Walls of Benin - The Colors of Africa Art Exhibit

Added: 2026-05-25

[00:00:00]Did you know the largest man-made structure ever built isn't in China?

[00:00:03]It's in Africa, and no, it's not the pyramids of Giza. Hidden in southern Nigeria lies the wall of Benin, a marvel so vast it once stretched nearly 10,000 mi long enough to wrap around the entire United States with room to spare.

[00:00:19]Locals called it Edo, or simply the great earthworks. Some sections rose over 20 m high, towering above the treetops and surrounding 25 square miles of land. This wasn't a single wall, but a massive network of moats, ramparts, and fortified earthworks built entirely by hand using indigenous engineering techniques. Historians estimate it required over 150 million man-hours and nearly 800 years to complete, a feat unmatched anywhere in the world.

[00:00:50]To put it in perspective, the Great Wall of China took less time to build and used more advanced tools. The Great Wall of Africa wasn't built by slaves or machines. It was built by a people united by purpose, defending one of the most sophisticated kingdoms in history, the Benin Empire.