Study Guides

Unit Summary

If pupils study Benin, they learn about Benin's culture and society and how its looted artworks have caused modern controversy. If they study the Maya, they build knowledge of this civilisation to analyse what made them so distinctive.

Lesson Summary

You will learn to describe what Benin City was like.

Key Notes

• The Benin bronzes were produced in a place called Benin City, which was the heart of the Benin Kingdom.
• The Edo people built this city on a plain, which was known for the high mud walls and great ditches that enclosed it.
• Beyond the city walls roughly 500 separate villages were separated by further walls making up the suburbs of the city.
• The city was well planned with straight roads and square houses and there were even metal palm oil burning street lamps.
• Merchants and artisans worked and lived in the city, while farmers lived and worked in the surrounding rainforests.

Vocabulary To Learn

• Edo: the Edo were the indigenous inhabitants of the Kingdom of Benin
• indigenous: indigenous refers to people living in a land from the earliest times
• plain: a plain is a large area of flat land with few trees
• suburbs: suburbs are areas on the outskirts of a city or town where people live

Common Mistakes To Avoid

• Benin City was a primitive or undeveloped society.

3 Quick Questions (With Answers)

More Lessons In This Unit

• Benin and Europe Study Guide
• Edo religion Study Guide
• The Benin Bronzes Study Guide
• The Oba of Benin Study Guide
• Why arguments have broken out about the Benin Bronzes Study Guide