The Portuguese made the earliest contact with the Nigerian society. They were the first foreigners definitely known to have visited West Africa by sea.
In the fifteenth century A.D. the Europeans made their first recorded visit to West Africa including Nigeria with immediate and important results. As far as one man was responsible for this event, the credit must eventually go to Prince Henry of Portugal, who later became known as Henry the Navigator.
According to C.R. Niven in his book titled A Short History of Nigeria (1962), ''the King of Portugal made a contract in the middle of the fifteenth century with one Fernao Gomez, where by the later agreed to explore one hundred leagues every year starting from Sierra Leone and working towards along the coast. Ruy de Sequeira who was in command of one of his expeditions, reached Lagos in the year 1472.