ILORI, or Ilorin (the Alourie of the Landers’ expedition), an important town of the Yoruban territory of Western Africa, situated about 60 or 70 miles south of the Niger, and about 160 miles north-north-east of Lagos. The wall has a circuit of 12 miles, but is badly kept in repair. Along the south-eastern side flows a small stream which joins the Asa, a tributary of the Niger. The inhabitants are Yorubas, Fellatah (Pullo), Houssas, Gambarees, Bornuese, and Nufes or Papas. Most of them speak Yoruban. An extensive native trade is carried on at Ilorin, the Houssa caravans importing manufactured goods of various sorts, not only from Central Africa, but even from the coasts of the Mediterranean. The trade from the Guinea coast on the other hand is confined to brandy, guns, and powder. The variety of local industries is very considerable: Rohlfs mentions beautiful leather goods, carved wooden vessels, finely plaited mats, embroidered work, pottery of various kinds, shoes of yellow and red leather, and, what was unique in his experience of Negro tribes, the manufacture of cheese. The population is estimated at from 60,000 to 70,000, exclusive of the resident traders from foreign parts. There are a number of mosques in the town, and the Mahometans are the dominant power, but the lower classes maintain their pagan customs. About 1820 Ilori declared itself independent of Yoruba, and assisted in the destruction of Oyo.

See R. F. Burton, Abeokuta and the Cameroons Mountains, Lond., 1863; G. Rohlfs, Quer durch Afrika, Leipsic, 1874.