The Kingdom of Benin

THE KINGDOM OF BENIN Written by Philip Steele

Contents Land and people 2 The age of kings 10 Everyday life 18 Arts and crafts 26 Culture and customs 34 Changing times 42 Benin’s legacy 50 Glossary 52 Index 53 Timeline 54

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Land and people Benin, or Edo, was a small country in West Africa. It became united as a kingdom over 1,000 years ago. After the 1440s its rulers conquered other lands, and it grew into a rich and powerful empire. Its capital was Benin City, in what is now Edo State, Nigeria. The modern nation of Benin, to the west of Nigeria, was not a part of this ancient kingdom.

The Edo people still live in Nigeria today.

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YORUBA LANDS

Oyo Ife

Udo

EDO LANDS BENIN

IGBO LANDS

Gulf of Guinea Benin kingdom Edo-speaking peoples How Benin grew from the 1400s to 1600s.

The people of Benin were called the Edo, and they spoke the Edo language. They were traders, farmers, hunters and warriors. They made some of the finest art ever produced in Africa, working with metals and ivory.

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West Africa’s regions West Africa is bordered to the west and south by the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Guinea. It can be divided into three main zones. In the north (Zone 1) there are dry and dusty lands, bordering the Sahara desert. In the central regions (Zone 2) there are high, rocky plateaus and areas of open grasslands and trees called savannah. In the south (Zone 3) the climate is hot and humid, and there are large areas of rainforest. Oil palms grow in the red earth.

(Zone 1)

Sahara Desert WEST AFRICA River Niger

(Zone 2)

Benin City

Gulf of Guinea

(Zone 3)

Desert Wooded and grassy savannah Rainforest

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The forest kingdom The Benin kingdom was in the south, in the rainforest zone.

The area covered by forest has varied greatly over the ages, as trees have been cleared or grown back again. In the days of the kingdom, the forest was home to crocodiles, chimpanzees and elephants. To the south of Benin, there were mangrove swamps, and to the north,

Did you know?

the savannah.

Benin City has a tropical climate.

There is heavy rainfall in September but it is dry in January. It is very hot all the year round, soaring above 32°C in February and March.

West Africa’s longest river, the Niger, flowed around the east of the kingdom.

Rainforest and elephants can still be seen at the Okumu National Park, northwest of Benin City.

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THE IRON AGE IN WEST AFRICA Ancient civilisations grew up in West Africa long before Benin became a kingdom. In the savannah zone, to the north of Benin, people of the Nok culture had learnt how to work and shape iron by about 550

BCE.

These iron working skills were eventully passed on to the peoples living in the rainforest, including the Edo. Iron tools made it easier for them to clear parts of the forest, to plant crops and build villages.

Iron was they key to their success.

Did you know?

This head was made of clay by people of the Nok culture, over 2,500 years ago.

The Edo language has an ancient history and is still spoken today by over a million people.

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Peoples of the forest We know little about the origins of the rainforest peoples.

They kept no written records. Their history was passed on by word of mouth, by story tellers and poets. Over the ages it became mixed up with myths and legends. The Edo people believe that their history stretches back over thousands of years.

The Edo were one of several forest tribes who spoke different languages, but shared similar ways of life. Their close connections were with the neighbouring Yoruba who lived in the area to the north west of Benin. The history of these two peoples overlapped at many times, linked by politics, religious beliefs and technology.

Edo children listened to ancient tales about the history of their people.

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The first villages Edo society was organised into clans, groups of people descended from the same ancestor. The first forest villages were settled by people of the same clan. These settlements grew larger. Some of them joined up with other clans in order to trade more effectively, or defend their lands from attack.

Some battled against others for power.

Elders and kings According to tradition, each age group in society had different duties to carry out. It was up to the older men, the elders, to serve as village leaders. Some elders began to rule over wider areas as chiefs. In the end, settlements joined together under a king, who ruled from a capital city.

It was the Yoruba people to the northwest of Benin who set up the first powerful kingdom in the region, perhaps as early as the 600s

CE.

It was called Ife. Ife had a big influence on

the Edo and their way of life.

By the 900s

CE

the Edo too had founded their own kingdom,

named Igodomigodo. It was later known as Edo, Ubinu or Benin.

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The leopard was a symbol of royal power in Benin.

This one is made of ivory and copper.

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The age of kings The Edo believed that their first kings were descended from Osanobua, a god who came down from the sky to create the world. They called them the Ogiso, meaning “Sky Kings�.

According to legend, the first of the Sky Kings was called Igodo.

He was respected as a wise and popular ruler, who helped the Edo people win power and influence in the forest region.

He ruled for many years and was followed as king by his eldest son, Ere. The Ogiso held great power, although elders still acted as local chiefs and official advisers. The kings built big earthworks and walls to defend towns and villages and mark out territory. Under their rule, the Edo were trading over long distances and learning new metal-working skills.

Court officials guarded the entrance to the royal palace in Benin City.

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A change of rule We cannot be sure when the Ogiso dynasty began, but we know it came to a sudden end in the 1100s. There are different stories about what happened.

Some say that Owodo, the last Sky King, was thrown out by the Edo people, and that a council of chiefs invited a prince of Ife called Oranmiyan to rule in his place. Some stories say that Oranmiyan was actually the son of an Edo prince who had fled to Ife after a quarrel at the palace in Benin.

Legends say that Oranmiyan brought the first horses to the Benin kingdom.

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The Obas Oranmiyan came to Benin and married an Edo woman, but he later left and founded a new Yoruba kingdom called Oyo. His son Eweka was crowned king of Benin in about 1200.

Eweka was the first of a line of rulers to take the title Oba, a Yoruba word for “king”, and he reigned until about 1246.

His dynasty survives today, after more than eight centuries.

Struggles for power The first Obas still had to deal with councils of chiefs (the Uzama), who often opposed their plans. Oba Ewedo, who reigned from about 1260 to 1274, was challenged by a chief called Ogiamien. The Oba used his warriors to defeat the rebel.

He reduced the powers of the chiefs (by introducing two other separate bodies of chiefs – the Palace Chiefs and the Town Chiefs), and made it clear that the Oba ruled all the country.

This brass head shows an Oba of the 1700s.

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Power in the Benin Kingdom OBA THE ROYAL FAMILY

Uzama Membership of this council of chiefs was passed on from father to son.

Their job was to secure the constitution and the succession.

Palace Chiefs These chiefs ran the royal household and its ceremonies.

Town Chiefs These chiefs ran the city villages.

Benin bronze head forr the altars of Obas.

THE PEOPLE

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