Benin City

=== European contact and colonization ===
The [[Portugal|Portuguese]] visited Benin City around 1485. Benin grew rich during the 16th and 17th centuries due to trade within southern Nigeria, as well as through trade with [[Ethnic groups in Europe|Europeans]], mostly in pepper and ivory. In the early 16th century, the Ọba sent an ambassador to [[Lisbon]], and the [[King of Portugal]] sent [[Christianity|Christian]] [[missionaries]] to Benin. Some residents of Benin could still speak a [[pidgin]] Portuguese in the late 19th century. Many Portuguese [[loan words]] can still be found today in the languages of the area. A Portuguese captain described the city in 1691:"Great Benin, where the king resides, is larger than [[Lisbon]]; all the streets run straight and as far as the eye can see. The houses are large, especially that of the king, which is richly decorated and has fine columns. The city is wealthy and industrious. It is so well governed that theft is unknown and the people live in such security that they have no doors to their houses".<ref name="Koutonin">{{cite news|last1=Koutonin|first1=Mawuna|title=Story of cities #5: Benin City, the mighty medieval capital now lost without trace|url=https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/mar/18/story-of-cities-5-benin-city-edo-nigeria-mighty-medieval-capital-lost-without-trace|access-date=2 April 2018|date=18 March 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Elias |first1=Taslim Olawale |title=Africa and the development of international law |date=1988 |publisher=Springer Netherlands |isbn=9789024737963 |page=12 |edition=Second edition, first published 1972 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0dol1fMSM-AC |access-date=27 January 2019}}</ref>

[[File:Drawing of Benin City made by an English officer 1897.jpg|thumb|Drawing of Benin City made by a British officer, 1897]]

On 17 February 1897, Benin City fell to the British.<ref name="columbia encyclopedia"/> In the "[[Benin Expedition of 1897|Punitive Expedition]]", a 1,200-strong British force, under the command of Admiral [[Harry Rawson|Sir Harry Rawson]], captured, sacked, and burnt the city after all but two men from a previous British delegation led by Acting Consul General [[James Robert Phillips]] were ambushed and killed.<ref name="ny">{{cite magazine |quote=In 1897, after the Edo slaughtered a British delegation, colonial forces, pledging to end slavery and ritual sacrifice, ransacked the city and burned it to the ground. |url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/04/10/the-desperate-journey-of-a-trafficked-girl |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |date=10 April 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170403090127/http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/04/10/the-desperate-journey-of-a-trafficked-girl |archive-date=3 April 2017 |title=The Desperate Journey of a Trafficked Girl |first=Ben |last=Taub}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 2784423|title = The Annexation of Benin|journal = Journal of Black Studies|volume = 19|issue = 1|pages = 29–40|last1 = Obinyan|first1 = Thomas Uwadiale|year = 1988|doi = 10.1177/002193478801900103|s2cid = 142726955}}</ref> [[Alan Boisragon]], one of the survivors of the Benin Massacre, included references of the practice of human sacrifice in the city in a firsthand account written in 1898 (one year after the Punitive Expedition).<ref>Boisragon, A. [https://archive.org/stream/beninmassacre02boisgoog#page/n198/mode/2up ''The Benin Massacre''(1897).]</ref> James D. Graham notes that although "there is little doubt that human sacrifices were an integral part of the Benin state religion from very early days," firsthand accounts regarding such acts often varied significantly, with some reporting them and others making no mention of them.<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 4390897|title = The Slave Trade, Depopulation and Human Sacrifice in Benin History: The General Approach|journal = Cahiers d'Études Africaines|volume = 5|issue = 18|pages = 317–334|last1 = Graham|first1 = James D.|year = 1965|doi = 10.3406/cea.1965.3035}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|title=The kingdom of Benin|language=en-GB|work=BBC Bitesize|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zpvckqt/articles/z3n7mp3|access-date=2021-07-15}}</ref>

The "[[Benin Bronzes]]", portrait figures, busts and groups created in [[iron]], carved [[ivory]], and especially in [[brass]] (conventionally called "bronze"), were looted from the Benin City palace by the expeditionary force and are currently on display in various [[museum]]s around the world.<ref name="columbia encyclopedia"/> Some of the bronzes were auctioned off to compensate for the expenses incurred during the capture and occupation of the city. Most of these artifacts can be found today in Western museums and locations around the world. In recent years, various appeals have gone to various museums and governments to return such artifacts. The most prominent of these artifacts was the famous Queen Idia mask used as a mascot during the [[World Festival of Black Arts|Second Festival of Arts Culture]] (FESTAC '77) held in Nigeria in 1977 now known as "Festac Mask".<ref>{{Cite news|last=Marshall|first=Alex|date=2020-01-23|title=This Art Was Looted 123 Years Ago. Will It Ever Be Returned?|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/23/arts/design/benin-bronzes.html|access-date=2021-07-09|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

The capture of Benin paved the way for British colonization and the merging of later regional British incorporation of African kingdoms into the [[Niger Coast Protectorate]], the [[Protectorate of Southern Nigeria]] and finally, into the [[Colonial Nigeria|Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria]]. The British permitted the restoration of the Benin monarchy in 1914, but true political power still lay with the colonial administration of Nigeria.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Nigeria - The arrival of the British|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Nigeria|access-date=2021-07-09|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en}}</ref>