Benin in the East.
The Leopard is an animal that is associated with valor and bravery in Yorubaland.
The first Ede settlement, established as a military outpost in the sixteenth century by the Oyo authorities had to be shifted to the other side of the Osun River around 1818-1819 by Timi Kubolaje Agbonran along with his siblings: Oyefi, Ajenju, Arohanran and Oduniyi, all being the descendants of Lalemo.
The former Ede is known as Ede-Ile.