₦airaland Forum

Rossikk: GO ON GOOGLE EARTH. ALSO CHECK GOOGLE EARTH FOR THE BENIN RAMPARTS. You can see these constructions on Google Earth, ie FROM OUTER SPACE. They are THAT huge. The Benin earthworks were constructed on the orders of Oba Ewuare (Ewuare the Great) in the 13th century. The rampart took over 300 years to complete and covers a total of 16,000 sq km, making it the world's largest and most extensive man-made edifice till date.

Do we have the social organisation, political stability, or even the confidence to embark on such an epic project today?

Didn't even know about the Bini ramparts until today. I think we should open a thread about historical sights in Nigeria where people can contribute to, we need to learn about our past, inspire our youths, show them that Africans are not the savages we read about in books.

Once we change our mindset then we can move forward.

afam4eva: When will all these lies end for Christ sake...Africa is a third world continent. let's work on making things better than than console ourselves with the fact that we were advanced at one point in our existence.

How and when did our history become lies? Google is your friend if you want pictures or better still visit the place yourself. I plan to one day when I'm less busy with work.

Eredo means ditch in Yoruba and this particular ancient city is located in the rain forests of Ijebu.

Tony Spike: Good post, I was just thinking about this EREDO name, it seems it has a relationship with the Babylonian ERIDU. I'll soon start a thread I researched on at the History section. I'd like you to read it....

I'm looking forward to reading your thread, I love history.

I stumbled upon this and the most fascinating thing about it is; we had storey buildings in Nigeria before the British landed on our shores.

Eredo: The Largest City in the Ancient World by Robin Walker

On 23 May 1999, the Sunday Times carried an astonishing article entitled Jungle reveals traces of Sheba's fabled kingdom. Over the next few days many other papers followed suit. Even the Daily Mail one day later asked "Was the Queen of Sheba really a Black woman from Nigeria?" As the evidence emerged, however, the queen of Sheba link proved to be hype. The real Sheba was an Ethiopian queen who lived three thousand years ago. What was undeniable, however, was that the southern Nigerian rainforests had an even more amazing secret to tell. The secret was this. During the Middle Ages, Africans built by far the largest city the world had ever seen. In size, this city dwarfed Baghdad, Cairo, Cordoba and Rome. The achievement was on a scale even bigger that that of the Great Pyramid of Giza, Africa's most celebrated monument.

At one time, scholars used to divide the three thousand-year history of southern Nigeria into four great cultural periods. They used to speak of the Nok Culture, the Igbo-Ukwu Culture, the Yoruba Kingdoms and the Benin Empire. This view was boldly challenged by the findings of a team of Bournemouth University scholars led by archaeologist Dr Patrick Darling. Since 1994, the team discovered and mapped the remains of yet another Nigerian kingdom, this time covered by centuries of forest overgrowth. Barnaby Phillips of the BBC described the discoveries as possibly "Africa's largest single monument." As we shall see, this is typical British understatement.

At Eredo, in south western Nigeria, Darling's team found a huge earthen wall with moated sections. This encircled an ancient kingdom or city. From the ditch to the summit of the rampart measured a towering 70 feet. According to Mark Macaskill of the Sunday Times, the rampart was "100 mile[s]" long and formed a rough circle, enclosing "more than 400 square miles." The building was on a truly epic scale. The builders shifted 3.5 million cubic metres of earth to build just the rampart alone. According to the BBC this is, incidentally, "one million cubic metres more than the amount of rock and earth used in the Great Pyramid at Giza." Therefore Eredo's construction is estimated to have "involved about one million more man-hours that were necessary to build the Great Pyramid." The ramparts may indicate the boundary of the original Ijebu kingdom that was ruled by a spiritual leader called the "Awujale". Macaskill, however, disagrees. He describes Eredo as a "city". If he is correct, this would make Eredo one of the very largest cities in all of human history. It was larger than modern London, and was definitely the largest city built in the ancient and mediaeval world.

Among the discoveries, a three-story ruin has been tentatively identified as the royal palace. It had living quarters, shrines and courtyards. It is possible that thousands of smaller buildings are still concealed by the forests. These will be mapped in time. Radiocarbon dating has so far established that the buildings and walls were more than 1,000 years old. Dates such as 800 AD have been given as a good ball-park figure.

People who live near the ruined kingdom or city today have traditions that a wealthy and childless queen, Bilikisu Sungbo, built the city. Some say that she built the city as a religious offering. It is also claimed that Sungbo's territory had a gold and ivory trade. Moreover, her royal household are said to have kept eunuchs. Portuguese documents dating back 500 years, allude to the power of an Ijebu kingdom that some scholars think is possibly this very one. Today, the ruins continue to be of great importance. There are yearly pilgrimages to Sungbo's grave.

Despite this great African achievement it is, however, disconcerting to note that racist theories are already being formulated about this kingdom. For example, Barnaby Phillips wrote that the building of Eredo was: "carried out by people who could not read or write, and with only the most basic of tools. Thousands of labourers - probably slaves - must have toiled in the thick rain forests and dark labyrinth swamps for years."

Naturally, he offers no evidence for the assertions of slavery and illiteracy. On the other hand, the evidence of iron smelting and the other highly advanced metallurgical activities for which the Nigerian civilisations were world leaders seems to disprove the notion that the builders had only basic tools at their disposal.

On a happy note, Dr Darling, the leader of the archaeological team, suggested that Eredo may well gain World Heritage Status. This will put the Eredo kingdom or city on an equal footing with other African marvels such as the Pyramids of Giza and the city of Djenné. It also places this great achievement on a footing with other great marvels from around the world such as Stonehenge.

afam4eva: I'll like to know if Kae Kazim has Nigerian blood because he's been featuring in numerous Nigerian movies and he attends the Ama awards almost every year.

He was born in Nigeria in 1962. Don't know if his parents are Nigerians though.

SimonAndal: Sarah Wayne Callies.....isn't she Dr. Tancredi from Prison Break?

Yes she is.

I'm not a fan of Tinubu but this article is trash.

floriana: Waoh! If we pursue this any further, we may end up with the theory that indeed God is the original Eze Ndigbo Gburu gburu! Na wah o.

I swear NL ibos are a special breed.

Aare Musiwa, future presido of 'wester niger' abeg no kill person with your comedy abeg...where are the maps sef?

Dede1: It is not silly by any stretch of imagination. Do you think I give a rat-arse if the cesspit called Nigeria is divided into 300 countries? I wish Bakassi people will succeed in achieving independence, a feat few misguided trolls would have been asking how many countries will come out of the crumbled Nigeria.

Of course 300 more tiny countries senselessly at war with each other with enough resources to serve our western masters is what Africa needs right now.

You're drunk on hate, its really clouding your reasoning.

Dede1: Bloody jokes!!!!! Regional autonomy based on what if I may ask? Anything short of total disintegration of Nigeria into ethnic nationality or mutually agreed union of people with cultural proximity is a silly postulation.

And disintegration into ethnic nationalities is not silly? Do you know how many ethnic groups exist in Nigeria?

I experience this a lot like 3ce a week sef, but once you navigate to another page it usualy corrects itself, hope Seun and his team find a way to resolve this as soon as possible before baby hackers are tempted to hone their exploitation skills on Naija's most important forum.

BTW: I use 21st century not etisalat.

joeyfire: No need to run after your own shadow on this. The Sydney herald is an australian conservative, pro-government paper. Australia is a commonwealth country and in the 1960's the commonwealth charter was much stronger than it is today. The article took an event, polished it and spun a headline grabber to feed the pangs of its target audience.

As for the bolded, you just showed where your focus is. This is NOT about igbos, it is about biafra nd ojukwu at the end of the war. focus bro

So are you saying Ojukwu and Biafrans were not Igbos?

Except you have any evidence otherwise, you have no justification to call the Sydney herald's story false just because they published an unflattering report about people you held in high esteem.

joeyfire: I don't know what this means, could you shed some light cos it has no bearing on what we're talking about here -

"..and Ikemba and his troops were Hausa's fighting for secession right? :/ "

My God!!! Do I have to explain what sarcasm is to you? I think its obvious I wrote that in response to your statement that this has nothing to do with the igbos.

joeyfire: Your post is dripping with tribalism because nobody is playing victim on this thread. There are no pre-conceived notions here. The facts speak for themselves. I don't need to read a history book to know that the Sydney Herald is a conservative paper with pro-government viewpoints. The same way daily times was pro-government before it ran aground. Or that new nigerian newspaper was pro-north

Some biafran soldier brazenly hijacks a plane and suddenly its supposed to be ground breaking news Or a truck driver mistakenly kils people and suddenly biafran troops were "killing their own people" its funny how the british propaganda machine didn't publicise the raping of several french and irish nurses in biafra by hausa troops.

I think you should go through the news clipping because I think YOUR position is pre-conceived

What facts speak for themselves bro? So because Sydney herald published an unflattering report about Biafra, its suddenly part of the great propaganda against the almighty igbos? Or you expect the sydney herald to bury a story so as not to be accused of been anti-biafran?

joeyfire: Shuo! See as tribalism dey warp logic inside out. Who the fvck said anything about d igbos. The article is focused on ikemba and his troops towards d end of the war. Why on earth would I in the first place believe a heavily disjointed artcle from a pro government australian paper. Even poor students of history know the stand of the Uk and its commonwealth countries towards the biafran nation. Abeg try harder bros

...and Ikemba and his troops were Hausa's fighting for secession right? :/

Bro, my post has nothing to do with tribalism, Its plain sarcasm to mock the Igbos who are fond of playing the victimized and oppressed whenever a report that doesn't favour your pre-conceived notions of the civil war comes up.

BTW; How on earth did you come to the conclusion that the Sydney Herald was a pro-government paper, Or was that in your history books too?

Malawian: wtf do you know about what happened in biafra? Soory mate, it takes an enlightened mind to appreciate the post. I dont have to explain further cos you sound too daft to comprehend simple logic.

Sorry, my bad. I didn't know Ojukwu's cowardice was inspired by Biafrans like you.

All hail the enlightened MALAWI, the Chief Adviser of the Great Ikemba.

joeyfire: Crap article designed to tickle the fancy of biased readers who spend all the time on the internet looking for shyte to scrape and hurl like rabid baboons instead of looking for books like civilised people do. Mercedes benz and 1000 tons of luggage my arse

Of course the Australians too are biased against the Igbos...hmmm...I wonder why

Malawian: @ teddy bear, you are still running with the wolves abi? @ Y'all e-cowards, it seems you want me to dedicate another weekend to you guys, Abi? If ojukwu fled with 3 ton luggage, at least he had the luxury to pack first. If it was tinubu, the groin grabber would not even be wearing slippers. He might even jaa with buhari's abunnam as well. Ojukwu did not flee on his own accord, we asked him to flee. An ojukwu capture would have meant a total defeat of the igbos. You guys still havent come to terms with how history played a joke on you; have you? An Igbo man did not surrender to you!

The bolded has to be daftest thing I've read today, this sure affirms my notion about this malawian and his kind on NL; highly delusional folks.

ak47mann: is carnival, we are here to enjoy ourselves as BIAFRANS [/b]the stand was busy with different race we are getting there,do u no that almighty Nigeria was restricted from getting a stand? their license was revoked by authorities.....


But [b]BIAFRA got their license that means every year we will represent our country and flag couple with biafran anthem in UK carnival..

duuuuhhhh...Nigeria got a stand. By the way is there anything like a Biafran Anthem?

This is an all new low for these NL Igbo warlords. This post has no sense whatsoever.

Police have cordoned off Amodu Ojikutu street off Saka Tinubu on Victoria Island.

The police were telling us to calm down that it hasn't been confirmed yet, but as a true son of my father I am neither waiting around to find out nor even bother to take pictures of the ensuing mayhem there. Especially when the police do not deem it fit to block all mobile signals to prevent remote detonation,

[quote author=Sisi_Kill]AIR FORCE HELICOPTERS AND DRONES WHIRLING IN THE BACKGROUND

ABATI'S VOICEOVER - THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA PRESENTS - FIGHTING BOKO HARAM (ACTION FILM)

*GEJ walks to the Nigerian stage, Mike in Hand,
Counts down to to zero
Music Starts Playing
Starts Singing to Nigerians*


Let’s go (oshe ocada)
Left left left left left left (oshe danfo)
Left right left right left right (gbe keke e)
Ladies and gentleman, I am back (oya oya oya kalo)

I would like to take for a ride,
I'll be your superman,
I'll take you to the sky
So fun won, kpe ko wa tasi mi
Cos I be actor for this action film

GEJ SUPPORTERS' RESPONSE - https://l.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/mesg/emoticons7/41.gif
NIGERIANS' RESPONSE - https://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-confused002.gif
FOREIGN BODIES' RESPONSE - https://img217.imageshack.us/img217/7639/emotdissapointsg0.gif
BOKO HARAM'S RESPONSE - https://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-dance002.gif[/quote] Sisi_Kill don kill me oooooo

Its only on NL you'll see self-proclaimed 'educated men' claiming oil cannot be found in dry arid lands or desert. NL is filled with kids and silly educated illiterates. SMH for these tribal e-warlords wey no get common sense at all.

Demdem: Dont understand ur post. Are u saying ketu-Ikorodu road is a federal road or what?

Its a federal road, its the last leg of d the Ikorodu road.

To all the muslims in the whole wide world, the 2 billion and counting ummah of the rosul; I say; "EKU ODUN OOO, EMI A SE OPO E". Love you all.

mrkels: Muki I just registered now, how does this thing work? Them dey win prizes for inside ni? What do I have to do to get into the game you guys are on.

I want this guy as my 1st opponent in the H2H

Keep these JJCs coming muki

Time to break some fragile hearts. Manager of the year is here. ;

karpentar: @poster
Why are atheists obsessed with mostly Christianity? It's not even the oldest religion for heaven's sake! Is it out of fear of jihad and suicide bombings that these agnostics scrutinize less of Islam than Christianity? You'll hardly see a post that would ask "should we teach kids Quran"....why..why, why.....why...cowardice? or is that the highest percentage of this tiny MINORITY group lives in America and Europe where the majority religion is Christianity and outside America and Europe, they have never been the majority in the landscape of humanity? Maybe that's why they are so angry!

He's not attacking Christianity, he's posing a very valid question. If you wan ask your own about Qur'an, open your own thread. Kapisce?

mamiel: @ e..monkey. Take this as an advise, behind every religion is a spirit -christianity, islam, hindu, even african traditional worship and what have u. When u become a christian (just like any other religion) the Holy Spirit,if u request of him, will possess you and that is the only time u can truly understand the bible. So I understand ur plight in comprehending d scriptures as an unbeliever. But it won't make any difference for u to try to degrade d bible by ur posting for two reasons. (1.) A true christian will only read it and laugh at ur understanding. (2.) an unbeliever may concur with u, bt d day he or she recieves d Holy Spirit, his understanding will be enlighten and all ur views will no longer make a meaning to him. God bless u.

I see...most christians hide their ignorance about their own religion with this crap of understanding through the holy spirit, which is why the atheists and muslims have a field day whooping your arse in intellectual theolgical discourse.

..