Kingdom of Benin
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Reconstruction of a flag of the Kingdom of Benin based on a flag captured by British forces during the Benin campaign 1897; today seen in the British National Maritime Museum ([1]) |
The
Kingdom of Benin was a widespread empire that flourished from the
14th to the
19th century. At its maximum extent the Kingdom extended from
Onitsha in the east, through the forested southwestern region of
Nigeria and into the present-day nation of
Benin. Its capital was located at
Benin City, in what is now southwestern Nigeria. Ruled by the
Oba of Benin, the kingdom is most famous for its treasured artifacts in bronze, iron and ivory, including bronze wall plaques and the life-sized bronze heads of kings of Benin.
According to traditional accounts, the origional people who inhabit the Benin area were initially ruled by the Ogison (Kings of the Sky)about 36 known ogison are known to have ruled the Kingdom. On the death of the last Ogiso his son and heir apparent Ekaladerhan was said to have abdicated the throne and proceeded to rule a place the Bini call Uhe and the Yorubas call Ife during the inter-regnum following the death of the last Ogiso . Oranmiyan the son of Ekaladerhan sent his own son Eweka to rule in his stead.Eweka I became the first Oba of Benin. By the 15th century under Oba Ewuare (Ewuare the Great), the Oba had become paramount within the kingdom. Oba Ewuare, the first
Golden Age Oba, is credited for turning Benin City into a military fortress protected by moats and walls. It was from this bastion that he launched his military campaigns and began the expansion of the Kingdom from its Edo-speaking heartlands.
The first European travellers to reach Benin were the Portuguese explorers in about 1485. A strong mercantile relationship developed, the Portuguese trading tropical products, and increasingly slaves, for European goods and guns. In the early 16th century the Oba sent an ambassador to Lisbon, and the king of Portugal sent Christian missionaries to Benin. Some residents of Benin could still speak a pidgin Portuguese in the late 19th century. The first English expedition to Benin was in 1553; and a significant trade soon grew up between England and Benin based on the export of ivory, palm-oil and pepper. Visitors in the 16th and 17th Centuries brought back to Europe tales of "the Great Benin," a fabulous city of noble buildings, ruled over by a powerful king.
Benin grew increasingly rich during the 16th and 17th centuries on the slave trade with Europe, slaves from enemy states of the interior were sold, and carried to the Americas in Dutch and Portuguese ships. The Bight of Benin's shore soon came to be known as the "Slave Coast."
The city and kingdom of Benin declined after 1700, but revived in the 19th century with the development of the trade in palm products. To preserve Benin's independence, bit by bit the Oba banned the export of goods from Benin, until the trade was exclusively in palm oil.
Benin resisted signing a protectorate treaty with
Great Britain through most of the 1880s and 1890s. However, after the slaying of eight British representatives in Benin territory, a '
Punitive Expedition' was launched in 1897, in which a British force, under the command of Admiral Sir
Harry Rawson, conquered and burned the city, destroying much of the country's treasured art and dispersing nearly all that remained. The portrait figures, busts, and groups created in iron, carved ivory, and especially in brass (conventionally called the "
Benin Bronzes") made in Benin are displayed in museums around the world.
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Africa Reparations Movement | Campaign for the return of the Benin Bronzes
