During the 13th century, the indigenous Yoruba people of the west Niger area were run by a group of local chieftains,[2] but by the 15th century a single ruler known as the 'oba' had asserted control, creating the Kingdom of Dahomey. Under the dynasty established by Ewuare the Great, the most famous of the obas, Dahoney's territory expanded to cover a region between the Niger River delta and what is now the Nigerian city of Lagos. The obas brought great prosperity and a highly organized state to Benin.