The cradle of Black civilization and the centre of the world (Edorisiagbon).
In the last years of the 19th century, thousands of Victorian people visited London to see an intriguing new exhibit. They came to marvel at the art of an alien culture produced by a supposedly savage people. The very existence of these works of art represented a challenge to the dominant ideas at the time – ideas that underpinned an empire. The public were fascinated by what they saw but were simultaneously bothered. What bothered them was that these were the works of an African society, when the popular belief among Europeans in the 19th century was that Africans lack the technical skills to produce great art and the cultural sophistication to appreciate it. It was widely believed that the people of the so-called Dark Continent had no history, no culture and were incapable of generating any form of civilisation.
The bronzes of Benin, that so disturbed the Victorians, are now regarded as Africa’s greatest treasures created, from the 16th century onwards, by the ancient West African kingdom. These magnificent works are records of their great kings, their empire’s wealth, military power and the history that Africans are supposed to lack.
On display at the British Museum, London: State swords from Benin (eben and ada) Iron, steel and Ivory from the 19th century. The symbol of authority by its titled men of the kingdom and on occasion by the Oba himself.
Great as the works are, they are actually a tragic reminder of how a legacy was almost extinguished because they now reside in the British Museum, thousands of miles across the seas from its homeland, evidence of the plunder by imperialistic Britain. In 1897, during the reign of Oba Ovonramwen Nogbaisi, British colonial forces attacked the empire by way of revenge for an earlier ambush on British expeditors, who, in spite of warnings that they would not be welcome to Benin during the Igue festival, sneaked into the ancient city. The Benin warriors laid the ambush and killed some of the expeditors in the process. Consequently, the palace of the Oba was burnt down after all its works of arts were stolen.
According to records, the kingdom of Benin is the oldest surviving kingdom in the world. It is 2,054 years old, which probably predates the Greco-Roman era and Christiandom. The Ogiso dynasty lasted for about 854 years and had an interregnum of 285 years between the reign of Ogiso Orire and Ogiso Odia; there was an interregnum of 70 years between Ogiso Owodo and Oba Oranmiyan plus 845 years of Oba ruler-ship till date. The empire’s civilisation and technical advancement was such that Benin City is the first city to have a semblance of street lighting in the world.
As far back as 1691, the Portuguese who landed in Benin marvelled so much at what they saw that they labelled the city “Great City of Benin”. It was obvious to them that the Edo people achieved so much centuries before any major city in the world.
The oldest ever recorded market in Africa is Ogiso (Agbado) market dated 60 BCE. The Binis are the best bronze casters (Igun-Eronmwon) in the world. In fact, to date, Igun Street in Benin City remains the location of the bronze casters.
Queen Idia (Oba Esigie’s mother) was the first Oba’s mother to be alive to see her son becoming an Oba. That was because, traditionally, previous crown princes’ mothers were killed before their sons ascend the throne. The world most famous mask Queen Idia mask was the face of FESTAC 77 (Second World African Festival of Arts and Culture) held in Lagos in 1977.
The Benin empire was so extensive that it is said that
- The Ga ethnic group in present-day Ghana migrated from Benin during Oba Udagbedo‘s reign (1299-1334)
- The monarch of Warri kingdom is an offshoot of the royal house of Benin kingdom founded by prince Iginuwa the Son of Oba Olua in the 15th century.
- The Osemawe of Ondo was corrupted from Osemwughe, the Benin warrior who deserted Udo town, when there was war between Benin City and Udo town. The word Ondo was corrupted from the town “Emwan N’Udo” (people of Udo town)
- Oba Orhogbua founded Lagos and planted a dukedom, the obaship of Lagos (Eko).
- The original word Ubini means “a place of heavenly pageantry and prosperity” but was corrupted to Benin was corrupted by the Portuguese explorers.
Guinness Book of Records (1974 edition) described the walls of Benin City and its surrounding kingdom as the world’s largest earthworks carried out prior to the mechanical era.
According to estimates published in the New Scientists magazine, Benin City’s walls were at one point “four times longer than the great wall of China, and consumed a hundred times more material than the Great Pyramid of Cheops”.
The massive walls surrounding the city was dug by Oba Oguola in the13th century and Oba Ewuare I in the 15th century.
Great Wall of Benin extended for some 16,000 kilometres (10,000 miles) in all, in a mosaic of more than 500 interconnected settlement boundaries. They covered 6,500 square kilometres and were all dug by the Edo people.
The Great wall of Benin took an estimated 150 million hours of digging to construct, and are perhaps the largest single archaeological phenomenon on the planet.
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