Nigeria's Forgotten Empire: The Walls of Benin

Man-made wonders of the world such as the Taj Mahal in India, the Cairo Citadel in Egypt and the Colosseum in Rome attract millions of visitors each year and lay claim to represent the architectural brilliance of our past. But the Benin Moat, also known as the Walls of Benin, lays fallow, crumbling away in Nigeria, a pale imitation of its resplendent former self. At stake is not just the structure itself, but the memory of a once-great empire and a site of colonial resistance.

READ MORE

Yoruba Enslavement of African Ancestors, Major Blocks on W.African Transatlantic Slave Trade

"The past is what makes the present coherent," said Afro-American writer James Baldwin, and the past "will remain horrible for exactly as long as we refuse to assess it honestly." :- Tunde Obadina

The United States drew a larger proportion of its slaves from Senegambia south to Liberia than any other region in the Americas. And Amazonia drew almost all of its captives from what is now Guinea-Conakry.Where a given part of the Americas drew on a number of African regions, it tended to do so in sequence. Thus Jamaica drew heavily on what is now Ghana and Benin (Republic of Benin-Dahomey) in the 17th century before switching to first eastern Nigeria and then northern Angola and the Congo region. Such transatlantic links bear an uncanny resemblance to the patterns established by free migrants leaving Europe for the Americas.

Read More

Haitian Republic (January 1, 1804)

The Haitian Revolution has often been described as the largest and most successful slave rebellion in the Western Hemisphere. Slaves initiated the rebellion in 1791 and by 1803 they had succeeded in ending not just slavery but French control over the colony. The Haitian Revolution, however, was much more complex, consisting of several revolutions going on simultaneously. These revolutions were influenced by the French revolution of 1789, which would come to represent a new concept of human rights, universal citizenship, and participation in government.

Read More