LAGOS, the principal port and capital of the British colony and protectorate of Nigeria, West Africa, in 6° 26' N., 3° 23' E. Pop. Lagos Island (1931) 90,193; Lagos municipal area (24.24 sq.m.) 126,018. In 1897 the population was 33,000. The town is built on an island in a large lagoon and is reached from the Bight of Benin over a shifting sand bar. Moles protect the entrance to the harbour and vessels drawing 23 ft. can enter it. Lagos is linked to Iddo island, on which the terminus of the railway to Kano is situated, by Carter bridge (2,60o ft. long) and Iddo in its turn is joined to the mainland by Denton bridge (917 ft. long). The customs wharf at Lagos is 1,183 ft. long and vessels of 24 ft. draught can lie alongside. At Iddo is a wharf 86o ft. long, draught 18 ft. At Apapa, on the mainland, facing Lagos town is a wharf 1,800 ft. long which takes vessels drawing 26 ft. and is designed to take eventually vessels up to 32 ft. draught. Altogether in 1928 Lagos had 5,000 ft. of wharfage and could accommodate 22 ocean going vessels. There are several smaller wharves and floating docks. The town has fine public and commercial buildings and ample water and electric light supplies. Some 25% of the inhabitants are Christians and 53% Moham medans. Lagos has been since 1919 the seat of an Anglican bishopric. In April 1925 the prince of Wales laid the foundation
stone of the cathedral. The port takes all the trade of Nigeria which is served by the railway to Kano (over 70o m. long) and has a considerable canoe-borne trade with neighbouring regions.
Up to 1908 the depth of water over the bar was no more than I r ft. and all cargo inwards and outwards had to be taken to Forcados, 160 m. distant by sea and thence transhipped into or from smaller vessels which could cross the bar. In 1908 however in view of the building of the railway to Kano harbour works were begun, with the building of moles on either side of the chan nel and the provision of dredgers to remove the sand. By vessels drawing 19 feet could enter the harbour; in 1922 the draught was 22 ft. and in 1926 it was 25 ft. Up to 1928 over L3,800,000 had been spent on making Lagos a first class port. Attention has also been paid to the town, which lies but a foot or two above sea level and the swamps of which Lagos island con sisted have been largely reclaimed. The soil from the dredging of the interior channels, over io,000,000 tons of sand up to 1929, was deposited on shore and some 400 acres of dry land made.
(F. R. C.)