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Location of Benin City in Nigeria

Benin City, a city (2006 est. pop. 1,147,188) in Edo State, southern Nigeria, is a port on the Benin River. It is situated 200 miles by road east of Lagos. Benin is the center of Nigeria's rubber industry, but processing palm nuts for oil is still an important traditional industry.^[1]

Founded around the 10th century, Benin served as the capital of the Kingdom of Benin, the empire of the Oba of Benin, which flourished from the 14th through the 17th century. No trace remains of the structures admired by European travelers to "the Great Benin." After Benin was visited by the Portuguese in about 1485, historical Benin grew rich during the 16th and 17th centuries on the slave trade with Europe, carried in Dutch and Portuguese ships, as well as through the export of some tropical products.^[1]

The Bight of Benin's shore was part of the so-called "Slave Coast", from where many West Africans were sold (usually by local rulers) to foreign slave traders. In the early 16th century the Oba sent an ambassador to Lisbon, and the King of Portugal sent Christian missionaries to Benin. Some residents of Benin could still speak a pidgin Portuguese in the late 19th century.

The city and kingdom of Benin declined after 1700, with the decline in the European slave trade, but revived in the 19th century with the development of the trade in palm products with Europeans. To preserve Benin's independence, bit by bit the Oba banned the export of goods from Benin, until the trade was exclusively in palm oil.

On 1 February 1852 the whole Bight of Benin became a British protectorate, where a Consul (representative) represented the protector, until on 6 August 1861 the Bights of Biafra and Benin became a united British protectorate, again under a British Consul.

Drawing of Benin City made by an English officer, 1897

On February 17, 1897, Benin City fell to the British.^[1] In the "Punitive Expedition", a 1200-strong British force, under the command of Admiral Sir Harry Rawson, conquered and burned the city, destroying much of the country’s treasured art and dispersing nearly all that remained. The "Benin Bronzes", portrait figures, busts, and groups created in iron, carved ivory, and especially in brass (conventionally called "bronze"), were taken from the city by the British and are displayed in museums around the world.^[1]

The defeat, capture and subjugation of Benin paved the way for British military occupation and the merging of later regional British conquests into the Niger Coast Protectorate, the Protectorate of Southern Nigeria and finally, into the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria. The Benin monarchy was restored in 1914, but true power lay with the colonial administration of Nigeria.

In September 1967, during the Nigerian Civil War, the city was part of the secessionist Republic of Biafra.

The University of Benin and Benson Idahosa University are situated in the city.

Attractions in the city include the Benin City National Museum, the Oba's Palace, and various festivals.

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Benin, City, Nigeria, The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2005 Columbia University Press. Retrieved February 18, 2007

• WorldStatesmen- Nigeria
• The Fall of Benin

Coordinates: 6.3176° N 5.6145° E