Benin Expedition of 1897

Benin Expedition of 1897
	Part of the Scramble for Africa
Date	9–18 February 1897
Location	Benin City, Benin Empire
Result	British victory
Belligerents
British Empire Niger Coast Protectorate;	Benin Empire
Commanders and leaders
Harry Rawson	Ovonramwen; Asoro N' lyokuo; Ologbosere
Strength
1,200	Unknown

The Benin Expedition of 1897 was a punitive expedition by a British force of 1,200 men under Sir Harry Rawson. It came in response to the ambush and slaughter of a 250 strong party led by British Acting Consul General James Phillips of the Niger Coast Protectorate.^[1] Rawson's troops captured Benin City and the Kingdom of Benin was eventually absorbed into colonial Nigeria.^[1] The expedition freed about 100 Africans enslaved by the Oba.^[2]^[3]The aftermath of the expedition had significant impacts on the Kingdom of Benin, including the looting of cultural artifacts and the exile of the Oba.

^ ^a ^b Obinyan, T. U. (September 1988). "The Annexation of Benin". Journal of Black Studies. 19 (1): 29–40. doi:10.1177/002193478801900103. JSTOR 2784423. S2CID 142726955.
^ Home 1982, p. 45, 107: "The Edo soldiers [...] brought back over a hundred Itsekiri carriers to be enslaved [...] Among the retuning refugees were Itseriki carriers from the Philips party who had been enslaved after the massacre"
^ Igbafe, Philip A. (1975). "Slavery and Emancipation in Benin, 1897-1945". The Journal of African History. 16 (3): 409–429. doi:10.1017/S002185370001433X. JSTOR 180474.