The Great Wall of Benin: a priceless heritage in ruins.

The Great Wall of Benin:

Most Nigerians are familiar with the Great Wall of China and the Great Pyramids of Giza.

Unfortunately, most Nigerian youths have probably never heard about the Great Wall of Benin in present day Edo State, Nigeria.

Collectively, this wall had a total length of over 16,000 Kilometers!

For reference’ sake, it should be noted that the Great Wall of China is about 21,196 Kilometers long.

Around 1500 A.D, a portugese explorer named Duarte Pacheco Pereira actually described the walls of Benin during his trips.

Soon, a Dutch explorer named Dierick Ruiters gave his own description of the Benin wall around 1600 A.D.

Even though its construction may have started around the first century C.E, Some archeologists place the date of completion of the wall around 1450 and 1500 A.D.

The walls were basically built by the locals for defense.

DESTRUCTION:

This magnificent piece of architecture was virtually destroyed by the British during the Punitive Expedition of 1897.

Although small regions of the wall remain intact today, they are still being torn down by locals for construction purposes.

No major attempts have been made to declare this structure as a World Heritage Site apart from when it was added to the world heritage tentative list by UNESCO in 1995.

However, this magnificent structure holds a Guinness world record for “the world’s largest earthworks carried out prior to the mechanical era”.