Europeans undertook exploration, trade and mission activities along the west coast of Africa in the 15th century. The Portuguese were the first to do so, building trade with the Kingdom of Benin, Lagos and other areas along the coast.

The Portuguese domination of these trade routes was dominated in the 16th century by the British, the French and the Dutch, with the slave trade becoming very important. The slaves were taken from Nigeria to work in the plantations of the Americas.

During this period, the territorial landscape known today as Nigeria has lost a large number of people in the slave trade. Some estimate that more than 3.5 million slaves were sent from Nigeria to the Americas.

The British governed the slave trade off the Nigerian coast in the 18th century. But with the rise of the industrial revolution in Britain in the nineteenth century, the focus on trade shifted from “slaves” to “raw materials” for factories.

Most of these raw materials needed in new industries were important in African soils, which fueled the European desire to invade African soil. In the 19th century, Britain began to penetrate into Nigeria, encountering much resistance from indigenous peoples. Indigenous peoples could not compete with the superior firearms of Britain.


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