Colonial Footprints: Lagos, Then and Now

A cursory look at the colonial roots of Lagos, Nigeria

Lagos was bombarded by the British in 1851, annexed on 6 August 1861 and declared a colony on 5 March 1862. By 1872 Lagos was a cosmopolitan trading center with a population over 60,000. 



The colony and protectorate was incorporated into Southern Nigeria in February 1906, and Lagos became the capital of the protectorate of Nigeria in January 1914. Since then, it has grown to become the largest city in West Africa, with an estimated metropolitan population of over 9,000,000 as of 2011.

"“Once upon a time, when men were still in romance with nature, the lagoon nourished the social, commercial and even political being of the city and people of Lagos.”"
Jahman Anikulapo, 2005

Aerial view of Lagos in 1929, National Archives UK, 1929, From the collection of: The Centenary Project
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Aerial view of Lagos in 1929, National Archives UK, 1929, From the collection of: The Centenary Project
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Aerial view of Lagos in 1929, National Archives UK, 1929, From the collection of: The Centenary Project
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Lagos Island

"The topography of Lagos is dominated by its system of islands, sandbars, and lagoons. The city itself sprawls over three main islands: Lagos Island, Lagos Mainland, and Victoria Island, connected to each other by a system of bridges."

Aerial view of Lagos, National Archives UK, 1929, From the collection of: The Centenary Project
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Lagos Island with Victoria Island in the foreground and the Mainland in the background

"Lagos emerged during the colonial period as a heterogeneous town populated by groups of people of various origins. This gave the town its eclectic character, with increasing social stratification and contrasting lifestyles."

Town meeting, From the collection of: The Centenary Project
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Lagos town meeting

Lagos Market, From the collection of: The Centenary Project
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Lagos Market, From the collection of: The Centenary Project
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A Lagos market, National Archives UK, From the collection of: The Centenary Project
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"The city confronts one with the great psychological socio-cultural divide between “the Island” and “the Mainland”, two deep “social topography” concepts which dominate even routine discussions of the place, like East Side and West Side in New York or North London and South London."

Landscape, From the collection of: The Centenary Project
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Bird's eye view of Lagos Island (1910-20s)

Lagos Landscape, National Archives UK, 1920/1935, From the collection of: The Centenary Project
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Lagos Island in the 1920s

Lagos Landscape, National Archives UK, 1920/1935, From the collection of: The Centenary Project
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Lagos Landscape, National Archives UK, 1920/1935, From the collection of: The Centenary Project
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Lagos Landscape, National Archives UK, 1920/1935, From the collection of: The Centenary Project
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View of Oil Mill Street, Lagos Island

"The historical core of the town, Lagos Island, developed from the main sub-communities who lived in relatively distinct districts. The European community represented a small group (300 people by 1901). This community established the physical foundations of the city, which consisted of warehouses and government buildings built along the Marina and around the racecourse."

Lagos Buildings, National Archives UK, 1920/1935, From the collection of: The Centenary Project
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Lagos Buildings, National Archives UK, 1920/1935, From the collection of: The Centenary Project
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Lagos Buildings, National Archives UK, 1920/1935, From the collection of: The Centenary Project
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Lagos Buildings, National Archives UK, 1920/1935, From the collection of: The Centenary Project
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Store buildings on Marina

Lagos Buildings, National Archives UK, 1920/1935, From the collection of: The Centenary Project
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"Lagos became the obvious place to develop as the capital of the new Colony and Southern Protectorate inaugurated in 1906, and after 1914 naturally became the main location of the first capital of United Nigeria. The period after 1906 was an important period of further development on Lagos Island, of buildings still in existence such as the Supreme Court ..."

Birds eye view of Lagos in the colonial era, National Archives UK, 1923, From the collection of: The Centenary Project
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Panoramic view of Lagos in 1923. A close view at the image will reveal pointers to various major landmarks of the area

"... the Old Secretariat and the Government Printer on Broad Street. There was also the first Government Secondary School, Kings College, both of which were located by the racecourse in which polo was played in the central area of the course, and which from the time it was laid out in 1859 was a central feature of British colonial Lagos."

Bird's eye view, From the collection of: The Centenary Project
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Panoramic view of Lagos showing part of the race course and the Government House overlooking the creek.

Assizes Court, From the collection of: The Centenary Project
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The Supreme Court, Tinubu Square, Lagos. It was built in 1906 and demolished in 1960

The Secretariat, From the collection of: The Centenary Project
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The Secretariat

Colonial Hospital, From the collection of: The Centenary Project
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The Colonial Hospital

"Unlike most other port cities of the Atlantic coast, in which segregation schemes were introduced between the late 19th and early 20th centuries, for decades there was no official segregation scheme in Lagos."

Europeans recreation, National Archives UK, From the collection of: The Centenary Project
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Recreational activity by the Europeans

Europeans in Lagos, National Archives UK, From the collection of: The Centenary Project
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Group photo taken by Europeans (mostly British) in Lagos

"After Lagos was made the capital in 1914, a classification of Nigerian cities was proposed in 1921. Lagos was the only city belonging to the ‘Class A township’, which combined a residential area reserved for Europeans (Ikoyi) and a commercial area in which Europeans lived, worked, traded and interacted with Africans (Lagos Island)."

Anglo Colonial Trading, From the collection of: The Centenary Project
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Anglo Colonial Trading, Broad Street

Messrs. G.B. Ollivant, From the collection of: The Centenary Project
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G.B. Ollivant, Marina

Bank of British West Africa, From the collection of: The Centenary Project
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Bank of British West Africa, Marina

"It was impossible to relocate either the Western companies or the African traders and inhabitants beyond the historical core of the city. But in the ‘next-door’ island of Ikoyi, a European Reservation Area was laid out in 1928 exclusively to accommodate the increasing number of Europeans (which grew from 301 in 1901 to 4 000 in 1931)."

Piers by the coast, From the collection of: The Centenary Project
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"The building that became the Government House, and then State House after independence, went through a number of transformations; the version most recognized was built in time for Lugard to occupy as Governor-General in 1914. It housed figures such as Clifford, Cameron, Bourdillon and the last Governors-General, Robertson and – after independence – Azikiwe."

Government House Lagos, From the collection of: The Centenary Project
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Government (State) House, Marina Lagos, with Marina street and the lagoon in the foreground. Built in 1896, it was the official residence of the colonial governors.

St. George’s Hall, From the collection of: The Centenary Project
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Lagos Buildings, National Archives UK, 1920/1935, From the collection of: The Centenary Project
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Tennis Court at Government House, National Archives UK, From the collection of: The Centenary Project
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St. George's Hall Tennis courts at Government House

"Governor Carter (1891-97) had the vision to push through the railway, the great project of the 1890s, which opened its first stretch to Ibadan as the century turned. The year 1900 saw the opening of the Iddo rail terminus, but also the first version of Carter Bridge (carrying pedestrians and, afterwards, the steam tram), which gave the development of Lagos Island, as the hub of the capital, a tremendous boost."

Early Carter Bridge, From the collection of: The Centenary Project
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The old Carter Bridge

Railway construction, National Archives UK, From the collection of: The Centenary Project
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One of the first trains

"As development continued in Lagos, British architecture prevailed and new types of buildings were introduced. These were usually either imported 18th century houses of the English countryside or prefabricated constructions with deep verandas and overhanging eaves."

Lagos Street, From the collection of: The Centenary Project
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Colonial Home, From the collection of: The Centenary Project
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Colonial Home, From the collection of: The Centenary Project
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Colonial Home, From the collection of: The Centenary Project
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Colonial Home, From the collection of: The Centenary Project
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Colonial architectural styles (in this photo as well as those on the left)

"After the bubonic plague of the late 1920s, the Lagos Executive Development Board was set up in 1931 and was responsible for some of the earliest planned developments on the Mainland such as Yaba. These were also added to and partly reconstructed in the later colonial period, as was the new model suburb of Surulere."

Lagos Street, From the collection of: The Centenary Project
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Lagos Street, From the collection of: The Centenary Project
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Lagos Street, From the collection of: The Centenary Project
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Streets of Yaba on the Mainland

"Much of the history of Lagos is that of its economy, in the context of political, social and cultural change. Economic transformation is thus one of the most important forces to have had an impact on the city, its society, its landscape as well as its “look”, which forms an essential par of the quest for the city's soul. 

The expansion of the city's political economy has led to growing wealth, which in turn has brought a range of new aspirations for modernity that has followed in the wake of colonization."

Lagos in the 70s, From the collection of: The Centenary Project
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Lagos in the 1970s

Modern view of Lagos, From the collection of: The Centenary Project
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View of Lagos in the 1980s

Modern view of Lagos, From the collection of: The Centenary Project
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Carter Bridge and Eko Bridge in the 1980s

Modern view of Lagos, From the collection of: The Centenary Project
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Victoria Island with Five Cowries Creek in the foreground

Modern view of Lagos, From the collection of: The Centenary Project
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Modern view of Lagos, From the collection of: The Centenary Project
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Modern view of Lagos, From the collection of: The Centenary Project
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Falomo Bridge linking Lagos Island with Victoria Island

Modern view of Lagos, From the collection of: The Centenary Project
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Modern view of Lagos, From the collection of: The Centenary Project
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Modern view of Lagos (Tin-can Island), From the collection of: The Centenary Project
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Tin Can Island

Credits: Story

Project Lead—Patrick Enaholo

Credits: All media
The story featured may in some cases have been created by an independent third party and may not always represent the views of the institutions (listed below) who have supplied the content.
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