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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 ...
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 ancient walls in the Benin Kingdom were transformed to the access point or gates to the city.
A series of walls marked the incremental growth of the city from 850 AD until its decline in the 16th century. To enclose his palace he commanded the building of Benin's inner wall, and 11-kilometre-long (7 mi) earthen rampart girded by a moat 6 m (20 ft) deep. This was excavated in the early 1960s by Graham Connah. Connah estimated that its ...
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.
Within the walls were villages separated by fields, several royal palaces, a market-place and a large square containing the barracks. The average thickness of the walls was about 0.5 m (1 + 1 ⁄ 2 ft), which maintained cool temperatures inside the palace rooms. [13] Each palace had a distinct design to suit the whims of the kings.
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Enlargeable, detailed map of Benin. Benin, a narrow, key-shaped, north–south strip of land in West Africa, lies between the Equator and the Tropic of Cancer.Its latitude ranges from 6°30 ′ N to 12°30 ′ N and its longitude from 1° E to 3°40 ′ E.
The Walls of Benin City were the world's largest man-made structure. [85] Fred Pearce wrote in New Scientist : They extend for some 16,000 kilometres in all, in a mosaic of more than 500 interconnected settlement boundaries.