Section for goats at the market, Ife, Nigeria

"In most Yoruba towns, the main market is located in front of the palace, where the oba could watch from a reasonable distance the regular assemblage of its people. The situation of the market in a metropolitan town, in the shadow of the palace, clearly expresses its relationship with the focus of political and ritual authority. This contrasts strongly with the situation described by Frobenius for Ife: 'There is no commerce at all in one very important quarter alone ... namely the square in front of the Oni's palace.' Today, people do buy and sell in front of the Oni's palace, but it is true that there is still no large market there: the absence of marketing in the past may have been due to the peculiarly sacred character of the Oni of Ife, and thence of his palace, in the general Yoruba scheme of the Universe." [Krapf-Askari E., 1969: Yoruba Towns and Cities. Clarendon Press, Oxford]. This photograph was taken when Eliot Elisofon traveled to Africa from March 17, 1970 to July 17, 1970.