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The Benin Moat (Edo: Iyanuwo), [1] also known as the Benin Iya, or Walls of Benin, are a series of massive earthworks encircling Benin City in Nigeria's Edo State. These moats have deep historical roots, with evidence suggesting their existence before the establishment of the Oba monarchy. Construction began around 800 AD and continued until ...
"The king's palace or court is a square, and is as large as the town of Haarlem and entirely surrounded by a special wall, like that which encircles the town. It is divided into many magnificent palaces, houses, and apartments of the courtiers, and comprises beautiful and long square galleries...resting on wooden pillars, from top to bottom covered with cast copper, on which are engraved the ...
The city is known to be surrounded by wide inner walls made of earthwork and moats. In the 1974 edition of the Guinness Book of Records, it described the Benin City walls as the largest earthwork carried out before the Mechanical period. [1] Part of the walls were believed to be about 65 ft (20 m) tall. [2]
Around Benin City (then Edo), Ewuare built significant walls and moats, large boulevards within the city, and clearly divided zones for different craft work. [13] Archeological evidence has found that the walls built around the palace and the city, and even out into the country, were significant constructions taking multiple years to complete. [5]
The history of the territories which since ca. 1900 have been known under the name of Nigeria during the pre-colonial period (16th to 18th centuries) was dominated by several powerful West African kingdoms or empires, such as the Benin Kingdom, Oyo Empire and the Islamic Kanem-Bornu Empire in the northeast.
The return of the 119 artefacts is the "largest repatriation of Benin antiquities", said Olugbile Holloway, director-general of Nigeria's National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM).
Benin City, destroyed during the Benin Expedition of 1897, was a large complex of homes in coursed mud, with hipped roofs of shingles or palm leaves. The palace contained a sequence of ceremonial rooms and was decorated with brass plaques. The Walls of Benin City were the world's largest man-made structure. [85] Fred Pearce wrote in New Scientist:
The Benin Walls were ravaged by the British in 1897. Scattered pieces of the walls remain in Edo, with material being used by the locals for building purposes. The walls continue to be torn down for real-estate developments. [citation needed] The Walls of Benin City were the world's largest man-made structure. Fred Pearce wrote in New Scientist: