Benin, Early Kingdom of

Source:

 Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience, Second Edition

Benin, Early Kingdom of

The early kingdom of Benin gained prominence in the fifteenth century under the rule of the Oba or king, Ewuare. Ewuare established the empire’s political organization and consolidated its territory by conquering Yoruba territory to the west and Igbo land to the east. Despite the arrival of Portuguese merchants in the late fifteenth century, the kingdom maintained independence from European control. Under Oba Ewuare, as well as under the next two obas, relationships between the people of Benin and the Portuguese were largely peaceful and cooperative.

The empire grew in the sixteenth century under the rule of Oba Esigie. Like many of the great African empires, Benin was intimately involved in the slave trade; various border conflicts and civil disturbances were exploited to send large numbers of non-Benin Africans to the Americas. The empire’s power waned throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as neighboring Yoruba states, especially the Oyo kingdom, gained prominence. In 1897 the British took the city of Benin, forcing Oba Ovonramwen into exile and effectively ending Benin’s independence. In 1900 Benin was incorporated into British colonial administration within the Protectorate of Southern Nigeria. Although the position of oba is not obsolete, the present-day Benin oba has only an advisory role in the government. The story of the defeat of the Benin empire is told in Ovonramwen Nogbaisi (1973), a tragic drama by the Nigerian playwright and director Olawale Rotimi.

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