Britain destroyed an African kingdom in 1897 and looted its royal art

A British force burned the Kingdom of Benin's capital in a single 'punitive expedition' after an earlier British delegation was attacked, ending centuries of Edo independence in what is now Nigeria. Troops looted thousands of intricate brass and ivory plaques from the royal palace, later sold off to fund the expedition. Most surviving Benin Bronzes still sit in Western museums today.

— Dan Hicks, The Brutish Museums: The Benin Bronzes, Colonial Violence and Cultural Restitution — Pluto Press, 2020
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