A trip to Badagry isn’t a lighthearted one, but it’s certainly an interesting experience and offers some important history. My visit to Badagry was focused on learning about the town’s history and seeing its former slave ports.
One of the first places I was taken to was this humble building. It might not seem important, but it’s actually one of the most historic places in Nigeria when it comes to early European influence. I was told that this building was constructed by Portuguese missionaries and was one of the earliest Christian missionary sites in the area. From here, European influence began to spread through religion, trade, and other cultural changes.
Portuguese contact with this region dates back centuries, with early European interests including trade and spreading Christianity. At the schoolhouse I was shown this old Bible written entirely in the Yoruba language. It was another reminder of just how far back the interaction between this part of West Africa and Europe goes. The photo below shows old coins that were also preserved here.
European contact with the region eventually became closely tied to the Atlantic slave trade, and Badagry developed into an important slave-trading port. The trade continued here for generations and involved both European traders and local African intermediaries. Photographed above is Seriki Faremi Williams Abass, one of Badagry’s best-known historical slave traders.
This large painting by a Nigerian artist depicts the negotiation process between European traders and local slave traders. While negotiations took place, enslaved people could be kept in horrible conditions for long periods of time. The photo below is a print of a historical photograph showing an enslaved Nigerian during the 19th century.
I was told that people captured farther inland were brought to the coast and confined while awaiting European slave ships. The wait could last for months. I visited one of the barracoons where dozens of people were reportedly confined inside a tiny room. There was only a small window for ventilation, and the conditions must have been horrific.
Many of the enslaved people leaving Badagry were transported across the Atlantic to Brazil and other parts of the Americas. A variety of European goods were exchanged during the slave trade. I was told that the two cannons above were exchanged for 200 enslaved people, illustrating the horrifying way human lives were assigned a value during the trade.
Above are more examples of goods associated with the trade, including items that would have been considered luxuries at the time. I asked the Nigerian who was showing me around Badagry how people in the area viewed this history. He explained that the story was complicated because local slave traders had also participated in and profited from the trade.
When slave ships arrived, enslaved people were brought through the trading port as the final transactions took place. Above is the marker for Badagry’s historic slave port. From here, those who had been sold began the final part of their journey toward the Atlantic.
From the port, enslaved people were taken in small boats across the channel to a barrier island. I made the same crossing by motorboat while following the historic route. While I was there, I watched a man slip off the dock and fall neck-deep into the water. I was tempted to take his photograph, but he was already in a bad enough mood!
On the barrier island is a trail more than a mile long that follows the route enslaved people were forced to walk toward the coast. About halfway along the trail I came across these small grave mounds. I was told they belonged to people who died while in captivity or during the journey toward the Atlantic. About a dozen were still visible when I visited, although after so many generations it’s impossible to know how many others once existed here.
The photos from Badagry aren’t beautiful or scenic, but they document some incredibly important history. Along the route is a place commonly known as the “Attenuation Well” or “Well of Forgetfulness.” According to the story I was told, enslaved people were made to drink from the well as part of a ritual intended to make them forget their homeland and former lives. When I later traveled through Benin, I encountered a similar tradition associated with the slave route there, except people were said to have been made to circle a tree as part of the ritual.
At the end of the trail is the “Point of No Return.” From this coastline, enslaved people were taken aboard ships and transported across the Atlantic, many never to see Africa again. A large number of those who departed this region were sent to Brazil, where many were forced to work under brutal conditions on plantations.
For most of us, palm trees and a sandy beach like this would be a beautiful sight. For the people forced along this route, this coastline represented something entirely different. For many, it was the last view they would ever have of their homeland before being taken across the Atlantic.
