The disastrous Benin punitive expedition of 1897 left the great kingdom of Benin devastated and without valuable artifacts, artworks, sons, daughters, or a great king. The “punitive expedition,” as the British referred to it, was sparked by a historical event known as “the Benin massacre.”
A portion of the Benin army killed Consul Philips and his men on January 4, 1897, for insisting on entering Benin when he was not welcomed. The British government responded by dispatching approximately 1,200 troops to destroy Benin and execute its king.
The Benin Massacre.
It is important to note that the Benin kingdom was one of the most powerful and prosperous kingdoms in West Africa for a very long time. As early as 1485, the Benin kingdom traded slaves, ivory, pepper, and palm oil with the Portuguese. At its height of power, Benin had an impact on places as far away as Akure and Owo in the western part of what is now Nigeria.
The British made contact with the Binis in 1853 to trade pepper, palm oil, clothing, ivory, and other goods. Benin was free to conduct its regional trade independently, defying orders from any other kingdom or empire, including Britain, thanks to its economic and military might. This offended the British and was against their lifetime goal, which was to annex Benin to the British empire and, if necessary, remove the king, Oba Ovoramwen Nogbaisi.
Henry Gallway, a British Vice-Consul, went to Benin in 1892 with the intention of signing a treaty to annex the kingdom. He presented Oba Ovoramwen (Overami), who was skeptical, with the so-called “trade and friendship” treaty. However, Oba Ovoramwen agreed to end slavery and human sacrifice in Benin and signed the treaty. However, when Oba Ovoramwen later realized that the treaty was really just a way to annex Benin to the British empire, he made it illegal for his people to trade with the British and forbid the British from entering Benin.
The British were determined to punish the Oba because they saw this as a violation of the 1892 treaty. The British wanted to punish Oba Ovoramwen for another thing: in 1896, he stopped providing Itsekiri middlemen with palm oil because they refused to pay their tributes. The suspension of palm oil deliveries to middlemen in Itsekiri had a negative impact on trade in the Benin river region.
British merchants in the area thought Ovoramwen’s actions hurt their business, so they convinced the British to remove him from office, send him away, and then annex the kingdom of Benin.
Acting Consul-General James Robert Philips asked the British in London for permission to invade Benin and overthrow Oba Ovoramwen in November 1896. Philips sent a message to Oba Ovoramwen without waiting for his approval, stating that he wanted to pay him a friendly visit and talk about trade and peace.
Some Itsekiri leaders had told Oba Ovoramwen about Philips’ plans for Benin without Philips knowing. The Oba quickly summoned his clan leaders and presented the issue to them. In the meantime, Consul Philips had set out for Benin with his “friendly troops,” which included a medical officer, two trading agents, two officers from the Niger coast protectorate, and 250 African soldiers dressed as porters.
The Benin army’s chief commander, the Iyase, argued that Philips should not be allowed to enter the kingdom because he was coming to burn Benin to the ground. Ologbosere, a senior commander and the king’s son-in-law, was given the task of leading a few armed men to dislodge Philips and his so-called friendly forces at Ughoton after Oba Ovoramwen suggested that Philips should be granted entry first.
Philips and his men were caught by Benin forces unprepared in a forest near Ughoton on January 4, 1897. Because of the ongoing Igue festival, which prevents the king from welcoming visitors, they persuaded Philips not to continue his journey to Benin. Philips ignored the warnings, and he and his troops were killed in the fight. The attack only left two British survivors. This event is known as the Benin massacre of 1897 in history.
The British decided to punish Benin after learning of Philips’ death. On July 12, 1897, Rear-Admiral Harry Rawson, the commander-in-chief at Cape Town, was given the task of leading the invasion of the Benin kingdom and capturing Oba Ovoramwen.
The Benin Punitive Expedition, also known in Nigerian history as the Benin Invasion of 1897, was the name given to the operation.
On February 9, 1897, the bombardment of Benin began. The Benin forces attempted to repel the assault, but the British’s sophisticated rifles and cannon outmatched their mostly machete-, spear-, and arrow-based weapons. Everyone, regardless of gender, age, or status, was killed when every house in the kingdom was set ablaze.
Oba Ovoramwen would be hung wherever and whenever he was discovered. There were approximately 1,200 heavily armed British soldiers, most of whom were African. It is interesting to note that the British soldiers sat behind machine guns and cannons while the African portion of the force engaged in the majority of the fighting. Oba Ovoramwen was captured by British Consul-General Ralph Moor shortly after ravaging the kingdom and brought before British law.
Overami, or Oba Ovoramwen Nogbaisi, was tried and found guilty. After that, he was removed from office and sent with two of his wives to Calabar, where he died in January 1914. The renowned “Queen Idia head” statue, which served as the FESTAC’77 emblem, was among the kingdom’s prized artifacts that were stolen by British troops after Benin was successfully demolished.
To cover the expedition’s expenses, the booties were sold at auction. As Philips had previously stated when asking for permission to invade Benin. He wrote, “I would add that I have reason to hope that sufficient ivory would be found in the King’s house to pay the expenses incurred in removing the king from his stool” [Akenzua, Eden, 2000]. He was referring to the King’s removal from his stool. The kingdom suffered as a result of the 1897 Benin punitive expedition. A time of economic, political, military, and cultural decline struck Benin.
Recent efforts have been made to trace the museums that Benin sold stolen artifacts and artworks to. Students protested and demanded that the school authority holding the cockerel statue return it to its proper location after it was stolen from Benin during the expedition. The statue was recently returned. Additionally, Nollywood veteran Lancelot Imasun recently produced a film based on the Benin invasion and expedition with the title “Invasion 1897.”