Kingdom of Benin

The Kingdom of Benin grew in the forest region of what is now Edo State in southern Nigeria. It is a different place from the modern Republic of Benin. Its rulers, the Obas, built one of the most organised states in West Africa.

Under Oba Ewuare in the 15th century the kingdom expanded and Benin City was rebuilt with walls and moats. Together the earthworks of the city and surrounding region were among the largest ever built, larger than the walls that later surrounded London.

The royal court supported a guild of brass and bronze-casters who made plaques, heads and figures recording kings, queen mothers and court life. Queen Mother Idia, who helped her son Oba Esigie win his wars in the early 1500s, is one of the most famous figures in this art.

In 1897 a British punitive expedition burned Benin City and looted thousands of these works, which were scattered to museums and private collections around the world. Some have now begun to return, and the Oba of Benin still reigns as a traditional ruler today.