Badagry

Badagry was a port on the Bight of Benin through which large numbers of enslaved people were shipped across the Atlantic from the early eighteenth century until abolition, and the town has developed a set of sites around that history: the Brazilian Barracoon where captives were held, the Heritage Museum in the old district officer's building, private collections holding chains and shackles, and the Point of No Return, the beach across the creek reached by boat and then a walk, from which captives were taken to waiting ships. Badagry was also where Christianity entered Nigeria, with the first storey building in the country, built in 1845, and the Agia tree site where the first sermon was preached.

History

Badagry grew as a lagoon and Atlantic port between 1736 and 1851, a middleman between European traders on the coast and traders from the interior, after a European known locally as Huntɔkonu, often identified as the Dutch trader Hendrik Hertogh, set up a trading post here in 1736. The first two-storey building in Nigeria was put up at the Marina in 1845 (Wikipedia, Badagry).

What's there

• The Brazilian Barracoon - the holding structure for captives.
• The Heritage Museum - the town's collection on the trade.
• The Point of No Return - the beach reached across the creek.
• The 1845 first storey building - the earliest of its kind in Nigeria.

When to go

November to March in the dry season for the boat crossing and the walk to the beach. Weekday mornings are quieter at the museums. The Lagos to Badagry road is congested and journeys take longer than the distance suggests.

Practical notes

The subject is the transatlantic slave trade and the sites are memorial in character. Several are privately run with separately negotiated fees and variable interpretation. The crossing and walk to the Point of No Return takes over an hour each way. Traffic from Lagos is severe.

Nearby

Lagos lies east; the Benin republic border is west.

Key facts