Kingdom of Benin

African history · West Africa · ancient kingdoms · Nigeria

An ancient powerhouse. The Kingdom of Benin was one of the oldest and most developed states in coastal West Africa, growing from an earlier kingdom called Igodomigodo around the year 1000 AD.

Capital city Edo. The kingdom's center was Edo, a major city that is now called Benin City and sits in Edo State in southern Nigeria.

Different from modern Benin. The Kingdom of Benin has no connection to the modern country of Benin, which was actually called Dahomey until 1975.

Colonized but surviving. The British Empire took over the Kingdom of Benin in 1897, but it continued to exist as a kingdom with a ruler who wasn't fully independent.