Meet the first Nigerian professional photographer in history.

Meet the first Nigerian professional photographer in history.

Meet the first Nigerian professional photographer in history.

His name is Jonathan Adagogo Green, born in 1873. He was the first photographer in a country called Nigeria today. Although, he was born and died before Nigeria was created.

Let’s dive into his story. Jonathan was from Ịbanị, today’s Bonny, in Rivers State, in 1873. He studied photography in Sierra Leone. Remember the history of Freetown where slaves from different parts of the world returned after abolishment of slave trade.

I have written in the past about the Igbo learning program in Sierra Leone those days. I would add more volume to that subsequently and how different returnees mingled and shared their experiences.

He would return to Bonny and established his studio. He’s notably the pioneer of photography in Nigeria and documented colonial power, oil protectorates, indigenous culture of the people and Ịjọ culture.

Then his region was called British Oil Rivers protectorate in 1884. Then in 1893, it was called Niger Coast Protectorate. Green took so many documentary photography in 1900. He would later die in 1905 .

He achieved all this at the age of 32.

I paused!

© Maazi In America Maazi Ogbonnaya Okoro II