Anybody knew about Great Wall Benin?

Domingo Halliburton

Domingo Halliburton

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Brooklyn Without Limits
here I'll do OP's thread for him:

The beginnings:

The Walls of Benin were a combination of ramparts and moats, called Iya in the local language, used as a defense of the historicalBenin City, formerly of the now defunct Kingdom of Benin and now the capital of the present-day Edo State of Nigeria. It was considered the largest man-made structure lengthwise and was hailed as the largest earthwork in the world. With more recent work by Patrick Darling, it has been established as the largest man-made structure in the world, larger than Sungbo's Eredo. It enclosed 6,500 km² of community lands. Its length was over 16,000 km of earth boundaries. It was estimated that earliest construction began in 800 AD and continued into the mid-1400s.
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Construction started on the Walls of Benin in 800 AD, now situated in modern day Benin City, capital of Edo State, and continued into the mid-1400s. Stretching seemingly endlessly across the land, the Benin Moat is the world’s second longest man-made construction, falling short of only the Great Wall of China. The Walls of Benin, built as a city fortification against neighbouring rivals such as the Oyo Kingdom to the south and the Sokoto Caliphate in the north, is estimated to be 10,000 miles in length and 2,000 square miles in area. Excavations by British archaeologist Graham Connah in 1960 uncovered a rural network of earthen walls that, he estimated, if spread out over five dry seasons, would have required a workforce of 1,000 labourers working ten hours a day, for seven days a week to construct – a rough total of 150 million man hours.
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The fall:
The Walls once protected a proud state, but this civilisation's fate began to change in the face of foreign aggression. Towards the end of the 19th century, the British Empire began to try and forge a closer relationship with the Kingdom of Benin. Yet all overtures were rebuffed by a cautious King Ovonramwen.

A series of delegations were sent to Benin in what can only be described as a strong-armed attempt to further Britain’s burgeoning commercial interest in West Africa. The culmination of these ‘diplomatic measures’ was the signing of the 1892 Gallwey Treaty. Terms were heavily skewed in favour of British interests, affording them, amongst other benefits, complete control over Benin’s foreign policy and total authority over civil and criminal matters involving British subjects and property within the territory.

King Ovonramwen initially denied ever signing the treaty. However, after the murder of eight visiting British representatives by palace guards, there was no longer a need for diplomacy. The British launched a punitive expedition in 1897, using superior armoury and ammunition to overpower the Benin army. Benin was razed to the ground, with much of the wall destroyed in the process. Treasured art was looted and sold to collectors abroad. Many of these artefacts still adorn museums around the world today, including the Boston Museum of Fine Art and the British Museum. The invasion and eventual annexation of the Benin Empire by the British Colonial forces in 1897 led to the destruction of long stretches of the wall.
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Mr Uncle Leroy

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