History of Lagos

Location

Modern-day Lagos is now a state in South-Western Nigeria. It is bounded on the west by the Republic of Benin, to the north and east by Ogun State with the Atlantic Ocean providing a coastline on the south.

Area

Lagos has a total of 3,577 square kilometers; 787 square kilometers is made up of lagoons and creeks including: Lagos Lagoon, Lagos Harbour, Five Cowrie Creek, Ebute-Metta Creek, Porto-Novo Creek, New Canal, Badagry Creek, Kuramo Waters and Lighthouse Creek.

Names of Lagos

Lagos means "lakes" in Portuguese, the language of first European-settlers known to visit the settlement, then already inhabited by the Awori, in 1472. From the first contacts with the region until the early 20th century, another Portuguese name for the city that was interchangeably used was Onim, finally abandoned in favor of Lagos.

Founding of Lagos

According to the oral history of Lagos, at some point around 1300-1400 CE, the Oba (King) of the Benin Empire heard from one of his traders complaints about being mistreated by the Awori who lived in the area of current day Lagos. The Oba of Benin then sent a trade expedition by sea to engage with the Awori people, who nonetheless declined to engage and attacked the mission sent by Benin.

Upon hearing this as the mission returned to Benin City, the Oba of Benin commanded the assembling of a war expedition, led by Ado, a prince of Benin, which headed to the settlement of the Awori in current-day Lagos, then called Eko by the Benin people, and demanded an explanation.

On getting there, Ado and his army were more than well received - the Awori from Lagos asked Benin Prince Ado to stay there and become their leader. Ado agreed, on the condition that they surrendered their sovereignty to the Oba of Benin, to which the Awori people of Lagos agreed.

Upon hearing this, the Oba of Benin gave his permission for Prince Ado and the expedition to remain in Eko with the Awori. The Oba of Benin later sent some of his chiefs, including the Eletu Odibo, Obanikoro and others, to assist Ado in the running of Eko.

Lagos as a tributary to the Benin Empire

From the crowning of Ado as its first Oba, Lagos (then called Eko) served as a major center for slave-trade, from which then Oba of Benin Ado and all of his successors for over four centuries supported - until 1841, when Oba Akitoye ascended to the throne of Lagos and attempted to ban slave-trading.

Local merchants strongly opposed the intended move, and deposed and exiled the king, and installed Akitoye's brother Kosoko as Oba.

At exile in Europe, Akitoye met with British authorities, who had banned slave-trading in 1807, and who therefore decided to support the deposed Oba to regain his throne. With the success of the British intervention, in 1851 Akitoye was reinstalled as Oba of Lagos. In practical terms, however, British influence over the kingdom had become absolute, and ten years later, in 1861, Lagos was formally annexed as a British colony.

Colonial Lagos as capital of Nigeria

The British annexed Lagos as a colony in 1861. The remainder of the Benin Empire - i.e., modern-day Nigeria - were seized by the British in 1887, and when the British established the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria in 1914, Lagos was declared its capital.

Lagos maintained its status as capital when Nigeria obtained its independence from Britain in 1960. Lagos was therefore the capital city of Nigeria from 1914 until 1991, when it was replaced as Federal Capital Territory by planned city of Abuja, built specifically for such purpose.

Currently

Until today, the Oba of Lagos is the head of all the Kings in Lagos State and his status is different from other Obas most of whom were later given back their crowns and staff of office only within the last 40 years. Those who got their crowns back were the original land owners (Olofin's children).

The present day Lagos state has a higher percent of this sub-group who allegedly migrated to the area from Isheri along the Ogun river. History has it that the Awori were actually from Ife, the cradle of Yorubaland. The Awori people are a peaceful people initially not taken to warfare. Due to war, those from the hinterlands, like the Ekiti, ran towards Isheri, which at that time had more than one Olofin (Alafin)who were heads of settlements about 1400AD.

When the people fled from the hinterlands most of them scattered again, some to Iro, to Otta, Ado, others to Ebute Metta i.e. three landing places - Oyingbo, Iddo Island and Lagos Island (Eko). The Olofin that brought those who went to Ebute-Metta was Ogunfunminire, later known as Agbodere. With the full commencement of the war about 2000 moved to Iddo Island, others to Otto Awori or Otto Ijanikin towards modern-day Badagry. Those from Ekiti Aramoko came to Ebute-Metta, Iddo and then Ijora.

After the demise of Agbodere, the name Olofin became the name used to remember him; the title of Oloto was given to his successor. When one of his sons becoming the Oloto his other children parted ways to what is known as visible settlements in present-day Lagos.

Until the coming of the Benins, Lagos's geographic boundary was Lagos Mainland. Lagos Island, the seat of the Oba of Lagos, then consisted of a pepper farm and fishing posts. No one lived there. The name Eko was given to it by its first king, Oba Ado, during its early history; it also saw periods of rule by the Kingdom of Benin.

Eko was the land area now known as Lagos Island where the king's palace was built. The palace is called Iga Idunganran, meaning "palace built on the pepper farm". Oba Ado and the warriors from Benin, as well as some of the indigenous people who sought safety, settled down in the southern part of Eko, called Isale Eko. "Isale" literally means "bottom", but must have been used to indicate downtown (as in Downtown Lagos).

Notable events

The first king of Lagos, Oba Ado, apart from having two sons also had a daughter Erelu Kuti, who begat Ologun Kutere, who later became king. Shokun his brother, who was more aggressive and whom the Erelu suspected could plan a palace coup, was given a chieftaincy title, "Onile-gbale", and a palace just behind the king's palace. This was the first time that a Chief would be appointed and installed at the same time as a King's coronation. See also http://www.eraffoundation.org/erelukuti.php

Oba Akitoye who ceded Lagos to the British was oba Kosoko's uncle. Oba Akitoye was the first Oba not to be buried in a Bini. Prior to this, all the Kings of lagos were buried in Bini. They passed on taxes to the Oba of Bini until the British came and explained that there was no need to send taxes to Bini anymore especially as the Binis themselves were paying taxes to Britain. It was during his reign that the direct influence of the Binis on Lagos ended.

Oba Kosoko believed in the slave trade and was at loggerheads with the British, hence his dethronement and flight, first to Badagry and later to Epe, Nigeria where he founded kingdoms that still exist today.

Past Obas (Kings)

Colonial-era

Modern-day Lagos was founded by the Bini in the sixteenth century. It was later called Eko. The Portuguese explorer Ruy de Sequeira who visited the area in 1472, named the area around the city Lago de Curamo; the present name is Portuguese for "lakes". An alternate explanation is that Lagos was named for Lagos, Portugal - a maritime town which at the time was the main center of the Portuguese expeditions down the African coast and whose own name is derived from the Celtic word Lacobriga.

It was a major centre of the slave trade until 1851, and the Bombardment of Lagos. Britain, which had banned slavery in 1807, signed a treaty which ushered in the British consular period. Lagos was annexed by Britain via the Lagos Treaty of Cession in 1861 ending the consular period and starting the British colonial period. The remainder of modern-day Nigeria was seized in 1886.

Post colonial

When the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria was established in 1914 Lagos was declared its capital. Lagos experienced rapid growth throughout the 1960s and 1970s as a result of Nigeria's economic boom prior to the Biafran War. This continued through the 1980s and 1990s up to the present date.

Lagos was the capital of Nigeria from 1914 - 1991 when the capital was moved to Abuja. Abuja is a capital like Washington, DC in United States and Brasilia in Brazil in that it was built from scratch specifically to be a capital.

In 1991, Ibrahim Babangida, the Military President and other government functions moved to the newly built capital. This was as a result of intelligence reports on the safety of his life and what was later to be termed his hidden agenda, which was the plan to turn himself into a civilian president. He finished what was started by the Murtala/Obasanjo regime. The change resulted in Lagos losing some prestige and economic leverage. However, it has retained its importance as the country's largest city and as an economic centre.

In 2002, accidental explosions killed more than 1,000 people. In 2012, 163 people died when a McDonnell Douglas MD-83 crashed into a local furniture works and printing press building.