ISBN:
978-1-56656-919-4
Language:
English
Pages:
xxiii, 271 pages :
,
illustrations ;
,
21 cm.
Keywords:
Lagos (Nigeria) / Description and travel
;
Lagos (Nigeria) / History
;
Nigeria / Lagos
;
Travel
;
History
Abstract:
Lagos is one of the fastest growing cities in the world. Kaye Whiteman explores a city that has constantly re-invented itself, from the first settlement on an uninhabited island to the creation of the port in the early years of the twentieth century. Lagos is still defined by its curious network of islands and lagoons, where erosion and reclamation lead to a permanently shifting topography, but history has thrust it into the role of a burgeoning mega-city, overcoming all natures obstacles. The citys melting-pot has fertilized a unique literary and artistic flowering that is only now beginning to be appreciated by a world that has only seen slums and chaos
Description / Table of Contents:
Chapter One: The story of Lagos: evolution of a multi-ethnic gene pool -- Origins: Ogunfunminire, Olofin and the Idejo -- The first Portuguese contact -- The Benin imprint and "Eko" -- Akinsemoyin and the coming of the Portuguese -- The early nineteenth-century context -- The ending of the slave trade and the Yoruba Wars -- Behind the British intervention: the role of Palmerston -- 1851-61: from the consulate to the Treat of Cession -- Sierra Leoneans and the Brazilians: Saros and Amaros -- The growing gene pool -- City of religions -- The 1850s to the 1890s: the British become colonial -- The modern melting-pot -- The status of Lagos: crown colony to state -- The rise and fall of politics: the move to Abuja -- Chapter Two: The topography of Lagos: island and mainland -- The ambivalent role of the "Bar": barrier and entry point -- Burton's Lagos -- E.D. Morel's Lagos -- Two worlds: the island and the mainland -- Lagos Island: Isale Ego and the Iga Idunganran --
Description / Table of Contents:
The marina and the business district -- Ikoyi: the McGregor Canal to Banana Island -- Victoria Island: the "elite slum" -- Lekki: unrestrained expansion? -- The mainland: another mind concept -- The ever-present but under-used lagoon -- Bridges and motorways -- The Julius Berger phenomenon -- Chapter Three: Changing society and the "look" of the city -- The imprint of change -- Victorian Lagos -- The rise of racism -- The Brazilian imprint -- Railway trains and motor cars -- The Lagos steam tramway -- The airports -- The population explosion -- Official buildings -- Commercial buildings -- Merchants and entrepreneurs: the Liverpool of West Africa? -- The dream of a Manhattan of Africa -- Roads, markets and malls -- Chapter Four: A true city of imagination: Lagos in literature -- The first Nigerian writing -- The burgeoning of the newspapers -- The fiction writers: the first generation -- Ken Saro-Wiwa -- Soyinka: the city as masquerade --
Description / Table of Contents:
Urban prototypes and the next generation of writers: Okri, Habila, Abani -- Bar Beach and Maroko -- Lagos of the poets -- Civil war, oil boom, military rule -- The "two cultures" syndrome -- Lagos Pidgin -- Outside perspectives -- The journalist as a hero in Nigerian fiction and non-fiction -- The guides: "dark tourism" or moving to normalcy? -- Chapter Five: Music, film, art and the havens in the wilderness -- Sakara, asiko, juju and highlife -- The heyday of highlife -- The growth of the venues -- The night club as metaphor -- The Kakadu -- Chapmans and Guinness -- The Nollywood phenomenon -- Havens in the wilderness -- The case of Nimbus -- The slender plant of heritage -- Chapter Six: Stories to remember: a selection of episodes in the city's history -- The Lagos consulate 1851 to 1861 -- The British takeover in slow motion -- 1851: gunboat diplomacy -- 1861: the crunch -- The baiting of Lord Lugard -- The Prince of Wales' visit,1925 -- Drama at the Bristol Hotel, 1947 --
Description / Table of Contents:
The booing of the northeners, 1953 -- Independence day (and night), October 1960 -- The 1963 treason trial -- Season of coups, 1966 -- Episode from a city in wartime, 1967 -- The Biafran surrender as seen in Lagos, 1970 -- The All-African Games of 1973 -- Assassination on the Bank Road, 1976 -- The undoing of Sir Martin LeQuesne, 1976 -- Ominous 1983 -- The Dele Giwa killing, 1986 -- The Orkar coup, 1990 -- The January 2002 explosions at the Ikeja barracks -- Voting in Lagos, 2007 -- Chapter Seven: The long shadow of FESTAC -- Colonial symbols -- Aftermath -- Chapter Eight: Prominent personalities of Lagos -- The twentieth century -- Chapter Nine: Fela Anikulapo-Kuti: archetypal Lagos boy -- Legend and legacy -- Chapter Ten: Streets of the imagination: everyday mysteries of the city -- Changing names -- Ikoyi -- Awolowo Road -- Broad Street and the marina -- Igbosere Road/Bamgbose Street -- Ahmadu Bello Way -- Apapa, Ajegunle, the Badagry Road -- Yaba, Ikeja, Surulere --
Description / Table of Contents:
Mile Two and Amuwo Odofin -- Chapter Eleven: The future city? -- "Delirious Lagos" -- Images of a city -- "One of the best kept secrets in Africa" -- A theory of Lagos? -- From Tinubu to Fashola -- Mega-city or world city? -- Appendix I -- Treaty of Cession of August 1861 -- Further Reading -- BGL and Lagos -- Index of literary & historical names -- Index of places & landmarks
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