I just read a controversial topic earlier claiming that eredo in yoruba land is the largest earthwork in the world . This is totally false . I do not intend to spark a tribal war but to just correct these erroneous assertions made today. Even the picture put up on that thread is that of the igodomigodo moats

Edo, the people of Igodomigodo famously known for almost a millennium as Benin, had built a moat complex to protect themselves in the wars they fought. Oral history still credits the military strategy to Oba Oguola (about 1280 AD)
The Benin moat, also known traditionally as Iya,is the largest man-made earthworks in the world. It is larger than Sungbo's Eredo.[1] It enclosed 6,500 km² of community lands. Its length was over 16,000 km of earth boundaries. It was estimated that earliest construction began in the 13th century and continued into the mid-15th century. It predates the use of modern earth-moving equipment or technology in these parts. The moat encircles the old perimeter precincts of the City and was constructed as a defensive barrier in times of war. {5th} Oba Oguola {about 1280-1295} dug the first and second moats to fortify the City from invaders, including the Imperial European invaders, who at the time were hunting for African slaves labourers, Oba Oguola further decreed that important towns and Villages should build similar moats as defence systems around their communities.This gave rise to twenty of such moats around Benin and its environs. An extension of the moat was constructed in the 15th century during the reign of {12th} Oba Ewuare the Great (1440-1473 CE). The Benin moat is over 16,000 km kilometers long. The Walls of Benin City was the world's largest man-made earth structure.[2] Fred Pearce wrote in New Scientist:

"They extend for some 16,000 kilometres in all, in a mosaic of more than 500 interconnected settlement boundaries. They cover 6,500 square kilometres and were all dug by the Edo people. In all, they are four times longer than the Great Wall of China, and consumed a hundred times more material than the Great Pyramid of Cheops. They took an estimated 150 million hours of digging to construct, and are perhaps the largest single archaeological phenomenon on the planet.[3]

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Defensive Fortification of Ancient Benin City: The Benin Moat

Edo, the people of Igodomigodo famously known for almost a millennium as Benin, had built a moat complex to protect themselves in the wars they fought. The defensive fortification of Benin City, the capital,
consisted of ramparts and moats, call iya, enclosing a 4000 square kilometer (2485.5 miles) of community lands. In total, the Benin wall system encompasses over 16,000 kilometers (9941.7 miles) of earth boundaries. Patrick Darling, an archaeologist, estimates that the complex was built between 800 and
1000 up to the late fifteenth century (Keys 1994: 16). Advantageously situated, the moats were dug in such a manner that earthen banks provided outer walls that complemented deep ditches. According to Graham Connah, the ditch formed an integral part of the intended barrier but was also a quarry for the material to construct the wall or bank (Keys 1994: 594). The ramparts range in size from shallow traces to the immense 20-meter-high (66 feet) around Benin City (Wesler 1998: 144). The Guinness Book of World Records describes the walls of Benin City as the world's second largest man-made structure after China's Great Wall, in terms of length, and the series of earthen ramparts as the most extensive earthwork in the world.

During the second half of the 15th century, Oba Ewuare the Great (ruled 1440-1473 AD) ordered a moat to be dug in the heart of the city. The earthworks served as a bastion and also afforded control of access to
the capital which had nine gates that were shut at night. Travel notes of European visitors also described the Benin walls (e.g. Pacheco Pereira 1956: 130-147; Dapper 1668). It was finalized around 1460, at that time being the world's largest earthwork. (See historical photos of Benin City).

Early European visitors never failed to be impressed with the Benin City's grandeur and level of organization. Benin as it appears in documents of the seventeenth century the natural reflection of centralized
wealth was its magnificent capital city Benin. Reports from the anonymous. Dutchman D.R. (c. 1600) and David van Nyendael (some fifty years later) described Benin City as an extraordinarily extensive and flourishing city which easily matched the European metropolis of it time (Hodgkin 1960: 119-120;
Ben-Amos 1995: 42ff). The Portuguese compared it with Lisbon, the Dutch with Amsterdam or Antwerp, the Italians with Florence, and the Spaniards with Madrid (Kea 1971: 187). Its size was matched by dense habitation; houses built close to each other along long, straight streets. The royal palace, a city within the
city, was also impressive, with countless squares and patios and innumerable
doors and passageways, all richly decorated with the art that has made Benin
famous. The city was orderly, well laid out, and sparkling clean so that the
walls of the houses appeared polished (Dapper 1693: 122). The people clothes;
some are dressed in white, others in yellow, others in blue or green; and the
city captains are regular judges who resolve lawsuits, debates and
conflicts.

The role of the Imperialist
Britain and its machinations loomed large. Philips and his treacherous British party of traders had forcibly visited the king in his palace during the Ugi’erh’Oba Festival and the war the British called Benin Expedition had taken place in 1897. In September of that year, Oba Ovonramwen had been taken into exile. After his exit, Britain forced its government on Benin, ruling from the grounds of the palace of the Oba it had sent on exile.

The British ruled the roost in most of the vast Indian sub-continent at that time. It also wanted to rule the waves and there under its thumb was Benin in decline. What could it lose helping the fall of perhaps the only empire it had heard about and had feared in these parts? Just a shove and the people might hit the red dust! So, why wouldn’t it try?

The British split Oba Ovonramwen’s palace grounds and extended old roads through parts of them. On one part it built the Police Station and Barracks, the General Hospital, the Public Works Department and to the north of it, a complex of administrative buildings. On a second part, further south-west, it built the Prisons and a cluster of buildings it called Clerks Quarters to accommodate non-European staff.

Its remorseless war against Benin and her Empire did not end there. It had begun when it declared Lagos (Eko) a protectorate, decades earlier. Not a whimper came from the people of Igodomigodo. Oba Ovonramwen died in exile in 1914. For the first time, a monarch of Igodomigodo slept away from the land of his birth yet, Benin snored. What new bile the British had acquired! By the same year, it had declared Nigeria a colony of the British Crown. About 1915, it took the long seashore which had exposed the land of metropolitan Benin to the World and handed it to Warri for “administrative convenience”. And Benin snored still. About 1916, the British forcibly leased Igodomigodo’s land from Ologbo to the Ethiope River to their kin of today’s Delta State for a pittance of fifty-two pounds a year. And Benin have not even stirred to ask for their rent in sixty years!

Hm, must people compete on every possible sentense ever uttered?

may God help this we people.

Long live the great benin civilization, a greatness like no other.

OP you're funny. You copied your article from Wikipedia and changed where they said

It WAS considered the largest man-made structure lengthwise and WAS hailed as the largest earthwork in the world.

to

The Benin moat, also known traditionally as Iya,is the largest man-made earthworks in the world. It is larger than Sungbo's Eredo.[1]

not anybody's fault that your people could not protect their heritage like the Chinese or the Egyptians with their Cheops

What remains of the wall itself continues to be torn down for real estate developments.

It seems the Binis do not even give a phock about the Wall
In their words: "who wall don helep"

muchoichoichoi
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walls_of_Benin

@op wether Benin or Yoruba it doesn't matter cos am proud of both of them as far as history and culture is concerned

truth is we all know that the Walls of China is the longest and the Pyramid of Khufu is the Tallest man made structure


But wait o. Eredo is 200km. Some claim Iya was 16,000 km (although much of it has been vandalised) others say 6,500km
It's funny how people label everything "largest man made structure" just for publicity

Someone even said it's four times longer than the walls of China that is over 21,000km

macof:
truth is we all know that the Walls of China is the longest and the Pyramid of Khufu is the Tallest man made structure


But wait o. Eredo is 200km. Some claim Iya was 16,000 km (although much of it has been vandalised) others say 6,500km
It's funny how people label everything "largest man made structure" just for publicity

Someone even said it's four times longer than the walls of China that is over 21,000km

oral tradition must always dey exagerrated.. me I prefer to believe the 4576 miles version

rexbuton:


oral tradition must always dey exagerrated.. me I prefer to believe the 4576 miles version

Its not oral traditions it's recent "discoverers"
You know when people need something to make them feel some relevance they just make up senseless stuff

.

macof:


Its not oral traditions it's recent "discoverers"
You know when people need something to make them feel some relevance they just make up senseless stuff

could you shed more light on this? I'm lost

and is that a picture of the moat in your earlier post?

rexbuton:


could you shed more light on this? I'm lost

and is that a picture of the moat in your earlier post?

Well, imagine a fellow believes he has been living a pathetic life for some time, he picks up something and decides to make it more interesting by claiming unimaginable connections to his discovery just to gain publicity and raise his pride as a human being
That's what happens with people claiming Walls of Bini, Eredo are the largest man made structure, built by Yemeni queen etc

Yes it's the one in the picture

macof:


Well, imagine a fellow believes he has been living a pathetic life for some time, he picks up something and decides to make it more interesting by claiming unimaginable connections to his discovery just to gain publicity and raise his pride as a human being
That's what happens with people claiming Walls of Bini, Eredo are the largest man made structure, built by Yemeni queen etc

Yes it's the one in the picture

that's not Benin moats BTW

The Guinness Book of World Records describes the
walls of Benin City as the world’s second largest
man-made structure after China’s Great Wall, in
terms of length, and the series of earthen ramparts
as the most extensive earthwork in the world.
The Guinness Book of Records carried an entry in
the 1974 edition that described the city as: “The
largest earthworks in the world carried out prior to
the mechanical era.”

rexbuton:


that's not Benin moats BTW

The Guinness Book of World Records describes the
walls of Benin City as the world’s second largest
man-made structure after China’s Great Wall, in
terms of length, and the series of earthen ramparts
as the most extensive earthwork in the world.
The Guinness Book of Records carried an entry in
the 1974 edition that described the city as: “The
largest earthworks in the world carbried out prior to
the mechanical era.”

Ignore that nitwit. He knows nothing about history,kids of slaves with no lineage are quick to speak against their betters.

Nmeri17:
OP you're funny. You copied your article from Wikipedia and changed where they said

to
not anybody's fault that your people could not protect their heritage like the Chinese or the Egyptians with their Cheops

It seems the Binis do not even give a phock about the Wall
In their words: "who wall don helep"

muchoichoichoi
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walls_of_Benin

Who protected those earthwork,the provincial government in China or the national government?

Its not the duty of Benin buy the Federal Ministry of Tourism.

Grow up and stop sounding infantile.