UNESCO
tentative
tentative
📷 Guillermo Carvajal · CC BY-SA 4.0
Where in the world
Nigeria
Benin Moat
Yoruba (Ife-Benin) · Nigeria
Field notes
- civilizations
- Yoruba (Ife-Benin)
- types
- Wall · City
- built
- 1,280 CE
- occupied
- 1,200 CE — 1,700 CE
- country
- Nigeria
The site
The Benin Moat is a vast system of earthen walls and ditches raised around Benin City in present-day Nigeria, associated with the Yoruba Ife-Benin cultural world and dated to around 1280 CE. Built and occupied between roughly 1200 and 1700 CE, these ramparts once ringed and defended the capital of the Benin Kingdom. Now on UNESCO's tentative list, the earthworks stand as one of West Africa's great feats of pre-modern construction.
