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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 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]
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]
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:
Of the first city wall, built in the 13th century, one tower, belonging to one of the city gates, remains incorporated in a house on the Hinthamerstraat. Another remnant of the first city wall is formed by a gate over one of the arms of the Binnendieze River near the Korte Waterstraat. Sizable sections of the second, 13th-century city walls ...
The city of Benin served as the paramount settlement of the Edo Kingdom of Benin, a pre-colonial polity that flourished from the 13th to the 19th centuries.During its final centuries, the kingdom maintained significant trade relations with Portugal, prior to being captured, sacked, and razed in 1897 by a British punitive expedition.
Location Year listed UNESCO data Description Royal Palaces of Abomey: Zou: 1985 323bis; iii, iv (cultural) The Kingdom of Dahomey existed between 1625 and 1900 and was a major regional power. The complex of palaces, the capital of the 12 kings, consists of two components, surrounded by cob walls.
Cotonou (French pronunciation:; Fon: Kútɔ̀nú) [2] is the largest city in Benin.Its official population count was 679,012 inhabitants in 2012; however, over two million people live in the larger urban area.