The Historical fact is that Oba Orhogbua, who reigned in Benin in the 16th Century (about 1550AD) waged a number of wars, o
ne
of which carried him as far as to the land now known as Dahomey, which
he conquered and over which he installed a Military Administrator by the
name of Isidahome after whom that territory was named "the land of
Isidahome" which, over the centuries, became the modern "Dahomey."
It was during the Oba's expedition that he came to the island which the
Portuguese subsequently named Lagos. As the journey was long and
tedious, he decided to find a resting place.
The whole area was a
swampy bush but after some exploration, he reached the sandy beach which
he found very suitable, with its clear water and plenty of fish, the
Oba with his men decided to build a camp there.
This was how
Lagos came to acquire the name "Eko." This word is not a Yoruba word.
The fact is that this island had no name, being only a fishing camp,
before the Benins entered. In the Benin language, "Bu Eko" or "Bu ago"
means "to build a camp" usually a resting place in the village. Thus,
there is a sacred spot in Benin City today known as "Eko ohae"
(Bachelor's Camp) where an Oba must spend a few days in the course of
the ceremonial journey leading to his coronation. So again "Eko Oviawe"
means "Oviawe's Camp." EKO therefore is not a Yoruba word; that what is
now Lagos bears that name is due to its early occupation by the Benins.
The Benins never intended to make a permanent settlement on their newly
discovered sandy beach. All that the Oba (Orhogbua) needed was a good
camp (Eko) where he and his men could always break their long tedious
coastal journey. But they stayed long enough to begin to bring up
families. In fact the Oba is believed to have stayed there for about 12
years most of the time fighting and acquiring territories by conquest,
before he returned to Benin.
After 12 years of successful
campaigns, with headquarters at Eko, Oba Orhogbua returned to Benin.
From Benin he appointed an Administrator by the name of Aisikpa to look
after the Island. Aisikpa was a name (or title) specially chosen for the
Administrator to commemorate the Oba's many years' sojourn at Eko and
it is simply a contraction of the Benin phrase "Aisikpahienvbore" which
means "people never desert their place" or "the place will not be
deserted by us." That is how Aisikpa, whom the Yorubas now call Ashipa,
came into Lagos histories.
Bajulaiye is an important Lagos title
but it only reminds us of Obazuaye of Benin the chief who was sent to
Eko with Aisikpa. Inabere Street in Lagos has its origin in Unuabehe in
Benin City.When Aisikpa died, his remains were carried to Benin for
interment, (he was the grandson of the Oba) and he was succeeded by Edo
(or Ado as the Yorubas now call the name).
The early "settlers"
(apparently Yorubas from the interior) never went beyond the mainland.
They stopped at Ebute Metter or Ode-Iddo. The "settlers" stopped at
Ebute Metta. "Ode-Iddo" or "Iddo" on the other hand is, like the name
"Ado" which is a corruption of the Benin phrase "Ode-Edo" meaning the
"road to Benin." It is simply a corruption by the itinerant fishermen of
the Benin phrase they picked up from the Benin people who always
pointed towards the mainland whenever they referred to the outward
route.
There could be no denying the fact that it was Oba
Orhogbua in the 16th Century who founded what is now Lagos Island; it is
equally a historical fact that on his return to Benin after many years,
he appointed one of his grandsons by name Aisikpa to look after the
affairs of the place and it was this man who laid the foundation for the
Administration of Lagos; finally Aisikpa on his death was succeeded by
his son, Edo.
It should be noted that Oba Orhogbua during his
conquest, had conquered one Chief Olague (now known as Amakpetu of
Mahin) in Mahin, as well as Olofin in that campaign.
It is
interesting to recall that when present Oba of Benin, as a Prince then,
entered as a student in the then Higher College, Yaba, a prominent Benin
man resident in Lagos went to visit the Prince and took him to a swampy
water front where the Federal Palace Hotel is now and showed the Prince
four iron rods pined to the ground. The man explained that they were
the charm Oba Orhogbua fixed to prevent the swampy water extending to
his camp "Eko." The man and the Prince recognized the iron rods as what
Benin traditionalists call "OSUN N'IGIOGIO."
Historically, the
rights of who own Lagos are clear: Lagos was a Benin town with a Benin
Oba who paid tribute to the Oba of Benin –indeed, his chiefs were the
descendants of noble Benin families. The Benin Empire ran Lagos for over
400 years before the colonial powers took over.
Yes, the
dominant people in Lagos were Yoruba but they formed not the rulers of
the town but the subjects of the Oba just like we find in the United
Kingdom today where people are subjects of the Queen of England and not
citizens.
In 1603, Andreas Joshua Ulsheimer, a German surgeon,
aboard a Dutch merchant ship, visited Lagos. He later described it as a
large frontier town surrounded by strong fence and inhabitant by "none
but soldiers and four military commanders, who behave in a very stately
manner." The Lagos visited by Ulsheimer and his trading colleagues
nearly four centuries ago was in many ways highly developed. Each day
its four commander came together as a court and each day two envoys were
dispatched to take decisions back to their ruler in Benin. To do so,
Ulsheimer wrote, was a common practice in all towns under the suzerainty
of Benin. Food in the Lagos area was plentiful: handsome fish, good
wildfowl", meat fruits, yams and a host of other foodstuffs. The town
was by water and by land, and many traders who brought their wares by
water and by land, and who conducted their transactions in cowries or
trade goods, amongst which brass was highly prized. Ulsheimer was struck
by the beautiful, colouful cloth, the ivory, and the elephant tails
were traded in Lagos, and by the large amount of pepper that was
available. Indeed, his party was rewarded with five lasts of pepper for
successful helping the Benin-led army-which he possibly overstated as
being ten thousand- to lay siege to dissident neighboring towns.
Ulsheimer's brief, but revealing; description is remarkable in many
ways. It confirms Benin oral traditions of conquest and occupation of
Lagos during the sixteenth century. Egharevba has described how Oba
Orhogbua of Benin (c. 1550-1578) occupied the island of Lagos,
established a military camp there from that base waged wars upon some of
the people, described as rebels against his authority, in the immediate
interior. Orhogbua, Benin traditions say left Lagos when he learnt of a
coup against him at home. But he left behind in Lagos, a military camp
under three generals,. His son and successor, Ehengbuda (c. 1578-1606)
on his journey to Lagos, is said to have drowned in River Again, roughly
mid-way between Benin and Lagos, when his boat capsized. Ulsheimer
description reveals the situation in Lagos towards the end of Oba
Ehengbuda reign.
Ulsheimer also gives us the first
account, documenting the transformation of Lagos from fishing camp to a
trading centre, and from an autonomous settlement to a Benin tributary.
Lagos Lagoon was known to European traders by 1485, when it first
appeared on maps, but the town of Lagos was not included. Nor was it
mentioned by Portuguese and later Dutch merchants who were trading in
the area with the Ijebu in cloth, slaves and ivory by1519. Oral evidence
indicates that the Portuguese were sufficiently interested in the trade
in this area to have established themselves in the Ijada quarter of
Ijebu-Ode. But their written documents as those of other foreign traders
are silent concerning a town of Lagos for most of the sixteenth
century.
Nonetheless, Benin extended its military and
trading pressure along a corridor from Benin City as far as West Allada
by 1530. and it is possible that step by step it opened staging,
provisioning, and rest camps along the route. Benin's armed forces were
surprising large. A Dutch source of the seventeenth century indicates
the King of Benin could mobilize from 20,000 to 10,000 men4 and move
contingents of them through the waterways between Benin and Allada in
war canoes built to hold from 50 to 100 armed soldiers each. It is quite
likely that Benin recruited, by choice and by force, troops as it
moved, for its armies were too large to have moved as a single body, in a
single campaign, from one source. Lagos was probably one of many
recruitment zones and camps. For it to have presented the well-governed
and vital commercial picture that it did to Ulsheimer, however, means it
did nor emerge overnight. The years between 1530 and 1603 no doubt is a
period of development, stimulated by Benin's presence and by
opportunity this gave nearby peoples to make contact with, even if
indirectly, the growing and lucrative European trade.
Oral traditions, well-known to historians of Lagos, indicate that Benin
found pre-existing settlement on Lagos and nearby Ido Islands. Ulsheimer
also confirmed this. Some of the inhabitants in the Lagos interior
lived in towns walled for defensive purpose and Ulsheimer's group armed
with two cannons helped the local Benin army to conquer and completely
destroy one of such towns described as dissident. But we know little of
the size of these settlements or their inhabitant. Clearly, there were
no large centralized polities or major trade centres in the immediate
vicinity. Those that did exist, farther away, such as Ijebu-Ode, Benin
and the Aja port towns, were well-known to Europeans and mentioned in
their written description of the period. European records are silent on
the time before 1603. Accordingly, we must turn to oral traditions and
environmental evidence to reconstruct a picture of pre-Benin Lagos and
of the era when Benin began to influence its development. Who in fact
inhabited the area. What was their way of life?
Benin
forces settled at a strategic place on the northwest tip of Lagos Island
where they could easily mount a defensive garrison and still overlook
the lagoon which narrows suddenly at this point between Lagos and Ido
Island. Aderibigbe suggests that there was a protracted period during
which Benin attempted to take Ido Island, apparently the most populated
place in the Lagos area and essentially, the gateway to the mainland.
Given its interests in towns, especially Isheri, Ota and other Ogun
River settlements. The Ogun was an important waterway leading to inland
trade. The large number of colonies established by Benin throughout the
Ogun basin (west from Lagos to Badagry, and north from the coast to
(latter-day) Ilaro Division boundaries, attests to its interest. Ido was
surrounded by water and given the palisades Ulsheimer found around
Lagos, it was quite likely that Ido was also fortified against Benin
invaders. Whether Benin was initially unwilling or unable to take Ido is
unclear. Certainly it did so later, for its refugees founded new
settlement nearby, especially along the southern side of the lagoon in
today's Eti-Osa. In contrast to Ido, Benin established a firm base
across the lagoon on Lagos Island with little resistance. At the time,
Lagos Island had one known settlement, founded by the legendary Aromire,
"lover of water", as a fishing camp
Ido, so traditions
indicate, was a centre of local activity. It was the seat of Olofin, a
strong leader who appears to have dominated a group of villages that
were thought to exist prior to Benin conquest and to be Awori Yoruba
ancestry. In mythological language, Olofin was said to have had many
"sons" amongst whom he divided the area's lands. These sons and the
settlements they represented were the early settlers met by Benin
forces. At the time, they probably represented a village group, allied
for governmental, protective and perhaps economic reasons. Later as
Lagos grew and its government expanded. Olofin's sons became known as
Idejo, landowning chiefs. The number of chiefs in the Olofin alliance is
usually remembered as a formulaic eight, ten, sixteen or thirty-two.
Twelve of them are today recognized by government Aromire, Oloto, Ojora,
Onitolo, Onitano, Onikoyi, Oniru, Oluwa, Onisiwo, Eleguishi, Ojomu and
Lumegbon. The Olofin title disappeared while the Olumegbon is now the
leader of the Idejo class and presides over its installation ceremonies.
According to the early historians of Lagos, the settlements represented
by Idejo chiefs were not established simultaneously, but in stages.
Traditions in Idejo families confirm that this was, indeed, the case and
furthermore that not all Idejo families were of Awori descent. As
indicated, the people of Ido did predate Benin conquest. Warfare had
driven them from the mainland area of Ebute-Metta, "three wharfs" to Ido
Island where they established two small settlements; Oto village,
facing the mainland, and Ido, a fishing camp facing Lagos Island, which
eventually disappeared or was absorbed into the larger village. These
two settlement were governed together under a chief who became known as
Oloto and whose family controlled a large stretch of land on the
mainland behind Ido. The southwest part of Ido Island was settled by a
group of migrants whose origins were traced to Aramoko in the Ekiti
area. This group's first headman, Kueji, married an Ido woman, one
Isikoko by name, and they settled at Ijo-Ara (Ijora) where Kueji took
the Ojora titles, Aro and Odofin, eventually arose within the Ojora
line. Whether or not this occurred before the Benin era is not clear.
There were other chiefs in the Ido group. The Elegushi of Ikate and
Ojomu and Ajiran have traditions stating they fled Ido to escape Benin
raids and settled in Eti-Osa area in the south shore of the lagoon east
of Lagos Island. This being the case, their settlements and independent
chieftaincies came after, not before, Benin. The Ojomu title, however,
is not entirely explained by the refuges tradition, since until recently
it was not included in the Idejo, but in the Akarigbere class of
chiefs, that is inn the administrative line of Lagos chiefs that, for
the most part, claim Benin origins. Another Ido chief, the Opeluwa, also
became Lagos chiefs. Eventually, then the Lord group gave birth to four
Idejo chiefs (Oloto, Ojora, Elegushi and Ojomu) and one Ogalade chief
(Opeluwa). At least one (oloto) and possibly three chiefs (Oloto, Ojora,
and Opeluwa) were in existence at Ido before the arrival of Benin.
The members of the Aromire settlement gave land to Benin conqueror on
Lagos Island, and thus we can be sure that they, like the Oloto People,
existed prior to conquest. Armoire again did not represent a single
group. One section of the family settled at Tolo on the western tip of
Lagos Island, and it became headed by the Onitolo, a descendant of the
Aromire family. Another Idejo title holder, the Onitano, was said to be
the grandson of Oshoboja's daughter. Still another Idejo chief, the
Onikoyi, was brought into Lagos by Aromire family through marriage. The
founder of Onikoyi family lived at Oke-Ipa on Ikoyi Island, named after
his ancestral home which was believed to have been in Old Oyo. Adeyemi a
leader of the Oke-Ipa settlement married Efunluyi, daughter of Meku
armoire, who was believed to be the sixth title holder of the Aromire
line. In honour of her deliverance of a son, called Muti, Chief Meku
allocated to his daughter and son-in-law a plot of land near Iga Aromire
"Aromire Court", on Lagos Island. The house built on that plot became
Iga Onikoyi and Aromire's son-in-law the first holder of an Idejo title
in Lagos, the Onikoyi title. All in all, four related Idejo
chieftaincies came out of the Aromire line: armoire itself, Onitolo,
Onitano, and Onikoyi.
The remaining four Idejo titles
clearly came into existence after the invasion of Benin. To chart this
process, let us return to Ulsheimer. If his account is correct, then it
appears that the daily gathering of Lagos governors was one of military
commanders from Benin, and not heads of local settlement. Gradually,
however, additions were made to that body. The vehicle via which
accretion took place eventually was called Ose Iga a ceremonious meeting
of Lagos held at the palace every seventeen days. The Osega was
attended by a body of chiefs whose agenda was devoted to proposing and
debating community policy. Before discussions at each meeting,
sacrifices were performed. After each meeting the assembled chiefs were
fed and entertained by the Oba. Rights to sit on his highest decision
making body of the community were extended to all recognized chiefs.
Indeed, the culmination of investiture ceremonies took place in the Ose
chamber of the palace. Until a chief was brought into Osega, he was
effectively not a functioning part of the larger policy. It does appear,
however, that leaders of surrounding village who saw themselves as
clients of the Oba could attend the Osega. Village settlement in and
around Lagos Island were of several types: those powerful enough to be
represented by their chief on the Osega; those that were clients (and
the nature of the tie differed markedly among settlements. Ranging from
complete dominance and overlordship to a loose control or dependency);
and those that retained autonomy, foregoing the political and protective
links that representation at the Lagos Osega could offer them.
The number of chiefs with rights to attend the Osega grew slowly and
fluctuated. Olumegbon, leader of the Idejo class was said to have been
brought into Lagos and given a title by Ado, one of the early Bini
rulers. The first Olumegbon came from Aja, east of Lagos toward the
Lekki Lagoon. The reasons for his inclusion among the chiefs who attend
the Osega may never be known to us. It is possible that the Benin
warriors found him and his people located at a vital position on their
east-west trade corridor and therefore wished to control that position
themselves by alleviating its headman to a chieftaincy title in Lagos
rather than subjugating him. It is also possible that he was originally a
part of the Ido alliance and brought in as its senior representatives.
In any case, Olumegbon was allocated a plot for an Iga in the Iduntafa
area of Lagos and thus within the portion of land originally allocated
by Aromire to the Benin rulers.
The last three Idejos
chiefs. Oluwa-Onisiwo and Oniru were brought into Osega at the time of
Akinsemoyin in thee mid to latter part of the eighteenth century. Oluwa
came to the Lagos area from Iwa, near Badagry, and settled on lands in
the Apapa Ajegunle area. Onisiwo ancestors came from the Porto Novo area
and settled to the south of Oluwa in the Tarwa/Tomaro area. The
forebears of Oniru established a settlement at Iru village, close to
today’s Federal Palace Hotel on Victoria Island, overlooking the beach
of the Atlantic Ocean. Although not confirmed by the family, it is
widely believed that, given their settlement on the seafront, the Oniru
people descended from ocean-going fishermen who migrated eastward from
as far west as today's Ghana. The Oniru family strengthened its ties to
the Idejo landowners by marrying into the Aromire family early on. All
three chiefs, in fact, were said to have strengthened their ties to
Lagos by marrying daughters of Akinsemoyin, but this is still a matter
of debate. All in all, we can be sure that there were two pre-Benin
settlements-Aromire and Oloto at Io-and possibly the immigrating Ojora
group. Water rights were important to these groups and they give us a
relative chronology of settlement. Fishing was the mainstay of the early
local economy and therefore control of lagoon fishing rights was the
most valuable fixed asset in the region. It is significant that three
chiefs-Aromire, Oloto, and Ijora-settled at wharfs and controlled the
fishing waters surrounding them. Their control stretched from Lagos
Island, east to five Cowries Creek, across the lagoon as far as Akoka,
and thence west to Apapa. With one exception, fishing rights in the
water surrounding Lagos, first settlement were vested in these three
groups. The exception was Itolo Wharf, controlled by the Onitolo, an
offshoot of the Aromire family, who was allocated by this location and
offshore fishing rights after the first Aromire title holder had been
recognized. Other Idejo families who controlled fishing rights in Lagos
area waters were located at increasingly distant locations suggesting
their increasingly late arrivals. Oluwa in the waters off Apapa, Onisiwo
in the creeks and lagoons surrounding the islands and the a pits of
land south of Apapa, and Oniru near the small wharf at the mouth of Five
Cowries Creek.
Re turning to the Osega, it appear that
incorporation into it was the result of Lagos’ expansion. As the city
expanded and as its commercial importance waxed. Its sphere of influence
in surrounding settlement grew and peoples" interest grew in joining
it. There were consideration to be made on both sides. Lagos did not
want to give power or title, to a settlement or its leader unless it was
profitable. Similarly, a leader did not wish to join another polity,
and thus relinquish some autonomy, unless he gained economically,
militarily or in status. A weak settlement could be conquered or placed
in a client position under an overload in Lagos rather than incorporated
into a elite circles of Osega. A strong settlement needed to be
recognized in a grand manner and this was the function of Osega, In as
much as incorporation into the Osega occurred at different times, and
settlements of Idejo chiefs were established at different times, their
origins also represented different elements.
Lagos
traditions are strong in ascribing Awori origins its Idejo chiefs. But
as we have seen, the homeland of Idejo chiefs were not necessarily
Awori. Some of the Idejo titles and settlement, moreover, were created
internally, or by resettlement. Yet today most Idejo chieftaincy
families have incorporated certain Awori cultural elements into their
own traditions. This is process that could occur after, not necessarily
before their arrival in the Lagos area. Marriage played an important
role in the incorporation process. Onitu family members have traditions,
although they are debated that their relationship to the Olofin group
was established through marriage rather than descent. The armoire
family, too, was expanded through marriage, as in the case of the
Onikoyi and an Ojora leader married an Ido woman. The examples are
numerous. The point is that the assumption of Awori identity was as much
an acculturative process through marital alliance or association by
proximity as it was a genetic one. After all, the Benin conquerors were
eventually absorbed into Lagos identity, although their positions of
origin were not obscured. Ideologies of common origin are common to
people who ally together in order to strengthened their position,
whether they are Benin overlords wishing to solidify their status as an
aristocratic ruling class or Idejo chiefs wishing to assets their rights
to participate in the governing bodies of that aristocratic class by
virtues of their collective status as controllers of land and fishing
rights.
The claims of common origin through Olofin of
Iddo and prior to that through Ogunfuminire, of Isheri and of common
Awori calculating identity are, in the parlance of historians who
specialize in evaluating oral traditions, historical clich's. In them, a
number of separate, individual traditions are shortened, streamlined,
and altered in order to conform to one another. This is a collective
process that facilitates the transmission of information. More
importantly, it legitimates the position that a group of people may wish
to assert. For Idejo chiefs, the claim to first settler status was
simplified when they were able to cite a single, socially validated
tradition of common origin. An analogous process can be seen in the Ife
legend. Here Awori and other Yoruba speaking peoples legitimate what
they have in common and their accompanying feelings of solidarity,
through a single, streamlined historical cliché stating that they all
originated from one point, Ife, through one common ancestor, Oduduwa.
While historical clichés have a social function to perform as they
promote unity and collective identity, they tend to erase the
distinctive features various groups of people may have and to obliterate
their unique histories origin, migratory patterns, and the like. In the
case of Lagos, the rich and varied backgrounds of Idejo chiefs tended
to be obscured by the overarching legend of Olofin and the ascribed
identity of Awori.
Still, the Awori undoubtedly enjoyed a
domegraphic advantage in the Lagos area at a critical stage in the
formative years of Lagos. If it were not so this identity would have
played a strong role in local traditions. Awori are marked by one
particular feature: the distinctiveness of their speech, which has been
described as a recognizably separate dialect of Yoruba. In many other
respects there were and still are differences amongst Awori peoples.
Early European administrators divided Awori into four groupings:
southern, Eastern, Central and Western. Of Southern (coastal) and
Eastern (next to Lagos) Awori, the internal differences were too marked
and actual origins too diverse to characterize them as a whole. Of the
Central and Western groups (including Ilaro and Ilogbo), however, more
could be said. Both groups shared similar social and cultural,
especially ritual, customs and both shared strong traditions of having
moved south in slow, step-wise migrations to escape war and slave raids.
Places of origin were scattered, but Egbado, Ketu and Oyo figured
prominently among them. Two groups were further linked by traditions of
cross-migrations, e.g. some Ota elements were said to have originated in
Old Ilogbo, i.e. Western Awori territory, although traditions of the
Olofin group placed them primarily in the Central group
There were similarities between Ijora, Oto and Aromire family rituals
and Central Awori rituals. The Efe-Gelede masquerade (Efe falling on the
eve of a Gelede outing) was common to the Ilaro (Egbado Awori) region
and to Oto and Ijora. The capping ceremonies for Chief Oloto, in fact
specifically include the Efe-Gelede rites. Elegbara festivals were
common amongst Central and Western Awori and the Ido chieftaincy groups.
Two families, Oto and Ijora and at once time, Aromire, maintained
Elegbara arenas for performances of annual festivals. The Central and
Western Awori were united in their skills and occupations of which three
stood out. Two ancestors were hunters: Ogunfunminire, "the god of iron
has given me luckâ€, and Olofin. Others were farmers-the soil of the
area were rich and raising yams and vegetables was significant. More
interesting, perhaps because it was less common, was iron-making. The
Ota region was one of the early and rich smelting centre of Yoruba land,
and several sites were prominent. Ilobi near today’s Ilaro (but
settled long before it) was first settled by Ketu people who were
searching for iron ore deposits in and area where water supplies were
sufficient for operating the thirsty smelters. Ilobi designated one of
its chiefs to run its smelting operations. Ajilete, too, was a richly
endowed iron town. Its Oba was Ajilete Iyawo Ogun. :Ajilete the consort
of iron†Even Benin colonist established iron smelters in the area in
order to equip their forces.
Awori also were familiar
with river and creek fishing, as were many inland peoples. An early
canoe building center (but of unknown date) was said to have existed
north of Isheri in the Iro-Iori area at the point where navigability of
the Ogun River ceases. The legendary ancestors of the Olofin group
navigated the Ogun River and arrived at their Lagos Lagoon destination
in Canoes. Water deities and rituals were familiar parts of their
cultural heritage and many have been transported to the new settlements.
The Awori, however, did not introduce Olokun, the great sea deity, for
it came from a coastal village. The source of Ota, a lagoon deity, is
shrouded in mystery although Ota rituals seems to center within the Ido
group of families. The deity is believed to emit fire during periods of
the full moon, and to act as a guide to voyages at night. Like Olokun it
is prohibited for security, peace and a bountiful fish harvest. Sharks
also are ritually symbolic in the Lagos area and their snouts have been
placed on many shrines, especially the Oju Egun in each chieftaincy Iga.
The ritual worship of sharks extends to Eshire where, known by another
name, an ox is sacrificed to an Ogun River deity each November, shortly
after sharks that spawn upstream arrive.
Whether or not
Awori migrants moved voluntarily into the lagoon area is unknown. Sea,
salt and smoked/dried fish were valuable inland trade items and they,
alone, could have drawn prospective trader south. There are strong
indications, however, that the people now know as Awori represent a long
and uneven movement of people of Ketu, Egbado, Oyo and no doubt other
origins who were forced south by warfare and slave raids, and that was
occurring as early as the fourteenth to fifteenth centuries, prior to
and perhaps extending into the same period that saw Benin march west.
That these peoples and Benin met and interacted in the wedge of
territory to the east and north of the Lagos lagoon is clear. Town
founding traditions in nearby areas go back to either stock and
sometimes both. Early British travelers called this area the territory
of Ado i.e. the territory of Edo (Benin). The mixture of Edo and Yoruba
language was such that in the early twentieth century administrators
labeled the language of this area not as Awori but as Bini-Awori.
The lagoon, we submit, was a frontier for both Benin and Awori peoples.
Given their land-oriented skills, the environment initially was not
hospitable for either people. Coastal lands from the Benin River to
Badagry were sandy and unfit for large scale agriculture, although palm
products were abundant and yams could be cultivated in some near-coastal
soils. Swamps penetrated well into the hinterland and was filled with
thick stands of mangrove and high brush. Water transport was necessary
to movement, and it brought people into contact with relative ease. It
was not swift, however, and it required a keen knowledge of the
waterways.
The two significant economic undertakings in
the area, as indicated, were fishing and salt making, either from
mangrove tree roots or sea water. Salt was an important items of
exchange as there is no evidence of brine deposit in the whole of
Yorubaland. Indeed, Benin traditions hold that the march west was
triggered by a quest for salt; but neither they nor Awori were skilled
in salt-making. Neither were they skilled in lagoon fishing and in
operating the complex systems of water rights that had developed for
large bodies of water. The lagoon area did not have sufficiently
centralized policies for permanent market centre to thrive. There were
no strong governmental umbrellas that protected large-scale movements of
people for trade or do fishing, which made both endeavors risky and
dangerous. Lagoon dwellers, like frontiersmen everywhere, were required
to develop independent military prowess and to learn to move in water
with care and stealth. Stories of pirates, raids and kidnapping along
the coastal waterways, even after Lagos became a powerful city-state
indicate that this was indeed frontier territory. The skills for
operating inn this environment, we believe, were not likely to have been
well-developed among the land-oriented Awori who themselves had no
large centralized polities. Like fishing skills, water rights systems
and knowledge of the terrain were acquired by Awori settlers from
fishing people whose camps and small settlements no doubt preceded them
in the area.
In 1934, a British administrator recorded
an interview with the Oloro and Erelu Odibo of Lagos, in which the two
chiefs suggested that the Olofin people were given land in Ido by two
inhabitants of Lagos Island: Olopon and Omuse. The two then returned to
their villages and left the newcomers to themselves. For these chiefs
then, Olopon and Omuse represented, however symbolically a pre-existing
population. The tradition is too vague to be reliably traced, but it
does indicate that human habitation existed in the areas from very early
period and that succeeding populations have been layered on one another
for centuries and perhaps millennia.
Who were these
early inhabitants of the lagoon area? Traditions of lagoon people and
parts of the Nigeria Delta indicate that fishing in lagoon, creeks and
seaside was to a large extending a migratory occupation. Fish species
move and seasons fluctuate. Hence fishing camps were often established
at various points and fishermen were known to move to them and away from
their home bases for long periods. As in farming, the concept of near
and distant fishing grounds was practices among lagoon fishermen. The
near, or home grounds were needed for quick fishing. The distant ground
entitled setting up camps where curing and smoking could take place.
Given their need for mobility, it was likely that the early lagoon
fishing groups intermixed in customs and social institutions. From the
Benin River to Allada, little settlements came into contact with one
another and undoubtedly influenced the customs of one another.
The Ilaje peoples of Mahin (Okitipupa) were known to have moved some
200 miles west, and thus well beyond Lagos Island, in their
immigrations. They probably did not collaborate fully with Benin in its
westward march and this would explain why Oba Orhogbua (c1550-1578) on
his return journey from Lagos attacked Mahin and executed its ruler as a
traitor. The earliest period of their movements is yet unknown but it
is not unrealistic to suggest that they were acquainted with the coastal
waterways by the fifteen century. Furthermore an analysis of the
traditions of some of the Ijo groups in the Western Delta fringe suggest
that the Egbema had visited the vicinity of Lagos (Ukuroma or Iko (Eko,
Lagos) in early times. The traditions of Olodiama Ijo agree with those
of Benin that the same Oba Orhogbua (c1550-1578) after defeating the
Ileja, stopped at Ikoro, a major town of the Olodiama Ijo on his return
from Lagos to Benin. Although, how and where the Benin obtained their
boats is not yet known it is safe to suggest that the Ijo and perhaps
the Ilaje supplied the boats. The Aja speaking peoples of today's
Republic of Benin, known colloquially in the Lagos area as Egun,
migrated eastward in large number early in the eighteenth century, but a
small, earlier infiltration Allada and Lagos Island from earliest
times. During the latter part of the fifteenth century, the Ijebu appear
to have begun moving south into the lagoon area, and it was Kita
fishermen of Ghana who moved hundreds of mile eastward in their fishing
migrants who were credited with teaching Ijebu migrants in the Eti-Osa
area hoe to fish.
Once again, intermarriage was
undoubtedly a prime vehicle for transmitting one people way of life to
another. Today's inhabitants of Epe, Mahin, Ijebu and Ikale all
represent fairly recent intermixing of formerly separate population
groups. The process is similar at the level of language, including
Yoruba, Edo, Urhobo and Ijo. The Awori-Benin linguistic blend of Lagos
is another example. The point is that we should not look to a single
proto-population,, but to a proto-culture sharing area where there
flourished peoples with high developed water-oriented skills (fishing,
slat-making canoe-making and individual prowess) and a well developed
sense of territorial rights and obligations with respect to waterways.
It is with these suggestions that we wish to conclude. For here lies a
key to visualizing the Lagos Lagoon area from earliest times to the
present. The migrant fisher folk who frequented the lagoon and camped on
the shores of Lagos and Ido Island before Ulshiemer's 1603 visit no
doubt stemmed from many source spreading their way of life in the course
of movements. After them, the Awori, and then the Benin peoples, added
new layers to the populations and firmly embedded certain aspects of
their home cultures into those of the emerging city-state of Lagos.
These influence were neither a beginning nor an end. The hallmark of
Lagos was and still is its ability to absorb many peoples languages and
many cultural influences. It has done so since time immemorial, and it
is a process to which there is no predictable end.
