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The Great War

The Before · 1897 · The Aftermath

Draft · under curatorial review
  • All chapters, dates and interpretations await historical review.

Chapter A · The Before

Before The Silence, There Was A Kingdom

For centuries before 1897, Benin City was the capital of one of West Africa's great states. It had a royal palace, specialist guilds, a far-reaching trade network and an extensive system of earthworks.

Tap each point to explore the city as it is documented, and as it can reasonably be interpreted.

Documented

The palace was a vast complex of courtyards, shrines and audience halls. Some of its pillars were sheathed in cast brass plaques recording court life. European visitors from the 16th century onward described its scale.

Source: Alan F. C. Ryder, Benin and the Europeans, 1485–1897 (1969); Barbara Plankensteiner (ed.), Benin: Kings and Rituals (2007)

Image pending

Chapter B · The Conflict

1897: The Invasion That Changed Benin

Through the 1890s, British commercial and political ambitions in the Niger Delta collided with Benin's sovereignty and its control of trade.

These events are told from the documentary record. Where accounts disagree, the timeline says so.

  1. 1892

    Contested accounts

    The Gallwey treaty

    Britain later presented it as placing Benin under protection. What the court understood or agreed to is disputed.

    Source: Alan F. C. Ryder, Benin and the Europeans, 1485–1897 (1969); Philip A. Igbafe, Benin under British Administration, 1897–1938 (1979)

  2. Jan 1897

    Contested accounts

    The Phillips party

    Acting Consul-General James Phillips set out for Benin City during a sacred festival period, despite being asked to wait. Most of the party were killed on the road. Accounts differ on who ordered the attack.

    Source: Philip A. Igbafe, Benin under British Administration, 1897–1938 (1979); Dan Hicks, The Brutish Museums (2020)

  3. Feb 1897

    Documented

    The British expedition

    A British naval force under Admiral Harry Rawson advanced on Benin City and took it on 18 February.

    Source: Philip A. Igbafe, Benin under British Administration, 1897–1938 (1979); Dan Hicks, The Brutish Museums (2020)

  4. Feb 1897

    Documented

    Fire and looting

    Large parts of the city, including the palace, burned. Thousands of brass plaques, heads, ivories and other royal objects were removed and later sold or dispersed.

    Source: Dan Hicks, The Brutish Museums (2020); Digital Benin — catalogue of Benin objects in collections worldwide

  5. Aug–Sep 1897

    Documented

    Deposition and exile

    Oba Ovonramwen returned to the city, was tried by the British, deposed and exiled to Old Calabar.

    Source: Philip A. Igbafe, Benin under British Administration, 1897–1938 (1979)

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Image pending

Chapter C · The Aftermath

The Kingdom Endured

The palace was burned, but the monarchy was not extinguished. In 1914 Ovonramwen's son was crowned Oba Eweka II and began rebuilding the palace and reviving its ceremonies and guilds.

The objects taken in 1897 were dispersed to museums and private collections around the world. Calls for their return run from the reign of Akenzua II to the present. Since 2021, institutions in the UK, Germany, the United States and elsewhere have begun returning works.

  1. 1914

    Documented

    Monarchy restored: Oba Eweka II

    Source: Philip A. Igbafe, Benin under British Administration, 1897–1938 (1979)

  2. 1930s

    Documented

    First royal objects returned to the palace

    Source: Barbara Plankensteiner (ed.), Benin: Kings and Rituals (2007)

  3. 2021 onward

    Documented

    Restitutions from institutions abroad

    Source: Digital Benin — catalogue of Benin objects in collections worldwide

The palace was attacked. The memory endured.

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