Talk:Ohuan

GA review

This review is transcluded from Talk:Ohuan/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Nominator: Vanderwaalforces (talk · contribs) 19:01, 5 July 2026 (UTC)

Reviewer: Crystal Drawers (talk · contribs) 18:03, 6 July 2026 (UTC)

@Crystal Drawers Hello there. Was wondering if you are able to get to this since it's been over one week. Vanderwaalforces (talk) 08:58, 15 July 2026 (UTC)

@Crystal Drawers I've tended to all comments below. Thank you! Vanderwaalforces (talk) 16:54, 19 July 2026 (UTC)

Lead

• Why is Oba italicized the first use and not other times?
  • There’s only one, which I’ve fixed. –VWF
• I feel like "who succeeded his father, Ehengbuda, in the early seventeenth century" doesn’t need to be in the first sentence, and could be its own sentence ("He succeeded his father, Ehengbuda, in the early seventeenth century" for example)
  • Done. –VWF
• For an article almost 30,000 bytes long, this is a pretty short Lead that only has one paragraph. Do you think you could expand it?
  • The requirement is usually that key details in the article are summarised, which is what I normally follow. –VWF
    • I ended up expanding the lead, FYI. –VWF

Background and chronology

• I think only the "thirty-three" in "thirty-three-year" needs the hyphen, while year doesn’t
  • That’s not correct; the hyphens are necessary. When a number and a measurement unit combine to form a compound adjective that comes before a noun, they must be hyphenated. So, "thirty-three-year reign," "thirty-three-year" acts as a single idea describing the noun "reign". –VWF
• "while anthropologists Peter Roese and Dmitri Bondarenko reported that accounts generally placed the beginning of his rule early in the seventeenth century and its end around 1640" is a bit wordy, could it be cut down a bit or split?
  • Done. –VWF

Early life and ascension

• "because of traits regarded as feminine" is a bit wordy. Suggest something simpler, perhaps "because of his feminine traits"? I’m not sure we need to establish that he was just regarded as being effeminate again, as this was stated beforehand in other sentences
  • Done. –VWF
• "since women were barred from ruling in Benin.[15] Ebeigbe also linked the account with the exclusion of women from the Benin throne" — Maybe I'm reading this wrong, but don’t these mean the same thing?
  • This isn't a matter of whether they mean the same thing, it's a matter of reporting accounts from a native and non-native. –VWF

Mother and the Iyoba institution

• Looks good

Reign

• I’m assuming "the late Oba's" is referring to the Oba being dead, but I’m not sure if "late" is really neutral language
  • Hmm, why is it not though? Vanderwaalforces (talk) 10:05, 19 July 2026 (UTC)

    I feel like "late" is a term used for people who recently died that the writer knew personally, or is used to show respect or sympathy, and I’m not sure if that counts as neutral Crystal Drawers 🎖️ ^{(wanna talk?)} 13:39, 19 July 2026 (UTC)

    @Crystal Drawers: What should I replace it with, lol? Vanderwaalforces (talk) 13:44, 19 July 2026 (UTC)

    Just dropping the "late" completely would be the best bet, or replacing it with another adjective of your choice Crystal Drawers 🎖️ ^{(wanna talk?)} 16:04, 19 July 2026 (UTC)

• I feel like "sexual relations" is over complicating it, you can just say "sex"
  • Done. –VWF
• I don’t get what you mean by "installation as Oba", it feels a bit like slang to call it "installation"
  • I think this is as literal as it appears. –VWF
• "Okogo, also spelled Okogbo" — Why do we need to know its other spelling?
  • Yet another of the native and non-native perspective I mentioned above. –VWF
• "account in A Short History of Benin." — Clarify it is a book by him
  • I've once done this and got corrected at FAC, so I'd rather leave it this way. –VWF

Death and succession

• "coral beads" is wikilinked the second mention but not the first, it should be the other way around
  • Done. –VWF
• "Historical accounts list Ahenzae, Akenzae, Akengboi, Ahenkpaye, Akengbedo, Oreoghene and Ewuakpe among rulers whose genealogical relationships were disputed for this era" — The middle of this sentence being a big list of names I feel makes it kind of hard to follow, maybe rearranging it to something like "Historical accounts list seven disputed rulers for this era, including Ahenzae, Akenzae, etc etc” would go better
  • Done. –VWF
• "In a 1981 communication" — Do we need to know the exact year here?
  • Why not though? I think it makes sense that way. –VWF

Oral tradition, art, and commemoration

• Almost every sentence starts with "[name] connected/reported/regarded/etc", and it makes it kind of hard to read and tedious in structure. Could you try to fix this a little bit, sorry if this is nitpicky. While this happens throughout the entire article, it’s a bit more apparent here
  • FWIW, I am reporting "oral traditions" here, I can't possibly say them in wikivoice can I? –VWF
• "or as a female figure to refer to uncertainty surrounding it" — What does "it" refer to in this sentence? It’s a bit ambiguous
  • Done. –VWF
• "remembered childlessness" is very clunky and the phrasing is a bit unnatural, try to find something smoother
  • Done. –VWF

European accounts and regional context

• "In that report, the king issued an edict ordering unmarried virgins to cover their genitals, attended a Catholic mass from outside the church, listened to a Portuguese sermon and temporarily appeared favourable to Christianity before changing position under Muslim influence" — This sentence feels overly long and hard to follow, I think it might benefit from being split up a bit
  • Done. –VWF
• "during Ohuan's reign, provided that his rule extended to 1641, while" — That conditional clause comes off kind of wordy and can take the reader out of it especially in the middle of an already pretty crowded sentence. I think it could be streamlined a little better
  • Done. –VWF

Historiography

• Looks good

Source review

Sources and the sentences they support:

Source 1a: Historical accounts differ in their dating of Ohuan's reign. Historian Jacob Egharevba placed his accession around 1606 and assigned him a thirty-three-year reign ending in 1641

• p.33: OHUAN—ABOUT 1606 A.D. PRINCE Odogbo, the only son of Ehengbuda, was placed on the throne of Benin with the title Ohuan, after his father’s death. p. 34: He was loved and honoured by his subjects throughout his long reign of thirty-three years. XV AHENZAE, AKENZAE AND AKENGBOI AHENZAE—about 1641 A.D. With the death of Oba Ohuan the throne was opened to rotation among different branches of the Royal Family for six reigns.

Source 7: Royal traditions connect the end of Ehengbuda's reign with changes in the distribution of political and military power in Benin. Ben-Amos and John Thornton wrote that one tradition attributed to Ehengbuda a rule preventing the execution of the Uwangue, one of the three leading administrative officeholders, thereby limiting an earlier royal power over subjects

• Royal traditions state that at the end of his reign, Oba Ehengbuda, last of the great warrior kings, passed a law that the Uwangue, one of the three leading administrative posts, could not be killed, thereby removing one of the great sources of the Oba’s power – his right to take the life of his subjects.

Source 9: Dutch and German reports from the period referred, respectively, to a military captain in 1602 and a general leading Benin forces in a campaign against Lagos. Ben-Amos and Thornton interpreted the separate command structure and the later Iyase rebellion as indications that the Oba had ceded control over part of the state's affairs

• A second law, said to have been promulgated by Ehengbuda, forbade the Oba from leading military expeditions, this task being entrusted to the Iyase, another high administrative official. Ruiters, in 1602, specifies that a military captain existed, although he does not give any details on his independence. Ulsheimer, who served with a Benin army at about the same time in a campaign against Lagos, saw the armies commanded by a ‘general’. Egharevba’s traditions state that the Iyase in fact rebelled against Ohuan, the Oba who succeeded Ehengbuda. The separate military command, with considerable power, strongly suggests the Oba’s loss of control over some affairs of state.

Source 20: The first, Iwebo, originally managed clothing and regalia for the Oba

• p. 5: Servants of the Oba belonged to one of three palace associations, among which were distributed the duties of his household. The senior association, Iwebo, originally... p. 6:...took charge of the Oba’s wardrobe, including his regalia; and in course of time, like many ...

Source 29: Osadolor linked the aftermath of Ohuan's conflict to the development of non-command military functions for senior members of the Eghaevbo n'Ore ('town chiefs'), including the Esogban, Eson, and Osuma

• p.145: Although the reign of Ohuan was peaceful after the ‘great struggle’, the confrontation left an imprint on the military history of Benin. Throughout the seventeenth century, no other Iyase was installed by any Oba. This can easily be interpreted as a political strategy adopted by the kings to ensure that the position of the Commander-in-Chief of the Benin army was vacant in order to avoid any polar opposition which had bedevilled the king’s relations with the Iyase. On the other hand, the struggle for kingship after the death of Oba Ohuan,91 and the rotation of the throne for six reigns weakened the monarchy and led to considerable loss of power by the kings. It was during this period that the non-command positions in the army were established, in which the senior chiefs of the Eghaevbo n’Ore were brought into a new organisational relationship with the Oba in terms of well-defined tasks, each bearing a measure of authority, responsibility, and accountability. These developments were perhaps ... p.146: ...security requirements for the institution of monarchy in Benin. The senior chiefs brought into the army non-command relationship with the Oba were: the Esogban, the Eson and the Osuma. This was intended as a means of creating and maintaining order and loyalty among the order of Town Chiefs.

@Vanderwaalforces: Thank you for your work on the prose concerns, it looks good. Above are the sources I need to spotcheck and the sentences they are attributed to. Would you be able to give me the direct quotes for these? I’ll look through and hopefully pass this :)

@Crystal Drawers: Quotes provided above; your ping didn't go through because you forgot to sign :) Vanderwaalforces (talk) 07:02, 20 July 2026 (UTC)

Thanks! Source review passes, glad to pass this article :) Crystal Drawers 🎖️ ^{(wanna talk?)} 21:31, 20 July 2026 (UTC)

Did you know nomination

(

• Comment or view
• Article history

)

• ... that oral traditions describe King Ohuan either as mistaken for a woman or as born female and transformed into a man through medicine? Source: Egharevba 1968 p.33., Bradbury 1973 p.31.
  • ALT1: ... that according to tradition, King Ohuan walked naked from Uselu to the Benin capital to prove that he was male and eligible to rule? Source: Egharevba 1968 p.33., Bradbury 1973 p.31., Duchâteau 1994 p.20.
  • Reviewed: Template:Did you know nominations/Collei

Improved to Good Article status by Vanderwaalforces (talk). Number of QPQs required: 1. Nominator has 17 past nominations.

Vanderwaalforces (talk) 14:36, 23 July 2026 (UTC).

General: Article is new enough and long enough
New enough: Long enough:

Policy: Article is sourced, neutral, and free of copyright problems
Adequate sourcing: Neutral: Free of copyright violations, plagiarism, and close paraphrasing:

Hook: Hook has been verified by provided inline citation
Cited: Interesting:

QPQ: Done.

Overall: New, became GA on 20 July and submitted to DYK three days later. No copyright issues, Earwig's Copyvio Detector gives 18%. The hook is mentioned and cited.
A quick note:please provide in the future quotes to help with verification. For ALT0 I confirmed the hook via Bradbury but not Egharevba, who does not mention the transformation via medicine. Other than that good to go. A.Cython(talk) 03:15, 25 July 2026 (UTC)