Benin Empire

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

[edit] Origin

According to traditional accounts, the original people of the Benin area, the Bini, were initially ruled by the Ogiso (Kings of the Sky). 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 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 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] People

The Benin Empire gets its name from the Bini people who dominated the area. The ethnonym may possibly derive from groups in 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.

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.

[edit] Culture

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

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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.

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."

[edit] 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.