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Founding
Founding of Benin Empire
West African kingdom (1180–1897)
- 1170
- Sub-Saharan Africa
Founding
West African kingdom (1180–1897)
Fetching the article from Wikipedia…
The Kingdom of Benin or Empire of Benin, also known as Great Benin, is a traditional kingdom in southern Nigeria. It has no historical relation to the modern Republic of Benin, which was known as Dahomey from the 17th century until 1975. The Kingdom of Benin's capital was Edo, now known as Benin City in Edo State, Nigeria. The Benin Kingdom was one of the oldest and most developed states in the coastal hinterland of West Africa. It grew out of the previous Edo Kingdom of Igodomigodo around the 11th century AD; it was annexed by the British Empire in 1897, but endured as a non-sovereign monarchy.
In the 15th and 16th centuries, the empire reached the height of its prosperity, expanding its territory, trading with European powers, and creating a remarkable artistic legacy in cast bronze, iron, brass, carved ivory, and other materials.
The presence of the sickle-cell allele in the Sahara during the Green Sahara period suggests that ancient ancestors of the Edo people may have inhabited the Saharan region in prehistoric times before migrating southward. The gradual movement of Proto-Edoid people to West Africa may have been associated with the expansion of Sahel agriculture in the African Neolithic period, following the desiccation of the Sahara in c. 3500 BCE.
The state that became known as the Benin Empire developed in several phases. It was known by various names both inside and outside its borders.
By the 1st century BC, the Benin territory was partially agricultural; it became primarily agricultural by around A.D. 500, but hunting and gathering of animals still remained important. Also by A.D. 500, the territory's inhabitants used iron.
The earliest organized polity in the region that became Benin was Igodomigodo, which coalesced from existing autonomous communities in the late 1st millennium CE. The ruler was called Ogiso – the ruler of the sky. The Egiso put in place many of the cultural and social traditions that have shaped Benin.
Igodomigodo, meaning "town of Igodo", served as the first capital, and sprang up in a forest whose dense vegetation and narrow paths made the city easy to defend against attacks. The rainforest helped the city develop because of its vast resources – fish from rivers and creeks, animals to hunt, leaves for roofing, plants for medicine, ivory for carving and trading, and wood for boat building. Domesticated animals could not survive due to a disease spread by tsetse flies; after centuries of exposure, some animals, such as cattle and goats, developed resistance to the disease.
By the start of the 13th century CE, Ogiso Owodo was overthrown by the people of the state after a tumultuous and incompetent reign. In his place they chose Evian, a popular and powerful Ogifa, earth-priest and chief of the local Efa people, as okaevbo or head of state. Evian's later attempt to pass power to his son Ogiamwen, thereby creating a new royal dynasty, was resisted. The Edionevbo (ruling council of chiefs) refused to sanction the move, and sent emissaries requesting that a prince of Ile-Ife restore order and legitimacy to their throne.
Historical traditions in Benin diverge on the details of these events. The 'official' tradition records that Oranmiyan, son of Oduduwa, accepted the council's invitation; his arrival marked the beginning of the new Yoruba dynasty and the establishment of the title "Oba" for the rulers of Benin. This version serves as a 'stock narrative' used by the leaders of the Ife Empire to explain and justify the expansion of Yoruba cultural and economic sphere of influence into Igodomigodo during this period.
Another tradition, first recorded in the 1970s, provides a different story. While several versions exist, some argue that the founding Oba was not a Yoruba but was instead the son or grandson of Ogiso Owodo, natives of Benin who were in exile in Ife. Some go further, claiming that Owodo's son Ekaladerhan and Oduduwa are the same person, and therefore that the Edo were responsible for the foundation or organization of Ile-Ife. Historians generally see these alternative accounts as recent inventions or distortions of older historical traditions in response to the dynamics of modern Nigerian society.
Whether Oranmiyan was ethnically Yoruba or the son of an Edo exile, his claim to the throne was not universally acknowledged. Ogiamwen, son of Evian, had many supporters in the city's Efa wards, and likely held power when Oranmiyan arrived. A battle ensued between the two sides, with the newcomers, supported by the Edionevbo, entering the city. Despite his victory, Oranmiyan struggled to master the complex politics of the divided kingdom, particularly since he was a foreigner. He married Erinmwinde, daughter of a local chief, and they had a son, Eweka. Exasperated and desiring to rule in Ile-Ife, Oranmiyan abdicated the throne of Benin in favor of his son, saying that only a native could rule effectively.
According to oral and later written tradition, he declared in anger that the state was "Ile-Ibinu", or a "land of vexation", because it was so hard to govern. This is the earliest occurrence of any etymological link to the modern name "Benin".
Eweka was crowned ruler of Ile-Ibinu circa 1200, using special regalia his father sent from Ife. Several local chiefs were appointed to help the young king rule. During his reign, which lasted until roughly 1235, the state became even more centralized. As a compatriot of the first 3 Yoruba rulers in the Ogiso line, Oranmiyan and the new Oba dynasty symbolized, to the Edo people, a restoration of the previous order amidst a period of misrule. The centralization advanced by Eweka over fragmenting chiefdoms, would not be firmly established until the reign of Ewedo, the fourth Oba.
Oba Ewedo was crowned the fourth ruler of the state and is credited with moving the royal palace from Usama to its current location in Edo. He renamed the state from Ile-Ibinu "land of vexation" to Ubini, an Ilaje name meaning "land of inexhaustible resources". This rebranding coincided with a reformed political and administrative system, including a palace bureaucracy, and expanded territorial influence.
In 1440, Oba Ewuare, also known as Ewuare the Great, came to power and expanded the borders of the former city-state. Around 1470, the capital city was renamed to Edo after a royal slave who saved Ewuare's life during an attempted coup. The name of the city was later expanded to the whole state and its people.
The term Bini from the earlier name for the state utilized by the Itsekhiri became popular among the Portuguese and was corrupted to "Benin" by the Portuguese who arrived in an expedition led by João Afonso de Aveiro in 1485. These explorers would refer to the royal center as Benin City.
In the 15th century, Oba Ewuare is credited with turning Benin City into a city-state from a military fortress built by the Ogisos, 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. Excavations also uncovered a rural network of earthen walls 6,000 to 13,000 km (4,000 to 8,000 mi) long that would have taken an estimated 150 million man-hours to build and must have taken hundreds of years to build. These were apparently raised to mark out territories for towns and cities. Thirteen years after Ewuare's death, tales of Benin's splendors lured more Portuguese traders to the city gates.
A series of walls marked the incremental growth of the city from 850 AD until its decline in the 16th century. To enclose his palace, Ewuare commanded the building of Benin's inner wall, an earthen rampart 11 kilometres (7 mi) long girded by a moat 6 m (20 ft) deep. This was excavated in the early 1960s by Graham Connah. Connah estimated that its construction if spread out over five dry seasons, would have required a workforce of 1,000 laborers working ten hours a day, seven days a week. Ewuare also added great thoroughfares and erected nine fortified gateways. Excavations at Benin City have revealed that it was already flourishing around 1200–1300 CE.
In the early 16th century, Oba Esigie expanded the kingdom eastwards, after defeating an invasion and attempted conquest of Benin by the Igala kingdom. Benin gained political strength and ascendancy over much of what is now mid-western Nigeria. Its wealth grew through its extensive trade, especially with the interior of the region, although the trade with Europeans that developed from the late 15th century onwards in pepper, slaves, cloth, and ivory provided a smaller, additional supplement to Benin's wealth, its economy, its technology, and art. Rhineland brass manilla bracelets, offered by Portuguese merchants, for Ivory, Peppers, and Slaves, from 1507 AD, have been found to be the metallic base for the Benin Bronzes, a few of the cast plaques depict the Portuguese merchants, manillas, and the weapons offered as trade goods.
In addition to complete rule over the native Edo people, the Oba of Benin is said to have ruled over some tribes of the Niger Delta including the Western Igbo Tribes, Ijaw, Itshekiri, Isoko and Urhobo amongst others. Benin also possibly held sway over some areas of Eastern Yorubaland, such as Mahin, Ugbo, and parts of Ondo, Ekiti and Ijebu, though scholars believe that the dispersal from Benin into other parts of Yorubaland may have been as refugees. At its height in the 16th century, Benin was active in trade along much of the coastline from the Western Niger Delta, through Lagos reaching almost Accra in the West.
The state developed an advanced artistic culture, especially in its artifacts of brass alloy, iron, and ivory. These include wall plaques and life-sized heads depicting the Obas and Iyobas of Benin. These plaques also included other human, including Portuguese merchants, and animal figures as well as items like ceremonial belts. Ivory was also used, as seen in the carving of ivory into ornate boxes, combs, and armlets. The most well-known artifact is based on Queen Idia, now known as the Benin ivory mask. Ivory masks were meant to be worn around the waist of kings.
Ruling in the late 16th century, Oba Ehengbuda was the last of the warrior kings; after his reign the empire gradually shrank in size, losing control over territories in the west. The end of his reign saw a rise in the power of prominent officials, and during the following decades many Oba's enjoyed short and turbulent reigns as various branches of the royal family fought for position. The death of Oba Ohuan in 1641 may have marked the end of the direct father-to-son line of succession going back to Eweka I. Officials also increasingly controlled the military and trade, as cloth came to replace the previously dominant pepper and ivory as trade commodities.
A civil war broke out around 1689, around the time that Oba Ewuakpe ascended to the throne. Iyase Ode and lower-ranked members of the royal administration revolted against their superiors attempts to control them. The Oba brought in troops from another city but could not defeat the rebels, and Benin city was sacked. The war continued for roughly 10 years before negotiations brought them to an end. Ewuakpe's succession, however, was disputed between his two sons Ozuere and Akenzua. Akenzua and his close ally, a traditional chief who bore the title Ezomo, eventually prevailed over the younger Ozuere and his ally, the Iyase Ode in a decisive battle in 1721. Cleanup and reconquest of rebel areas, however, took another 10 years. With renewed stability in the kingdom and, Oba Akenzua benefited from trade with Europeans and was to be one of the richest obas in the kingdom's history.
Benin's economy was thriving in the early to mid 19th century with the development of the trade in palm oil, and the continuation of the trade in textiles, ivory and other resources. To preserve the kingdom's independence, the Oba gradually banned the export of goods from Benin, until the trade was exclusively in palm oil.
By the latter half of the 19th century, Britain desired a closer relationship with the Kingdom of Benin; as British officials were increasingly interested in controlling trade in the area and in accessing the kingdom's palm oil, kola nut, ivory and potentially rubber resources, following the introduction of Hevea brasiliensis saplings, via Kew Gardens in 1895.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Kingdom of Benin”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.