In early 1898, the British army marched on the ancient African city of Benin. This was a reprisal attack, following the Benin Massacre of a British convoy in 1897. The convoy, led by British Consul Phillips was headed for Benin, in spite of having been told they were not welcome.
The British army consequently sacked the ancient city, hanging chiefs, burning houses and stealing hundreds of exquisite Benin artifacts in the process.
The British Massacre of Benin
I am the Oba of Benin,
Ovonramwem the great!
They painted my kingdom with fire,
Then birthed my artifacts in their museums.
A letter i would never read,
Was addressed to the Queen.
Blood flowed like a racing river,
They called ague a festival of barbarians.
Then birthed our artifacts in their museums.
My Chiefs hung suspended between the sky and the earth.
Their fires voraciously fed on my habitat,
Infants and women fell as the tiny pyramid leads ate into their flesh.
They birthed our artifacts in their museums.
They waved their bloody fists in the air,
A successful massacre by their civilised standards.
They had no honour, pity or love,
Bibles were sewn in our farms,
We reaped schools and colonisation.
"They have no technology nor civilisation",
He stopped himself in mid-track.
The pieces of art in his palms said otherwise.
They shunned the voice of truth,
And sang home a victory song.
We had no civilisation?
Yet you beheld our arts
And stood spellbound.
You smuggled them to England,
To sit among the best of yours.
We had no civilisation,
Yet the Queen refuses to return
Our ugly sculptures and carvings.
The Benin artifacts,
Lives in British museums
To prove how blatant a lie can be.
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