Lagos
Lagos is Nigeria's largest city. It was the capital of Nigeria until 1991 and now the capital has been moved to Abuja. It is the largest city in Nigeria with a population of about 8 million, and the largest city in Africa, the second largest city in Egypt after Cairo. Lagos is a port city developed around the island of Lagos in the lagoon of the Ogun River estuary flowing into Guinea Bay, and prospered as a base for slave trade by the Portuguese who arrived in the 15th century. It was under British rule from the middle of the nineteenth century, and became a federal capital after Nigerian independence in 1960. There are public offices, European residential districts, and commercial districts in the old town of Lagos island, but the main district of Apapa district has developed as an industrial district, and railway stations, industrial zones, and residential areas are spreading, resulting in a severe population growth phenomenon. To overcome this concentration of population, the Nigerian government moved the capital to Abuja, but the expansion is continuing.