ILLORIN, a province of northern Nigeria, British West Africa. Area. 17,779 sq.m.; population (1926) 519,627. It lies west of the Niger and is bounded west by French territory (Dahomey). The province consists mainly of open plains and river valleys and is separated from southern Nigeria by a range of well wooded, iron stone hills. The chief division is the emirate of Illorin, occupying the centre. In the north is the Borgu di vision made up of the emirates of Kaiama and Bussa. In the east are the Pategi and Lafiagi emirates. The predominant native race is the Yoruba (q.v.), but in the districts by the Niger the Nupe prevail. The province is rich in agricultural and sylvan products. Among the former are cotton, rice, peppers, ground-nuts and kolas. The latter include great quantities of shea as well as palm-oil and rubber. The Government maintains an experimental farm in the province, where attention is given largely to cotton and ground-nuts as sources of a big export in dustry. The capital, also called Illorin, is 16o m. in a direct line north-north-east of Lagos, and is on the railway from that port to Kano. The town (pop., 1926, 83,669) is surrounded by a mud wall partly in ruins, which has a circuit of some 1 o miles. Illorin is a great trading centre. A variety of manufactures are carried on, including the making of leather goods, carved wooden ves sels, finely plaited mats, embroidered work, shoes of yellow and red leather and pottery of various kinds. Before the establish ment of British rule Illorin middlemen transacted all business between the traders from the north, who were not allowed to pass to the south, and those from the south. On the establish ment of British authority the town was thrown open to all traders and a number of European merchants are established there. The chief buildings are the British residency, the palace of the emir, the houses of the baloguns (war chiefs), mosques and churches. From the centre of the town roads radiate like spokes of a wheel to the various gates. Baobabs and other shade trees are numerous.
The town of Illorin was founded, towards the close of the i8th century, by Yoruba, and rose to be the capital of one of the Yoruba kingdoms. About 1825 the kingdom, which had been conquered by the Fula, became an emirate of the Sokoto empire. The Fula, however, maintained the Yoruba system of govern ment, which places the chief power in a council of elders. In 1897 Illorin was occupied by the forces of the Royal Niger Company, and the emir placed himself under the protection and power of the company. After the assumption of direct authority by the British Government in 1900, Illorin was organized for administration on the same system as the remainder of northern Nigeria. The Yoruba showed a keen appreciation of education, to which the Nupe remained indifferent. (See BORGU and NI GERIA.) (F. R. C.)