Edo+Culture

GEOGRAPHY

The people of Ancient Benin Kingdom, known as the Bronze people live on the South East coast of West Africa and cover an area of about 4,000 square miles. There are five main dialects, Ancient Benin Kingdom proper,Edo, Ishan, Ivbiesakor, Etsako, and Akoko Edo. Others that emigrated from Ancient Benin Kingdom, often classified as non-Benin are Urhobos, Itsekiri, Ika, Ikwerri Ibos, Ogbas, Udowas, Ga of Ghana, and Onitsha Ibos. Benin City is surrounded by two moats with high walls. The two moats are amebic in shape and were dug by two different Kings, about 200 years apart. The outer wall, about 28 miles in perimeter, was dug in about 1280 A.D. by King Oguola (the 6th King of the 2nd dynasty), to keep his enemy away. The second, inner wall was dug by King Ewuare (the 13th King of the 2nd dynasty) to prevent the kingdom from being depopulated as a result of the unpopular laws he had enacted, much of which he later repealed. The first recording of the Kingdom was around 900 A.D. and the first ruler known as Ogiso (God representation on Earth – an expression used to describe his greatness). There were about 31 Ogisos that ruled the Kingdom between 900 and 1200 A.D. Thereafter, a second dynasty of the King was established. The original name of the Kingdom was Igodomigodo, named after the first ruler Igodo.

About mid twelve century, Ancient Benin Kingdom witnessed a traumatic event during the last Ogiso Owodo’s reign, which almost collapsed the kingdom. History stated that Ogiso’s wives could not bear children. Meanwhile, one of his wives whom he married earlier as a prince had an only son called Ikaladeran. After a considerable period on the throne, the other wives began to worry about their bareness and felt Ogiso had brought this condition upon them, and so they resorted to the Oracle, one of the only way Ancient Benin people found solutions to their problems. Upon consulting the seer (Also the medical doctor), Ogiso’s wives were told Ikaladeran was responsible for their infertility and unless he was sacrificed to the god of fertility, they won’t have children. After much pressure on the Ogiso by his wives, instead of having them desert him, yielded and ordered Ikaladeran offered for sacrifice. However, the guards that were instructed to sacrifice Ikaladeran outside Benin City set him free and ordered him to run away and never to return. After much wandering, Ikaladeran finally settled in Ile-Ife (which in Benin means I ran to safety) the birth place of the Yoruba Kingdom. Ikaladeran later founded his Kingdom under assumed name Oduduwa (which in Benin also means I have found road to prosperity).

As fate would have it, the Ogiso’s wives remained childless. Upon the death of Ogiso (Owodo), years later, there was no heir to the throne. The elders who had plotted his escape, revealed what they had done. A search was then mounted to locate Ikaladeran, and they finally caught up with him at Ile-Ife. He was now being worshipped as a King in his new place and when the search team requested him to return with them, he refused citing the Binis nonchalant attitude to his father’s decision to have him killed. After much pressure on him to return and himself knowing Binis might forcibly move him back to Benin City, he ordered his son Oranmiyan to go with them instead. When Oranmiyan arrived Benin City, he did not like his new home and returned back to Ile-Ife, from where later he went to found Oyo empire and became the first Alaffin of Oyo. However, before he left Benin, one of his wives bethrothed to him had a son named Eweka, who continued the second dynasty and became the first King. The current King Erediauwa is the 39th King of the second dynasty that started about 1170 A.D., after 31 previous Kings (Ogisos).