A foreign travel vlogger, Davud Akhundzada, has drawn renewed international attention to Badagry’s role in the transatlantic slave trade after publishing a detailed video account documenting his visit to the town’s historic slave sites.

Akhundzada, who was born in Baku, Azerbaijan, and later studied Business Administration in Prague at the University of New York in Prague and the State University of New York, Empire State College, described Badagry as “one of the most important places I have visited in Nigeria – maybe in all of Africa.”

Before becoming a full-time travel vlogger, Akhundzada built a corporate career in Europe, working at ExxonMobil and Edwards Lifesciences, where he rose to the role of Procurement Category Manager. He says his background outside Africa shaped his reaction to Badagry’s history.

“A Dark Chapter of Human History”

In the video, titled “The Untold Story of the Darkest and Most Disgusting Human Story – Badagry”, Akhundzada traces the historical role of Badagry as a major slave port from the 1600s, when European traders including the Portuguese, British, Dutch and Brazilians established trading posts along the coast.

According to the narration, enslaved Africans were captured from inland communities through raids, wars and kidnappings, before being marched for days or weeks to Badagry. Many died along the way from hunger, exhaustion or violence.

Those who survived were held in baracoons—cramped slave cells—where, according to museum guides, as many as 40 people were confined in a single room, with no sanitation and minimal ventilation, sometimes for months.


Inside the Brazilian Baracoon

The vlogger’s tour includes the #BrazilianBaracoon , one of Badagry’s most significant slave-holding compounds, where museum guides explain how enslaved people were traded for everyday European goods.

According to the accounts presented during the visit:

• 40 enslaved people could be exchanged for a single umbrella

• 10 people for a bottle of gin

• 100 people for a large cannon

Original artefacts, including chains, shackles, branding irons and trade goods, are still displayed at the site.

The guide also explains how enslaved people were renamed after their owners, stripping them of identity, language and lineage.

The Route to the “Point of No Return”

From the baracoons, captives were forced to walk along a sandy route to the coast, now known as the #PointOfNoReturn — the last stretch of African soil many would ever walk on.

In the video, Akhundzada follows this same path, crossing the lagoon by boat before walking to the Atlantic shoreline, where enslaved Africans were loaded onto slave ships waiting offshore.

Museum guides explain that:

• Captives were often forced to drink from a well believed to cause disorientation or memory loss

• The Middle Passage across the Atlantic lasted three to four months

• Enslaved people were fed minimal food and water

• Many died during the voyage and were thrown into the ocean

“Once you reached this point, your fate was sealed,” the guide tells Akhundzada. “There was no return.”

Badagry Today: Memory, Tourism and Reflection

Today, Badagry remains both a living town and a place of remembrance. Sites such as the Badagry Heritage Museum, the Brazilian Baracoon, and the Point of No Return attract visitors from Nigeria and the African diaspora.

Akhundzada notes the contrast between Badagry’s painful history and the resilience of its present-day residents, many of whom depend on small-scale trading, fishing and tourism for survival.

“It is a beautiful place with a very sad history,” he says. “This is a place the world needs to see—not for entertainment, but for understanding.”

Why the Story Resonates

The video has gained attention because it presents Badagry through an external lens, combining:

• First-time visitor shock

• Local oral history from museum custodians

• Visual documentation of preserved artefacts

• Reflection on modern inequality and resilience

For Badagry, such coverage reinforces the town’s importance not only as a local heritage site, but as a global memory space tied to the shared history of Africa, Europe and the Americas.