What was the position of the Benin Kingdom during the European Slave Trade? The standard historical narrative, sold by the victors of the Slave Trade, the British, has always been that by dint of being one of Africa's more powerful kingdoms and empire of its day, the Benin Kingdom was a centre of the trade (ergo, Britain the liberator of the horrible acts of the Africans). Yet the contrary is in fact what happened, which is that precisely because Benin Kingdom was powerful, it was exactly positioned to reject and it in fact rejected the European Slave Trade of which Britain was a paragon slaver/dealer. From Ryder to Ekeh, the false, propagandist narrative created by and large by Britain has since been debunked. PETER EKEH, lecture at the BENIN INSTITUTE OGISO TIMES AND EWEKA TIMES: A PRELIMINARY HISTORY OF THE EDOID COMPLEX OF CULTURES In many ways, this lecture is a celebration of the uniqueness of Benin and its culture. Let me hurry to say, however, tha