The Tale of Oba Ewuare

Oba Ewuare ascended to the Benin City throne, located in modern-day Nigeria, by what came to be known as one of the most violent coups and sibling fights in ancient African history against his brother Uwaifaikon, who was ruling at the time. This rivalry resulted in a war that obliterated more than half of Benin City, which Oba Ewuare later rebuilt. (Obayemi, 1987) Oba Ewuare’s reign spanned from 1440 to his death in 1473, during which he added 201 towns and villages to Benin City’s territory. (Asante, 2007) Historian Jacob Egharevba speculates that Ewuare, who had been heir to the throne, and Uwaifaikon were exiled from the city after their father’s death. After several years of banishment, Uwaifaikon managed to return and became king. (Egharevba, 1960) Ewuare then returned to Benin, murdered his brother, and set fire to the city as revenge for his exile.

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Reign

‍Oba Ewuare spent five years rebuilding the war-destroyed nation, meanwhile also adding measures to protect himself from future potential coups, including a moat that surrounded the entire city and walls in the hundreds, segregating the nation by the types of trade that were carried on in each area. (Bradbury, 1969) This design was revolutionary and extremely successful in securing his kingdom both externally and internally throughout his reign.

Ewuare and his army managed to procure 201 orally recorded victories, which expanded his kingdom from the Benin River further south and into the Niger Delta. (Asante, 2007; Ryder 1981) A modern comparison of his empire can be seen by combining the states of Ogun, Osun, Ekiti south, Ondo State, Edo State, Delta State, Bayelsa, Rivers, and Imo. In fact, the reason why these states remain divided today is because of the segregation from Oba Ewuare’s rule. Despite the large span of the empire,  Ewuare still kept the peace by collapsing the settlements he encountered and replacing their leaders with his own allies. (Asante, 2007)

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Impact

‍It was not until several decades later, however, that Benin City became the fortress that Ewuare had envisioned. He did not live to see this, however, having died before these works were fully completed. (Ryder, 1981)

Sadly, the British invasion in 1897 burned and subsequently annexed the kingdom, causing most of the history of Benin City to be lost. (Koutonin, 2016) The British had justified the invasion by claiming, to great future criticism, that Benin City’s culture included human sacrifice. (Graham, 1965) However, these claims had no supporting written or oral evidence and were also only made a year after the invasion.

Today Benin City is only a modicum of the size it used to be and sits 40 kilometres north of the Benin River. However, thanks to Oba Ewuare, it remains a cultural powerhouse in Nigeria.

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References

Primary Source:

Description de l'Afrique . . . Traduite du Flamand (Amsterdam,1686; 1st ed., 1668), between pp. 320-21. (Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-USZ62-30841)

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Secondary Source:

Asante, M. (2007). The History of Africa. New York: Routledge.

Bradbury, R.E. (1969). "Patrimonialism and Gerontocracy in Benin Political Culture". In Mary Douglas & Phyllis M. Kaberry. Man in Africa. London: Tavistock. pp. 17–36.

Egharevba, J. (1960). A Short History of Benin. Ibadan: Ibadan University Press.

Koutonin, Mawuna (2016). "Story of cities #5: Benin City, the mighty medieval capital now lost without trace". Retrieved 25 October 2018.

Obayemi, A. (1987), The Yoruba and Edo-speaking peoples and their neighbors before 1600 in The History of West Africa, edited by J. F. A. Ajayi and Michael Crowder, second edition, 2 volumes (New York: Columbia University Press, 1976, 1987), I: 196-263.

Ryder, A.F.C. (1981). D.T. Niane, ed. General History of Africa: Africa from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Century. Paris: UNESCO. pp. 339–370.

Graham, James D. (1965). "The slave trade, depopulation and human sacrifice in Benin history: the general approach". Cahiers d'Études africaines. 5 (18): 317–334.

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