Kwara State is one of the 36 states of Nigeria

Nigeria

Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...

. Its capital is Ilorin

Ilorin

Ilorin is one of the largest cities in Nigeria and is the capital of Kwara State. As of 2007 it had a population of 847,582.-History:Ilorin was founded by the Yoruba, one of the three largest ethnic groups in Nigeria, in 1450...

. The primary ethnic group of Kwara State is Yoruba

Yoruba people

The Yoruba people are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa. The majority of the Yoruba speak the Yoruba language...

, with significant Nupe, Bariba

Bariba

The Bariba people, self designation Baatonu , are the principal inhabitants of Borgou Department, Benin, and cofounders of the Borgu kingdom of what is now northeast Benin and northwest Nigeria. There are perhaps a million Bariba, 80% of them in Benin, where they are the fourth largest ethnic group...

 and Fulani minorities.
Kwara State was created on 27 May 1967, when the Federal Military Government of General Yakubu Gowon

Yakubu Gowon

General Yakubu "Jack" Dan-Yumma Gowon was the head of state of Nigeria from 1966 to 1975. He took power after one military coup d'etat and was overthrown in another...

 broke the four regions that then constituted the Federation of Nigeria into 12 states. At its creation, the state was made up of the former Ilorin and Kabba provinces of the then Northern Region

Northern Region, Nigeria

The Northern Region was one of Nigeria's federal divisions. It was created before independence in 1960, with its capital at Kaduna. In 1962 it acquired the territory of the British Northern Cameroons, who had voted to become part of Nigeria....

 and was initially named the West Central State but later changed to "Kwara", a local name for the River Niger.

Kwara State has since 1976 reduced considerably in size as a result of further state creation exercises in Nigeria.