ancient cities

428 Lagos, Nigeria
complete with the road and rail transport infrastructure,
fostered the development of produce
exports. Primary produce and imports were channeled
through the Lagos port, which became
Nigeria’s dominant seaport outlet beginning in the
1890s. By that date, Lagos had earned the sobriquet
of the Liverpool of West Africa.
During the twentieth century, Lagos became
the hub of Nigeria’s politics, economy, and society
following administrative amalgamations carried
out by the British in 1906 and 1914. Urban amenities
and an expanding colonial economy enhanced
the urban status of Lagos and linked it more effectively
to a widening hinterland. As expected, leading
European firms established their head offices
in Lagos, and the major shipping lines offered
regular services between Lagos and European
metropolitan centers.
The presence of European traders, missionaries,
and colonial officials, as well as Westerneducated
Africans, gave the city a cosmopolitan
character. Indeed, with the possible exception of
Freetown, Lagos was the most Westernized settlement
in West Africa during the twentieth century.
This was reflected in the city’s fashions, tastes, and
institutions. The legal system was essentially
British, with the supreme court and lower courts
operating in the city. The twentieth century witnessed
a blend of architectural styles, although the
Brazilian was dominant until the 1950s. In Lagos,
corrugated iron roofing sheets began to displace
the thatched roofs that had been dominant in
indigenous parts of the metropolis. Commercial
booms of 1906 through 1914 and 1918 through
1920 fostered conspicuous consumption and an
ostentatious lifestyle that continue to characterize
Lagos city life.
Residential segregation has been noticeable in
Lagos since the nineteenth century, when European
settlers established exclusive settlements on Lagos
Island. By the 1920s, there was a distinct spatial
segregation based on race in Lagos. The Macgregor
canal separated the densely populated African
town from the low-density European settlements
and offices in the western parts of Lagos Island.
The major European settlement at Ikoyi, east of
the indigenous quarter, took off from the 1920s
and subsequently developed into a status symbol
that the Nigerian elite inherited from the 1950s. It
is instructive that even in the African quarter, the
émigrés from Sierra Leone and Brazil also
developed their exclusive residential areas, at
Olowogbowo and Popo Aguda, respectively.
The acquisition of a Western education, especially
by the more clerical Sierra Leoneans, produced
the first crop of African lawyers, medical
doctors, missionaries, teachers, traders, and journalists
in Lagos. Among such prominent Lagosians
were Sapara Williams, R. B. Blaize, Sir Kitoyi
Ajasa, Candido da Rocha, S. H. Pearse, J. H.
Doherty, the Jacksons, the Macaulays, Eric Moore,
and Dr. Orisadipe Obasa. The new African elite
copied the marriage and social lifestyles of the
British, which made them cultural hybrids. Yet,
they were the pioneer African anticolonial nationalists
although their principal aim was to seek
accommodation in a system that discriminated
against them regardless of their qualifications.
Hence, most of them embraced cultural nationalism,
a precursor of the anticolonial movement of
the 1930s and 1940s. This African elite, however,
had more in common with its members than
with the indigenous Africans of Lagos. This was
reflected not only in their residential segregation
but also in their practice of marrying within their
social class.
The indigenous Africans of Lagos were not
totally eclipsed, although the Oba (king) and the
traditional political order had been completely
sidelined in the administration of the colony. Still,
a good number of them embraced the colonial
order, especially the commercial opportunities it
provided. This response produced indigenous
entrepreneurs such as Braimah Igbo, a prominent
kolanut trader; W. A. Dawodu, the pioneer automobile
entrepreneur in Nigeria; Karimu Kotun, a
successful businessman who served as an agent for
British firms in Liverpool and Manchester, and
D. C. (Daniel Conrad) Taiwo, who came from
lowly origins to accumulate wealth through the
trade of palm oil and urban land holdings (Taiwo
Olowo). The institution of the Obaship gradually
assumed some political significance with the deposition
and later reinstatement of Eshugbayi Eleko
in the 1920s and 1930s.
The Contemporary City
Land is a scarce and highly valued commodity in
Lagos. This is buttressed by the large number and