Benin Kingdom Africa

In the late 15th and early 16th centuries, Ozulua ruled the Benin Kingdom and expanded its trade relations with other regions such as Portugal. The Benin Kingdom would greatly benefit from this trade during from the 16th to 18th centuries, enabling it to exert an influence on other cultures as well as being transformed by then. The Benin Kingdom was also responsible for producing some of the finest examples of African art during this or any other period in history. This is especially true in its bronze and brass castings and ivory masks.

From ceremonial jewelry to warrior masks, the Benin people were highly skilled artisans capable of crafting beautiful brass figures or elaborate ceremonial jewelry that was hand cast and highly detailed. This analysis will discuss so

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ten used because of the important of them as symbols of religious and royal myths. The Queen Mother’s mask (See Appendix- http://www.prs.k12.nj.us/~ewood/World_History/ AfricanMasks/chestmask.html) was used in one ceremony paying homage to the queen mother “Each Oba designated a queen mother, who was not necessarily his own mother, but any elder female relative he chose” (The Benin Chest 1). While Benin City was a major production center of brass castings, when it came to the masks for these ceremonies, typically crafter from ivory, Benin also boasted a number of talented and skilled craftsmen. If we take a close examination of this mask of the Queen Mother (See Appendix), once again as with the brass casting, we find out a great deal about Benin, its customs, economics, religion, and its culture. If we look at the tiara and necklace on the mask, we see that they display Portuguese heads. According to one art critic, this display “indicates the Oba’s power over the Portuguese traders” (The Benin Chest 2). The long straight hair of the Portuguese stands in contrast once more to the curly hair of the Queen Mother, and it is also interwoven from one head to the next for additional decoration. Mudfish was an important symbol t
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1978
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)