1. Avoseh, T. O., A Short History of Epe (Badagry, 1960): 2.Google Scholar

2. The need to obtain and study the revised edition of the history of Badagry has delayed the completion of the second part. In the difficult but exciting task of locating all Avoseh's works I received the full cooperation of my student and friend, Siyan Oyeweso of the Department of History, Lagos State University, Nigeria, and the encouragement and warmth of another longstanding friend and collaborator, H.O. Danmole of the Department of History, University of Ilorin, Nigeria.

3. For substantial references to these two books, see among others, Smith, R.S., The Lagos Consulate, 1851–1861, (London, 1978)Google Scholar; Law, Robin, “The career of Adele at Lagos and Badagry, c. 1807–c.1837,” Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria, (June 1978): 35–59Google Scholar; and Falola, Toyin and Oguntomisin, Dare, The Military In Nineteenth Century Yoruba Politics, (Ile Ife, 1984).Google Scholar None of these or other authors have assessed the significance of these two major chronicles.

4. The second part reviews the early history of the town and the controversy about its origins, attributed to a Dutch trader in c. 1736 in some sources and to migrants from ancient Yoruba cities in some others.

5. See for instance, Folayan, Kola, “Egbado and Yoruba–Aja Power Politics, 1832–1894,” M.A. thesis, Ibadan, 1967.Google Scholar

6. See, for instance, John Adams, Remarks on the Country extending from Cape Palmas to the River Congo, (London, 1823): 95.

7. For a good map on the location of the Badagry port see the recent essay by Law, Robin, “Between the Sea and the Lagoons: The Interaction of Maritime and Inland Navigation on the Precolonial Slave Coast,” Cahiers d'études africaines, 39 (1989): 210.Google Scholar However, Badagry did not have a real port, other than a canoe port. Badagry is on the mainland shore of the lagoon. Seagoing vessels moved off the sea shore of the strip of land across the lagoon.

8. For details, see among others. Folayan, Kola, “Egbado to 1832: The Birth of a Dilemma,” Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria, 4/1(1967): 15–32Google Scholar; Aderibigbe, A.B., “The Expansion of the Lagos Protectorate,” Ph.D., University of London, 1959Google Scholar; Ayantuga, O.O., “Ijebu and its Neighbours, 1801–1941,” Ph.D., University of London, 1965Google Scholar; Biobaku, S.O., The Egba and Their Neighbours, 1842–1872 (Oxford, 1957)Google Scholar; and Law, Robin, The Oyo Empire c. 1600–c. 1836: A West African Imperialism in the Era of the Atlantic Slave Trade (Oxford, 1977).Google Scholar

9. The local reactions to this book, and the reasons for them, are discussed in the second part.

10. Avoseh, Chief T. Ola, Biographical Sketches, (Agege, Lagos: self–printed, Ike–Olu Press, 1978): 25.Google Scholar

11. What Avoseh means here is that he is unable to publish this revised work.

12. Avoseh, , Biographical Sketches: 26.Google Scholar

13. He himself has done this in Biographical Sketches, which has recently been paraphrased by Oyeweso, Siyan, “T. Ola Avoseh: An Assessment of his contribution to the Political Development and History of Badagry,” paper presented at the National Seminar on Badagry History and Culture, Lagos State University, 5–8 February 1990.Google Scholar

14. The population of Badagry is dominated by Egun–speaking people.

15. The core settlement of Aworiland is Otta, but many of them also live in the Badagry area and in the southeastern parts of Egbado. On the Awori in Badagry see National Archives, Ibadan, C.S.O.26/29979, R. Wilkes and W.G. Wormal, “Report on the Central Awori Group in the Ikeja and Badagry Districts of the Colony,” and R. J. M. Curwen, “A Report on the Reorganization of the Badagry District, 1937.”

16. On his father see text F below.

17. This is a public relations job for the Ministry of Information.

18. In 1966 he was made a member of the Board of Governors, Badagry Grammar School (reappointed in 1971); member, Committee of Management, Egun Awori District Council in 1969; member of the Egun Awori District Council Caretaker Committee in 1972. Illness prevented him from serving as a member of the Badagry Grade ‘C’ Customary Court to which he was appointed in 1971.

19. Biographical Sketches: 28.

20. This is an Egun chieftaincy, signifying a senior position.

21. My translation. Some of the issues relating to early history and the features of Islam among the Yoruba can be found in Gbadamosi, T.G.O., The Growth of Islam among the Yoruba 1841–1908 (Longman, 1978).Google Scholar

22. The Landers visited and stayed in Badagry during this period and provided valuable information on the town and its people. Lander, Richard, Records of Captain Clapperton's Last Expedition to Africa vols (2 vols.: London, 1830)Google Scholar; and Richard, and Lander, John, Journal of an Expedition to Explore the Course and Termination of the Niger: With a Narrative of a Voyage Down That River, (2 vols. London, 2d ed. 1838).Google Scholar The reference to Lander in this specific passage is the observation by Lander on 27 March 1830.

23. Mewu was a political refugee from Porto Novo. To settle his political score, he pursued anti–Porto Novo aims at Badagry, including an alliance with the Egba. See CMS CA2/05: E.G. Irving to Senior Naval Officer, 30 May 1854.

24. The event mentioned here was the 1854 civil war, caused by the struggle between Porto Novo and Abeokuta for the control of Badagry. The principal character in the story was Mewu, a strong Egba ally. See Biobaku, Egba, and C.M.S. CA2/ 043(a), Thomas Wright and John Coker to C.A. Gollmer, Badagry, 19 July 1854.

25. The overall religious leader of the Islamic community.

26. Conflicts and splinter groups building of new mosques were not uncommon features of Islam in Nigeria during this period. See Falola, Toyin, “Islam and Protest in Colonial South–western Nigeria,” paper for Conference on Religion and Protest in Africa, Cornell University, 1991.Google Scholar

27. Tickel worked in this region from 1854 to 1886. On him see Folayan, Kola, “The Career of Thomas Tickel in the Western District of Lagos, 1854¬1886,” Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria, 5/1, (1969): 27–46.Google Scholar

28. A Hausa loanword (tassir). The tassir translates the Quar'an to Yoruba.

29. Another Hausa loan word (Ladan) or the muezzin in Arabic. The ladan calls the congregation to prayer.

30. Since the nineteenth century, the Muslim communities had adopted some Yoruba titles (listed in this book) to reward its leading members. They are religious cum political, and should not be confused with the similar titles for the town.

31. These were known as the mai–wa–azr, that is, those who preached sermons.

32. On Islamic education and changes during the colonial period, see Gbadamosi, T.G.O., “The Establishment of Western Education among Muslims in Nigeria,” Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria, 4/1 (1967): 89–115.Google Scholar

33. Government sources date the establishment of this school to 1899. See National Archives, Ibadan, Chief Secretary's Office 1/1, MacGregor to Chamberlain, 10 September 1899.

34. This was in 1926.

35. He intended to write Aralamo.

36. Among others, the following works provide sufficient background information on issues discussed by Avoseh in this book and others touching on Christianity: Ajayi, J.F. Ade, Christian Missions in Nigeria, 1814–1891 (London, 1965)Google Scholar; Ayandele, E. A., The Missionary Impact On Modern Nigeria (London, 1966)Google Scholar; Baeta, C. G., ed. Christianity in Tropical Africa (Oxford, 1968).Google Scholar

37. On the details of this see Kopytoff, J.H., A Preface to Modern Nigeria: The ‘Sierra Leonians’ in Yoruba, 1830–1890 (Madison, 1965)Google Scholar, and Newbury, C.W., The Western Slave Coast and Its Rulers (Oxford, 1961).Google Scholar

38. The reference here is to C.H. Gollmer, for whom see Gollmer, C.H.V., Charles Andrew Gollmer, His Life and Missionary Labours (2d. ed.: London, 1889).Google Scholar

39. Avoseh is perhaps the only chronicler of his generation to pick on a theme of this nature, which is a celebration of a tree, described here as the spot where most of the major events of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries took place.

40. Known in some sources as Fremingo George.

41. This means “the sailor or boatman is laughing.” See Duckworth, E.H., “Badagry: Its Place in the Pages of history of Nigeria,” Nigeria Magazine, no. 38 (1952): 171.Google Scholar

42. The arrival has been dated to the late 1720s. See Ajayi, , Christian Missions: 22.Google Scholar

43. Adele lost the struggle for the throne in ca. 1821 and went to stay in Badagry for fourteen years. See Talbot, P. A., The Peoples of Southern Nigeria: 86Google Scholar; Ajayi, J.F. Ade, “The British Occupation of Lagos, 1851–61: A Critical Review,” Nigeria Magazine, no. 69 (1961): 98Google Scholar; and Law, “Career of Adele.”

44. The short inscription reads: “The seat of the fallen Agia tree. Christianity first preached here, 1842.”

45. In recent times, Badagry has become one of Nigeria's leading tourist towns, with new hotels and an excellent road which connects it with Lagos. The places mentioned here attract visitors. This book serves as a summary of Avoseh's other works on Badagry.

46. Akran Jiwa was both an Oba and an Action Group politician and Minister in the 1950s.

47. My translations. The purpose of this book is to show how Ajara, one of the villages in Badagry, developed in recent times and to attribute the changes to a prophecy made by one of Avoseh's relations.

48. Additional information can be found in Biographical Sketches.

49. Ibid.: 34.

50. Ibid.: 10.

51. Ibid.: 34.

52. This influential cult was founded by the Rev. T.A.J. Ogunbiyi. See Fadipe, N.A., The Sociology of the Yoruba (Ibadan, 1970): 248Google Scholar and Reformed Ogboni Fraternity, Ceremony of Initiation (Lagos: self–printed, Tika Tore press, 1934).Google Scholar

53. Biographical Sketches: 10.

54. This is mentioned in the acknowledgement to Biographical Sketches.

55. His books carry important photographs of people and places mentioned in the text.