Before Nigeria was a country, before Lagos became a city, before Ife became sacred ground—there was Benin. Only, it wasn’t called Benin at all. The ancient people named their world Igodomigodo, and the rulers who guided that world were known as the Ogiso – Kings of the Sky.
Long before borders and colonial treaties, this kingdom was already writing history into bronze.
Before the Name, There Was a People
In the earliest centuries, the people of this land carved settlements into the red earth. Their civilization grew, shaped by the Ogiso, whose authority combined the sacred and the political. Igodomigodo was not merely a location, it was the heartbeat of a growing civilization that would one day become legendary.
A Linguistic Bridge
The Edo people share old linguistic threads with the Yoruba, hinting at ancient roots woven together. But history, always the trickster, tells two different versions of how these worlds crossed paths.
Language connected them, myth divided them.
Yoruba Version or Edo Version?
Some Edo traditions say Oduduwa of Ife originally came from Benin, and that his son Oranmiyan once ruled there.
But Yoruba traditions claim the reverse; that Oduduwa founded Ife first, then sent Oranmiyan to restore authority in Benin.
Same characters, opposite origins. Two mirrors reflecting the same legend.
Eweka: The First Oba
Whatever happened, one fact remains clear: Oranmiyan’s son, Eweka I, became the first Oba of Igodomigodo.
From that moment, the kingdom shifted—the Ogiso era ended, and the Benin Monarchy began its long and powerful reign.
A Name Transformed
Centuries later, an Oba who would redefine everything stepped onto the throne: Ewuare the Great.
He renamed the capital Ubinu—sometimes called Ibinu—a name that slowly shifted, evolved, and eventually emerged in global consciousness as Benin.
Empire, Power, and Bronze
By the 15th century, Benin stood among the most organised states in West Africa:
- planned city streets
- massive moats stretching for miles
- diplomatic relations with Portugal and beyond
Bronze became memory, metal became archive.
Then came the British invasion.
The palace was burned, bronzes scattered across museums around the world—but the people endured, and the tradition of bronze casting lives on.
The Kingdom Still Breathes
From the ancient Ogiso to the modern Oba, Benin remains a living monarchy—rooted in earth, preserved in bronze, and protected by memory.
What colonial invasion attempted to erase, history continues to remember.
