Ughoton

Ughoton, known to Portuguese visitors as Gwato, was the river port of the kingdom of Benin. Boats carried goods between the coast and the inland capital, making the settlement a gateway for foreign merchants. The Portuguese established a trading post here in the late fifteenth century, buying pepper, ivory and enslaved people. The oba regulated this commerce; restrictions on the export of enslaved people contributed to the closure of the Portuguese post in the early sixteenth century.

The later city of Sapele lies here.