--168.9.210.43 17:31, 4 May 2006 (UTC)

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. Image File history File links Benin_Kingdom_flag. ... Image File history File links Benin_Kingdom_flag. ... This 14th-century statue from south India depicts the gods Shiva (on the left) and Uma (on the right). ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... Onitsha (pop 7 million 2005 est. ... Location of Benin City in Nigeria Benin, a city (2006 est. ... 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...

According to traditional accounts, the Edo people who inhabit the Benin area invited Prince Oranmiyan of Ife (one of the Yoruba states) to remove the ruling Ogisos. Oranmiyan's son, 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. A bronze cast depicting the head of an Ooni, or king, from 1100s-1200s Ife. ...

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. 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. ...

External links

• Africa Reparations Movement | Campaign for the return of the Benin Bronzes

by calib --168.9.210.43 17:31, 4 May 2006 (UTC)--168.9.210.43 17:31, 4 May 2006 (UTC)Bold text