Abeokuta

Abeokuta
/ah'bay oh"koo tah/, n.
a city in SW Nigeria. 195,000.

* * *

City (pop., 1996 est.: 424,000), southwestern Nigeria.

Located about 60 mi (96 km) north of Lagos, Abeokuta was established с 1830 as a refuge from slave hunters. It was the chief town of the Egba, who long maintained a working relationship with the British; not until 1914 was it incorporated into British Nigeria. The modern town is an agricultural and exporting centre.

* * *

      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 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. 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 (Lugard, F.D.), 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. 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. Abeokuta is the headquarters for the federal Ogun-Oshin River Basin Development 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).

      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. (2006) local government area, 451,607.

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Abeokuta — Bandera …   Wikipedia Español

  • Abeokuta — im Bundesstaat Ogun Blick über die Sta …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Abeokuta — Abeokuta,   Hauptstadt des Bundesstaates Ogun, Südwestnigeria, 427 200 Einwohner; Handelszentrum im dicht besiedelten Yorubaland an der Bahnlinie Lagos Kano;   Wirtschaft:   Nahrungsmittel (Kakao u. a.), Baustoff , Textilindustrie.   Geschichte:… …   Universal-Lexikon

  • Abeokuta — Abeokūta (Abbeokuta), Stadt in Lagos (Nordwestafrika), am Ogun, 120.000 E. (Egba) …   Kleines Konversations-Lexikon

  • Abeokuta — ville du Nigeria, sur l Ogun, à 70 km au N. de Lagos; cap. de l état d Ogun; 324 000 hab. Industr. alim., bois, caoutchouc. Marché agricole …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Abeokuta — Infobox Settlement official name = Abeokuta imagesize = 300px image caption = Abeokuta as seen from Olumo Rock. pushpin pushpin label position = bottom pushpin map caption = Location in Nigeria subdivision type = Country subdivision name =… …   Wikipedia

  • Abeokuta — Vue du sommet de l Olumo Rock Abeokuta est une ville du Nigeria, capitale de l état d Ogun, fondée en 1825 comme refuge contre les chasseurs d esclaves du Dahomey et d Ibadan. Géographie Altitude : 67 mètres. Latitude : 007º 09 N …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Abeokuta — Original name in latin Abeokuta Name in other language Abeokuta, QAT, a bei ao ku ta, Абеокута State code NG Continent/City Africa/Lagos longitude 7.15 latitude 3.35 altitude 68 Population 593100 Date 2013 04 28 …   Cities with a population over 1000 database

  • Abeokuta — ► C. de Nigeria, en la región occidental; 377 100 h. Cap. del estado de Ogun. Puerto fluvial. * * * Ciudad (pob., est. 1996: 424.000 hab.), en el sudoeste de Nigeria. Situada a 96 km (60 mi) aprox. al norte de Lagos; Abeokuta fue fundada 1830… …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Abeokuta South — (also known as Ayedaade, Isokan, or Irewole federal constituency) is a National Assembly delegation in Ogun State, Nigeria. It has been represented by Dimeji Bankole, the current speaker of the House of Representatives, since 2003.It covers the… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”