60 mins watch time
Posted December 2021
Culture, History
The Benin Bronzes are among the British Museum’s most prized possessions. Celebrated for their great beauty, they embody the history, myth, and artistry of the ancient Kingdom of Benin, once West Africa’s most powerful, and today part of Nigeria. How did they come to be there – and what does their history tell us about motives and means of the British Empire? In conversation with BAFTA award-winning historian and filmmaker David Olusoga, historian of empire Paddy Docherty tells us the brutal story of the 1987 invasion of Benin.
