Jesuit Secrets: What the Conquistadors Found In a West African Jungle

By the 1st century BC, the Benin territory was partially agricultural; and it became primarily agricultural by around A.D. 500, but hunting and gathering of animals still remained important. Also by A.D. 500, iron was in use by the inhabitants of the Benin territory.^[7]

Benin City (formerly Edo) sprang up by around A.D. 1000, and was located in a forest that could be easily defended. The dense vegetation and narrow paths made the city easy to defend against attacks. The rainforest helped in the development of the city because of its vast resources that could be exploited – fish from rivers and creeks, animals to hunt, leaves for roofing, plants for medicine, ivory for carving and trading, and wood for boat building. However, domesticated animals could not survive due to a disease spread by tsetse flies; after centuries of exposure, some animals, such as cattle and goats, developed a resistance to the disease.^[8]

The earliest organized polity in the region that would become Benin was Igodomigodo, which coalesced from existing autonomous communities in the late 1st millenium CE. The ruler was called Ogiso – the ruler of the sky.^[9] The Egiso^[c] were responsible for putting in place many of the cultural and social traditions that have shaped Benin up to the present.^[10]

Around the 13th century CE, Ogiso Owodo was overthrown by the people of Benin after a tumultous and incompetent reign.^[11] In his place they chose Evian, a popular and powerful Ogifa, earth-priest and chief of the local Efa people, as okaevbo or head of state.^[12] Evian’s later attempt to pass power to his son Ogiamwen, thereby creating a new royal dynasty, was resisted. The Edionevbo (ruling council of chiefs) refused to sanction the move, and sent emissaries requesting that a prince of Ile-Ife restore order and legitimacy to their throne.

MORE:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Benin