I relocated back to Lagos state in 2017 after living in Abuja for over 19 years. I settled in Surulere Aguda, and in the energetic chaos of Lagos, I discovered hidden treasures like the striking contrast between colonial and modern buildings. What I love most about the neighbourhood is its rich history and architecture.
Aguda takes its name from the Amaros, or Agudas—descendants of freed Afro-Brazilian slaves who migrated to Nigeria. In the 1830s, emancipated Africans who had endured slavery and discrimination in Brazil began returning to Lagos. Lagos was evolving into a diverse urban centre within the Atlantic circuit.—A series of political and economic changes helped shape the social dynamics of Lagos.
During the Transatlantic slave trade in West Africa, many individuals, including prisoners of war and those kidnapped for sale, were sold to Europeans and transported across the Atlantic. An estimated 300,000 slaves were taken from the Gulf of Guinea to Brazil in the nineteenth century.—These captives initially arrived in Bahia before moving further south to work on plantations for white Brazilians. Over time, some of these slaves gained freedom, saved money, or were deported due to racial discrimination, leading to waves of migration back to the West African coast. By the mid-nineteenth century, an Afro-Brazilian community had established itself along this coast, comprised of descendants of slaves who had crossed the Atlantic twice. These returnees introduced Afro-Brazilian influences in cuisine, agriculture, architecture, and religion.
As the Agudas arrived from Bahia and Pernambuco, they settled in the eastern parts of Lagos on land provided by Oba Idewu Ojulari, later known as Popo Aguda. At that time, metropolitan Lagos had distinct racial and cultural zones. The Saros resided in Olowogbowo on the western edge of Lagos Island. Europeans lived and conducted trade along the Marina, and indigenous Lagosians inhabited the northwestern areas of the island.
Inside the Brazilian Quarters (Popo Aguda), there was no ethnic segregation, and religious practices were fluid and diverse. Popo Aguda also became a commercial hub, serving as a distribution centre for imported goods. The chief, known as the Onipopo, presides over various remembrance ceremonies in the quarters today. A sister community of Brazilians exists in Ago Egba, the Egba colony in Lagos, located on the mainland in Ebute Metta and Surulere. At the same time, while many Agudas perceived Lagos as a space of freedom in contrast to Brazil, slavery continued to exist in the colony. While the British insisted on abolishing the foreign slave trade in Lagos after they bombarded the port in 1851, they delayed abolition in the colony.
The majority of the Agudas were Catholics, but the community also included significant numbers of Muslim families and practitioners of traditional religions. Religious differences were not as divisive among Indigenous Africans, and interfaith marriages were common. Before, Baptism was a practice within the local community and served as a means of entering the Aguda community. In 1881, the Holy Cross Pro-Cathedral was built and financed by the Aguda congregation. It is one of the most significant structures in the Lagos colony.
The arrival of the Agudas began to transform Lagos’s architectural landscape and influenced the symmetrical plans of Brazilian colonial houses. They introduced a new architectural style that the wealthy soon embraced. By the end of the 19th century, Brazilian architecture dominated Lagos Island. The structures included one-story houses for middle-class residents and two- or three-story stuccoed buildings for wealthier clients.
These detached buildings, featuring shuttered windows, spaces between the top of the wall and the roof, and compounds, conferred prestige on their owners. The ground floor often opened to the street and was sometimes used for storage, as a store, or to house domestic help. Unlike the early Yoruba architectural style houses built for nuclear families rather than extended families. The Aguda architectural style became prominent in old Lagos during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. However, as the city grew, buildings were remodelled or demolished.
The British annexation of Lagos in 1861 and trade promotion greatly benefited the Brazilian community. Alongside the Saros (Afro-Cubans), they emerged as a rising bourgeoisie, adopting Western fashion styles, owning race horses, and organising waltzes, square dances, and musical soirées. Over time, many Brazilians began to embrace their African heritage and came to see Lagos as their true home. The annexation that facilitated the rise of this wealthy class also brought the realisation that the colonists were there to stay, diminishing hopes of forming a political class.
Consequently, the Brazilians began cultivating relationships with traditional authorities in Lagos and renewing connections with Africans in the hinterland by supplying them with weapons. In 1877, the Agudas provided weapons to the Ijeshas in their conflict against Ibadan, known as the Kiriji War and the world’s longest ethnic war.
In the 1880s, many Brazilians began changing their names to African ones and created the Aurora Relief Society to research and preserve their culture. According to a 2010 history of slave repatriation in West Africa published by the Brazilian government, a census conducted by the British colonial government in 1888 recorded 3,221 “Brazilians” living in Lagos.
Today, fewer than 200 Brazilian citizens are in the consulate in Nigeria, struggling to keep their cultures and traditions alive as there has been the demolition and damage of many Afro-Brazilian buildings. Traces of their culture and architecture in the walls of neighbourhoods across Lagos constantly contrast with the modern buildings. It reminds me of what was and what is. I enjoy staring at these remnants and imagining what many would consider a simpler time when rent was cheap and food was affordable.
