Lagos (Portugal)

Lagos , city (1991 pop. 12,956), Faro dist., S Portugal, in Algarve, on the Atlantic Ocean. The excellent harbor shelters much coastwise trade and an important sardine and tuna fishing fleet. Sancho I with the help of bands of Crusaders captured (1189) the city from the Moors; in 1191 it was recaptured by the Moors but was soon (c.1250) restored to the Portuguese. Lagos was a starting port for Portuguese navigators in the time of Prince Henry the Navigator, who was first buried at Lagos. The disastrous expedition of King Sebastian set out from there. The city was severely damaged in the 1755 earthquake. Off Lagos, in 1759, the British under Admiral Boscawen defeated the French.

Lagos, battle of, 1759. In the summer of 1759 the nucleus of a French invasion fleet under de la Clue left Toulon and slipped past Edward Boscawen's squadron at Gibraltar. A running fight developed and on 18 August four French vessels sought refuge in Lagos Bay in southern Portugal. They were attacked, two captured and two burned, and de la Clue killed. The Portuguese protested at the violation of their neutrality.

Lagos, Nigeria, Portugal 1. Nigeria: a state and a city‐port founded in the 15th century by the Awori, a subgroup of the Yoruba, on Lagos Island which they called Oko. When the Portuguese arrived in 1472 they named the place ‘Lakes’ from lago ‘lake’. This was a reference to the lagoons along the coast. The city was annexed by the British in 1864 as part of the Gold Coast Colony (now Ghana) and then in 1886 it became the capital of a new protectorate. In 1906 it became the capital of Southern Nigeria when merging with that protectorate and of the Protectorate of Nigeria in 1914 when Southern and Northern Nigeria amalgamated. When Nigeria gained its independence it became the national capital, retaining this status until 1991.2. Portugal: ‘Lakes’, although somewhat inappropriate. It does, however, lie on the coast at the mouth of the River Alvor. The Roman name was Lacobriga and the Moorish Zawaya.