Ilorin Emirate

The first settlers in Ilorin were Yoruba from old Oyo, then the Baribas also came and lived there for many years and considered the area their own; they left with no known reason. Then came another Yoruba named Ojo Isekuse, he was a Yoruba hermit, who lived by the sharpening stone where hunters gathered to sharpen their wares. Ilorin was named after the sharpening stone which still exists today. Ojo Isekuse allegedly left after committing incest with his daughter, and another family named Asaju settled near the sharpening stone. It was after the Asajus that numerous people settled in different independent hamlets around the area called Ilorin today.

At the start of the 19th century, Ilorin had substantial Fulani, Hausa and Yoruba populations. Afonja, an Oyo warlord, who fled to avoid a suicidal war commissioned by the then Alaafin of Oyo found his way to Ilorin. An Islamic scholar, Salih Janta, popularly called Shehu Alimi because of his Islamic knowledge, also found his way to Ilorin from Oyo because of persecution by the Ogboni cult. He moved to Ilorin from Oyo with some Yoruba Muslims.

In approximately 1810, Shehu Alimi and Afonja form alliance to repel the punitive forces of Oyo. Oyo intended to punish Afonja's rebellion and also get rid of the Islamic scholar who was gaining Yoruba converts. Shehu Alimi sought help from Sheik Usman Dan Fodio, who sent Jama'a force to Ilorin to aid his friend. In the initial conflict, Ilorin's forces successfully repelled the Oyo forces. However, the Alaafin decided to retaliate with a larger force aimed at suppressing Afonja's rebellion and eliminating Shehu Alimi. In a preemptive move, Ilorin's forces attacked and burned down Oyo-Ile, the capital of the old Oyo Empire.^[1]

Ilorin continued to expand southward with a lot of resistance, in the 1830s Yorubas fought the emirate which was made up of the ranks of Fulanis, Yoruba Muslims, and Hausas in the Battle of Ogbomosho, which was a decisive Ilorin emirate loss. However, Ilorin's southward expansion effectively ended in 1838 when Ibadan, an Oyo successor state decisively Defeated Ilorin in the Battle of Òsogbo. The Ilorin cavalry were ineffective in the jungle to the south, and by the 1850s Ibadan had access to guns from European traders on the coast.^[2] Ilorin, as a part of the Sokoto Caliphate, maintained ongoing interactions with other Yoruba states while being situated in the midst of northern and southern Nigeria. These interactions encompassed various aspects, including frequent conflicts as well as continuous exchanges in terms of commerce and culture.

After Shehu Alimi's demise, there was a tussle for the rulership of Ilorin, a young and burgeoning town. The alfas wanted to establish an Islamic Caliphate based on knowledge, while Afonja was planning on establishing his rule, but Abdulsalam, a son of Shehu Alimi, emerged with the help of the Jama'a, being the biggest military presence in Ilorin. Afonja was killed during the reign of Abdulsalam when a brawl broke out between the Yoruba forces and Jama'a caused by the masquerade of Afonja. Masquerades were banned in Ilorin because of that incident. Ilorin became an emirate of the Sokoto Caliphate under the authority of Gwandu.^[2][1] There were multiple unsuccessful attempts by Yoruba's, and Yoruba allies to regain, and or expel Fulani's from Ilorin, such as Battle of Pamo,^[3] Battle of Ogbomosho, Battle of Ilorin,^[3] Mugbamugba war. The strategic location of the emirate between the north and south bestowed upon Ilorin a unique significance, which persisted even after the Caliphate throughout the colonial and post-colonial eras.^[1] Ilorin was brought under the northern Protectorate through diplomacy and applying minimal force considering the political situation of the state then.

For some time, Ilorin was a major center of the slave trade, described by Richard Henry Stone as the "largest slave market in that part of Africa". Most Yorubas in Ilorin were still pagan, which lead to most being subjects to the Emir, who "had little social upheaval, who most secretly desired to free themselves, from the Fula". In the past, slaves had mainly been sent north across the Sahara, but now they were being sent south via the Yoruba lands to the coast to supply demand from the US, the West Indies, and Brazil. Leading to the civil wars, left a lot of Yoruba subject to slavery.^{[4][better source needed]}

Rulers of the Ilorin Emirate:^[5]