The History of Lagos
The earliest inhabitants of Lagos were Awori hunters & fishermen. They settled first on the smaller of two swampy, low-lying islands, which straddled a neck of the lagoon between the mainland & a sandy spit of coast.
The earliest inhabitants of Lagos were Awori hunters & fishermen. They settled first on the smaller of two swampy, low-lying islands, which straddled a neck of the lagoon between the mainland & a sandy spit of coast.
Source: Family and social change in an African city : a study of rehousing in Lagos by Peter Marris (1962)
Image: Gelede, Lagos 1896-1919 - Quai Branly Museum
Image: Gelede, Lagos 1896-1919 - Quai Branly Museum
The winding channels of the lagoon led westward to the Kingdom of Dahomey, and eastward to Benin. To the south, across a shallow bar, the waters of the lagoon flowed into the sea—the only breach in the coastline for a hundred miles in either direction.
To the north lay the expanding Yoruba empire of Oyo, a loose affiliation of city states, from which these early settlers originally stemmed.
But the Lagos settlement was isolated by swamps and forests from the heartland of this empire, whose capital city lay two hundred miles distant in the upland plains. About three hundred years ago, Lagos became tributary to the powerful Kingdom of Benin.
It may have been the remnants of a Benin Army, taking refuge in Lagos after a defeat, who brought it under the subjection of their King.
But though Lagos continued to acknowledge the sovereignty of Benin until the middle of the last century, it remained a predominantly Yoruba settlement.
According to legend, a Yoruba Chief had originally divided Lagos amongst his sons, whose descendants, the White Cap Chiefs, held the residual rights to all the land of the two islands.
The Yoruba Kings appointed by Benin to rule in Lagos did not usurp these traditional rights, and land was held by the families who settled in Lagos according to Yoruba custom.
A small settlement in a coastal swamp was not of much consequence to the kingdoms of the hinterland. But to the merchant fleets of the Portuguese, Lagos afforded a useful harbour in their search for a sea route to India.
The first Portuguese explorer reached the coast of southern Nigeria in 1472, and by 1500, Portuguese merchantmen had begun to frequent Lagos harbour.
The King of Benin landed there on his return from a visit to Portugal in 1550.
Forty years later, the first Englishman called there — James Welsh, in the Richard of Arundell, on an expedition to Benin.
Forty years later, the first Englishman called there — James Welsh, in the Richard of Arundell, on an expedition to Benin.
