Benin City

The Benin bronzes were produced in a place called Benin City, which was the heart of the Benin Kingdom. The Edo people built this city on a plain, which was known for the high mud walls and great ditches that enclosed it. Beyond the city walls roughly 500 separate villages were separated by further walls making up the suburbs of the city. The city was well planned with straight roads and square houses and there were even metal palm oil burning street lamps. Merchants and artisans worked and lived in the city, while farmers lived and worked in the surrounding rainforests.