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The Kingdom of Benin

Y5/6

History

The Kingdom of Benin

The Kingdom of Benin began in the 900s when the Edo people settled in

the rainforests of West Africa. By the 1400s they had created a

wealthy kingdom with a powerful ruler, known as the Oba. For 200

years Benin was very successful, but in the 1600s the Oba started to

lose control of their people. By the 1800s Benin was no longer strong or

united. The kingdom came to a sudden end in 1897 when a British

army invaded and made it part of the British Empire.

500bc Year 0 500bc 1000bc 1500bc 2000bc Present Day

The Kingdom of Benin 900AD – 1897AD

AfricaBenin CityNigeria

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How did the kingdom end?

The kingdom of Benin was ruled for many years. Over

the years it became more and more powerful. However,

by the 1860s Benin was no longer a powerful

empire. The Obas were struggling to rule their people.

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Britain had been watching Benin from afar. They

wanted to gain control of Benin as they had seen that

they had many natural resources such as palm oil

and rubber. If Britain took over Benin, they could

become rich by selling its natural resources.

In 1897 a group of British officials planned to take

the journey to visit Benin. They requested to see the

Oba but were sent away because the Oba was busy

performing a religious ceremony.

The British Officials ignored this and visited anyway.

As they approached the borders of Benin, a group of

warriors saw and several British men were killed.

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Word of the attack got back to Britain. They were furious!

They sent over a thousand soldiers to invade Benin.

Benin City was burnt to the ground and the kingdom of

Benin became part of the British Empire.

Benin remained part of the British Empire until 1960 when

it became part of Nigeria.

Independent Task

Your task now is to summarise Britain’s

invasion of Benin in a comic strip.

Think about the 4 most important parts.

Write a few short sentences for each and

draw a picture to accompany it.

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Activity comic strip

First Next Then Finally