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Benin Art Essay

1478 Words6 Pages

In 1897, Benin was conquered by the British due to the fatal attack on the Acting Consul-General James Phillip and his army. As a result, the Benin City was completely destroyed and the Oba was arrested. The Benin art was confiscated and sent to Britain, were they either was displayed in British museums or sold to Germany. The Benin art proved to be much more than just art created by "primitive people" as speculations about the assumptions of black people grew. Even though, the Portuguese were the first Europeans to have an interaction with the Benin world, it was the British occupation of Benin City that led to a cultural key encounter between the Benin world and the Europeans. The relationship between Benin and Portugal was based of trade, …show more content…

In 1892, Henry Gallwey , the Vice Consul, traveled to Benin to sign a treaty and bring Benin under British protection. Henry Gallwey wrote about the events on his time in Benin, which gave Britain a "fair" reason to occupy Benin from barbaric people. Gallweys accounts did often describe the Benin people in a negative way. On the other hand, we have to take those accounts into consideration, since Benin was an oral society with no written accounts. It seems unfair to the Benin people to simply judge the whole situation by only analyzing Gallweys accounts. How much can we trust these accounts and did Gallwey put a dark light on the Benin people for the purpose of Britain's …show more content…

Due to the Europe refusal to admit that the Benin people wasn’t barbaric at all , since they could create such high quality of art, they made them self believe that they reached an conclusion , by conclude that the Benin world was in contact with a civilization that suddenly disappeared. Moreover, they were justifying the invasion by claiming that they would bring humanity and peace upon a backwards and barbaric

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