Oba Ewuare Rebuilds Benin City Walls

1468

The reformist ruler of the Benin Empire completed a massive system of earthwork walls and moats surrounding his capital and radiating outward through the surrounding forest, eventually extending over sixteen thousand kilometers in total length according to modern archaeological surveys. These were among the largest man-made structures in the world before the mechanical age. European visitors who arrived a generation later would compare Benin City favorably to contemporary Amsterdam and Lisbon.