Oshogbo [key], city (1991 est. pop. 421,000), SW Nigeria, on the Oshun River. Primarily a farming and commercial city, it has cotton gins, a steel-rolling mill, a traditional textiles industry, and cigarette and food-processing factories. The city is also a road and rail junction, and has an airport. Oshogbo was probably founded in the 17th cent. as a town in the Yoruba kingdom of Ijesha (see Ilesha). In 1839 it was the site of a decisive battle in which Ibadan, a Yoruba city-state, defeated Ilorin, an expansionist Fulani state, thus halting Ilorin's southward advance. An influx of refugees after the battle swelled Oshogbo's population.
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