The Itsekiri Kingdom and the Catholic Prince of Warri

Portuguese Augustinians first reached the Itsekiri kingdom of Warri in the late 15th century, making it one of the earliest and longest-running Catholic missions on the West African coast. The royal house adopted the faith almost immediately: by the early 17th century, the heir to the throne, Prince Sebastian, was sent to study at Coimbra and Lisbon in Portugal.

He returned home as Olu Atuwatse I (Dom Domingos), one of the earliest known examples of a European-educated African monarch. He married a Portuguese woman, requested priests and ornaments from the Vatican, and tried — with mixed success — to build a sustained Catholic clergy in Warri.

The mission eventually faded as Portuguese power declined and successor Olus reverted to traditional rites, but the encounter left a permanent imprint: Warri remained one of the most Catholic-friendly courts on the Slave Coast, and the Olu's correspondence with Rome is preserved in the Vatican archives.