The Art of Benin

For a lot of the late 15th century to early 16th century, many new civilisations were being discovered through exploration, and of course alongside the encounters of new societies came a rich and diverse cross cultural experience, by cross-cultural encounters it is the meant where two different cultures come in contact, which inevitably shaped the history of such places. One such encounter comes from the discovery of West Africa by the Portuguese. It is believed that in the early 16th Century, Portuguese soldiers merged with the Africans whereby some served on occasions as mercenaries for the King, or Oba, of Benin. This cross-cultural encounter of the Portuguese with the people of Benin is evident in the art from that century and reflects an important message on the relationship between the two groups of people….(short extract)