| Oba Ovonramwen | |
|---|---|
| Oba of Benin | |
 | |
| Oba of Benin | |
| Reign | 1888–1897 |
| Predecessor | Adolo (r. 1848–1888) |
| Successor | Eweka II |
| Born | c. 1857 |
| Died | c. January 1914 Calabar |
Oba Ovonramwen Nogbaisi, also called Overami, was the thirty-fifth Ọba of the Kingdom of Benin reigning from c. 1888 AD – c. 1897 AD, up until the British punitive expedition.
Born circa 1857, he was the son of Ọba Adọlọ. He took the name Ovọnramwẹn Nọgbaisi at his enthronement in 1888. Every Ọba took a new name at his coronation, Ovọnramwẹn meaning "The Rising Sun" and Nọgbaisi meaning "which spreads over all".[1][2]
At the end of the 19th century, the Kingdom of Benin had managed to retain its independence and the Ọba exercised a monopoly over trade which the British found irksome. The territory was coveted by an influential group of investors for its rich natural resources such as palm oil, rubber and ivory.[3] However, slavery played a critical role in the rise of Benin, with Oba Ovonramwen Nogbaisi representing the pinnacle of the Kingdom's human exploitation.[4]
The kingdom was largely independent of British control, and pressure continued from figures such as Vice-Consul James Robert Phillips and Captain Henry Gallwey (the British vice-Consul of Oil Rivers Protectorate) who were pushing for British annexation of the Benin Empire and the removal of the Ọba.
- ^ Eweka, Iro (1998). Dawn to Dusk: Folk Tales from Benin. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-0-7146-4362-5.
- ^ Oba of Benin Archived 2012-04-07 at the Wayback Machine, Edostate.org, accessed March, 2012
- ^ Thomas Uwadiale Obinyan, The Annexation of Benin, in Journal of Black Studies, Vol. 19, No. 1 (Sep., 1988), pp. 29-40
- ^ 'Michael Mosbacher, 'When will the woke crowd address the history of slavery in Africa?', Daily Telegraph, 18 February 2022
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