IKORODU

town, Lagos state, southwestern Nigeria. It lies near the Lagos Lagoon, on the Bight of Benin, 14 miles (23 km) northwest of Lagos. A traditional settlement of the Awori people (a subgroup of the Yoruba), it became important in the mid-19th century as a trading post of the Remo (Ijebu-Remo) kingdom on the trade route from Lagos to Ibadan. During the Ibadan-Ijaiye wars (186065), the Ikorodu traders, encouraged by both Ibadan and Lagos, decided to break from their Ijebu overlords and smuggled arms across the Ijebu-Egba blockade to Ibadan (58 miles north-northeast). In 1865, when the Egba decided to punish Ikorodu, British forces from Lagos intervened and decisively defeated the Egba army in a battle at Ikorodu. Modern Ikorodu is a collecting point for locally produced fish, poultry, cassava, corn (maize), vegetables, palm oil and kernels, okra, cabbages, tomatoes, pineapples, and bananas that are shipped to Lagos. Many truck farms are located in the vicinity of the town. The commercial manufacture of pottery is a significant local industry. The town is served by highways between Lagos and Shagamu and between Lagos and Epe. Pop. (1991 est.) 163,100.