LAGOS CITY is located in the South West of Nigeria, on the Gulf of Guinea and Lagos is the largest city in Nigeria with its population of 13.4 million (2000), one of the largest in Africa competing with Cairo. Lagos was the capital of Nigeria until 1991 when the capital was moved to Abuja. Lagos remains the commercial capital of Nigeria.

An old Yoruba town, Lagos, beginning in the 15th century and it was built on the mainland and the series of islands surrounding Lagos Lagoon. Originally a small village, known as Eko, its position as one of the few natural harbours on the Atlantic coast made it a principal site for European contact. From the fifteenth century, sailors from Portugal established a trading post on the island, which they renamed Lagos, after a town in southern Portugal. Trade was in spices, ivory and slaves.

From the 1820s until it became a British colony, Lagos was a notorious centre of the slave trade. Britain annexed the city in 1861, both to tap the trade in palm products and other goods with the interior and to suppress the slave trade. Lagos was incorporated into the colony of Nigeria in 1900.

In 1906, Lagos was joined with the British protectorate of Southern Nigeria, and, in 1914, when Southern and Northern Nigeria were amalgamated, it became part of the small coastal Colony of Nigeria. In 1954 most of the colony was merged with the rest of Nigeria, but Lagos was made a separate federal territory. From the late 19th century to independence in 1960, Lagos was the centre of the Nigerian nationalist movement. From independence until 1991, Lagos was the capital of Nigeria.

The main commercial and administrative centre of Lagos remains Lagos Island, which is connected to the mainland by three large bridges: Eko Bridge, Carter Bridge, and Third Mainland Bridge. Ikoyi and Victoria islands are closely connected to Lagos Island. The main docks are in Apapa directly opposite Lagos Island. Other districts on the mainland include Ebute-Meta, Surulere, Mushin, Yaba (Lagos) (site of Lagos University, constructed in 1962), the College of Technology (1948), the National Museum, and a large sports stadium are in Lagos, and Ikeja, site of Murtala Mohammed International Airport.

Transport links within Lagos are congested, due both to the geography of the city, and its explosive population growth. A chain of salt-water lagoons runs west to Badagri and also east toward Ogun State.