The Times reports the news of a “Benin Disaster”: a British delegation in Benin is attacked and some of its members killed. In response, the British organize a punitive expedition that exiles the Oba Regent and creates the Protectorate of Southern Nigeria. The loot includes ivory, jewels, and hundreds of statues and large worked brass plaques. The arrival of these artifacts in Europe will change the perception of African civilizations, previously thought to be backward and incapable of such fine artistic works. Several of these enormous brass plaques (larger than an A3 sheet of paper) show the Oba with his warriors meeting European visitors.
