African Art

Edo people

The Edo people, also referred to as the Benin people, are an Edoid-speaking ethnic group. They are prominently native to the Edo South senatorial district which comprises seven local government areas of Edo State. The Edo people speak the Edo language and are the descendants of the founders of the Benin Kingdom, the Ogiso. Even other Edoid ethnic groups, such as the Esan, the Etsakọ, the Isoko, the Owan and the Urhobo as well as other southern ethnic groups migrated from the Benin kingdom. The name Benin is a Portuguese corruption, ultimately from the word Ubini, which came into use during the reign of Oba (ruler) Ewuare, c. 1440. Ubini was later corrupted to Bini by the mixed ethnicities living together at the centre; and further corrupted to Benin around 1485, when the Portuguese began trade relations with Oba Ewuare giving them some coral beads, which the Edo people call 'Ivie'.

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See also

• ▸1694
• ▸Gujarat Sultanate
• ▸Brexit

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Text from Wikipedia; plate via Wikimedia Commons. Text CC BY-SA 4.0; plate freely licensed (see Commons). Source record. Images and catalogue data are reproduced from open-access collections.