ARTICLE 2a

The burnt remains of a ruined doorway leading into a family compound.

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The image of the doorway in the document below, is from a photograph taken by one of the looters on that day in 1987 and is ironically an example of how the invaders went to great length to record their destruction of Life and Arts and Architecture of the Benin Empire supposedly to 'show' how laid to waste or 'dirty' the ancient city was.

For example, what the invaders referred to as 'ditch' was an elaborate moat system, often with inlaid steps and which were fortified by Oba Esigie in the late 1500s in great foresight upon realizing that the subkingdoms under the Benin Empire had all been lost as if overnight and a new form of personality was being groomed by the Europeans as 'chief'.

To Esigie's mind, the debilitating trade was essentially robbing his kingdom of the vast people under the empire built by his grandfather. In a bid to stop the new and fast arriving European slave traders from reaching his kingdom proper therefore, the king strengthened the ancient walls built by his grandfather Ewuare the Great. The walls were militarily designed in such a way that at any entrance to the kingdom, an invader would have to first enter a ditch (moat) and consequently run the risk of being shot down by arrows.

Similar systems were placed around the ancient port at GWATTO, and consequently little to no trading in human beings took place at GWATTO, the only port under the full Edo proper.

Once overtaken by the Europeans, the other ports Eko (and the cruel, prolific ports at Bonny) were completely out of the hands of Esigie and under the various tribes -- even as the King believed Eko, the ancient port, and indeed the entire spread of groups west of Benin City were prima facie 'people of Benin Empire' aka BENIN.