Lagos Lagoon

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Lagos Lagoon is a lagoon sharing its name with the city of Lagos, Nigeria, the largest city in Africa, which lies on its south-western side.

City and lagoon were named by the Portuguese. The name means 'lakes' in the Portuguese language so 'Lagos Lagoon' is an example of a tautological place name. The lagoon is more than 50 km long and 3 to 13 km wide, separated from the Atlantic Ocean by a long sand spit 2 to 5 km wide, which has swampy margins on the lagoon side.

Lagos Lagoon empties into the Atlantic via Lagos Harbour, a main channel through the heart of the city, 0.5 km to 1 km wide and 10 km long. The principal ocean port of Lagos is located at Apapa in a broad western branch off the main channel of the harbour.

Another branch off the the main channel, narrower and longer, separates Lagos Island and Ikoyi Island from the broad sand spit which forms the coastline.

The city spreads along more than 30 km of the lagoon's south-western and western shoreline. Pollution by urban and industrial waste is a major problem. The 11-km-long Third Mainland Bridge was built off the western shore to by-pass congested mainland suburbs.

Lagos lagoon is fairly shallow and is not plied by ocean-going ships but by smaller barges and boats. To its north-east the lagoon is connected by a channel passing south of the town of Epe through a small lagoon to another large lagoon. Narrow winding channels connect the system through a broad band of coastal swamps and rivers, as far away as Sapele, 250 km to the east.

The areas west of Lagos Lagoon are not well provided with roads and many communities there traditionally relied on water transport.