Ovonramwen

Reign

Consolidation of royal authority

A newly installed Oba could not remove all the chiefs inherited from his predecessor and initially depended on experienced senior palace officials to administer the government. At the same time, he was expected to reward the men who had supported his accession. Benin custom allowed each new ruler to establish two additional titles in the Town order and one in each Palace association, giving him opportunities to place trusted supporters within the political hierarchy. Bradbury describes the first years of Ovonramwen's rule as a severe contest between the established palace elite and the iguamore, the men who had "come with" the new Oba. Ovonramwen soon acted against figures accused of resisting his accession. Senior chiefs including Eribo, Obaraye, Obazelu and Osia were executed, and Ryder also records the deaths of numerous lesser figures and the destruction of the large settlement of Ugbine, which he suggests may have opposed Ovonramwen's succession. Historians Toyin Falola et al. interpret the executions as attempts to secure Ovonramwen's position and note that, although civil war was avoided, the resulting fear and intrigue weakened political stability within the court. Ikime similarly associates the absence of open civil war with an atmosphere of suspicion and fear produced by the executions.

Bradbury records a tradition that Ovonramwen mistrusted the Iweguae palace association so strongly that for about two years he refused to occupy its quarters while members of the old establishment were gradually removed. Vacancies created by executions and the natural deaths of titleholders enabled Ovonramwen to promote his allies and increase the number of officials whose advancement depended directly on him.

Among his influential early supporters was Egiebo, the Uwangue and head of the Iwebo association, whose support had been sought by both competing princes during the succession dispute. Egiebo later became the focus of hostility within the palace establishment and was assassinated in 1895 by members of the Iwebo association. Egharevba states that an investigation named Obaduagbon and Esasoyen among the leaders of the conspiracy and that they and other participants were tried and executed. Ryder preserves a different tradition in which Iwebo chiefs accused the Uwangue of encouraging the British to invade Benin after Nana Olomu was deposed in 1894. When he failed to attend the Agwe festival but later approached the palace after receiving assurances of safety, he was shot. Ovonramwen then ordered four Iwebo chiefs to commit suicide. Three reportedly obeyed, whereas Obaduagbon resisted the social boycott imposed on him and his household until his own sons killed him.

Punch gives another account of the political alignments, associating the Uwangue, Ezomo and Obarisiagbon with Orokhorho's supporters and identifying lower-ranking Ukoba officials together with the chief eunuch as important backers of Ovonramwen. Ryder notes that the accounts are not necessarily contradictory because alliances may have shifted during the struggle. By the early 1890s Punch found both the Ezomo and Uwangue under suspicion and considered Ovonramwen particularly interested in European support because the ruler knew that an important opposing faction still existed. Agho became one of the principal beneficiaries of royal patronage. His father, Ogbeide Oyo, had looked after Prince Idugbowa and had been appointed Ine n'Ibiwe ('head of the Ibiwe association') by Adolo, while Agho himself had been closely associated with the prince from childhood. Once on the throne, Ovonramwen created the title Obaseki for Agho and ranked him third among the Eghaevbo ('chiefs') of Iweguae. Igbafe likewise states that Agho had grown up as Ovonramwen's personal palace attendant and that the title Obaseki was both created and conferred on him by Ovonramwen.

Provincial government and territorial pressures

By the time Ovonramwen inherited the throne, Benin's influence beyond its central territories had already declined considerably. Nupe forces had entered the Etsako and Ivbiosakon regions and established a slave-raiding base across from Idah, while the conclusion of the Yoruba wars coincided with increasing British influence over Ondo and other places formerly connected with Benin's political sphere. A British proclamation dated 5 February 1886 designated the right bank of the Benin River as the eastern limit of the Lagos Colony. To the east, the Royal Niger Company expanded outward from Asaba into western Igbo and north-western Edo-speaking territories, and by June 1888 its representatives were negotiating with chiefs near the Forcados and Ramos rivers. Ijoma places these territorial losses beside the British removal of Niger Delta rulers such as Jaja of Opobo in 1887 and Nana Olomu in 1894, together with the expansion of Christian missions among the southern Yoruba and along the Niger. He further states that prolonged nineteenth-century civil wars had reduced the population of parts of the kingdom and that Osemwede, Adolo and Ovonramwen together were credited with creating at least twenty-five new titles, more than the number attributed to the previous two centuries combined.

Despite this territorial contraction, Ovonramwen continued to exercise authority in the kingdom's central provinces. Shortly after his accession, the Deji ('ruler') of Akure, Odundun, had state swords made without permission from the Oba. In early 1889 Ovonramwen therefore sent Okpele with guns and gunpowder to seize the swords. The Deji yielded them, and gifts subsequently sent to Ovonramwen were rejected. Ryder characterises the operation as a small punitive expedition that brought an emerging revolt in Akure under control. A Protectorate report shown to Henry Gallwey in 1892 also claimed that a Benin force had defeated the Ishan approximately three years earlier.

The death of the Enogie ('duke') of Ekpoma in 1895 produced another succession dispute when local opposition formed against his son's inheritance. After elders appealed to the palace, Ovonramwen sent Ukueben, Agbiye, Igbinnigie, Osunde and Owenaze to install the dead Enogie's son, and the succession was completed in 1896. Around the same period Erhumwusee, or Eromosele, became Ojirrua ('ruler') of Irrua, and Ovonramwen granted him the style Oka-Ijesan (which is the style of rulers of Irrua) and presented him with the state sword ada. Agbor presented another challenge near the end of Ovonramwen's reign. In 1896 the Oba established a military encampment, or eko, at Obadan and ordered settlements throughout the kingdom to supply troops. Egharevba gives the assembled force as more than 10,000 men trained for an intended campaign against Agbor and other operations. Igbafe states that Ovonramwen was preparing to force the rebellious Agbor back into obedience when the confrontation leading to the British invasion interrupted the campaign.

Court, family and ritual life

Around 1890 Ovonramwen's eldest daughter, Princess Evbakhavbokun, married Ologboshere. Egharevba describes the marriage as elaborate: the princess received extensive gifts, streets were decorated and illuminated, and the gathering became so crowded that two people were trampled to death. He later describes Evbakhavbokun as noted for both her wealth and the large number of enslaved people attached to her household. Early in 1890 an oracle associated with Oghene of Uhe, which Egharevba identifies with the Oni ('ruler') of Ife, was said to have warned Ovonramwen of a serious disaster approaching Benin. Ryder likewise records a tradition that the Oni sent a warning in 1890 after his oracle predicted a major calamity in Benin. During the royal coral-bead ceremony of May 1891, a sacrificial victim named Thompson Oyibodudu reportedly predicted that white men would come to wage war against and conquer Benin. Benin tradition later interpreted the statement as foreshadowing the events of 1897.

European writers of the nineteenth century devoted substantial attention to human sacrifice in Benin, although both the accuracy and interpretation of these descriptions have been disputed. Ryder states that British explorer Richard Burton misunderstood some of what he observed during Adolo's reign, including his description of a burial ground used for criminals and poor people as a sacrificial "field of death", although Ryder accepts that some of Burton's other observations were supported by later visitors. Early in Ovonramwen's reign, British officials believed such practices had become less extensive than under Adolo. Punch reported that Ovonramwen told him he had grown tired of the practice but believed himself unable to abandon customs inherited from earlier rulers.

Punch described victims sacrificed in connection with rainfall or dry weather, pits in palace courtyards into which decapitated bodies were placed, and corpses laid across roads that the Oba wished to close to commercial traffic. Gallwey reported crucifixions on trees, mutilated bodies displayed publicly and pits filled with blood inside palace compounds. In comparing nineteenth-century descriptions with earlier records, Ryder identifies apparent changes in sacrificial practice, including greater use of female victims, crucifixion trees, disposal of corpses in palace pits and sacrifices linked with weather or approaches to the city. Ryder cautions that the lack of detailed evidence about Benin's internal nineteenth-century history makes the causes of these reported developments uncertain, although he suggests that external pressures and repeated political conflicts may have encouraged the monarchy and chiefs to make more intensive use of ritual authority.

Punch also stated that Ovonramwen claimed authority to confer ritual or "fetish" powers on neighbouring peoples and even as far west as Dahomey. He further reported that Itsekiri and Ijo clients sometimes paid for Benin specialists to administer the sasswood ordeal. British officials increasingly used reports of human sacrifice as a specific criticism of Benin; as early as 1855, consul Campbell had grouped Benin with Dahomey among states with which Britain had not secured a treaty suppressing the practice.

Artistic and architectural patronage

Ovonramwen inherited from Adolo an established tradition of royal ivory carving, following a reign in which ancestral altars had been refurbished and large replacement tusks produced. Blackmun identifies fifteen surviving carved tusks as works from Ovonramwen's reign. Their lengths range from approximately 35 to 185 centimetres (14 to 73 inches), with most exceeding 120 centimetres (47 inches), and they generally contain between five and eight organised registers of large frontal figures. Two examples contain ten or more rows, while variations in carving style indicate production by more than one artist. When Punch visited in December 1889, Ovonramwen was still commissioning the ancestral shrine that each new Oba was expected to establish for his deceased father. Punch saw newly carved elephant tusks, including one that had not yet been completed, and observed that the ivory worker appeared to cut directly with file and chisel rather than first sketching the design. Blackmun regards Punch's account as an unusual contemporary description of the working methods of the precolonial Igbesanmwan, the royal ivory- and wood-carvers' guild.

Punch had earlier visited ancestral altars in the compounds of powerful chiefs, including the Ezomo Osarogiagbon and the wealthy Uwangue Egiebo, where he encountered large carved tusks. At Egiebo's residence he described seven or eight carved heads covered with polished brass and supporting decorated ivory tusks. In older palace courtyards he observed groups of large brass heads carrying tusks carved with people, animals and other imagery. His description of palace altars includes groups of eight to ten brass heads, tusks which he estimated at approximately ten feet (three metres) when mounted, square brass bells, equestrian figures and carved staffs used in ritual sound-making. During a later visit in 1891, Punch made what Blackmun identifies as the only surviving photograph of a palace altar taken before the conquest of 1897. Punch did not name the altar, but Blackmun concludes from the visible carving that the tusks belonged to Ovonramwen's reign. Fifteen tusks and numerous fragments in Ovonramwen's stylistic group are known, and Blackmun considers it possible that he commissioned more than one complete set rather than only the altar for his father. He would not yet have made a memorial altar for his mother because Iheya, Ovonramwen's mother, was still alive at her Uselu palace.

One group identified by Blackmun is distinguished by sharply executed carving, limited surface wear and a broad range of motifs. These include supernatural beings with mudfish legs, the ahienmwen oro ('prophetic bird'), leafy branches and images of the Iyoba identifiable by a high coral headdress and crossed bead strands. Figures dressed in sixteenth-century European clothing also occur, although Blackmun found that contemporary Benin carvers interpreted comparable figures on Ovonramwen's tusks as indigenous ritual practitioners rather than Portuguese merchants. The palace held a substantial reserve of ivory derived partly from Adolo's reign and partly from continuing tribute. Gallwey interpreted the size of the collection as evidence for significant elephant populations and stated that tributary states sent tusks annually to the Oba, an assessment also recorded by British Army officer Alan Boisragon. Ovonramwen also presented ivory and older artworks to European guests, giving Liverpool merchant John Henry Swainson an antique bronze equestrian figure and Gallwey a forty-pound tusk followed later by two more tusks.

Imported metal also featured in Ovonramwen's reconstruction and decoration of the palace. Ryder records his interest in silk, coral, sheet brass, Muntz metal and substantial quantities of galvanised roofing. Egharevba states that in 1891–1892 a section of the palace received an iron-sheet roof supported by brass posts obtained through Punch and other Europeans. Ovonramwen wanted to extend this roofing over the rest of the palace and later demanded large supplies of roofing sheets from Itsekiri chiefs.

Relations with Britain

Expansion of British influence

British involvement with Benin increased during the European partition of Africa, as British protectorates expanded across the western Niger Delta and its hinterland. Britain concluded a treaty with Itsekiri representatives in 1884 and subsequently sought a comparable agreement with Benin, although an early mission sent by consul Edward Hewett failed to reach the capital. After the Berlin Conference of 1884–1885, British officials increasingly treated Benin as lying within their claimed sphere of influence. During the period of Ovonramwen's accession, vice-consul Harry Johnston extended British authority along the Benin River and envisaged treaties with interior rulers as part of a wider protectorate system. In December 1888 Johnston incorrectly reported that the new Oba had accepted the treaty signed by Nana Olomu in 1884 and regarded himself as being under British protection. Major Claude Macdonald later contributed to the creation of the Oil Rivers Protectorate in 1891 and its expansion inland as the Niger Coast Protectorate in 1893, developments that increased British pressure on Benin.

Henry Gallwey became the first resident vice-consul for the Benin River district in 1891 and pursued a policy intended to give Europeans more direct access to producers in the interior. His activities extended into territories that had historically acknowledged the Oba's overlordship, while European trading posts at Sapele, Warri and Ughoton increasingly bypassed established African intermediaries. British consul George Annesley attempted unsuccessfully to visit Benin in 1890. Ovonramwen did not receive him, and Gallwey later interpreted the failed visit as a loss of British prestige that should be corrected.

Treaty of 1892

Gallwey prepared his 1892 mission through exchanges of messengers with Ovonramwen, who acknowledged that his handling of Annesley's attempted visit had been mistaken and indicated that he was willing to negotiate. Gallwey left for Benin on 21 March 1892 without an armed escort and reached the capital on 23 March, but repeated delays meant that he did not obtain an audience until 26 March. Before the formal meeting, Ovonramwen remained behind a curtain while listening to Gallwey's exchanges with senior advisers, a procedure Ryder places within the ruler's increasing suspicion of British intentions. Ovonramwen later appeared in full coral regalia with chiefs and emada ('swordbearers') in attendance. Gallwey explained the provisions of a standard protectorate treaty through interpreters, while Ovonramwen repeatedly asked whether the agreement meant peace or war and consulted his chiefs.

After Gallwey repeatedly assured him that British intentions were peaceful, the Oba and chiefs accepted the document. Ovonramwen nevertheless refused personally to touch the pen because he was engaged in an important ritual; his name was written on the treaty and the chiefs then touched the pen in succession. This account differs from later summaries stating simply that Ovonramwen either signed or refused to sign the treaty. Ovonramwen subsequently promised to clear and widen the road to Ughoton and lift an embargo on gum copal. Gallwey nevertheless regarded him as a ruler who still exercised considerable regional influence and received tribute from subordinate states.

Articles IV and V required the Oba to accept British consular advice on internal and external matters, Article VI provided for unrestricted trade, Article VII opened Benin to Christian missionaries, and another provision placed jurisdiction over British subjects and protected foreigners under British consular authority. Igbafe writes that the treaty contained no specific prohibition of slavery or human sacrifice apart from a general reference to order, good government and the progress of civilisation, whereas its political and commercial provisions were explicit. Igbafe questions whether Ovonramwen could have understood the treaty as transferring sovereignty because Gallwey's explanation passed through multiple interpreters before reaching him in Edo. Gallwey initially opposed immediate military enforcement of the agreement, whereas Macdonald considered coercion likely to become necessary and linked British commercial expansion to the weakening of Benin institutions.

Trade policy and disputes

Ovonramwen continued commercial practices that had long formed part of Benin's political economy despite the British interpretation of the treaty. The crown retained monopolies over selected commodities, Itsekiri intermediaries continued to make payments or presents, and the Oba continued to close markets during disputes or when dues were withheld. Igbafe interprets the resulting conflict partly as a disagreement over the meaning of free trade: Ovonramwen apparently did not regard commercial freedom as abolishing customary payments, while British officials treated the same practices as violations of the 1892 treaty.

Palm oil and kernels remained the principal exports, while ivory was particularly important because custom allocated a substantial proportion of it to the Oba. Gallwey complained that Ovonramwen's monopolies and ritual restrictions limited commercial expansion, although he initially warned that a punitive expedition could itself disrupt trade for a prolonged period. Commercial disputes also arose between Benin and Itsekiri intermediaries. In 1891 a Benin force attacked an Itsekiri settlement and carried away prisoners and property; Ovonramwen denied having authorised the attack in advance and promised punishment and compensation. In 1892 Nana attempted to restrict Itsekiri commerce with Benin and the supply of salt, although the embargo was later lifted and Nana continued to send annual tribute to Ovonramwen.

European merchants trading in Ovonramwen's territory were expected to visit the Oba, provide prescribed gifts to palace officials and work through royal agents when purchasing monopolised commodities. By 1896 British agents continued to report restrictions on rubber, gum copal and palm kernels, while European firms increasingly shifted their operations from Ughoton towards Sapele and Warri.

Breakdown of relations, 1894–1896

After Nana's defeat in 1894, acting consul-general Ralph Moor sought stricter enforcement of the 1892 treaty. His proposed visit to Benin was complicated by the arrival of MacTaggart, an officer of the Royal Niger Company, with an armed escort, after which Moor concluded that any further confrontation would require a substantial military force. By November 1894 Moor was considering an expedition intended to establish a permanent armed British presence in the Benin capital, although Macdonald halted the plan and insisted that further peaceful approaches should first be attempted. Nana's removal alarmed Ovonramwen, and Gallwey reported in 1896 that the Oba had largely withdrawn from direct contact with Europeans since October 1894. The assassination of the Uwangue, subsequent palace purges and the Agbor rebellion further contributed to his domestic insecurity.

After Macdonald left the Protectorate in August 1895, Moor again advocated a more coercive policy. A further attempted visit by vice-consul Peter Wade Grant Copland-Crawford failed in September 1895, after which Moor renewed his argument that force was necessary both to open Benin to trade and to suppress practices he characterised as cruel and sacrificial. Commercial firms also petitioned officials for stronger action after repeated interruptions of trade. On 2 April 1896 Ovonramwen imposed a broad suspension of commerce with the Itsekiri. Egharevba states that the measure followed complaints that Itsekiri traders were cheating Benin producers, while the trader James Brownridge attributed it to disputes over the prices of imported goods and alleged that Ovonramwen sought additional payments. Ryder notes that both sides accused the other of extortion and that temporary market closures were not unusual in Benin commercial practice.

Ovonramwen required a substantial quantity of corrugated iron before fully reopening trade. Egharevba gives his demand as 20,000 sheets, whereas a contemporary Protectorate report quoted by Ryder gives 1,000. By September 1896 several markets had formally reopened. When Itsekiri representatives urged him to receive another government officer, Ovonramwen replied that he was afraid because MacTaggart and Copland-Crawford had previously approached with armed followers. Moor meanwhile continued asking the Foreign Office to authorise coercive action, proposing that an expedition should remove Ovonramwen and his religious advisers if further diplomacy failed. The Foreign Office instead instructed him to continue peaceful approaches and stated that any military action should be undertaken only with adequate forces and at a time chosen by Britain.

A Foreign Office dispatch dated 5 March 1896 asked the Protectorate administration to report on measures to expand interior trade and to secure local confidence. Moor replied that a wider programme of inland posts, Native Councils, economic surveys and expansion into the hinterland was already under way, with force contemplated where peaceful methods failed. Benin occupied a particular place in this programme because Ovonramwen continued to restrict official access and regulate commerce.

Plans to depose Ovonramwen

James Robert Phillips became acting commissioner and consul-general of the Niger Coast Protectorate on 15 October 1896 while Moor was on leave. After visiting the Benin River and consulting Itsekiri chiefs and European merchants, he concluded that Ovonramwen should be removed from power. In November Phillips asked the Foreign Secretary for authority to visit the capital the following February, depose Ovonramwen, remove him from Benin, replace him with a Native Council and open the country more fully to British influence and commerce. He proposed a force of 250 Protectorate troops and 150 Hausa soldiers supported by artillery, and stated that preparations for ammunition and supplies had already been calculated.

Phillips expected little serious opposition and believed that many inhabitants would welcome Ovonramwen's removal. He also expected ivory in the palace to help defray the expenses of the proposed expedition. Moor supported the principle of an expedition, but the Foreign Secretary remained reluctant because troops could not be safely withdrawn from other British territories. A cable dated 8 January 1897 ordered the operation postponed for another year, but Phillips had already been killed before the decision could affect events in the Niger Delta.

Igbafe regards these preparations as evidence that plans to remove Ovonramwen predated Phillips's death and that commercial objectives formed a central part of the pressure for intervention. Criminologist Emmanuel C. Onyeozili similarly places the proposed expedition within efforts to expand British control over Niger Delta commerce after the removal of Jaja of Opobo and Nana of Itsekiri. Academic Molefi Kete Asante likewise emphasises the commercial concerns of Protectorate officials and merchants, including Phillips's references to declining revenues and the expectation that palace ivory could offset military costs.

Crisis of 1897 and deposition

Phillips mission and attack at Ugbine

Although he had requested permission to mount a military expedition against Benin, Phillips decided to travel towards the capital before learning whether the Foreign Office would approve the proposal. Ryder considers the purpose of this sudden journey uncertain, while Igbafe regards reconnaissance as one possible explanation and cautions against assuming that the absence of a large armed escort made the mission entirely peaceful. Phillips had previously informed Ovonramwen that he intended to visit Benin after the new year. Ovonramwen replied that he would receive him about a month later, after the Agwe festival, and asked that the visit be postponed. Ryder cautions that ritual obligations were not necessarily the only reason for the delay, since Ovonramwen had grounds for apprehension following MacTaggart's armed arrival in 1894, Copland-Crawford's attempted armed visit in 1895, Nana's exile and increasingly explicit British discussion of Ovonramwen's own removal.

Phillips nevertheless left Sapele on 2 January 1897. At Gilli-Gilli that night, returning messengers again conveyed Ovonramwen's request that the party wait about a month, but Phillips continued towards the capital despite warnings from Itsekiri intermediaries that Benin forces were assembling. The party reached Ughoton on 3 January, where Ovonramwen's messengers repeated the request for postponement. The proposed visit produced a sharp division within Ovonramwen's council. Later testimony from Obakhavbaye stated that Ovonramwen ordered the chiefs not to attack the Europeans and instructed them to allow the party to approach so that its intentions could be determined. The Ezomo supported the Oba, whereas the Iyase, Ologboshere, Obakhavbaye, Obayuwana, Obadesaghon, Uso and other chiefs favoured resistance. Ryder states that Ovonramwen continued trying to restrain the war party after the visitors' baggage had been inspected and found not to contain firearms.

Omoregboma, an Edo guide accompanying the Europeans, later testified that he attempted unsuccessfully to persuade the Benin fighters waiting near Ugbine not to attack. After the party was attacked and most of its European members killed, Omoregboma returned to the capital and reported the killings to Ovonramwen. He stated that the Oba reacted angrily, threatened to leave the city so that the chiefs responsible would face the expected British retaliation themselves, and was persuaded by them to remain. Evidence presented at the later trial consistently attributed orders against the attack to Ovonramwen. Obakhavbaye testified that he had instructed the chiefs not to fight, Uso stated that Ovonramwen ordered that no European be killed, and Idiaghe said that the ruler sent him towards the party with instructions that its members must not be harmed. The Aro likewise testified that Ovonramwen and the Ojomo opposed fighting. Most of the European members of Phillips's party were killed in the attack, while Alan Boisragon and Locke escaped. The killings precipitated the British military expedition against Benin the following month.

Expedition and fall of Benin

The Sapele District Commissioner learned of Phillips' death on 7 January, and the report reached London on 10 January 1897. Consul-general Ralph Moor was recalled from leave while British naval, marine and Protectorate units were assembled for an expedition against Benin. By early February the expedition included roughly 1,500 sailors, marines and Niger Coast Protectorate soldiers, under the overall command of Rear-Admiral Harry Rawson. The British force advanced towards the capital along three main routes through Ologbo Creek, the Jamieson River–Sapoba route and Ughoton, with support from Royal Navy vessels. Benin forces resisted the advance along several lines of approach. Resistance against the principal column was sufficient that a shortage of water at one point led British officers to consider withdrawal, while particularly severe fighting occurred along the Ughoton approach. Sources differ by one day on the occupation of the capital: Egharevba and several later writers give 17 February 1897, whereas Ryder and Igbafe date it to 18 February. British forces used rockets during the final stage of the advance before the remaining Benin defenders withdrew.

Ovonramwen remained in the palace until British troops approached closely and a rocket struck one of the palace courtyards. Egharevba states that Ovonramwen initially rejected advice to leave but eventually departed after sending some wives to his mother at Uselu, returning others to their families and taking a smaller group of favoured wives with him. Much of the population likewise left the capital before or during the British occupation. The occupation was followed by extensive burning and the removal of property from royal and sacred sites. Igbafe records fires on 19 and 20 February followed by a major conflagration on 21 February, while Egharevba also places the destruction of large sections of the palace and city in the period ending on 21 February.

British forces removed large quantities of bronze, brass, ivory and other material from palace and religious compounds. Estimates differ considerably: historian Isaac Irabor gives approximately 2,500 objects and historian Osemwegie Ebohon approximately 5,000, while George A. Corbin refers more generally to several thousand bronzes and ivories. Several carved ivory tusks commissioned under Ovonramwen show fire damage associated with the destruction of the royal palace. Armed resistance continued outside the occupied capital after Ovonramwen escaped, including forces associated with Ebeikinmwin and Ologboshere. Ovonramwen himself remained beyond British authority for several months and returned to surrender only in August 1897.

Flight and surrender

After abandoning the capital, Ovonramwen remained beyond British control for several months. British search parties moved through the surrounding region while the new administration attempted to persuade chiefs and communities to submit. Many chiefs reached terms with the administration within weeks, but Ovonramwen remained with approximately ten chiefs and members of his household until August. On 5 August 1897 he entered the capital with a large unarmed following and a white flag. Felix Roth, surgeon to the expeditionary force, estimated the party at around 700 or 800 people, including approximately twenty wives and ten chiefs. Ovonramwen entered along the Sapoba road supported physically by attendants according to royal custom and took up residence at the house of Chief Abeseke, or Obaseki, who had already joined the British-created Native Council. Irabor instead gives 6 August as the day he returned to the city.

After resting on 6 August, Ovonramwen appeared at the Palaver Court House at approximately 11 a.m. on 7 August accompanied by roughly 400 followers and about twenty chiefs. Contemporary accounts name the Iyase, Osodin, Aro and Ojomo among the chiefs present. Acting Resident Roupell received him with Captain C. H. P. Carter, Lieutenant Gabbet, Dr Howe and eight Hausa soldiers, while the remainder of the garrison remained armed inside the stockade. Roth described Ovonramwen at the meeting as stout, imposing and intelligent, about forty years of age and visibly nervous. His clothing consisted of a coral headdress, numerous coral necklaces, heavy coral ornaments covering his wrists and ankles, a white cloth and embroidered trousers. Estimates of the assembled crowd ranged from about 900 to 1,000 people.

Roupell required Ovonramwen to perform a public act of submission. The Aro requested that the ceremony occur privately, but Roupell refused. Ovonramwen then bowed three times until his forehead touched the ground, after which chiefs who had not previously submitted repeated the act. Roupell informed him that he had been deposed and that further decisions would be made after Moor's arrival.

Trial

Moor arrived in the Benin capital on 31 August, and proceedings concerning the killing of Phillips's party opened on 1 September 1897. The trial took place in the Consular Court House before Moor, Roupell, Carter, members of the Native Council, Ovonramwen and about sixty chiefs. The accused had no legal advocates, and witnesses were formally cautioned before testifying. Moor stated that the proceedings were not intended to punish Benin merely for fighting to defend itself but to establish responsibility for killing an unarmed delegation. Igbedion, Agamwoyi and Wobari testified that the European party carried no weapons and identified Ologboshere, Obakhavbaye, Obayuwana, Uso, Ugiagbe, Obadesagbon and others as chiefs connected with the decision to attack.

Obakhavbaye testified that Ovonramwen had no knowledge of a decision to massacre the visitors, had ordered the chiefs not to fight and had personally appealed to the Iyase to permit the Europeans to enter. Uso similarly stated that the Oba had explicitly instructed that no European should be killed and that Ologboshere ignored that instruction. Ugiagbe testified that he had been assigned at Ugbine to escort the party, that he objected to fighting and that Ologboshere and Obadesagbon overruled him.

Omoregboma gave detailed testimony that he inspected the visitors' baggage, saw no firearms or swords other than the carriers' cutlasses tied together in the launch, and that he unsuccessfully attempted to stop the attack. He further stated that Ovonramwen reacted with anger and fear after learning of the killings. Idiaghe testified that Ovonramwen sent him back towards the Europeans with an instruction that they were not to be harmed. The Aro said that Ovonramwen and the Ojomo opposed fighting and that Itsekiri information claiming that the visitors intended war contributed to panic within the court. Ovonramwen himself maintained that he had maintained friendly relations with Europeans, exchanged presents with them and ordered that Phillips's party not be killed. Bradbury notes that the evidence presented at the proceedings did not establish Ovonramwen's personal responsibility and that witnesses consistently stated that he tried to restrain the chiefs. Ryder similarly concludes that Ovonramwen attempted until the final moment to prevent the attack.

Six chiefs were found responsible for the killings. Obayuwana had already killed himself by cutting his throat while detained; Obadesagbon was said to have died, and Ugiagbe was spared because he was considered a boy. Ologboshere received a death sentence while still at large, while Uso and Obakhavbaye were executed by firing squad on 4 September. Moor threatened sanctions against further chiefs if Ologboshere was not surrendered, seeking to compel cooperation in finding him. Some later writers, including Falola et al., Irabor and Ijoma, describe Ovonramwen himself as having been "convicted". The more detailed proceedings reproduced by Egharevba and analysed by Bradbury and Ryder instead distinguish convictions for the Phillips killings from the later administrative decision to exile Ovonramwen.

Deposition and banishment

On 7 September Moor explained the political settlement he intended for the deposed Oba. Ovonramwen would cease to exercise independent royal power but could remain in the Benin capital as an important chief under British authority, retaining enough personal villages to support himself. He would lose the right to demand services from the wider population, and many palace retainers were to be dismissed. Moor publicly announced that the British government had replaced Ovonramwen's sovereignty and that the Oba was no longer king of the country. Most tribute formerly paid to the Oba was abolished; most villages were removed from his control, except a few regarded as his private property, and many palace dependants and attendants were released.

Moor proposed taking Ovonramwen to Calabar and elsewhere in the Protectorate, possibly including Lagos and Yoruba towns, so that he could observe colonial government before being returned to Benin. Two chiefs and several attendants were to accompany him, and Moor described the journey as temporary rather than a permanent exile of the kind imposed on Nana. Ovonramwen and the chiefs were given until 9 September to consider the terms and were instructed not to leave the city. Ovonramwen did not attend the scheduled meeting on the morning of 9 September and instead went into hiding. Moor sent Carter and Gabbet with approximately fifty men to search for him and threatened chiefs and households with punishment if they concealed his location. The Ojomo revealed where Ovonramwen was staying, and the search force found him after he attempted to leave through the rear of a house.

Ovonramwen explained to Moor that he had become frightened by the number of soldiers around his residence and had gone only to the Ojomo's village rather than attempting to flee far from Benin. Henry Ling Roth's contemporary account as reproduced by Ryder confirms that Moor sent an armed party of fifty men with instructions to arrest Ovonramwen after he missed the appointment. Ryder suggests that differing expectations about the meeting and the intimidating character of the search force may have contributed to the incident. Moor then sentenced Ovonramwen to imprisonment and permanent exile. Igbafe treats the attempted disappearance as the immediate occasion for banishment rather than its underlying cause, pointing to repeated plans by Protectorate officials before 1897 to remove Ovonramwen. In his later reassessment, Igbafe similarly describes the events of 9 September as furnishing a pretext for a deportation that the British administration had already considered for some time.

Ovonramwen was ordered towards Ughoton to begin his removal to Old Calabar. Around eighty wives were sent back to their families, while he initially intended to take only two wives into exile. Egharevba states that he was kept in the guardroom, refused food and offered British officials two hundred puncheons of palm oil, estimated at approximately £1,500, in an unsuccessful attempt to avoid deportation. He later offered information about roughly five hundred buried ivory tusks and complained that his coral regalia had been stolen. Igbafe gives 13 September as the date on which Ovonramwen finally departed from the capital. Egharevba records his arrival at Ughoton on 15 September under the guard of Carter and Henniker, followed by transfer to a Protectorate yacht below Gilli-Gilli. The colonial account reproduced by Egharevba states that Ovonramwen was restrained and gagged during his removal before daylight and that the escort consisted of sixty men and a Maxim gun. Historian Barnaby Phillips's chronology likewise dates his dispatch into exile to 15 September.

Exile and interregnum

Ovonramwen was sent to Calabar in September 1897 and was not allowed to return to Benin. His removal prevented an immediate restoration of the pre-conquest political system because kingship had been the central institution through which titles were bestowed, palace associations operated and major ceremonies were performed. In the absence of an Oba, vacant offices could neither be filled nor formally confirmed in the traditional way, while many royal ceremonies and palace organisations ceased to function. Ebohon presents a dynastic Edo interpretation in which Ovonramwen remained the legitimate Oba throughout exile, since Benin custom did not permit two living Obas to hold kingship simultaneously. Under this interpretation, the interregnum from 1897 to 1914 represented the continuation of Ovonramwen's dynastic legitimacy despite his physical removal and loss of governmental authority. Corbin accordingly dates Ovonramwen's reign to approximately 1888–1914, notwithstanding his political deposition by the British in 1897.

Ovonramwen was photographed on several occasions after his deposition and during his residence in Calabar. Michels notes images in which he appears with wives, relatives, servants and other members of his household, generally seated in substantial clothing, looking at the camera and adopting poses comparable to those used in the earliest photographs taken during his exile.

Following Ovonramwen's removal, British officials replaced the central monarchy with a Native Council composed of selected chiefs operating under colonial supervision. The arrangement had already been contemplated before the conquest, since Phillips's November 1896 plan for Ovonramwen's removal expressly proposed creating a Native Council to replace him. The new institution possessed executive, legislative and judicial powers over a broader range of matters than the former central council, and British Residents ordinarily presided over its sessions. Igbafe therefore describes the Native Council as a strongly centralised colonial body rather than a continuation of the political order that had operated under the Oba.

Agho Obaseki, whose title Ovonramwen had created and bestowed, became one of the chiefs who gained influence under the colonial administration. Obaseki initially escaped with Ovonramwen during the British advance but later returned to the capital. Some traditions recorded by Bradbury state that Ovonramwen himself sent him back to negotiate. After the ruler's surrender, Ovonramwen spent his remaining weeks in the capital at Obaseki's residence. British support subsequently made Obaseki one of the principal intermediaries between Benin communities and the colonial Resident.

Death and succession

Ovonramwen died in exile at Calabar in January 1914. Barnaby Phillips's chronology gives 14 January 1914, whereas Adedeji gives 13 January. His exile had lasted approximately sixteen years. Egharevba records six children: princes Aiguobasimwin, Usuanlele and Ehigie, and princesses Evbakhavbokun, Omono and Orimwiame. Evbakhavbokun died before her father, in 1906. Aiguobasimwin, Ovonramwen's eldest son, was born at Idumwigun-eromwon village in Benin and at about twelve years of age was sent first to Ekho and later to Uselu. There he lived under the supervision of his grandmother, the Iyoba Iheya, and was prepared for future royal office.

Aiguobasimwin requested permission to return Ovonramwen's remains to Benin for burial according to royal custom, but the colonial administration refused because Ovonramwen had already been buried at Calabar. After Aiguobasimwin returned from Calabar, the death was formally announced in Benin. Egharevba states that during the later royal funeral ceremonies for Ovonramwen and Eweka II, animals including cattle, dogs, sheep, goats and fowls replaced the forms of human sacrifice traditionally associated with earlier royal funerals. Ovonramwen's death coincided with the amalgamation of Northern and Southern Nigeria and with British plans to introduce a modified system of indirect rule in Benin. Igbafe states that public opinion in Benin, apart from opposition by a small number of chiefs, quickly supported Aiguobasimwin's succession. Colonial officials had already been considering restoration of the monarchy as part of a proposed system modelled partly on Northern Provinces administration and involving Native Treasuries and more structured indirect rule.

Aiguobasimwin was installed in July 1914 as Eweka II, ending the seventeen-year interregnum. Ryder describes the restored monarchy as broadly similar to the subordinate political position Moor had proposed for Ovonramwen in September 1897.

Legacy

Photography and visual memory

The best-known photographs of Ovonramwen's removal were made by Nigerian photographer Jonathan Adagogo Green while the deposed ruler was travelling into exile. Green, born in Bonny in 1873, worked professionally for African and European clients and documented political and social life in the Niger Delta during the expansion of colonial authority. He photographed Ovonramwen at least four times aboard the heavily armed Niger Coast Protectorate steam yacht Ivy. Michels states that these photographs were produced within a colonial commission and primarily intended for European viewers, and notes that surviving examples are concentrated in British colonial albums and archives rather than Ijo collections around Bonny. During the voyage, the Ivy stopped at several places where African chiefs were invited aboard to view the captive Oba, turning the deportation into a public demonstration of British authority.

The sequence of photographs appears to move from an image of explicit captivity towards the conventions of formal portraiture. In what is probably the earliest photograph, Ovonramwen stands wrapped in a long white cloth between soldiers, with chains visible around his ankles. Later images show him seated in an elaborate wicker chair and wearing a robe decorated with Benin motifs, although his royal coral regalia has been removed and his head remains uncovered. The final image in the sequence shows him sitting alone, with a more composed expression and a slight smile.

Another photograph, showing Ovonramwen seated beneath three standing Niger Coast Protectorate Force soldiers, circulated widely as a postcard from about 1900 and was also issued in coloured versions. Michels notes that colourised versions emphasised the weapons, medals and uniforms of the standing soldiers while leaving the unarmed Oba seated below them, making the image readily adaptable as a representation of colonial victory. European accounts depicting Benin as a place of uncontrolled violence and Ovonramwen as a tyrant further influenced how the photograph was interpreted. Michels nevertheless emphasises that a seated pose could carry different implications in West African visual practice, where it could indicate dignity, social status and respectability rather than humiliation. Later portraits from Calabar repeatedly depict Ovonramwen seated, richly dressed and looking directly at the camera, sometimes accompanied by relatives or members of his household.

Historical interpretations

British writing during the nineteenth century often represented Benin through themes of human sacrifice, arbitrary government and interference with trade. Historian J. Okoro Ijoma interprets such descriptions within a broader nineteenth-century change in European racial and cultural attitudes and contrasts them with earlier European accounts that had characterised Benin as unusually orderly and highly developed. He notes that descriptions such as "City of Blood", "Golgotha" and "City of Skulls" became prominent in British portrayals of late nineteenth-century Benin. Historian Philip Igbafe's reassessment argues that humanitarian opposition to sacrifice does not by itself explain increasing British pressure and instead places commercial access, control of resources and political domination at the centre of consular policy. He argues that British officials increasingly treated commercial development and the destruction of Ovonramwen's independent political authority as mutually dependent objectives. He also describes the 1892 treaty as the legal basis later used by British officials to recast established Benin commercial and political practices as breaches of treaty obligations.

Historian Toyin Falola et al. likewise situate Ovonramwen's reign within the European scramble for Africa and describe Benin in the 1890s as the principal independent state remaining in the hinterland of the Bight of Benin after British expansion into Lagos, Yorubaland and the western Niger Delta. They interpret his suspicion of British intentions as a response to those regional developments and identify British imperial intervention as the principal external cause of the loss of Benin's independence. Criminologist Emmanuel Onyeozili adopts a more explicitly critical framework, interpreting British reports about Ovonramwen as part of a campaign supporting military and commercial expansion and treating Phillips's death as the immediate justification for an invasion already under consideration. His statement that Phillips entered Benin territory "unannounced" differs from the correspondence reproduced by Ryder and Igbafe, which records prior notification, Ovonramwen's request that the visit be delayed and Phillips's decision to continue despite that request.

Historian Molefi Kete Asante likewise interprets the expedition as a colonial intervention driven substantially by commercial objectives and presents Ovonramwen's resistance to British power in sympathetic terms. Asante also alleges atrocities by British forces during Benin's capture, including the killing of civilians and rape, and characterises the expedition as an especially severe form of imperial aggression. His account emphasises the later dispersal of royal treasures, including ivories, metalworks and objects connected with Idia. Historian Jacob Egharevba rejects descriptions of Ovonramwen as personally responsible for the killing of Phillips's party and assigns much of the responsibility to chiefs who disregarded the Oba's instructions. His account nevertheless criticises Ovonramwen for fleeing after the British occupation and again on 9 September, and it includes explicitly moral and Christian judgements concerning the political and ritual practices of nineteenth-century Benin. Historian Osemwegie Ebohon interprets the conquest from a dynastic and cultural perspective, presenting Benin's resistance as evidence of its commitment to sovereignty and the survival of kingship during the interregnum as evidence of institutional continuity. He further argues that the dispersal of Ovonramwen's royal treasures unintentionally increased international awareness of Benin art, while maintaining the Edo principle expressed in the phrase Oba No Day Go Transfer that a living Oba remained legitimate despite deportation.