Oyo

Oyo is a city in Oyo State, southwestern Nigeria, inhabited mostly by Yoruba people and ruled by the Alaafin of Oyo. It was founded in the 1830s as the capital of what remained of the historic Oyo empire after the Yoruba Civil Wars, and its people call it New Oyo to tell it from Old Oyo, the deserted former capital to the north. Five higher education institutions are based there, among them Ajayi Crowther University and the Federal School of Surveying. Its main markets include Akesan, Ajegunle and Owode, and the city stands on the A1 dual carriageway that links Lagos, Ibadan and Ilorin. Oyo is divided among four local government areas: Atiba, Oyo East, Oyo West and Afijio. Wole Soyinka's play Death and the King's Horseman is based on an incident that happened in Oyo in 1946.