What traces do people leave in the places where they live, and even where they die?
Imagine Lagos, by Ademide Adelusi-Adeluyi, addresses the spatial history of nineteenth-century Lagos, rebuilding its past as a series of encounters: between men and women, between past and present, between enslaved and free, between the living and dead, and finally between land and lagoon.
Written from a digital humanities perspective, this book combines historical sources, maps, and a walking cartography to create new perspectives on the nineteenth-century history of Lagos, West Africa’s most populous city.
This is a history anchored in the streets of Lagos Island. Every chapter of Imagine Lagos starts at a different intersection. Explore the junction at Omidídùn Street and Ìnábẹ̀rẹ̀ Street to understand the importance of street names to the history of Old Lagos. Follow the curve of Lake Street at Ẹlẹ́gbàta Street to learn the enduring history of the 1851 bombing of Lagos by the British. In chapter 3, learn about how Lagos was rebuilt from the vantage point of the intersection of Water, Tinubu and Ọdúnlàmì Streets. Hidden histories of old Lagos are buried at the cemetery at the junction of Joseph and Campbell streets. Finally, let’s rethink the history of justice (or even injustice) in Lagos, from where Broad Street meets Prison Street.