Page 56 - A History of the World in 25 Cities

Life in
Over 1,000 years ago, people built a city in the middle of the rainforest in West Africa. By the 1400s, the forest city was rich and prosperous, with a beautiful palace for the oba who ruled the kingdom. A hundred years later, the kingdom had grown into a wealthy empire ruled by ‘warrior kings’, and Benin City was one of the most impressive city states in the medieval world.
The Kingdom of Benin became rich by trading its natural resources with
other African countries, and, from the late fifteenth century, with Europe.
When European traders first saw Benin City, they were amazed by its size, organisation
and lack of crime: completely different from the overcrowded, dirty and dangerous cities in Europe. From Europe came cloth, guns, cowrie shells that the people of Benin used as money, and brass bracelets that were melted down to make objects for court and ritual use.
In return, Benin sold peppercorns, ivory from elephants’ tusks, and leopard skins. There was also a trade in people, who were enslaved and sold to
European slave traders. These people came from conquered lands, or from Benin itself. Enslaved people were shipped against their will to the Americas
and Europe. Many of them died on the overcrowded slave ships, and those that survived were forced to work in appallingly harsh conditions.
Brass casters were the most important of all the guild workers in Benin. The sculptures they made were commissioned by the oba or made with his permission. Women were forbidden from touching the metal, or even from touching metal tools, and were only allowed to work in the weavers’ guild, making textiles or spinning yarn.
The oba had hundreds of servants and courtiers living in his palace.
As well as the sort of jobs you’d expect, like guarding, cooking and cleaning, some of the oba’s staff had to walk the palace leopards, or perform magic!
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