Mapping of the pre-1897 heritage sites in Benin City, Copyright: Edo Museum of West African Art, 2022 Benin City was one of the great pre-colonial urban centres of sub-Saharan Africa, and the capital city of an empire which stretched from the borders of modern day Ghana to parts of Cameroon at its height. Describing the city in 1691, the captain of a Portuguese ship, Lourenco Pinto observed: 'Great Benin, where the King resides, is larger than Lisbon, all the streets run stra