ABSTRACT
In March 1897 a British military expedition took possession of Benin City. The dynastic myth links up the Benin kingship with the dynasties of most Yoruba states, especially with that of the great Oyo empire, for Oyo, too, claims Oranmiyan as the founder of its royal line. The Edo of the Benin kingdom, together with the Ishan, Northern Edo, Urhobo, and Isoko, make up the Edo-speaking peoples, and they share a basic cultural substratum. Every freeborn man in the Benin kingdom considered himself a member of one of the palace otu. The Benin kingdom, however, is located among the Edo-speaking peoples, whose social institutions are in many respects more akin to those of the small-scale Ibo societies to the east. It is useful to distinguish the Benin kingdom from the outlying territories which at various times accepted the Oba's suzerainty. The Benin capital was encircled by a massive earth wall and ditch some six miles in circumference.
