Ibadan, capital city of Oyo state, Nigeria, located on seven hills (average elevation 700 feet [200 metres]) about 100 miles (160 km) from the Atlantic coast. It is one of the most populous cities in the country.
Ibadan’s beginnings are shrouded in mystery; they were recorded only in oral tradition. It is said that the earliest group of settlers at Ibadan were fugitives from justice who were expelled from nearby villages. This small group later swelled with the arrival of immigrants from all over Yorubaland (now western Nigeria).
Recorded history begins in 1829, after the region was convulsed by extended intertribal wars. In that year the victorious armies of the Ife, Ijebu, and Oyo kingdoms camped at Ibadan and formed the nucleus of the modern city. The British colonial government assumed control of the city in 1893. After the railway arrived from Lagos (1901), the line was extended northward to Kano (1912), thus ensuring the city’s continuing economic importance.
The economic activities of Ibadan include agriculture, commerce, handicrafts, manufacturing, and service industries. Although the city’s farming population has declined, it is still large for an urban area. Many cultivators are part-time farmers who augment their earnings with other work.
Ibadan is an important commercial centre. Virtually every street and corner in the traditional core and the inner suburbs of the city is a market square or stall. Within the city there are many markets. The largest daily market stretches in a belt from the railway station in the west to the centre of the city and is Ibadan’s commercial core.
Some local crafts still flourish. These include weaving, spinning and dyeing, pottery making, and blacksmithing. The adire (“tie-dye”) cloth dyed locally in large pots of indigo is popular. The small businesses in the city engage in corn milling, leather working, wood and steel furniture making, printing, photography, hotel management, and motor and other repairing. There are, however, few modern manufacturing industries.
Ibadan is well served by roads. The city has a fleet of privately owned taxicabs and minibuses, and regular bus services are operated within the city and its suburbs.
The University of Ibadan (1948) and a technical institute are located in the city, and there are many specialized institutions. The university library maintains the largest collection of books in the country. There is also a branch of the National Archives on the university campus.
Of the city’s parks, the most important is Agodi Park and Gardens. There are also zoological and botanical gardens, two main stadiums, and a large number of athletic facilities. Pop. (2007 est.) 2,628,000; (2016 est.) urban agglom., 3,160,000.