𝗟𝗮𝗴𝗼𝘀 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗕𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗟𝗮𝗴𝗼𝘀 𝗜𝘀𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱: 𝗔 𝗕𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗳 𝗛𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆.

𝗪𝗵𝗼 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗟𝗮𝗴𝗼𝘀 𝗜𝘀𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱?

We don’t know, but ‘by the late 15th century, Lagos Island had been settled by Yorùbá fishermen and hunters of the Àwórì stock who called it 𝗢𝗸𝗼’, according to Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Later, by the late 16th century, the Kingdom of Benin set up a military post on the Island and called it 𝗘𝗸𝗼.

Note: Yorùbá fishermen and hunters were the earliest recorded settlers on Lagos Island. They called it 𝗢𝗸𝗼. The Edo met those Yorùbá settlers there.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗖𝗵𝗶𝗲𝗳 𝗼𝗳 𝗟𝗮𝗴𝗼𝘀 𝗜𝘀𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱

The first chief of Lagos Island on record was Aṣípa who, in Lagos traditional account, was an Àwórì chieftain who returned the corpse of an Edo warlord to Benin and got the Oba of Benin’s support to govern the part of Lagos Island, where the Edo had a military post.

Note:

1. Aṣípa was the king of the part of Lagos Island that had an Edo military post, not the king of all of what we now call Lagos State.
2. “Asípa” means pathfinder in Yorùbá and is also the name of a town and a royal title in Ọ̀yọ́: Asípa of Ọ̀yọ́.

𝗪𝗮𝘀 𝗔𝘀𝗶𝗽𝗮 𝗬𝗼𝗿𝘂𝗯𝗮 𝗼𝗿 𝗘𝗱𝗼?

Edo accounts claim that Aṣípa was Edo, not Yorùbá.

Since the Yorùbá and Edo claims of the ancestry of Aṣípa are mostly based on oral accounts, we can use other lines of evidence to know which of the two cultures dominated on that part of Lagos Island at the time.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗬𝗼𝗿𝘂𝗯𝗮 𝗜𝗻𝗳𝗹𝘂𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗱

1. The social and cultural language of the part of Lagos Island that the Àwórì called “Oko” but that the Edo called Èkó was Yorùbá and has remained Yorùbá.
2. The names of the kings of that part of Lagos Island from Aṣípa to the current king are predominantly Yorùbá.

𝗪𝗵𝗼 𝗪𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗘𝘂𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗟𝗮𝗴𝗼𝘀 𝗜𝘀𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱?

The first Europeans visitors to Lagos on record were the Portuguese who landed on Lagos Island in 1472. They traded with the local Àwórì people and later engaged in the Slave Trade.

Those Portuguese called Lagos Island “Onim” and later Lagos (Portuguese for “Lakes”).

𝗟𝗮𝗴𝗼𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗹𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗲

Lagos became a slave trading port and got the attention of the British who were then trying to stop the Slave Trade.

Pressure by former Slaves like Bishop Crowther, the British decided to intervene in Lagos.

A British ship bombarded Lagos Island in 1851.

𝗟𝗮𝗴𝗼𝘀 𝗖𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗨𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗕𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗹

The British intervention led to the removal of Kòsọ́kọ́ as King of Lagos Island and his replacement by Akíntóyè who, in 1852, signed a treaty to abolish slavery in Lagos.

In 1861, King Dòsùnmú signed a treaty with the UK government that put Lagos under British control.

From 1866 to 1874, Lagos was part of the British Government’s West Africa Settlements.

Lagos became part of the Gold Coast Colony, until 1886 when it had its own British Governor.

In 1906, it became part of the Protectorate of Southern Nigeria.

𝗟𝗮𝗴𝗼𝘀 𝗕𝗲𝗰𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗖𝗮𝗽𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗼𝗳 𝗽𝗿𝗲-𝗜𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗡𝗶𝗴𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗮

After Southern and Northern Nigeria were amalgamated in 1914 to form the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria, Lagos became the capital of Nigeria.

In 1954, the city on the Island was made federal territory, but most of Lagos hinterland was incorporated into Western Nigeria.

Part 2 will continue this brief history.

Sources:

1. https://www.britannica.com/place/Lagos-state-Nigeria
2. Herskovits Kopytoff, Jean. A Preface to Modern Nigeria: The “Sierra Leoneans” in Yoruba, 1830 – 1890. University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 64–65.
3. Folami, Takiu (1982). A History of Lagos, Nigeria: The Shaping of an African City. Exposition Press. p. 22. ISBN 9780682497725.
4. Smith, Robert (1979-01-01). The Lagos Consulate, 1851-1861. University of California Press, 1979. p. 4. ISBN 9780520037465.