In the new empire acquiring era by the Europeans in the 18th
century, the Edo kings had sucessfully shielded their people from this threat and had managed
to retain the kingdom’s freedom from the empire seeking Europeans right up the late
1890s. This was at a period when others were signing away their territories.
However in 1897, in an effort to overturn this position, the British Acting
Consul James Philips, provoked high ranking royal officials when he tried to
invade the kingdom during a ceremonial festival not open to foreigners despite pleas
from King Ovonramwen to wait a while. He along with other members of his troops were killed in what
came to be known as the Benin Massacre; although the circumstances of the events are highly disputed by both sides to this day.
The Edo accounts were that their customs and their kingdom's security were being compromised by the British, however the British claimed that an unarmed peace mission was attacked and killed by the Edo soldiers. What was not in dispute was that the British were forcefully trying to enter the kingdom during the king's religious festival; why they expected to enter the kingdom unchallenged remains a mystery. Invasion remains the only word to describe this.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60912FF395416738DDDAB0A94D9405B8785F0D3
The Edo accounts were that their customs and their kingdom's security were being compromised by the British, however the British claimed that an unarmed peace mission was attacked and killed by the Edo soldiers. What was not in dispute was that the British were forcefully trying to enter the kingdom during the king's religious festival; why they expected to enter the kingdom unchallenged remains a mystery. Invasion remains the only word to describe this.
In an effort to gain support for the subsequent punitive
expedition which followed, British officials involved in the exercise wrote various
falsehoods about the Kingdom, the King and his chiefs; including unfounded claims of human sacrifice.
With advancement in knowledge and development of forensic
science, we can now challenge those claims which they made in their scrapbooks
and oral accounts from what we know to be impossible. For instance, we know
that the Edos kept alters on which they sacrificed animals but that the British
claimed the blood on the alters were human blood this without knowledge of DNA
analysis. Also we know more about blood trajectory when a head is severed from
the body from Forensic science; and the evidence do not stack up.
Furthermore, we know that throughout British and other European
history, artists have drawn imagined images to represent events which did not take place and that some of
the images that came out of Benin with them during this time were alien to the Edos and their culture. An example is the crucifixion trees drawn by
the artists, we know that the Edos have never made use of these and have no knowledge
of the practice and as such that this was pure fabrication on the part of the British.
I hope that historians will read these modern challenges alongside
other historical accounts and sources that were written at the time over one
hundred years ago in order to form safe and reliable body of historical evidence on the Kingdom of Benin.
It is pertinent to bear in mind that the victor’s ‘Holier than thou’ version of events does not represent the full or indeed the true story.
The kingdom has successfully preserved and passed down its history through oral accounts safeguarded by the elders and chiefs. These are very valid.
It is pertinent to bear in mind that the victor’s ‘Holier than thou’ version of events does not represent the full or indeed the true story.
The kingdom has successfully preserved and passed down its history through oral accounts safeguarded by the elders and chiefs. These are very valid.
Thank you very much.
No comments:
Post a Comment