Wando Achebe
speaker
43 appearances
1 recordings
1 series
first heard Jan 2025
last heard Jan 2025
Wando Achebe’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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He— — Grew up in a family with strong clerical and military background. We know that he was educated at Uppenham School, which was a prestigious independent boarding school. Phillips later attended Trinity College, Cambridge, where he studied law.
A lot of these young European men were going for adventure, making a name for themselves.
And I think that was a propelling force for a lot of these European men in Africa during this time period.
So Phillips requests to meet with the Abba.
The timing of this request clashed with the sacred Igwe festival, during which the Oba was secluded to perform rituals that renewed his spiritual authority. Remember, Oba of Aranwen was semi-divine.
The king said, no, you cannot visit. Why don't you come back in about two moons, two months? Phillips ignored all of the cultural imperatives and he proceeded toward Benin City. January, 1897.
Phillips does not survive. Phillips is killed.
It's this ambush that outrages Britain to no end.
By the time the punitive expedition was launched in 1897, the British public had been primed to see it as a moral crusade.
Portraying Benin as a barbaric society.
So in February 1897, a force of about 1,500 British soldiers were equipped with Maxim machine guns, artillery, and rockets.
And it was with these that they launched their punitive expedition against Benin.
The Benin defenders were regrettably armed with outdated weapons.
And because their weapons were outdated, they were quickly overwhelmed.
They enter Benin City on February the 18th, 1897.
They razed the Abbas palace. They razed secret sites.
They erased much of the kingdom's physical and cultural heritage.
He later surrenders in 1897. And he was exiled to Calabar, where he remained until his death.
Marking the end of Benin Kingdom sovereignty, which is what the British wanted to do from the get-go.
the British encounter an unparalleled number of cultural treasures. So it is estimated that over 4,000 treasures were looted, including brass plaques, ivory carvings, ceremonial regalia, and textiles. These treasures were distributed among British officers.
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