# Agudás (Retornados Afro-Brasileiros) Community of descendants of freed Afro-Brazilians who settled along the Bight of Benin coast (present-day Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana) primarily between the 1830s and early 1900s. An estimated 3,000–8,000 people returned during this period, most departing from Bahia. The community is internally diverse: it includes both formerly enslaved Africans who had been taken to Brazil and individuals born in Brazil of African descent, as well as descendants of Portuguese-Brazilian merchants already established on the coast. The generic designation _Brasileiros_ was adopted across the region, with local variations: **Agudás** (Benin, Nigeria — from _agudão_, non-standard Portuguese for _algodão_/cotton), **Amarôs** (Togo, Nigeria), **Tabom** (Ghana). --- ## Entries ### The Malê Revolt (1835) as turning point Muslim slaves (mostly [[Yoruba]] and Hausa) rebelled in Salvador, Bahia. In the aftermath, authorities deported participants and imposed punitive taxes on freed Africans, triggering the largest wave of return migration. Earlier returns had occurred (traders, manumitted individuals), but the post-1835 wave was decisive. Unlike the Afro-American settlement of Liberia, Agudá returnees largely went back to their cultural areas of origin (Yorubaland, the Mina Coast), though many settled in port cities like Lagos and Porto-Novo rather than their specific hometowns. ### Identity strategy Returnees adopted "Brazilian" identity markers — Catholicism, Portuguese surnames (da Silva, de Souza, da Costa, Campos, da Rocha), European dress, Portuguese language, skilled trades — partly to escape the stigma of enslavement, which carried moral connotations in local West African societies. Indigenous populations sometimes called them "black whites". This identity granted access to colonial intermediary roles and commercial networks. ### Economic role Returnees brought artisanal skills from Bahia (masonry, carpentry, tailoring, cabinetmaking) and became the preferred construction workforce for colonial administrations. In Lagos, they formed a rising bourgeoisie alongside the Saro (Sierra Leonean returnees). Some amassed fortunes through transatlantic trade in cotton, kola nuts, and rum. The community's proximity to colonial elites became a liability after independence. In Benin, Marxist president Mathieu Kérékou (1970s) expropriated Agudá family lands as part of an indigenization program. In Togo, however, the community produced Sylvanus Olympio — the country's first president and independence leader (assassinated 1963). ### Architectural legacy The most visible material trace. Agudá builders introduced multi-story brick construction with baroque facades recalling Salvador — a style that became a status symbol beyond the community. Key examples: the Governor's Palace in Porto-Novo (now National Assembly), the Grand Mosque of Porto-Novo (1925, Portuguese Baroque with pastel blue walls), the [[Shitta-Bey Mosque in Lagos]] (1891, built by João Batista da Costa). Many buildings are in advanced decay — reflecting financial burden, preference for modernity, and ambivalence about slavery's memory. UNESCO's Slave Route project supports some preservation. ### Religious diversity The dominant narrative overemphasizes Catholicism. Many returnees were Muslim — the Malê rebels themselves were Muslim — and they built some of the first permanent mosques on the West African coast. Others maintained Orixá worship brought from Brazil. The Agudá mosques occupy a fascinating scholarly gap: they fit neither "traditional African" nor "colonial European" architectural categories. ## Key organizations - Brazilian Descendants Association (Lagos) - Yoruba-Brazilian Descendants Renascimento Association - Fanti Carnival — annual carnival in Lagos's Brazilian Quarter (Campos district), organized by Agudá descendants ## Key references - Acervo Agudá: http://acervoaguda.com.br/ - Nigerian Brazilian Project: https://nigerianbrazilianproject.org/ - Documentary "Os Retornados" (TV Escola): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpTqRgINJpo - Short film "Falares Luso-brasileiros no Benim e no Togo": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rpLBXLYHqc