Ancient & Pre-Colonial Nigeria
Histories of Nigerian kingdoms, empires, trade routes, and cultures before colonial rule, including Nok, Benin, Oyo, Sokoto, and Kanem-Bornu.
Ehaengbehia Regalia and the Authority of Benin Palace Chiefs
In the Benin Kingdom, ceremonial dress is not fashion. It is authority made visible. Within the palace environment, what a chief wears communicates rank,...
The Ibadan, Ijaye War
By the mid nineteenth century, Yorubaland was living through a dangerous transition. The old imperial order associated with Old Oyo had weakened and fractured,...
Igue Festival of Benin, The Sacred Season That Shaped a Kingdom and Echoed Into 1897
The Igue Festival is one of the most revered royal ceremonies of the historic Benin Kingdom, centred in Benin City, in present day Edo...
Standing Wood Sculptures and Royal Authority at the Old Palace of Oba Sir Ladapo Ademola II, Abeokuta
The Old Palace of the Alake of Egbaland in Abeokuta remains one of the most important surviving symbols of Egba kingship and Yoruba court...
Two West African Chiefs in London, 1947, The True Story Behind the Historic South Kensington Photograph
In the summer of 1947, London was still living with the aftershocks of the Second World War. Ration books shaped daily choices, queues were...
Aso Oke on the Loom, Iseyin and the Making of Yoruba Prestige
In Iseyin, a town in present day Oyo State, the narrow band loom is more than a tool. It is a memory machine. A...
Adire at Lebanon Street, Ibadan, Memory, Meaning, and Modernity
In 1970s Ibadan, Lebanon Street Cloth Market was one of the city’s most energetic commercial spaces. Traders spread bolts of fabric across wooden stalls,...
UTC Nigeria Plc, 1932 to 2017, The Trading Empire That Left Its Mark on Lagos Island
For much of the twentieth century, Lagos Island stood at the centre of Nigeria’s commercial life. Its proximity to ports, government offices, banks, and...
Ebun House, Lagos Island, The Towering Afro Brazilian Home That Vanished in Fire
On Lagos Island, where closely packed family compounds and richly decorated one storey houses once shaped daily life, Ebun House stood apart. Located at...
Casa do Fernandez, The Rise and Destruction of a Brazilian Baroque Landmark in Lagos
At one of the most historic corners of Lagos Island, near the busy flow of Tinubu Square, there once stood a building that quietly...