IBADAN  , a

town of British West Africa, in Yorubaland, Southern Nigeria, 123 M. by rail N.E. of Lagos, and about 50 M . N.E. of Abeokuta . Pop . (1910 estimated at 150,000 . The town occupies the slope of a hill, and stretches into the valley through which the river Ona flows . It is enclosed by mud walls, which have a circuit of 18 m., and is encompassed by cultivated land 5 or 6 m. in breadth . The native houses are all low, thatched structures, enclosing a square court, and the only break in the mud wall is the door . There are numerous mosques, orishas (idol-houses) and open spaces shaded with trees . There are a few buildings in the European style . Most of the inhabitants are engaged in agriculture ; but a great variety of handicrafts is also carried on . Ibadan is the capital of one of the Yoruba states and enjoys a large measure of autonomy . Nominally the state is subject to the alafin (ruler) of Oyo; but it is virtually independent .

The

administration is in the hands of two chiefs, a civil and a military, the bale and the balogun; these together form the highest court of appeal . There is also an iyaloda or mother of the town, to whom are submitted all the disputes of the women . Ibadan long had a feud with Abeokuta, but on the establishment of the British protectorate the intertribal wars were stopped . In 1862 the people of Ibadan destroyed ljaya, a neighbouring town of 6o,000 inhabitants . A British resident and a detachment of Hausa troops are stationed at Ibadan . See also YORUBAS, ABEOKUTA and LAGOS .