“Great Benin, where the king resides, is larger than Lisbon; all the streets run straight and as far as the eye can see. The houses are large, especially that of the king, which is richly decorated and has fine columns. The city is wealthy and industrious. It is so well governed that theft is unknown and the people live in such security that they have no doors to their houses.”

“Houses are built alongside the streets in good order, the one close to the other,… Adorned with gables and steps … they are usually broad with long galleries inside, especially so in the case of the houses of the nobility, and divided into many rooms which are separated by walls made of red clay, very well erected.”


Dapper goes on to note that the wealthy inhabitants of the city would keep these walls “as shiny and smooth by washing and rubbing as any wall in Holland can be made with chalk, and they are like mirrors. The upper storeys are made of the same sort of clay. Moreover, every house is provided with a well for the supply of fresh water”.

Little Back Story

The Kingdom of Benin is known also as the Benin Empire or the Edo Kingdom. According to one oral tradition, the Edo people, the original ethnic group of the Kingdom of Benin, were once ruled by a line of semi-mythical kings known as the Ogisos (meaning “Kings of the Sky”). There were about 36 Ogisos who ruled over the Edo people. During the reign of the last Ogiso, his son and heir, Ekaladerhan, was banished, as punishment for an offence committed by one of the queens. The queen had changed the message from the oracle to the Ogiso.




Following his banishment, the prince travelled to the land of the Yorubas, another ethnic group in the western part of modern-day Nigeria. The oracle of the Yorubas prophesied that a king would come out of the forest. Therefore, when Ekaladerhan arrived at the Yoruba city of Ife, he was welcomed, and appointed king. Ekaladerhan changed his name to Imadoduwa, meaning “I did not misplace my royalty”

After some time, Imadoduwa’s father died, and the throne of Benin was left vacant. A delegation of Edo chiefs came to Ife to ask Imadoduwa to return to their lands and take the place of his father as Ogiso. Whilst he had been a prince, Imadoduwa was well-loved by the Edo people.

Imadoduwa, however, would not abandon his new subjects. Instead, he told the Edo delegation that he had seven sons and was willing to send one of them to rule as king. The prince chosen to return with the delegation was Oranmiyan, who spent the next few years living amongst the Edo people. When Oranmiyan’s wife gave birth to a son, Eweka, Oranmiyan returned to Ife. Eweka became the first oba (roughly equivalent to king) of Benin.

Nice History

Let's give it up for the one and only Sorcererrrrr

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Nice one

Banned!!!