The Genius of the Benin Kingdom

The Genius of the Benin Kingdom book cover — the The benius of benin KINGDOM INNOVATIONS FROM PAST CIVILIZATIONS SONYA NEWLAND CRABTREE PUBLISHING COMPANY WWW.CRABTREEBOOKS.COM

The Genius of the Benin Kingdom — page 1 — THE BENIN KINGDOM Where and when The Benin Kingdom began around 900 C E when the Edo peoples of West Africa settled in the rain forests of what is now Nigeria At the beginning of this civilization the Edo lived in many separate villages Over time these communities grew to form a strong and united kingdom the Edo called Igodomigodo The first kings were called Ogisos This period of Ogiso rule is known as the first dynasty of the kingdom The Ogisos lost power around 1180 After a brief period without kings a second dynasty began The new rulers were called Obas Igodomigodo then became known as the Benin Kingdom This map shows the Benin Kingdom as well as some of the surrounding kingdoms 4

The Genius of the Benin Kingdom — page 2 — Benin at its height Under the Obas Benin became a wealthy and successful empire centered on its great capital Benin City The Edo people enjoyed successful trading relationships with other African kingdoms and later with several European countries For 200 years a series of strong warrior kings kept their citizens safe and protected the empire from attack by neighboring kingdoms What happened In the 1600s after a succession of weak Obas the kingdom began to decline By the 1800s Benin was no longer the great empire it had once been This made it an easy target for greedy outsiders The British wanted access to Benin’s natural resources such as rubber and palm oil In 1897 the British invaded the Benin Kingdom and burned Benin City to the ground Benin then became part of the British Empire A British invasion in 1897 ended the Kingdom of Benin The people of Benin became famous for their works of art The Benin Bronzes are a series of sculptures and plaques from Benin’s royal palace that were taken by the British 5

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