Olu of Ilaro |
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Yewa (Egbado) |
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Ilaro
town, western Ogun state,
southwestern Nigeria. Located
on the former trade route
from the towns of the empire
of Oyo to the port of Porto-Novo
(now the capital of Benin),
40 miles (64 km) southwest,
it was established by the
late 18th century as the capital
and chief trade centre of
the Egbado people (a subgroup
of the Yoruba). With the decline
of Oyo in the early 19th century,
the Egbado kingdom was raided
for slaves by the Dahomeyans
until it was absorbed in the
1840s and '50s by the more
powerful Egba kingdom at Abeokuta
(29 miles [47 km] northeast).
As a subject town, Ilaro served
the Egba as a trading post
on the western route from
Lagos to Ibadan. In the 1860s
European missionaries arrived
and established the Yoruba
Anglican Mission in Ilaro.
Following the 1890 delineation
of colonial boundaries by
the French and the British,
the Egbado, who felt oppressed
by Egba rule, asked for British
protection and control of
their territory. A British
military garrison was built
in Ilaro in the same year.
Modern Ilaro
is a collecting point for
cocoa, palm oil and kernels,
kola nuts, vegetables (especially
rice and okra), and fruits
grown in the surrounding area.
Yams, cassava, and corn (maize)
are also cultivated by the
town's farmers. Cotton weaving
and dyeing (with locally grown
indigo) are traditional industries.
There are deposits of limestone
(used by a cement plant at
Ewekoro, 13 miles [21 km]
east-northeast) and phosphate
in the vicinity.
Ilaro is
the site of a federal polytechnic
college. It is located at
the end of a spur on the Lagos-Nguru
railway and lies at a junction
of local roads. Pop. (1992
est.) 42,410. |
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Egba |
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Abeokuta
town, capital of Ogun
state, southwestern
Nigeria. It is situated
on the east bank of
the Ogun River, around
a group of rocky outcroppings
that rise above the
surrounding wooded savanna.
It lies on the main
railway (1899) from
Lagos, 48 miles (78
km) south, and on the
older trunk road from
Lagos to Ibadan; it
also has road connections
to Ilaro, Shagamu, Iseyin,
and Kétou (Benin).
Abeokuta ("refuge
among rocks") was
founded in about 1830
by Sodeke (Shodeke),
a hunter and leader
of the Egba refugees
who fled from the disintegrating
Oyo empire. The town
was also settled by
missionaries (in the
1840s) and by Sierra
Leone Creoles, who later
became prominent as
missionaries and as
businessmen. Abeokuta's
success as the capital
of the Egbas and as
a link in the Lagos-Ibadan
oil-palm trade led to
wars with Dahomey (now
Benin). In the battle
at Abeokuta in 1851,
the Egba, aided by the
missionaries and armed
by the British, defeated
King Gezo's Dahomeyan
army (unique in the
history of western Africa
for its common practice
of using women warriors).
Another Dahomeyan attack
was repulsed in 1864.
Troubles in the 1860s
with the British in
Lagos led the Egba to
close the trade routes
to the coast and to
expel (1867) its missionaries
and European traders.
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After
the Yoruba civil wars
(1877-93), in which
Abeokuta opposed Ibadan,
the Egba alake ("king")
signed an alliance with
the British governor,
Sir Gilbert Carter,
that recognized the
independence of the
Egba United Government
(1893-1914). In 1914
the kingdom was incorporated
into the newly amalgamated
British Colony and Protectorate
of Nigeria. The Abeokuta
riots of 1918 protested
both the levying of
taxes and the "indirect
rule" policy of
Lord Frederick Lugard,
the British governor-general,
which made the alake,
formerly primus inter
pares ("first among
equals"), the supreme
traditional leader to
the detriment of the
other quarter chiefs.
Modern Abeokuta is an
agricultural trade centre
(rice, yams, cassava,
corn [maize], palm oil
and kernels, cotton,
fruits, vegetables)
and an exporting point
for cocoa, palm produce,
fruits, and kola nuts.
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Abeokuta
was a walled town, and
relics of the old wall
still exist. Notable
buildings include the
Ake (the residence of
the alake), Centenary
Hall (1930), and several
churches and mosques.
Secondary schools and
primary teachers' colleges
at Abeokuta are supplemented
by the University of
Agriculture (formerly
the University of Lagos
Abeokuta campus), which
specializes in science,
agriculture, and technology,
and the Ogun State Polytechnic
(1979; a college). Pop.
(1996 est.) 427,400..
Rice and cotton were
introduced by the missionaries
in the 1850s, and cotton
weaving and dyeing (with
locally grown indigo)
are now traditional
crafts of the town.
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Abeokuta
is the headquarters
for the Federal Ogun-Oshin
River Basin Authority
with programs to harness
land and water resources
for Lagos, Ogun, and
Oyo states for rural
development. Irrigation,
food-processing, and
electrification projects
are included. Local
industry is limited
but now includes fruit-canning
plants, a plastics factory,
a brewery, sawmills,
and an aluminum-products
factory. South of the
town are the Aro granite
quarries, which provide
building materials for
much of southern Nigeria,
and a huge, modern cement
plant at Ewekoro (18
miles [29 km] south). |
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