BENIN CITY, or Edo as it was known in its heyday at the start of the 17th century, was a confident metropolis, a place of creativity and military power. In 1600 a Dutch visitor described an impressive central avenue seven or eight times broader than Warmoesstraat, one of the main shopping streets in Amsterdam, and a palace for the Oba, or head of the ruling dynasty, "so large, that you can feel no End". The walls were decorated with ivory sculptures and elaborate metal plaques depicting hunters, musicians, courtiers and animals including leopards, elephants and crocodiles.
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