On Wednesday we headed to Badagry, a town in northern Lagos State, to learn about the history of slave trade in West Africa. We left about 10 am and took an Uber north. Our driver was very accomodating and agreed to stay in Badagry while we looked around, as there are no Ubers in Badagry for the ride back home. Traffic on Lagos Badagry Expressway was very busy so the 40 mile trip took almost three hours, which I’m told is pretty standard for this route. We saw lots of motorcycle taxis and public buses that weaved in and out of traffic, as there are no lanes or speed limits, and lots of potholes. Also slowing down the trip was the mass amounts of people walking between cars during the slow moments, selling dried plantains (pekere), peanuts (or groundnuts as the African’s call them), soda, candy, chips, windshield wipers, mosquito nets, among other things.
The town of Badagry has an estimated 240,000 people but you would never know that by driving through it. It look like a small town. The museum was hard to find but after asking a few people we found it.
The slave trade in Western Africa began in 1425. Men from Portugal sailed to Western Africa and “discovered” four coasts, which they named for the “treasures” they found there: the Pepper/Grain Coast, Gold Coast, Ivory Coast and the Slave Coast. The Pepper/Grain Coast represented the coast of present day Liberia. The Gold Coast is Ghana and the Ivory Coast is still called the Ivory Coast. The Slave Coast is the present day coast of Nigeria and Benin Republic. An estimated 300 slaves were traded daily out of Badagry. This doesn’t include the children, as they were given as a gift with the adult slaves. Missionaries came in 1842 and Christianity was first preached under the Agia Tree. Their first attempt to abolish slavery was in 1852 and was finally successful in 1888. Thus slavery continued in Western Africa for four hundred years.
First Storey Building –
We paid 11,500 Naira for the both of us to take the tour, which consisted of six locations. Our tour was led by Ezekiel Viavonu from Vezel Tours, who was very knowledgeable about the history of the area and the slave trade. The tour began at the first story building in Nigeria, the Anglican Missionary House, which was built in 1845. It took xx men three years to build and still stands today.
Badagry Heritage Museum –
The second stop on the tour was the Badagry Heritage Museum, The building was built in 1863 and became a museum in 2002. It held photos, stories, and relics from the slave trade times.
Mobee Family Slave Relics Museum –
The third stop on the tour was the Mobee Family Slave Relics Museum. Chief Mobee was one of the African’s who traded slaves to the Europeans. The museum held real chains from the slave trade time. We held the immensely heavy chains in our hands and couldn’t imagine having to wear them around our neck and having your foot chained together with another slave and having to try to walk. It seemed like an impossible task. A 50 meter long chain could hold up to 100 slaves for a journey. Adults also had a metal stake put through their top and bottom lips, after a oval chain had been put over their lips, this was to keep them from communicating with each other. There were smaller chains for the younger children, who were also hooked together. They also had a large bowl where the slaves drank from. With their arms hooked to other slaves they had to lean far into the metal bowl to drink water, much like bobbing for apples, except the bowl had sharp edges and some would cut their throats and bleed into the bowl. With this being the only water they would get they would have to drink from it.
Seriki Faremi Williams Abass Slave Baracoon –
The fourth stop was to the Seriki Faremi Williams Abass Slave Baracoon (a slave barrack). The original baracoon was built in 1840 of bamboo and later remade with bricks and iron. He was a slave merchant and as a boy learned how to speak many languages and therefore became useful in the slave trade. Abass had 128 wives over his lifetime and 144 children. When the slave trade was abolished he became a general merchant and is buried in a tomb in the baracoon.
Point of No Return –
We then boarded a boat across the lagoon to Gberefu Island, also known as the Point of No Return. Once the slaves were ferried to the island they had no hope of being rescued or going back to their families. The slaves walked across the island to the Atlantic Ocean and boarded a ship to the Americas or the Caribbean. On their way the stopped at the Attenuation Well, where the slaves were asked to drink and say a poem, which made them forget about their past. The well was said to have magical spirits which made them obey and respect their new masters. On the western side of the island, where the slaves departed for destinations unknown there is a monument being built. The location is beautiful, full of palm trees and white sand. A brick pathway is also being built from the eastern edge of the island to the western edge. This is all being done in an effort to increase tourism and historical knowledge of the slave trade and Badagry.
On our way back to Badagry we ran into some high schoolers who insisted that we do a snapchat photo in front of the monument being built. We were followed by one of the high schoolers, named Jerry, who was upset about my white ancestors. We walked back across the island and were ferried back to the mainland.
The Agia Tree Monument –
The last stop on the tour was the Agia Tree Monument. This is where the Agia Tree stood for three hundred years and where Christianity was first preached in Nigeria in 1842 by Thomas Birch Freeman and Henry Townsend. The tree was 160 feet tall and 30 feet wide. It was uprooted by a storm in 1959.
We spent about three hours in Badagry, exploring and learning about the history. Our poor Uber driver had spent his time napping in the car in the heat so we got in the car and headed back to Victoria Island, Lagos. The return trip home took slightly less than the trip there, only 2 1/2 hours, and we both slept most of the way, exhausted from our trek in the heat.