Origins of Benin Kingdom

The Egharevba’s Version

Just as other Nigerian peoples, the Bini have various traditions of origin. 

Egharevba (1968) for instance, claims that the Bini people emigrated 

from Egypt and in the course of their journey southward, settled at 

Ile-Ife before finally arriving at their present location. 

∗∗

Igbafe’s Version 

Another tradition has it that the Bini peoples have been living in the area 

“from the very beginning”. According to Bini mythology, Bini was the 

youngest child of Osanobua [the High God]. He and his brothers, who 

included the king of Ife, were sent to live in the world. They were asked 

by the High God to take whatever they wanted along with them to the 

world. While others chose wealth, magical skills and material wellbeing, the youngest on the advice of a bird, chose a snail shell. On 

arrival, they found that the world was covered by water. Following 

instruction from the bird, the youngest child over-turned the snail shell, 

whereupon sand poured out of it and covered a large part of the water to 

form land. Thus, the first ruler of Bini became the owner of the land. 

Land made him powerful and wealthy as he had to sell portions of it to 

his elder brothers who then became his subjects. 

∗∗∗ Ogiso’s Version 

The first period of pre-colonial Bini history is known as the Ogiso era. 

This is because their rulers were the Ogisos, which means “kings of the 

sky”. The first Ogiso was known as Igbodo. He was succeeded by Ere 

who is credited with forming the guild system and laying solid 

foundation for the kingdom. Ere was succeeded by Orire, who himself 

was succeeded by a number of Ogisos among whom were women. The 

last Ogiso was Owodo.