The Kingdom of Benin and Its Bronze Casters
A powerful West African kingdom famed for its walled capital and the extraordinary bronze and brass plaques its artisans cast to record centuries of royal history.
The Kingdom of Benin, in what is now southern Nigeria, grew into a major regional power under a line of rulers called Obas, with a capital city surrounded by earthworks that some archaeologists consider among the largest man-made structures in the world by length.
Benin's guild of bronze and brass casters produced thousands of intricately detailed plaques and sculptures — collectively known as the Benin Bronzes — that served as a historical record of Obas, court life, and military victories going back centuries.
In 1897, a British 'punitive expedition' burned the capital and looted thousands of these Bronzes, which were dispersed to museums and private collections across Europe and North America — a history that has driven an ongoing international movement for their return.