The British Invasion Visited!!! 100 years after the invasion of Benin by Richard Akinjide,a former Attorney General and Federal minister of justice.He is senior advocate of Nigeria .The year 1997 is the centenary of the invasion for the great kingdom of Benin by the British. It is a significant historical event for the black race everywhere. it was a great event which must be revisited and interpreted correctly. The British have been economical with the truth about that momentous event. The Kingdom of Benin was already in continuous contact with the nations of the Mediterranean for at least 1,500years before the the Europeans came to Benin. The kingdoms commercial and foreign relations were well established. It had its own money economy independent of the Europeans. The kingdom of Benins own currency known as Ighos was accepted for trade and general means of exchange in East, West, and North Africa. The kingdom was part of the African Empires and kingdoms independent and sovereign at a time when Europe was part of the Roman colonies. Benin was a powerful kingdom when the Portuguese first visited there in 1472. King John II (1481-1495) of Portugal exchange friendly correspondence with the King of Benin. The king of Benin on the throne in 1553 spoke fluent Portuguese which he learnt as a child. The first British ship reached Benin River in 1553- The trade was mainly in cloths, palm oil, cowries beads and Ivory. By 1400,the kingdom of Benin replaced elective succession with primogeniture. As early as 1500, the King of Portugal received an ambassador from the King of Benin and found him a man of good speech and natural wisdom
Posted on: Tue, 05 Aug 2014 11:06:00 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015