Ajayi Kolawole Ajisafe was a Yoruba writer and historian responsible for pioneering a revival of Yoruba literature and popular music in Nigeria in the early twentieth century. Born Emmanuel Olympus Moore, he changed his name in 1921 to reflect the resurgence of Yoruba cultural identity he was experiencing. On the creation of the colony of Nigeria in 1914, Ajisafe, like many other Nigerian historians, began to compile accounts of local history and culture from oral evidence in order to preserve it for future generations. In 1916, he published his seminal History of Abeokuta, an account of the Egba city in the south-east of the country. Ajisafe dedicated the book to 'the British Nation and missionaries... and to all the Egba children the rising generation who have as yet some important parts to play in the annals of the Egba nation'. He followed the work with a history of wider Yoruba history and customs, The Laws and Customs of the Yoruba People, dedicated to his cousin, the prominent Lagos barrister, Eric Olawolu Moore. In 1925, Ajisafe presented copies of his works to the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII) who visited Nigeria as part of his wider African tour, the first royal tour of the united colony.