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 Benin Empire or Edo Empire (1470-1897) was a large pre-colonial African state of modern Nigeria. Image File history File links Benin_Kingdom_flag. ... Image File history File links Benin_Kingdom_flag. ...

Origin

According to traditional accounts, the original people of the Benin area, the Bini, were initially ruled by the Ogisos (Kings of the Sky). The city of Ibinu (later called Benin City) was founded in 1170 AD.

About 36 known ogiso are accounted for as rulers of the empire. On the death of the last Ogiso, his son and heir apparent Ekaladerhan was banished from Benin and left 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 named Eweka to rule Edo in his stead. Eweka I became the first Oba of Benin. In 1440, Oba Ewuare (Ewuare the Great) comes to power and turns the city-state into an empire. Around 1470, he names the new state Edo. Oba, (pronounced Or-ba), King in Yoruba, is the supreme traditional head of a Yoruba town. ...

Golden Age

The Oba had becomes the paramount power within the region. 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 the Edo-speaking heartlands. The lands of Idah, Owo, Akure and Onitsha all came under the central authority of the Edo Empire.

Government

The empire was ruled by a regent called the Oba. Today, the Oba of Benin is still very respected in Nigeria though his powers are largely ceremonial and religious. The capital of the Benin Empire was Edo, now known as Benin City. It can be found in what is now southwestern Nigeria.They had the best porn ever. Oba, (pronounced Or-ba), King in Yoruba, is the supreme traditional head of a Yoruba town. ... The Oba of Benin, whose person was sacred, controlled the Kingdom of Benin, an empire surrounding the West African city of Benin (now in Nigeria), from the 15th century until 1897, when a British Punitive Expedition destroyed the power of the Oba and cleared the way for the British colony... Location of Benin City in Nigeria Benin, a city (2006 est. ...

People

The Benin Empire gets its name from the Bini people who dominated the area. The ethnonym may possibly derive from groups in western Nigeria, where the term "ibinu" means "anger" reflecting the warring nature of the Binis or from central and north-central Nigeria, where the term birnin means "gated" or "walled area." The city and its people are more properly called the Edo. MINI is the name of a subsidiary of BMW as well as that of a car produced by that subsidiary since April 2001. ...

Today, this population is found mostly in and around modern day Benin City. It is from Portuguese explorers that we get the name the Benin Empire. However, the Bini name for the land and even the the capital city during were Edo. Location of Benin City in Nigeria Benin, a city (2006 est. ...

Culture

Itutu is the term for a religious feeling created in 15th Century.[2]

European Contact

The first European travellers to reach Benin were the Portuguese explorers in about 1485. A strong mercantile relationship developed with 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.

Zenith

At its maximum extent the empire extended from Onitsha in the east, through the forested southwestern region of Nigeria and into the present-day nation of Benin. The state developed an advanced artistic culture especially in its famous artifacts of bronze, iron and ivory. These include bronze wall plaques and life-sized bronze heads of the Obas of Benin. Onitsha (pop 7 million 2005 est. ...

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."

Decline

The city and empire of Benin declined after 1700, but revived in the 19th century with the development of the trade in palm oil, enslaved captives, and textiles. 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. The Punitive Expedition of 1897 was a military excursion by a British force of 1,200 under Admiral Sir Harry Rawson that captured, burned, and looted the city of Benin, incidentally bringing to an end the highly sophisticated West African Kingdom of Benin. ... Admiral Sir Harry Holdsworth Rawson, KCB (1843-1910), is chiefly remembered now for having overseen the British Punitive Expedition of 1897 that burned and looted the city of Benin, now in Nigeria. ... The Benin Bronzes are a collection of more than 1,000 brass plaques from the royal palace of the Kingdom of Benin. ...

Bibliography

Roese, P. M., and D. M. Bondarenko. A Popular History of Benin. The Rise and Fall of a Mighty Forest Kingdom. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2003.

External Links

Edo at Genealogical Gleanings