Ilorin
[key], city, SW Nigeria. It is an industrial city and the market
(especially for cattle, poultry, palm products, and yams) and transport
center for a wide region. Manufactures include cigarettes, matches, and
sugar. Traditional artisans make woven goods, tin products, wood carvings,
and pottery. Ilorin was the capital of a Yoruba kingdom that, with the assistance
of the Fulani,
successfully rebelled against the Oyo empire in 1817 but soon thereafter was
incorporated into the Fulani state of Sokoto. Through warfare against Oyo and
Ibadan in the later
19th cent., Ilorin considerably increased its territory. In 1897 it was
conquered by troops of the British-chartered Royal Niger Company led by Sir
George Goldie.
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