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Oyo[OyO´] Pronunciation Key, city (1991 est. pop. 226,700), SW Nigeria. It is primarily a farming town, producing tobacco, yams, and cassava. Traditional artisans make textiles and leather goods and carve utensils from shells of the calabash gourd. Oyo was founded c.1835 as the successor of Old Oyo (Katunga), the capital of the Yoruba empire of Oyo, which was destroyed in the Yoruba civil wars of the early 19th cent. Oyo is about 100 mi (161 km) S of Old Oyo. The city came under British rule in 1893.
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