₦airaland Forum

Here is a report by the UK Guardian regarding the Ancient Benin Kingdom from around the 14th century.

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


''Benin City was also one of the first cities to have a semblance of street lighting. Huge metal lamps, many feet high, were built and placed around the city, especially near the king’s palace. Fuelled by palm oil, their burning wicks were lit at night to provide illumination for traffic to and from the palace.

When the Portuguese first “discovered” the city in 1485, they were stunned to find this vast kingdom made of hundreds of interlocked cities and villages in the middle of the African jungle. They called it the “Great City of Benin”..... Indeed, they classified Benin City as one of the most beautiful and best planned cities in the world.

Benin City, 17th Century
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DhFQSSxX0AADqSb.jpg

In 1691, the Portuguese ship captain Lourenco Pinto observed: “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.”

In contrast, London at the same time is described by Bruce Holsinger, professor of English at the University of Virginia, as being a city of “thievery, prostitution, murder, bribery and a thriving black market made the medieval city ripe for exploitation by those with a skill for the quick blade or picking a pocket”.


African fractals

Benin City’s planning and design was done according to careful rules of symmetry, proportionality and repetition now known as fractal design. The mathematician Ron Eglash, author of African Fractals – which examines the patterns underpinning architecture, art and design in many parts of Africa – notes that the city and its surrounding villages were purposely laid out to form perfect fractals, with similar shapes repeated in the rooms of each house, and the house itself, and the clusters of houses in the village in mathematically predictable patterns.

As he puts it: “When Europeans first came to Africa, they considered the architecture very disorganised and thus primitive. It never occurred to them that the Africans might have been using a form of mathematics that they hadn’t even discovered yet.”

At the centre of the city stood the king’s court, from which extended 30 very straight, broad streets, each about 120-ft wide. These main streets, which ran at right angles to each other, had underground drainage made of a sunken impluvium with an outlet to carry away storm water. Many narrower side and intersecting streets extended off them....

“Houses are built alongside the streets in good order, the one close to the other,” writes the 17th-century Dutch visitor Olfert Dapper. “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 adds that wealthy residents kept 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”.

What impressed the first visiting Europeans most was the wealth, artistic beauty and magnificence of the city. Immediately European nations saw the opportunity to develop trade with the wealthy kingdom, importing ivory, palm oil and pepper – and exporting guns. At the beginning of the 16th century, word quickly spread around Europe about the beautiful African city, and new visitors flocked in from all parts of Europe, with ever glowing testimonies, recorded in numerous voyage notes and illustrations.

Now, however, the great Benin City is lost to history. Its decline began in the 15th century, sparked by internal conflicts linked to the increasing European intrusion and slavery trade at the borders of the Benin empire.....

Then in 1897, the city was destroyed by British soldiers – looted, blown up and burnt to the ground.''

Full report:

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/mar/18/story-of-cities-5-benin-city-edo-nigeria-mighty-medieval-capital-lost-without-trace

those whites knew who they came to destroy....

the last time i went to Benin for my international passport

the road was very bad

Nice one from the ancient city, where the Oba is king, Oba gha to kpere
Iseeeeeeeee
Slawomir, this is your town, I salute all Binis
Iselogbe..,.....


Ogbe ma vbe dia ru...........

A lot of European and Asian kingdoms were more beautiful and wealthy

Mtchewwww

Paraman:
A lot of European and Asian kingdoms were more beautiful and wealthy

THEY were also run or influenced by black Africans.

You people need to understand that black Africans civilised the world. Africans sailed the world in ships and settled everywhere thousands of years before Europeans left their caves.

The original Greeks were black Africans.

The original Egyptians and Hebrews were black Africans.

The original Chinese, Japanese, and Indians, were black Africans.

If you research their artefacts you will see numerous representations of the original black emperors of these places.

For instance, these from the ruins of Angkor Wat, in the ancient black African empire of KHMER, in modern-day Cambodia.

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/41/70/f3/4170f3c90dcdf5fd4d3cf7092bf75ab5.jpg

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/6e/92/47/6e9247fa2fd05272e470d43b5d496c47.jpg

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/27/ce/0a/27ce0ad61bcb9e3cca3802de2e1f82aa.jpg

Napata77:
THEY were also run or influenced by black Africans.

This is nonsense talk

Africans are brilliant in their our nature, they failed to evolve intonthe current world order

Paraman:
This is nonsense talk

You think I'm a small boy like you who doesn't know his history?

All over Europe today are STATUES of the black Africans who ruled them for nearly 1,000 years between 711 and the 1500s.

These blacks were known as the Moors. The Moors took education and learning to Europe. Helped lift them out of their Dark Ages. Built universities there. Do you know we had universities in West Africa over a thousand years ago?


The Moors in Europe

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/dc/c3/49/dcc349f4b6565b63752270775347a6ea.jpg

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/5e/15/f1/5e15f103546bbe24dae89126eaf52b5f.jpg

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/dd/38/a1/dd38a12206aaa2ceeba5177b03f62955.jpg

Napata77:
You think I'm a small boy like you who doesn't know his history?

All over Europe today are STATUES of the black Africans who ruled them for nearly 1,000 years between 711 and the 1500s.

These blacks were known as the Moors.

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/dc/c3/49/dcc349f4b6565b63752270775347a6ea.jpg

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/5e/15/f1/5e15f103546bbe24dae89126eaf52b5f.jpg

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/dd/38/a1/dd38a12206aaa2ceeba5177b03f62955.jpg

Leave him let him be fooling

Stories

Moorish king, Portugal, 14th Century
https://i.pinimg.com/736x/28/41/2d/28412df852c9928ae025c8a9aa66e6f0.jpg


https://i.pinimg.com/736x/98/ee/99/98ee99c65e1c767a939bf0564a4236b3.jpg

Latvia
https://i.pinimg.com/736x/3a/22/55/3a2255cbbe2d7bc0be7555617d1c870a.jpg

No solid historical evidence to prove that the black man built the ancient European world.

Even if it is true so what should we do?

Do we require a certain tax from the European for being the architect of their world ? Or do we mandate them to bow to us or appoint rulers solely from African decent?

If true that we built the Western world, then why can't we replicate same in our own countries or even build something better than the European's world? Why do we rely on them till this day for aides and have numerous of our leaders go to them cap in hand to beg for crumbs?

I believe that people who are into this rhetoric that we where the architects of Western world truly have no shame and are deluded feeling too important than they should. And we should stop taking those ones seriously.

Goodlyhrt:
No solid historical evidence to prove that the black man built the ancient European world.

Even if it is true so what should we do?

Do we require a certain tax from the European for being the architect of their world ? Or do we mandate them to bow to us or appoint rulers solely from African decent?

If true that we built the Western world, then why can't we replicate same in our own countries or even build something better than the European's world? Why do we rely on them till this day for aides and have numerous of our leaders go to them cap in hand to beg for crumbs?

I believe that people who are into this rhetoric that we where the architects of Western world truly have no shame and are deluded feeling too important than they should. And we should stop taking those ones seriously.

SLAVE, IF YOUR ANCESTORS CIVILISED EUROPE, AS WE CAN SEE THEY DID, THEN SHUT UP AND ACKNOWLEDGE IT, OKAY?

THEY DID NOT SWEAR FOR YOU TO HATE YOURSELF AND YOUR HERITAGE AND FEEL INFERIOR.

DISGUSTING, PATHETIC THING.

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

"For nearly eight centuries, under the Moors, Spain set the example to Europe of a civilized and enlightened state."

- Lane-Poole, Stanley. The Moors in Spain.

"The Moors brought African science and culture to Europe, creating a foundation for what would become the European Renaissance."

- Davidson, Basil. The Lost Cities of Africa.


"The Black Moors ruled Spain for centuries, introducing learning institutions, public libraries, and cultural sophistication that Europe had not seen since the fall of Rome."

- Williams, Chancellor. The Destruction of Black Civilization.

"In the Middle Ages, the Moors of North Africa, many of whom were distinctly black-skinned, became synonymous with the African peoples who brought advanced knowledge to Europe."

- MacRitchie, David. Ancient and Modern Britons.

"The Moors introduced the use of paper, gunpowder, and advanced agricultural techniques to Europe, transforming medieval society and laying the groundwork for the Renaissance."

- Van Sertima, Ivan. They Came Before Columbus.

Napata77:
SLAVE, IF YOUR ANCESTORS CIVILISED EUROPE, AS WE CAN SEE THEY DID, THEN SHUT UP AND ACKNOWLEDGE IT, OKAY?

THEY DID NOT SWEAR FOR YOU TO HATE YOURSELF AND YOUR HERITAGE AND FEEL INFERIOR.

DISGUSTING, PATHETIC THING.

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

"For nearly eight centuries, under the Moors, Spain set the example to Europe of a civilized and enlightened state."

- Lane-Poole, Stanley. The Moors in Spain.

"The Moors brought African science and culture to Europe, creating a foundation for what would become the European Renaissance."

- Davidson, Basil. The Lost Cities of Africa.


"The Black Moors ruled Spain for centuries, introducing learning institutions, public libraries, and cultural sophistication that Europe had not seen since the fall of Rome."

- Williams, Chancellor. The Destruction of Black Civilization.

"In the Middle Ages, the Moors of North Africa, many of whom were distinctly black-skinned, became synonymous with the African peoples who brought advanced knowledge to Europe."

- MacRitchie, David. Ancient and Modern Britons.

"The Moors introduced the use of paper, gunpowder, and advanced agricultural techniques to Europe, transforming medieval society and laying the groundwork for the Renaissance."

- Van Sertima, Ivan. They Came Before Columbus.

yen yen yen yen

I get am before no be property. Show workings oga.

You developed heaven yet no single indigenous records or anything to lay claim to you gigantic ancient stature.

Don't you think that you are mad like this?

You taught people civilization yet you couldn't record or protect your wonderful deeds for future purpose and reference yet rely on the vague accounts of the same Europeans that you are feeling superior over?

You need deliverance really.

Napata77:
You think I'm a small boy like you who doesn't know his history?

It's so funny how you clowns do talk shit

Goodlyhrt:
yen yen yen yen

I get am before no be property. Show workings oga.

You developed heaven yet no single indigenous records or anything to lay claim to you gigantic ancient stature.

Don't you think that you are mad like this?

You taught people civilization yet you couldn't record or protect your wonderful deeds for future purpose and reference yet rely on the vague accounts of the same Europeans that you are feeling superior over?

You need deliverance really.

EMPTY HEAD, WHO TOLD YOU AFRICANS KEPT NO RECORDS?

HAVE YOU HEARD OF THE TIMBUKTU MANUSCRIPTS?

DO YOU REALISE THERE ARE OVER 2 MILLION VOLUMES OF WEST AFRICAN MANUSCRIPTS DATING FROM THE 9TH CENTURY?

COVERING EVERY SUBJECT FROM ADVANCED MATHEMATICS TO MEDICINE TO BIOLOGY TO ARCHITECTURE TO ASTRONOMY, TO LAW AND PHILOSOPHY?

OUT OF WHICH 60,000 VOLUMES HAVE BEEN DIGITISED AND ARE ACCESSIBLE ONLINE?

DO YOU REALISE WE HAD PRE-COLONIAL UNIVERSITIES IN WEST AFRICA THAT WERE ATTENDED BY STUDENTS FROM ACROSS AFRICA, THE MIDDLE EAST AND EUROPE?

HAVE YOU HEARD OF SANKORE UNIVERSITY, MALI, ESTABLISHED IN THE 11TH CENTURY?

YOU NIGERIAN YOUTHS ARE A DISGRACE.

YOU DON’T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT WHO YOU ARE.

COMPLETELY IGNORANT.

THAT’S WHY YOU FEEL SO INFERIOR, AND IT’S SAD.

Napata77:
THEY were also run or influenced by black Africans.

You people need to understand that black Africans civilised the world. Africans sailed the world in ships and settled everywhere thousands of years before Europeans left their caves.

The original Greeks were black Africans.

The original Egyptians and Hebrews were black Africans.

The original Chinese, Japanese, and Indians, were black Africans.

If you research their artefacts you will see numerous representations of the original black emperors of these places.

For instance, these from the ruins of Angkor Wat, in the ancient black African empire of KHMER, in modern-day Cambodia.

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/41/70/f3/4170f3c90dcdf5fd4d3cf7092bf75ab5.jpg

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/6e/92/47/6e9247fa2fd05272e470d43b5d496c47.jpg

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/27/ce/0a/27ce0ad61bcb9e3cca3802de2e1f82aa.jpg

......and original white suddenly turned black Africans??

Interesting

Raf4:
......and original white suddenly turned black Africans??

Not sure what you mean bro… The Africans in early Asia were settlers from Africa.

I live in Benin now, this story does not justify the roads and untidinness in the streets of Benin especially after rainfall. The ancient people that passed down this glorious report are definitely angry with the governments of Edo State from the beyond.

omowolewa:
Africans are brilliant in their our nature, they failed to evolve intonthe current world order

No thanks to juju ... that shee connects the Brain back to the ancient Primordial worlds & obstruct the Brain from relating with contemporary reality!

Benin no be small city nawaoo

DonroxyII:
No thanks to juju ... that shee connects the Brain back to the ancient Primordial worlds & obstruct the Brain from relating with contemporary reality!

Empty-headed dunce typing rubbish in response to his fellow empty-headed dunce.

What else is in your dumb head but inferiority complex?

Even on a thread showcasing Africa’s glorious precolonial history of self governance, your nasty inferiority complex rears its ugly head against ALL the clear evidence of African competence and ingenuity.

Disgusting, pathetic, stupid mental midget.