suffers from the country’s poor electricity, roads, water and quality tourist sites in Nigeria. The tourism industry is regulated by the ministry of culture, tourism and national orientation, a Nigeria government ministry.
Abeokuta is the largest city and capital of Ogun State in
southwest Nigeria. It is situated on the east bank of the Ogun River, near a
group of rocky outcrops in a wooded savanna;[1] 77 kilometres (48 mi) north of
Lagos by railway, or 130 kilometres (81 mi) by water. As of 2005, Abeokuta and
the surrounding area had a population of 593,140.
Geography and economy
Abẹokuta lies in fertile country of wooded savanna, the
surface of which is broken by masses of grey granite. It is spread over an
extensive area, being surrounded by mud walls 18 miles in extent. Palm-oil,
timber, rubber, yams, rice, cassava, maize, cotton, other fruits, and shea
butter are the chief articles of trade. It is a key export location for cocoa,
palm products, fruit, and kola nuts. Both rice and cotton were introduced by the
missionaries in the 1850s and have become integral parts of the economy, along
with the dye indigo. It lies below the Olumo Rock, home to several caves and
shrines. The town depends on the Oyan River Dam for its water supply, which is
not always dependable.
Abeokuta is the headquarters of the Federal Ogun-Oshin River
Basin Authority, which is responsible for development of land and water
resources for Lagos, Ogun, and Oyo states. Included in this are irrigation,
food-processing, and electrification.
Local industries include but are not limited to fruit
canning plants, plastics, breweries, sawmills, and an aluminum products
factory. South of town are the Aro Granite Quarries.
Transportation
Abeokuta is connected to nearby Lagos by a railway that was
completed in 1899, with a length of 77 kilometres (48 mi). Roads connect it to
Lagos as well as Ibadan, Ilaro, Shagamu, Iseyin, and Ketou.
History
Sodeke first settled Abeokuta (meaning literally "the
underneath of the rock"[citation needed] or indirectly "refuge among
rocks" in 1825 as a place of refuge
from slavehunters from Dahomey and Ibadan. The village populations scattered
over the open country to take refuge among the rocks surrounding the city. Here
they formed a free confederacy of many distinct groups, each preserving the
traditional customs, religious rites and the names of their original villages.
The original settlers of Abeokuta were of the Egba nation,
fleeing from the Oyo Empire, which was collapsing. Later, some members of other Yoruba clans came
to the settlement. Baptist and Anglican missionaries from Great Britain began
to serve the area in the 1840s, in addition to Sierra Leone Creoles.
Due to the fact that Abeokuta was in a key location for the
palm oil trade and because it was the so-called capital of the Egbas, Dahomey
soon became hostile. In the 1851 Battle of Abeokuta, the Egba, with assistance
from missionaries and armed by the British defeated King Gezo and the Dahomey
incursion. They again beat back the Dahomey military in 1864.
The 1860s also saw problems arise with the Europeans, namely
the British in Lagos, which led to the Egba first closing trade routes,
followed by the expulsion of missionaries and traders in 1867. Between 1877 and
1893 the Yoruba Civil Wars occurred, and Abeokuta opposed Ibadan, which led the
king or alake of the Egba to sign an alliance with the British governor, Sir
Gilbert Carter. This occurred in 1893, which formalized the Egba United
Government based in Abẹokuta which became recognized by the United Kingdom. In
1914, the city was made part of the colony of Nigeria by the British.
In 1918, the Abeokuta Riots took place which was related to
the levying of taxes and the policy of indirect rule by Lord Frederick Lugard, the
British Governor-General.
The Abeokuta Women's Revolt, led by the Abeokuta Women’s
Union (AWU), took place in the 1940s. It was a resistance movement against the
imposition of unfair taxation by the Nigerian colonial government.
In 1976, Abeokuta became the capital of the newly created
Ogun State.
Important buildings
Abeokuta was a walled town and remnants of the historic wall
still exist today. The Ake, the traditional residence of the Alake, along with
Centenary Hall (1930). There are secondary and primary schools and the
University of Lagos Abeokuta Campus opened in 1984.[1] This campus specializes
in science, agriculture, and technology. This has since been changed to an
independent full-fledged tertiary institution, University of Agriculture,
Abeokuta (UNAAB) in 1988.
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