The abolition of the transatlantic slave trade was not achieved simply because Britain decided to stop selling enslaved Africans. Although Britain abolished its own participation in the trade in 1807 and subsequently began using its navy to intercept slave ships, the business continued along the West African coast for decades. One important reason was the resistance of African rulers, merchants and influential traders whose wealth and political authority depended on the trade.
In what is now Nigeria, Lagos became one of the important centres of this struggle. British officials wanted to stop the export of enslaved people through its ports, but they encountered local authorities and commercial interests that were unwilling to abandon an established source of wealth. The confrontation eventually led to the British bombardment of Lagos in December 1851 and the restoration of a ruler who agreed to abolish the external slave trade.
The events surrounding this intervention reveal how local participation helped sustain the trade long after Britain had officially abolished its own involvement.
The Local Interests Behind the Slave Trade
The transatlantic slave trade depended on a network of commercial relationships between European buyers and African suppliers. European merchants provided the demand, ships and manufactured goods, while African merchants, political authorities and intermediaries participated in obtaining enslaved people, arranging their transportation and supplying them to coastal trading establishments.
READ MORE: Ancient & Pre-Colonial Nigeria
In many coastal communities, the trade had become an important source of revenue and political influence. Rulers could benefit from trading payments, merchants accumulated wealth, and influential families developed commercial networks around the buying and selling of enslaved people.
Lagos occupied an important position within these networks. Its lagoon system provided access to inland trading routes and offered opportunities for merchants seeking to avoid British naval patrols. Portuguese and Brazilian traders maintained relationships with African suppliers, while local authorities exercised considerable influence over commercial activities within their territories.
Consequently, Britain’s attempts to suppress the trade encountered opposition from people who had considerable financial interests in its continuation. Ending the export of enslaved Africans threatened established businesses, trading relationships and the wealth of influential local figures.
The resistance was not limited to one ruler or one merchant. It involved a wider commercial and political system that could not be dismantled simply through diplomatic declarations.
Oba Kosoko and the Struggle to Preserve the Trade
The political crisis that brought the conflict to a head in Lagos began in 1845, when Oba Kosoko overthrew his uncle, Oba Akitoye, and took control of the throne.
Akitoye fled Lagos and eventually established himself in Badagry. Kosoko consolidated his authority and maintained commercial relationships with merchants involved in the transatlantic slave trade. His government benefited from the economic activities surrounding Lagos, and he resisted British demands to end the export of enslaved people.
Britain had already established a naval presence along the West African coast to intercept slave-trading vessels. However, the continued operation of trading networks around Lagos made it difficult to suppress the business. The lagoon waterways offered access to the interior, while local protection helped merchants maintain their activities despite British opposition.
British officials therefore sought an agreement with Kosoko that would prohibit the external slave trade. Their negotiations failed because Kosoko was unwilling to accept restrictions that threatened his commercial and political interests.
Meanwhile, Akitoye saw Britain’s growing opposition to the trade as an opportunity to regain his throne. He sought British assistance and presented himself as willing to cooperate with their abolition programme.
His political ambitions aligned with British interests. Britain wanted a ruler who would accept its demands, while Akitoye needed powerful support to return to Lagos. The disagreement over the slave trade consequently became inseparable from the struggle for control of the kingdom.
The British Bombardment of Lagos in 1851
After diplomatic efforts failed, Britain resorted to military action.
In November 1851, British naval vessels attacked Lagos, but Kosoko’s forces resisted the initial assault and forced the British to withdraw. The British returned with a stronger force in December, determined to remove the obstacle to their proposed abolition agreement.
On 26 December, fighting intensified around Lagos Island. British warships subsequently bombarded the town on 27 December, using naval artillery and rockets against Kosoko’s defences. The attack caused extensive destruction and eventually forced Kosoko and his supporters to abandon the town.
Akitoye returned to Lagos on 29 December and reclaimed the throne.
The military intervention demonstrated that Britain was prepared to use considerable force against rulers who resisted its anti-slavery demands. However, the bombardment was not motivated by abolition alone. British officials also sought greater commercial influence, the protection of British interests and the expansion of what they described as legitimate trade.
On 1 January 1852, Akitoye signed an agreement with Britain aboard HMS Penelope. The treaty prohibited the export of enslaved people from Lagos and committed the ruler and his chiefs to suppressing the trade.
The agreement marked an important turning point in Lagos’s participation in the transatlantic slave trade, although it did not immediately end slavery within the kingdom or eliminate clandestine trading.
Madame Efunroye Tinubu and the Wealth of Local Slave Traders
The involvement of local merchants becomes particularly clear in the life of Madame Efunroye Tinubu, one of the most influential businesswomen in nineteenth-century Lagos.
Tinubu built considerable wealth through commerce, including the trade in enslaved people. Her marriage to Oba Adele Ajosun strengthened her connections within the royal establishment, while her commercial activities gave her considerable influence beyond the palace.
When Oba Akitoye was driven from Lagos, Tinubu became an important supporter of his restoration. She helped mobilise resources and strengthen his connections with influential Egba figures. Her wealth, political relationships and commercial network made her valuable to the former ruler’s campaign.
Yet Tinubu’s involvement also reveals the complicated position of wealthy African merchants during the abolition struggle. Although she supported Akitoye, she had commercial interests in the slave trade herself. Political support for a ruler who cooperated with Britain did not necessarily mean abandoning the business from which she had accumulated wealth.
Tinubu was not an isolated example. Other influential African merchants also participated in the trade, demonstrating that women as well as men could accumulate substantial commercial power through slave trading.
Her story shows how deeply the business had become connected to local wealth and political influence.
Why Ending the Trade Took More Than British Intervention
The agreement signed by Akitoye in 1852 did not immediately bring an end to every aspect of slavery in Lagos. It specifically targeted the export of enslaved people to foreign destinations. Domestic slavery and the established networks that had supported the transatlantic trade did not disappear overnight.
Enforcement remained difficult because the trade involved people with considerable resources and longstanding commercial connections. Some merchants continued to operate clandestinely, while the political and economic structures associated with slavery required further intervention to dismantle.
The experience of Lagos demonstrates why abolition was such a prolonged struggle. European demand had created an enormous market, but African suppliers, rulers and merchants also played significant roles in maintaining it. As long as powerful people on both sides continued to benefit, efforts to suppress the trade encountered resistance.
The British campaign eventually weakened the external slave trade in Lagos, but it also opened the way for increasing British political control, culminating in the annexation of Lagos in 1861.
EXPLORE NOW: Military Era & Coups in Nigeria
Author’s Note
The transatlantic slave trade was sustained by more than European demand. African rulers, merchants and influential businesspeople who supplied enslaved people, protected trading networks and benefited from the business also contributed to its continuation. The struggle in nineteenth-century Lagos, particularly the resistance of Oba Kosoko and the commercial activities of figures such as Madame Efunroye Tinubu, reveals why abolition was so difficult to achieve. Understanding this history requires acknowledging both European responsibility and the participation of local interests that helped keep the trade alive.
References
Smith, Robert S. The Lagos Consulate, 1851–1861. London: Macmillan; University of Lagos Press, 1978.
Smith, Robert. “The Lagos Consulate, 1851–1861: An Outline.” The Journal of African History, vol. 15, no. 3, 1974, pp. 393–416.
Smith, Robert. “To the Palaver Islands: War and Diplomacy on the Lagos Lagoon in 1852–1854.” Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria, vol. 5, no. 1, 1969, pp. 3–25.
Yemitan, Oladipo. Madame Tinubu: Merchant and Kingmaker. Ibadan, 1987.
Shields, David. Palm Oil and Power: A Study of the Political Economy of the Lagos Oil Trade, 1850–1890. University of Stirling, 1997.
Law, Robin. “Trade and Politics Behind the Slave Coast: The Lagoon Traffic and the Rise of Lagos, 1500–1800.” The Journal of African History, vol. 24, no. 3, 1983.
