Walls of Benin

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Walls of Benin were a combination of ramparts and moats, called Iya in the local language, used as a defense of the historical Benin City, formerly of the now defunct Kingdom of Benin and now the capital of the present-day Edo State of Nigeria. It was considered the largest man-made structure lengthwise, second only to the Great Wall of China, and was hailed as the largest earthwork in the world. With more recent work by Patrick Darling [of Bournemouth University, UK], it has been established as the largest man-made structure in the world, larger than Sungbo's Eredo [another massive earthworks in Ijebu Ode]. It enclosed 6,500 km² of community lands. Its length was over 16,000 km of earth boundaries. It was estimated that earliest construction began in 800 AD and continued into the mid 1400's.

Description

The walls are built of a ditch and dike structure; the ditch dug to form an inner moat with the excavated earth used to form the exterior rampart.

The Benin Walls were ravaged by the British in 1897 during what has come to be called the Punitive expedition.

Scattered pieces of the structure remain in Edo, with the vast majority of them being used by the locals for building purposes. Sadly, what remains of the wall itself continues to be torn down for real estate developments.


Fred Pearce wrote in New Scientist:

"They extend for some 16,000 kilometres in all, in a mosaic of more than 500 interconnected settlement boundaries. They cover 6,500 square kilometres and were all dug by the Edo people. In all, they are four times longer than the Great Wall of China, and consumed a hundred times more material than the Great Pyramid of Cheops [in Giza, Egypt]. They took an estimated 150 million hours of digging to construct, and are perhaps the largest single archaeological phenomenon on the planet.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walls_of_Benin



.....................



Imagine if this monument was in England, USA, Germany, Canada, or India? It would be the most visited place on earth, and a tourist mecca for millions of the world's people. A money spinner worth countless billions in annual tourist revenue.

But post-colonial Nigerians, brainwashed to disregard their past, do not care about their history or their ancient glory and achievements, so this monument - the world's largest man-made monument, lies bruised, battered, neglected and forgotten, in the Nigerian bush.

TRAGIC SHAME.

Can we all bow our heads in COLLECTIVE SHAME please.



Benin Wall - A tale of Neglect

http://ihuanedo.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-benin-city-wall-and-moat
http://www.wmf.org/project/benin-city-earthworks

City and Palace

The kingdom of Benin comprised the capital city, that is, metropolitan Benin, and the outlying districts. Just like the metropolis, the Oba of Benin directed the control of these districts from the central government at the capital.

Before its destruction by the British, Benin City possessed an extensive network of streets up to 131 feet wide. A complex city wall system with nine gates, numbering among the most impressive earth structures in the world, protected the city from intruders. The palace compound itself occupied a large part, and is meant to have encompassed a surface area of 1148 x 2133 feet (Nevadomsky 1997).

Apart from these palace grounds encompassed the private living quarters of the king, various reception courts, the quarters of the three palace societies, and the royal harem. At least in the 17th century the wooden pillars supporting the roof of the galleries were decorated with mounted bronze reliefs plaques. In the 19th century the pillars were made of clay, and bore reliefs worked directly into the material. Doors and beams in the royal precinct were in some cases covered with hand-embossed sheet brass, or decorated with inlaid mirrors.

Numerous European visitors reported on the long waiting times before they were admitted to see the king. Access to the monarch was not only impeded by architectural hurdles, but also by the various ranks of dignitaries, who often actually posed an insurmountable obstacle (Plankensteiner 2007: 277).







Early Trade in Benin City

In 1553, English merchants lead by Thomas Wyndham were received in person by the Oba (king), who in turn traded with them in person, a practice common in the sixteenth century and confirmed by Portuguese reports as well (Hakluyt 1589: 53-65). According to a general description of trade written in 1623, Dutch pepper merchants participated in an extensive credit system, including use of written notes, with the two royal officials in charge of trade. Volume was considerable. Just one of the several Dutch ships involved in the Benin trade, the Olyphant, delivered 88,235 pounds of ivory and 1,337 pounds of Benin pepper to Texel, an island in the Netherlands, in 1630 (Van Wassenaer 1630).

The production of cloth was widespread and in local hands. Cotton growing and weaving were extensive throughout the Benin kingdom, as noted by visitors beginning with Welsh in 1588, followed by Ulsheimer in 1601, who noted its sale to Europeans through Lagos, then in Benin's hands, and Ruiters in 1602 (Hakluyt 1589). Samuel Brun, visiting Benin about 1614 noted that Benin made 'very beautiful cloths, which are exported far and wide and sold. Weaving was essentially a home industry, done by women in their spare time, if more recent documentation is any guide. Their cloth was not only for personal use, as the written accounts attest, but for long-distance trade with other African people, thousands of such cloths being shipped annually by the middle of the seventeenth century, either by the inland waterway past Lagos or on European shipping to the Gold Coast (Ratelband 1645). They even turned up, through European shipping connections, among the burial goods of Queen Nzinga of Matamba central Africa in 1663 (Cavazzi 1687: 110-12).

http://wysinger.homestead.com/ogiso.html

I just got off Google Earth. The size of the Benin wall is really amazing. There's an inner wall and then the huge outer wall as shown in the diagram above. Incredible sight clearly visible from space.

I have been amazed by most of your posts on NL. Thanks and God bless you. The black race is the cradle of civilisation no doubt but the problem is how and when did we get it wrong. It is obvious dat colonisation destroyed Africa. Slave trade took away our best brains and colonisation kept us from rediscovering ourselfs. Africa my Africa who did this to us? It is a collective shame indeed.

nice post

Very educating.

I weep each time I take a look at what Africa was and would have been,we allowed ourselves to be made worthless and told we are inferior. We gave them civilisation ,we should unlock the chains that suppress our existence and creativity,we are Africans,we are different,we are great.

OP, is the benin wall as long as the wall of china

Sometimes I wonder what happened to our education system! haba.

1) You are quoting from wikipedia, a good source for info., but u should know by now that its not a source of fact.... Its an open source that anyone (tom,dick&harry)can contribute to
2) How come the so called largest structure in the world is being compared to Sungbo's Eredo! Mehn, u see pyramids, stonehedge, etc and you comparing something built with mud & sticks. FYI, I have read about the benin wall and it was at most 4 feet high and didn't even go round the present benin town.
3) How can a British expedition burn down the wall! Expedition that cannot be more than a 100 men burn down Mankind's largest ever construction. Haba!!

OP, I know its good to project your town and ancestry (bla bla bla bla), but u shouldn't be quick to quote stuff that can't stand up to logic. My apologies for being too blunt, I reviewing someone's crazy CV and I tot I could take a break on NL.

kokosheen: ... . . . . .

OP, I know its good to project your town and ancestry (bla bla bla bla), but u shouldn't be quick to quote stuff that can't stand up to logic. My apologies for being too blunt, I reviewing someone's crazy CV and I tot I could take a break on NL.

adino: I have been amazed by most of your posts on NL. Thanks and God bless you. The black race is the cradle of civilisation no doubt but the problem is how and when did we get it wrong. It is obvious dat colonisation destroyed Africa. Slave trade took away our best brains and colonisation kept us from rediscovering ourselfs. Africa my Africa who did this to us? It is a collective shame indeed.

U got it wrong man.
Its more easier to blame colonization as the problem of africa than facing d real problem.
Problem of africa is caused by africans and spearheaded by their corrupt and greedy leaders.
Don't forget that its not only africa that was colonized. Other ppl like indians where also colonized and slave trade was also engaged there. But whwew are d indians today.
The moment we stop blaming others for our problems, the first step in solving our problem.
Like they teach in school, the first step in problem solving is by first identifying d problem.

kokosheen:
FYI, I have read about the benin wall and it was at most 4 feet high and didn't even go round the present benin town.

This is false.

The "walls" being referred to are a series of connected ramparts and they reached quite a tall height in several places - much more than 4 feet. The entire network of ramparts extends over an area much wider than the present Benin city, by the way.

3) How can a British expedition burn down the wall! Expedition that cannot be more than a 100 men burn down Mankind's largest ever construction. Haba!!

The expedition was more than 100 men, and they didn't burn down the "wall". The ramparts deteriorated gradually from not being kept up and from being used for building material.

OP, I know its good to project your town and ancestry (bla bla bla bla)

The OP is not a Benin person, but Igbo (so he did not start the thread to promote his town/ancestry from available information).

No Benin person has started a topic on this wall on this forum at any point.

I respect the achievements of my ancestors, but I don't see the point of heavily emphasizing or bragging about something which did not really survive well into the present for everybody to see and which we failed to maintain or preserve.

kokosheen: Sometimes I wonder what happened to our education system! haba.

1) You are quoting from wikipedia, a good source for info., but u should know by now that its not a source of fact.... Its an open source that anyone (tom,dick&harry)can contribute to
2) How come the so called largest structure in the world is being compared to Sungbo's Eredo! Mehn, u see pyramids, stonehedge, etc and you comparing something built with mud & sticks. FYI, I have read about the benin wall and it was at most 4 feet high and didn't even go round the present benin town.
3) How can a British expedition burn down the wall! Expedition that cannot be more than a 100 men burn down Mankind's largest ever construction. Haba!!

OP, I know its good to project your town and ancestry (bla bla bla bla), but u shouldn't be quick to quote stuff that can't stand up to logic. My apologies for being too blunt, I reviewing someone's crazy CV and I tot I could take a break on NL.

Wait now . . . later we go read say Africans built statues taller in height than the famous status of king Nebuchadnezzar, in villages across the continent, but the horrible, jealous white man did not like having large images of black-men stare back down at them,and so destroyed them all with dynamite.

Kobojunkie:
Wait now . . . later we go read say Africans built statues higher than that of Nebuchadnezzar, all over their villages but the white man did not like having large images of blackmen in existence and so destroyed them all with dynamite.

If there was stone in plentiful amounts everywhere, and if it could keep rooms insulated like earth could, several parts of West Africa would have structures like the Nalatale ruins, the Khami ruins, or great Zimbabwe remaining today. Those were not destroyed by dynamite, they were built by Africans, and everyone can see much of what's left of them today - thus it makes sense to mention them extensively and emphasize them. Not so for the Benin walls, in my opinion.

PhysicsQED:

If there was stone in plentiful amounts everywhere, and if it could keep rooms insulated like earth could, several parts of West Africa would have structures like the Nalatale ruins, the Khami ruins, or great Zimbabwe remaining today. Those were not destroyed by dynamite, they were built by Africans, and everyone can see much of what's left of them today - thus it makes sense to mention them extensively and emphasize them. Not so for the Benin walls, in my opinion.

@Kokosheen, see what I mean? Na so the weaving they begin ooo . . . I minute na if statements, the next step na to tell us say na true! ROFLMAO!!

I tell you what, if you give these people pen, dem go re-write African history well well, and blame it all on the whiteman. Oh wait!! That is already the case . . . lol

Kobojunkie:

Wait now . . . later we go read say Africans built statues taller in height than the famous status of king Nebuchadnezzar, in villages across the continent, but the horrible, jealous white man did not like having large images of black-men stare back down at them,and so destroyed them all with dynamite.

the Benin walls were made of earth dug off the ground to make a trap-like hole as a defensive mechanism (what Machiaveli refered to as Fortification in "The Art of War".... i saw 9 gates here, buh, it's actualy 10 Gates, now each gate had an earth wall that enemies struggled to climb, only to drop down into a large hole at the other side....i wonder how the British invaded though..
You know what i see here, creativiy and war Strategic thinking....Africa were never as Dull and backward as the Whites make us to Believe, We were just rubbed of our history and innovations and Creativity!

cashmentor: the Benin walls were made of earth dug off the ground to make a trap-like hole as a defensive mechanism (what Machiaveli refered to as Fortification in "The Art of War" ....i saw 9 gates here, buh, it's actualy 10 Gates, now each gate had an earth wall that enemies struggled to climb, only to drop down into a large hole at the other side....i wonder how the British invaded though..
You know what i see here, creativiy and war Strategic thinking....Africa were never as Dull and backward as the Whites make us to Believe, We were just rubbed of our history and innovations!

What you have above is what I tag "useless information". I didn't ask of the wall which many already know of. What is in question are the 'new' twists on the story of the wall and what became of it.

Also, I don't know which white-man told you that Africa was a dull and backward place, because even they did not believe that and the fact that many of them moved down to live in Africa, and still do to this day, speaks volumes of what they really thought of the place then and even now.

Anyways, let me not knock your "throw the white-man under the bus so you can scrape out some glory for the black-man" exercise. I am entertained.

Kobojunkie:

@Kokosheen, see what I mean? Na so the weaving they begin ooo . . . I minute na if statements, the next step na to tell us say na true! ROFLMAO!!

I tell you what, if you give these people pen, dem go re-write African history well well, and blame it all on the whiteman. Oh wait!! That is already the case . . . lol

I'm just stating my opinion, not trying to force you to accept it as a fact. Look at the great mosque of Djenne - the largest single adobe building in the world. Do you think that they wouldn't have built it of stone if that were really the optimal building material for them? They built it according to their circumstances.

The Nupe capital of Raba was described as a large and extensive city by a European visitor, but what remains of the precolonial parts of that city today? Little to nothing.

I was just saying that cities and ruins of cities in stone would be seen frequently in West Africa if that were really the optimal building material for the area. It's my opinion. Take it or leave it.

@Kobojunkie,Then stop making it seem as if Africa can do nothing other than talk-talk, and blames! It's complete waste exchanging words with you, so unstable!

cashmentor: @Kobojunkie,Then stop making it seem as if Africa can do nothing other than talk-talk, and blames! It's complete waste exchanging words with you, so unstable!

I don't do any of what you accuse me of above. That job is all yours, not mine. I simply comment on what I see happening. Read the article and you immediately see that the one doing the blaming is not me, but the @Poster, and you. Blame, blame, blame!!! In most every version of the stories told here, Africans are almost always the "VICTIMS".

I didn't ask any question of you, neither did I ask your analysis. All I have done is post my view of the story from where I sit . . Or are you insinuating that I have no right to point out a VICTIM card when I see yet another one being played?

@PhysicsQED, your username sounds smart, so I expect you to be. How come all these wonders were NEVER recorded by us blacks but through all those "by a European visitor" sightings.
you should know by now that the unit of measure in those "ol-days" are much smaller than what we use today. U're repping physics, 300 cubits used for Noah's ark is how many meters now and THAT vessel is supposed to be massive to hold 2 of every animal existing. Goes to show how everything is relative to its time. Yes, the benin wall might have been massive to the people that constructed it, but compared to the wall of China, the tin na rabbit fence na.

Also, the wall was made of clay & sticks abi? that tells so much about the type of embankment and enemies they were fighting against. That wall type is so dark ages that the British invaders would have been like LOL.

@cashmentor, what can I say, hmmmmmm, please have you ever ever ever seen the book "art of war" before I don't think so and please stop quoting what you don't know. By the way, the author is Sun Tzu. Machiavelli wrote "The Prince", nice book, go and read it.

@Kobojunkie, I tire ooooo.

kokosheen: @PhysicsQED, your username sounds smart, so I expect you to be.

Can you leave personal attacks out of this? This is not about me or you, but about your statements being factually incorrect. I corrected you, that's all.

How come all these wonders were NEVER recorded by us blacks but through all those "by a European visitor" sightings.

First, in those black societies that were literate such as Islamic societies, details about those societies were sometimes written down. In those that were not literate, obviously they weren't. Simple. Now literacy in those times was mostly due to the diffusion of older systems of writing from dead civilizations to newer civilizations. This diffusion is mostly based on geography. For example, neither the English nor the French created a writing system. Their alphabet derives from a system of writing that came from Romans through the Greeks who got it from the Phoenicians, who got it as a modification of Egyptian hieroglyphics.

Now in the case of the Volga Vikings (Europeans), a visit from one Ahmad ibn Fadlan, an Arab, gives us the written records we have of what they (the Volga Vikings) were doing at the particular time that he visited. The writings of Ahmad ibn Rustah, a visiting Persian, also give us first hand info on what they were doing. This is a similar situation to what we have to rely on as far as some places in West Africa.

Second, the irony here is that if all the achievements or descriptions of places had been written down by blacks, some of them would be dismissed as mere lies by some people today both black and white. The fact that people from some of the groups that went on to degrade blacks and were so quick to paint some of the most negative pictures of blacks known are the ones actually being cited or quoted when these ancient places are talked about is actually somewhat useful as far as making the positive claims and positive descriptions seem more objective.

you should know by now that the unit of measure in those "ol-days" are much smaller than what we use today. U're repping physics, 300 cubits used for Noah's ark is how many meters now and THAT vessel is supposed to be massive to hold 2 of every animal existing.

You didn't understand my comment.

What I mean is that the Europeans, both back then and now (the archaeologists), gave a much larger height for the ramparts than the nonsense you cooked up. The units of measure they gave then and now are known and understood. Stop cooking up weird excuses and just admit that you didn't know what you were talking about.

Goes to show how everything is relative to its time. Yes, the benin wall might have been massive to the people that constructed it, but compared to the wall of China, the tin na rabbit fence na.

I never compared it to the great wall of China and neither did any African. That's purely the work of modern oyibos who are trying to emphasize (and not doing a good job at it, I might add), the huge amount of material that needed to be moved to construct the ramparts. It's not of any concern to me how they stand in relation to the great wall of China since I never made any comparison.

Also, the wall was made of clay & sticks abi? that tells so much about the type of embankment and enemies they were fighting against. That wall type is so dark ages that the British invaders would have been like LOL.

It wasn't a wall, but a series of ramparts. It's a different thing from what we would really call a wall and serves a distinct purpose. I put wall in quotes because of that and that's why I'm a bit annoyed at all the mentions of "walls". It's misleading. A rampart may be defined as a "wall", but when one calls them walls, it gives a misleading impression on what to expect or on what they would have looked like.

The ramparts were not particularly relevant to the British invasion for the simple fact that the British had native African guides and informants that informed them of how to go to straight into Benin.

kokosheen: @PhysicsQED, your username sounds smart, so I expect you to be. How come all these wonders were NEVER recorded by us blacks but through all those "by a European visitor" sightings.
you should know by now that the unit of measure in those "ol-days" are much smaller than what we use today. U're repping physics, 300 cubits used for Noah's ark is how many meters now and THAT vessel is supposed to be massive to hold 2 of every animal existing. Goes to show how everything is relative to its time. Yes, the benin wall might have been massive to the people that constructed it, but compared to the wall of China, the tin na rabbit fence na.

Also, the wall was made of clay & sticks abi? that tells so much about the type of embankment and enemies they were fighting against. That wall type is so dark ages that the British invaders would have been like LOL.

@cashmentor, what can I say, hmmmmmm, please have you ever ever ever seen the book "art of war" before I don't think so and please stop quoting what you don't know. By the way, the author is Sun Tzu. Machiavelli wrote "The Prince", nice book, go and read it.

@Kobojunkie, I tire ooooo.

ok, come teach Strategy? Over sabi!
Sun Tzu wrote "Art of War" 500 B.C.
Thucydides- "The Peloponnesian War" 460-404 B.C.
Machiaveli: 1469-1527 - "Art Of War" (which was more modern, due to it's rationality and Realism". Considered one of the Best Book on Millitary & warfare!
his other book was The Prince"

ok, now go and read it, good book on leadership and power! Over sabi...

Why I'm I hearing about the wall of Benin for the very first time. This is another cooked up attempt to make ourt past look glorious and something toi be proud of instead of thinking of how to get Africa out of darkness. Very soon we'll hear that the first spaceship was built in Onitsha but was stolen by the Rsussians. Benin wall ko Abakaliki rice ni. Abeg, let's stop all these lies.

^^^Just coz you don't know doesn't mean there was never a wall (fence) made up of earth?

@PhysiccsQED and Rossikk et al

Thanks for putting this up and staunchly defending it against uninformed critics who would tear at their own panties to reveal their dangling balls.

CRITICS

Unfortunately, NL is not known as a place where intellects actually debate issues in other to arrive at solid constructs (even me sef, am guilty of this wen on this site)


STRATEGIC SIGNIFICANCE

Benin walls, ramps or moats as they are famously reffered to in Benin are definitely a biggie in the anals of the worlds history of civilization. That they were breached by the british does not in any way de-emphasise their monumental and strategic value (even to this day). Afterall, stories abound of how great civilizations with with sophisticated defence systems were breached. The biblical narration of the invasion of Babylon shows that the city was breached from a stream flowing thru it (hope i remember correctly). America's defences where breached on a monumental scale during the 9/11 attack. In fact, if that attack was carried out by a foreign nation with intent to destroy it, they most likely would have succeced bearing in mind the flaws in US scenario analysis for such situation).



SE.XING UP HISTORY

like I said, this is not a forum for deep intellectual debates, so I won't go into much details. But we must understand that one of the intellectual creativity that sets the west and developed nations apart is their ability to se.x up history. This is what we in Nigeria appear to fail in doing to our own history while we chase after the history of other nations even mentioning them in programs like "who wants to be a millionaire".

Do u really think that those stuff we watch on TV of great roman empires, zeus, golden chariots with sterlin streets, well nourished horses were really the case. Nope, the weren't. But they do serve a function of translating the glory as it were back then to how it would be if it were now. In order words, if u were alive back then, and looked in awe at those events, the aim is to make u feel that awe in the present were ur ability to be awed by such events have been diminished by skyscrappers and spacecrafts.

So please guys, sheath ur na.ked dangling balls back into its sack clothes were they belong and appreciate the efforts of these gentlemen.

One of the reasons why archaeology will never take off in Black Africa is this thread and the comments.

Africans have been fed certain ideas of their history and based on this will never conduct any investigative fields to verify or counter these notions.

We have taken it all in, hook, line and sinker. Like the foreign religions and other myths that serve no good.


Oya na.... let's forget the past all together since it's all BS (as far as only Black Africa goes) and only face the future - after all stuff like this is "blaming the white man for our failures."

cashmentor: ^^^Just coz you don't know doesn't mean there was never a wall (fence) made up of earth?

You wey know. Do you have any concrete proof that such existed?

afam4eva:
Do you have any concrete proof that such existed?

Take a flight to Benin and ask anyone to show you what remains of the Great Benin Moats? Now littered with dirts!

afam4eva:
You wey know. Do you have any concrete proof that such existed?

lol.

This is some evidence: As a kid, I looked down at a portion of the 'moat', and it was scary and I can still remember it vividly. This actually got me to studying more about it. The 'valley' portion of the part that I looked down on was still deep, probably some 20something feet, while the 'mound' part wasn't that high.

For anyone that understands the physical and social sciences especially as it relates to this region of africa , it should come naturally to the person that weathering mainly due to erosion would have taken its toll on it through the hundreds of years of its existence. It would also make sense that unregulated builders would have maxed out the 'mound' parts to provide cheap laterite fillings for building construction work.

Hope this helps u Thomas

@cashmentor, You are right, Machiavelli wrote another 'art of war' not as popular as Sun Tzu's, but I'll read it. cheers

@PhysicsQED, whatever comments I've made is with respect to the topic, stop quoting 13th warrior to me - I know the history. You're defending moats/walls/ramparts (I don't know which one it will end up as, the way this thread is going) as being Mankind's largest ever construction (topic) and I'm correcting the OP and not spewing nonsense.

kokosheen:
@PhysicsQED, whatever comments I've made is with respect to the topic, stop quoting 13th warrior to me - I know the history. You're defending moats/walls/ramparts (I don't know which one it will end up as, the way this thread is going) as being Mankind's largest ever construction (topic) and I'm correcting the OP and not spewing nonsense.

Can you stop with the blatant dishonesty already?

I never defended the OP and I don't care what the largest ever construction was. I was responding to false statements by you. You can't correct exaggerations or misleading statements by spewing out more buckets of falsehood.

And what the hell does 13th warrior have to do with anything? You're referencing some silly Hollywood movie while I'm talking about real people and events. Man, just grow up and take correction.