The Velekete Slave Market is a market located in

Badagry Badagry (traditionally Gbagli) also spelled Badagri, is a coastal town and Local Government Area (LGA) in Lagos State, Nigeria. It is quite close to the city of Lagos, and located on the north bank of Porto Novo Creek, an inland waterway that con ...

Lagos State Lagos State ( yo, Ìpínlẹ̀ Èkó) is a States of Nigeria, state in South West (Nigeria), southwestern Nigeria. Of the 36 States of Nigeria, states, it is both the List of Nigerian states by population, most populous and List of Nigerian state ...

. Established in 1502 and named after the

Velekete Vlekete or Verekete is a deity and goddess of the sea in the mythology Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to i ...

deity, the goddess of the ocean and wind the market was significant during the

Atlantic slave trade The Atlantic slave trade, transatlantic slave trade, or Euro-American slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of enslaved African people, mainly to the Americas. The slave trade regularly used the triangular trade route and i ...

in Badagry, as it served as a business point where African middlemen sold slaves to European slave merchants, thus making it one of the most populous slave markets in

West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Maurit ...

Background

The settlement of Hendrik Hertog, a Dutch trader in Badagry who was locally known as Yovo Huntokonu sowed the seed for the establishment of the Velekete Slave Market. He acquired land from the local people and turned the town into a trading post that was beneficial to the Chiefs of the land as more Europeans came to exchange their goods with what the Africans had. The slave trade boom started when the trading partners understood how lucrative it was due to high demand of workers for plantations in other lands.

Activities

In 1805, Scipio Vaughan who was a native of Owu Kingdom in Abeokuta, Nigeria, was captured by European trans-Atlantic slave trade and was taken to this Velekete Slave Market in Badagry together with other captured slaves before he was shipped in a slave ship to America. Slaves were also brought from as far as present day

Abia State Abia State ( ig, Ȯha Abia) is a state in the South-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, it is bordered to the north and northeast by the states of Enugu, and Ebonyi, Imo State to the west, Cross River State to the east, Akwa Ibom State to the ...

, Nigeria to Velekete Slave market. They were first kept in cells constructed adjacent to the market. The market sold slaves every five days. The slaves were exchanged for whiskey, gunpowder, cannon, ceramic plates, mirrors, umbrellas, iron wares and other articles. In recent times, the market has become part of the tourist attractions for those who wish to further understand how the slave trade was carried out in parts of central West Africa alongside; * the Mobee Family House and Relics Museum which houses the relics that portray how the family was involved in the Slave Trade, * the Gberefu Island which was the path to the Point of No Return and where it is estimated that up to 500,000 boys, girls, young men and women who were captured for slavery passed through, * the Spirit Attenuation Well from which the captives were made the drink the liquid and recite promises of non-revolt on the Slave ships and to forget their origins and * A portrait of negotiation process to the point of no return

A portrait of negotiation process to the point of no return

Point of No Return where the captives were formally handed over to Europeans who led them into the slave ships.

References

16th-century establishments in Nigeria 1502 establishments in Africa History of Lagos African slave trade {{Retail-market-stub