query: country benin art
supports: Dahomey was an African kingdom (located in the area of the present-day country of Benin) that existed from about 1600 until 1894, when the last king, Behanzin, was defeated by the French, and the country was annexed into the French colonial empire. Dahomey developed on the Abomey Plateau amongst the Fon people in the early 17th century and became a regional power in the 18th century by conquering key cities on the Atlantic coast. Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most-populous continent. At about 30.3 million km² (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area and 20.4 % of its total land area. With 1.1 billion people as of 2013, it accounts for about 15% of the world's human population. The continent is surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, both the Suez Canal and the Red Sea along the Sinai Peninsula to the northeast, the Indian Ocean to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. The continent includes Madagascar and various archipelagos. It contains 54 fully recognized sovereign states (countries), nine territories and two "de facto" independent states with limited or no recognition. The Gulf of Guinea is the northeasternmost part of the tropical Atlantic Ocean between Cape Lopez in Gabon, north and west to Cape Three Points in Western region Ghana. The intersection of the Equator and Prime Meridian (zero degrees latitude and longitude) is in the gulf. Benin art is the art from the Kingdom of Benin or Edo Empire ( 1440 -- 1897 ) , a pre-colonial African state located in what is now known as the South - South region of Nigeria . Primarily made of cast bronze and carved ivory , Benin art was produced mainly for the court of the Oba of Benin - a divine ruler for whom the craftsmen produced a range of ceremonially significant objects . The full complexity of these works can be appreciated only through the awareness and consideration of two complementary cultural perceptions of the art of Benin : the Western appreciation of them primarily as works of art , and their understanding in Benin as historical documents and as mnemonic devices to reconstruct history , or as ritual objects . This original significance is of great import in Benin . Ibadan is the state capital of Oyo State. With a population of over 3 million, it is the most populous city in the state, and the third most populous city in Nigeria, after Lagos and Kano; it is the country's largest city by geographical area. At Nigerian independence, Ibadan was the largest and most populous city in the country, and the third in Africa after Cairo and Johannesburg. Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Cameroon's coastline lies on the Bight of Bonny, part of the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean. The Edo or Bini people are an ethnic group primarily found in Edo State, And Spread Across Delta state, Ondo State, Rivers state Nigeria. They speak the Edo language and are the descendants of the founders of the Benin Empire. They are closely related to other ethnic groups that speak Edoid languages, such as the Esan, the Afemai and the Owan. Niger (or ), officially the Republic of Niger, is a landlocked country in Western Africa, named after the Niger River. Niger is bordered by Libya to the northeast, Chad to the east, Nigeria and Benin to the south, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west, and Algeria to the northwest. Niger covers a land area of almost 1,270,000 km, making it the largest country in West Africa, with over 80 percent of its land area covered by the Sahara Desert. The country's predominantly Islamic population of about 19 million is mostly clustered in the far south and west of the country. The capital city is Niamey, located in the far-southwest corner of Niger. Chad ('), officially the Republic of Chad ('), is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon and Nigeria to the southwest and Niger to the west. It is the fifth largest country in Africa in terms of area. A republic (from ) is a sovereign state, country, or government which is organized with a form of government in which power resides in elected individuals representing the citizen body and government leaders exercise power according to the rule of law. In modern times, the definition of a republic commonly refers to a government which excludes a monarch. Currently, 147 of the world's 206 sovereign states use the word "republic" as part of their official names; not all of these are republics in the sense of having elected governments, nor do all nations with elected governments use the word "republic" in their names. Benin City is a city (2006 est. pop. 1,147,188) and the capital of Edo State in southern Nigeria. It is a city approximately north of the Benin River. It is situated by road east of Lagos. Benin is the centre of Nigeria's rubber industry, but processing palm nuts for oil is also an important traditional industry. Kano is the state capital of Kano State in Northern West, Nigeria. It is situated in the Sahelian geographic region, south of the Sahara. Kano is the commercial nerve center of Northern Nigeria and is the second largest city in Nigeria, after Lagos. The Kano metropolis initially covered , and comprised six local government areas (LGAs)  Kano Municipal, Fagge, Dala, Gwale, Tarauni and Nasarawa; However, it now covers two additional LGAs  Ungogo and Kumbotso. The total area of Metropolitan Kano is now , with a population of 2,828,861 as of the 2006 Nigerian census. A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a feudal or monarchical system but sometimes also appearing in elective republics. The dynastic family or lineage may be known as a "house"; which may be styled "royal", "princely", "comital", etc., depending upon the chief or present title borne by its members. Historians periodize the histories of many sovereign states, such as Ancient Egypt, the Carolingian Empire and Imperial China, using a framework of successive dynasties. As such, the term "dynasty" may be used to delimit the era during which the family reigned and to describe events, trends, and artifacts of that period ("a Ming-dynasty vase"). The word "dynasty" itself is often dropped from such adjectival references ("a Ming vase"). Port Harcourt (Igbo: Ígúcha; Pidgin: "Po-ta-kot") is the capital and largest city of Rivers State, Nigeria. It lies along the Bonny River and is located in the Niger Delta. As of 2016, the Port Harcourt urban area has an estimated population of 1,865,000 inhabitants, up from 1,382,592 as of 2006. Abuja is the capital city of Nigeria. It is located in the centre of Nigeria, within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Abuja is a planned city which was built mainly in the 1980s. It officially became Nigeria's capital on 12 December 1991, replacing Lagos, though the latter remains the country's most populous city. Abuja's geography is defined by Aso Rock, a monolith left by water erosion. The Presidential Complex, National Assembly, Supreme Court and much of the city extend to the south of the rock. Zuma Rock, a monolith, lies just north of the city on the road to Kaduna State. Benin (or -; ), officially the Republic of Benin and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, and Burkina Faso and Niger to the north. A majority of the population live on its small southern coastline on the Bight of Benin, part of the Gulf of Guinea in the northernmost tropical portion of the Atlantic Ocean. The capital of Benin is Porto-Novo, but the seat of government is in Cotonou, the country's largest city and economic capital. Benin covers an area of 114,763 square kilometers and its population in 2015 was estimated to be approximately 10.88 million. Benin is a tropical, sub-Saharan nation, highly dependent on agriculture, with substantial employment and income arising from subsistence farming. The Oba of Benin, or Omo N'Oba, is the traditional ruler of the Edo people and head of the historic Eweka dynasty of the  Benin Empire - a West African empire centered on Benin City, in modern-day Nigeria. The ancient Benin homeland (not to be confused with the modern-day and unrelated Republic of Benin, which was then known as Dahomey) has been and continues to be mostly populated by the Edo (also known as the Bini or Benin ethnic group). Lagos initially emerged as a port city which originated on a collection of islands, which are contained in the present day Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Lagos Island, Eti-Osa, Amuwo-Odofin and Apapa; the islands are separated by creeks, fringing the southwest mouth of Lagos Lagoon, while protected from the Atlantic Ocean by barrier islands and long sand spits such as Bar Beach, which stretch up to east and west of the mouth. Due to rapid urbanization, the city expanded to the west of the lagoon to include areas in the present day Lagos Mainland, Ajeromi-Ifelodun and Surulere. This led to the classification of Lagos into two main areas - the Island, which was the initial city of Lagos, before it expanded into the area known as the Mainland. This city area was governed directly by the Federal Government through the "Lagos City Council", until the creation of Lagos State in 1967, which led to the splitting of Lagos city into the present day seven Local Government Areas (LGAs), and an addition of other towns (which now make up 13 LGAs) from the then Western Region, to form the state. The Federal Republic of Nigeria , commonly referred to as Nigeria, is a federal republic in West Africa, bordering Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in the north. Its coast in the south lies on the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean. It comprises 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, where the capital, Abuja is located. Its largest cities include: Lagos, Kano, Ibadan, Benin City and Port Harcourt. Nigeria is officially a democratic secular country. West Africa, also called Western Africa and the West of Africa, is the westernmost subregion of Africa. West Africa has been defined as including 18 countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, the island nation of Cape Verde, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, the island of Saint Helena, Senegal, Sierra Leone, São Tomé and Príncipe and Togo.
candidates: ancient egypt atlantic ocean benin benin empire cameroon cape verde central african republic chad china dahomey egypt equatorial guinea guinea ivory coast liberia libya mali mauritania niger nigeria republic of the congo saint helena world
answer: benin empire