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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 ...
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 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]
Rawson's troops captured Benin City and the Kingdom of Benin was eventually absorbed into colonial Nigeria. [1] The expedition freed about 100 Africans enslaved by the Oba. [2] [3] The aftermath of the expedition had significant impacts on the Kingdom of Benin, including the looting of cultural artifacts and the exile of the Oba.
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).
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:
The Walls of Benin are a series of earthworks made up of banks and ditches, called I ya in the Edo language in the area around present-day Benin City, the capital of present-day Edo, Nigeria. They consist of 15 kilometres (9.3 miles) of city iya and an estimated 16,000 kilometres (9,900 miles) in the rural area around Benin. [61]
That same year, the Smithsonian Museum of African Art in the US announced plans to repatriate its Benin bronzes, while two more statues were returned to Nigeria (formerly part of the Kingdom of ...