Akure, city in southwestern Nigeria and capital of Ondo state. Akure produces palm oil, cocoa, cassava, and wood products. The city is surrounded by extensive tracts of tropical forest reserves and supports a large timber industry. Akure is connected by road to other Nigerian cities such as Lagos and Ibadan. Akure also has an airport. The city is the site of the Federal University of Technology, Akure (founded in 1981). Akure is a tourist destination and departure point for visitors to the nearby Osse River.
Akure belongs to the Yoruba cultural region and is the site of an annual Ogun festival commemorating the Yoruba deity Ogun, the god of iron. Iron has traditionally been important to the Yoruba for the production of weapons and farm implements. Rock engravings made by Middle Stone Age, or Mesolithic, peoples about 10,000 to 15,000 years ago lie on the outskirts of Akure and are some of the only such engravings to be found in Nigeria. In the same area, a Middle Stone Age skeleton was discovered dating from 11,000 years ago, the oldest Homo sapiens remains that have been found in West Africa. Akure was a small independent Yoruba kingdom until it was conquered in the early 1800s by a neighboring Yoruba kingdom. Population (1995) 158,200.
