The island town with three overlapping origins, its Àwórì land-owning chiefs, its Benin-derived kingship, the 1851 bombardment and 1861 cession, and the Brazilian quarter the returnees built.
The Yorùbá wey dem quote, the proverbs, oríkì, ẹsẹ Ifá, word list headwords, Odù names and citations dey exactly as the corpus record dem, for every language.
Lagos get three origin stories and all the three dey true for different things. Na Àwórì Yoruba settlement, wey the chiefs wey get land still hold their titles and still dey claim the ground. Na Benin military and administrative outpost, wey its kingship come from and wey make am take the name Èkó. And na British colony, the first for wetin come turn Nigeria, wey dem take through bombardment for 1851 and through treaty for 1861. Each layer dey sit on top the one before am without to wipe am comot, and the institutional structure wey come out from am, where land, kingship and government come from three different places, dey explain plenty about how Lagos still dey work.
The Àwórì name for the main settlement for wetin be Lagos Island today dey recorded as Oko . Èkó na the name wey enter with Benin, and na the name wey Yoruba speakers dey use for the city today . Lagos na Portuguese, wey mean lakes, wey Portuguese sailors give the lagoon system and fit be say na reference to the Portuguese town of Lagos .
Where the name Èkó come from na wetin people dey contest and the two readings still dey current. One side take am from Edo eko, wey mean war camp or camp, wey dey describe wetin the Benin force build for the island. The other side take am from Yoruba word for cassava food or for farm, and connect am to the Àwórì settlement instead of the Benin occupation. The war-camp reading na the one wey plenty historians accept pass and e match the Benin evidence; report the two and no settle am.
The Àwórì foundation story na about the floating calabash. Olófin, wey dem also dey call Ògúnfúnminíre, leave Ilé-Ifẹ̀ with im followers dey carry mud plate wey Odùduwà give am, with instruction make e put am on top water and settle for where e sink . E travel down through the river system, pause for Ìṣerí reach level wey im people assume say e don stop permanently, then e move on and sink for the lagoon . Dem explain the name Àwórì from awo ti rì, the plate don sink, wey be wetin dem say Olófin answer when dem ask am where e dey .
Treat the details as Àwórì oral tradition instead of history. The way the story arrange, migration wey get backing from Ifẹ̀ with divination tool wey determine the site, na the standard Yoruba foundation charter and e dey do the standard work to tie the settlement to Ifẹ̀ authority.
The institutional residue na wetin matter. People hold say Olófin children divide the land among themselves, and their descendants na the ìdejò, the chiefs wey get land, wey white cap take distinguish and wey make up the senior class for the Lagos chieftaincy system . The recorded ìdejò lines include the Olúmẹ̀gbọ̀n, wey dem generally name as the eldest, together with Àrómirè, Onítòló, Onísìwó, Ẹlẹ́gùṣí, Oníru, Olótò and Oníkòyí .
Dis na live legal fact, no be ceremonial survival. Àwórì ìdejò families hold customary land claims across Lagos, several of the titles now attach to big modern estates, and the ìdejò lines dey involved for large body of Nigerian land court cases. The Àwórì layer na the layer wey get the ground.
Àrómirè pepper farm na the specific tradition wey attach to the palace site: say the land where Ìgá Ìdunganràn stand na Àrómirè pepper farm before, wey be the meaning wey dem read into the palace name.
Benin expand westward along the lagoon for the sixteenth century, and Lagos turn Benin outpost. The kingship date from that time.
All Ọba of Lagos trace their line to Àṣípa, wey dem describe as Àwórì war captain for the service of the Ọba of Benin, wey receive authority to govern Lagos around 1600 . The first crowned king for the Lagos list na Adó, wey im reign begin for 1630, and the palace, Ìgá Ìdunganràn, na the official seat since that date . The Portuguese substantially rebuild the palace over the course of nearly one century .
The relationship with Benin na tributary and e tey for long time. Lagos stop to be tributary to Benin around 1830 , wey mean roughly two hundred years, and the Benin connection dey visible for the Lagos court titles, dress and drumming.
Note the structural consequence. The Lagos ọba no derive im authority from Ifẹ̀ the way most Yoruba crowns dey do, and dem don use this one against Lagos for Yoruba traditional-ruler protocol arguments. Im authority come through Benin, and the land under am belong to the Àwórì ìdejò. Neither the crown nor the land dey unencumbered, and Lagos kingship always get more constraint pass wetin the size of the city dey suggest. The modern Ọba of Lagos na explicitly ceremonial sovereign without political power, wey im influence dey run through advice and endorsement instead of office . Ọba Rilwan Akíọlú don hold the title since 24 May 2003 .
The events wey end Lagos independence begin as succession dispute and Britain convert am into conquest.
Akítóyè and im nephew Kòṣọ́kọ́ contest the throne. Kòṣọ́kọ́ drive out Akítóyè, wey go exile and seek British support, dey offer in exchange to end the slave trade for Lagos. Britain get squadron for the coast wey commit to suppress the trade and Lagos na one of the last significant embarkation points for the Bight of Benin, so dem accept the offer. For 1851 Britain intervene militarily, bombard Lagos, remove Kòṣọ́kọ́ and install Akítóyè .
Dem dey usually call the action the Reduction of Lagos. E end the Benin tributary relationship join with everything. Kòṣọ́kọ́ withdraw go Èpé with large following, and im presence for there na the origin of the Muslim community and the Lagos-derived quarter for that town.
How dem arrange the matter dey important and make dem talk am with care. The thing Britain talk say dem want do na to stop slave trade and the business for Lagos bin dey real; wetin Britain really want na secure base for the Bight and ruler wey go dey obey dem, and dem get the two. The two things na true, and the second one no become lie just because the first one sef na true.
For 6 August 1861 Ọba Dòsùnmú, wey be Akítóyè pikin, sign the Lagos Treaty of Cession under pressure from Britain . The pressure na direct one: Commander Beddingfield of HMS Prometheus bring the treaty come while the guns of the ship dey ready, and Dòsùnmú drag the matter for eleven days before e sign. Lagos come turn British colony for 1862 .
The treaty give away sovereignty while e claim say e dey protect the ọba's traditional rights and the land rights of the people wey dey live there, na this condition bring one hundred years of court case about wetin dem really transfer. Lagos na the first British colony for the land wey come turn Nigeria, and na from there dem take enter carry the remaining parts. E come turn the capital of Nigeria for 1914 during amalgamation and remain so reach 1991, when the federal government move go Abuja .
Two groups of returnees change the shape of Lagos for the nineteenth century, and the two groups dey different from each other.
The Sàró na Yoruba people wey anti-slavery squadron rescue from slave ships come settle dem for Freetown for Sierra Leone, wey come return go Lagos and the interior from the 1830s and 1840s go front. Dem dey speak English, most of dem na Anglican, and dem go mission schools, and na dem produce the first set of church leaders, clerks, journalists, doctors and lawyers for the region. Na Samuel Àjàyí Crowther people know pass.
The Agùdà na Yoruba people wey dem enslave for Brazil and Cuba wey return after freedom, mostly from Salvador da Bahia. Wetin dem estimate say return go the Bight dey between three thousand reach eight thousand, and the ones wey settle for Lagos gather put body for the area for Lagos Island wey dem dey call Popo Agùdà, the Brazilian Quarter . The name Agùdà na Yoruba word for Catholic, wey be the main identity of the community: dem come back as Catholic for town wey the mission establishment na Anglican, and some good number among dem sef na Muslim .
The Agùdà come with handwork. Dem be masons, carpenters, joiners and builders, and dem bring the kind architecture wey dem learn for Brazil come Lagos: two-storey house wey dem plaster with stucco, the sobrado style, wey get fine mouldings, flower designs and heavy pillars, wey come from Portuguese and Brazilian baroque . The Brazilian style come turn the standard for big buildings wey African contractors build for Lagos for late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries .
The buildings wey still remain gather round Campos Square, wey dem name after the returnee Hilario Campos, and along Bámgbóṣé, Tòkunbọ̀ and other streets wey join dem . The popular landmark buildings include the Shitta-Bey Mosque, wey returnee craftsmen build for one Muslim Agùdà family and dem open for 1894, and the Water House for Kakawa Street, wey the Da Rocha family build. Holy Cross Cathedral na the Catholic centre wey the community establish .
The Brazilian Quarter dey for poor condition. Plenty of the sobrado buildings don scatter or collapse, maintenance no dey steady, and the pressure to build new things for Lagos Island dey very high. Wetin still remain na the biggest physical record for the whole West Africa about the journey back from Atlantic slave trade, and dem talk more about am for the diaspora section.
Ìgá Ìdunganràn, the ọba's palace for Lagos Island, seat of power since 1630 . Ìsàlẹ̀ Èkó, the old quarter under the palace, na the historic core. Freedom Park for Broad Street dey the place wey the old colonial prison bin dey. The National Museum for Onikan get the main national collection wey include Ifẹ̀ and Nok material. Jaekel House and the railway compound for Ebute Metta, Ìlọ́jọ̀ Bar for Tinubu Square, wey dem demolish for 2016 and wey people dey use as the regular example when dem dey argue about Nigerian heritage, and the Brazilian houses wey still remain na the main colonial and returnee structures.
Ìdumọ̀ta, Balógun and Ọ̀ṣodì markets, and Èbúté Erò, carry the business history. The Lagos lagoon and Five Cowrie Creek define the physical shape of the city, wey be group of islands wey dem gradually take bridges and sand-filling connect together.
Lagos na the biggest city for Nigeria and one of the biggest for Africa, the country's financial and commercial centre, and the capital of Lagos State. People dey drag population numbers well-well: Lagos State government drag the 2006 census number for the state, and estimates for the metropolitan area dey vary well-well depending on the boundary wey dem use. Any single number wey anybody quote for Lagos, make dem treat am as estimate wey get clear basis.
Among the major Yoruba cities, na Lagos Yoruba people dominate pass the least in terms of population makeup, but e still remain Yoruba city for institutions, language of the street and traditional structure. The tension between the two facts, wey dey always show as argument about whether Lagos na Yoruba city or no-man's-land, na permanent feature of Nigerian politics and no be question wey this document fit settle.
Guide to the gazetteer, what each file covers, the argument that runs through the section, and how to read it in order or by interest.
Three Yoruba groupings that standard accounts leave out, the Àwórì who own the ground under Lagos, the Ẹ̀gbádò who renamed themselves Yewa in 1995, and the Ìbàràpá seven towns.
The Ìjẹ̀bú-derived towns of the northwest and the lagoon, the 1872 assembly that made Ṣàgámù out of thirteen towns, and Badagry's slave-trade and mission history.
The kingdom whose courts outranked its king, the Awùjalẹ̀ and the Ọ̀ṣùgbó, Sungbo's Eredo, the trade monopoly that provoked the 1892 British expedition, and Ojúde Ọba.
The Brazilian and Cuban returnees to Lagos and Porto-Novo, the Afro-Brazilian architecture they built, the twentieth-century traffic in training and pilgrimage running both ways, and how diaspora demand now shapes Nigerian practice and its economics.
The CMS mission and Crowther, how and why Yoruba people converted to two world religions, the British annexation, indirect rule and what it did to kingship, and the making of "Yoruba" as one identity.