BENIN KINGDOM - PUNITIVE EXPEDITION

 

PUNITIVE EXPEDITION

Following the Benin Massacre in which only two British officials survived, Rear admiral Harry Rawson, commander of the Royal Navy Forces at the Cape of Goof Hope and West Coast of Africa Station was appointed by the admiralty to lead a force to invade the kingdom of Benin and capture the Oba Ovonramwen Nogbaisi on the 12th of January, 1897. The operation was called the "Benin Punitive Expedition".

The Punitive Expedition started on the 9th of February,1897, the British military strength was about 1200 men. After the capture, the ceremonial buildings, monuments and houses of high ranking chiefs were looted and burned. Inside the palace, the Oba in panic embarked on mass human sacrifice in order to stave of full disaster, the palace was burnt although the British claimed it was a mistake.

OBA OVONRAMWEN NOGBAISI

Picture of Oba Ovonramwen


The Oba (Ovonramwen) was eventually captured by the British Consul-general Ralph Moor. He was deposed and exiled with two of his wives, Queen Egbe and Queen Aighobahi. He was received and hosted in Calabar in a small town called "Essien town". He died in Calabar in 1914. Ovonramwen was buried in the grounds of the royal palace in Benin City. He was succeeded by his first son and legitimate heir, Prince Aguobasimwin, who ruled as Eweka II.

PLUNDER

Most of the plunder was retained. 2,500 artifacts were sent to Britain, they included over a thousand metal plaques and sculptures known as "Benin Bronzes". 40% of the art was accessioned to the British Museum, while others were given to individual members of the British armed forces as spoils of war and the remainder was sold at auction by the admiralty to pay for the expedition as early as May 1897. The Benin art was copied and the style integrated into the art of many European artist and thus had a strong influence on the early formation of modernism in Europe.

The British occupied Benin, which was absorbed into the British Niger Coast protectorate and eventually into British Colonial Nigeria.

SOURCES;

Wikipedia

 

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