THE MILITARY SYSTEM OF BENIN KINGDOM, c.1440 - 1897

details of the oral tradition in order to avoid what some of them considered to be ‘publicembarrassment.’ The chiefs also agreed to give information because the present Oba of Benin,Omo N’Oba N’Edo Uku Akpolokpolo, Erediauwa who had earlier granted me audience andsupported the fieldwork financially, had advised them to co-operate with me. The evidencefrom my informants, no doubt, were beyond their lifetime, but demonstrate the essentialcontinuity of Benin history and culture in the present generation. The traditions had theirlimitations in terms of the problems of chronology, distortion - deliberate or accidental, andselection of what was considered to be the correct and accurate description of the past.Data analysis after the field in terms of selection and interpretation of sources, thecontext and content of data, would appear to demonstrate that in all societies, the past is thesubject of continuing debate. At its best, historical study, whether based on written sources orderived from oral evidence, contributes to this debate by giving history a purpose throughilluminating some aspects of the past as faithfully as it can. On the one hand, the means to thisend are the same: to gather, scrutinise, interpret, and array as many sources and arguments aspossible. On the other hand, differences emerge among writers due to the presentation ofconflicting views of particular periods and problems, albeit within the context of generalinterpretations.When differences to some extent, provides the opportunity to deepen understanding ofthe historical details, the sources of historical knowledge become very crucial. In this study,the use of oral history and traditions has been one of the most hopeful means of filling theyawning gaps in the interpretation of Benin military history. Because oral traditions are stillalive and have a larger and more important place in Benin history, its impact was bound to begreat in studies of early history. The people of Benin transmitted substantial bodies ofknowledge from one generation to the next and sustained complex political and socioeconomichierarchies, all without practising writing.History as a discipline is not isolated from other disciplines. Hence, this study alsorelied on the role of non historical data in historical reconstruction. Other sources, basicallydata from archaeology, ethnography, anthropology, and evidence from linguistics promotedan interdisciplinary approach in the collection and evaluation of material for the militarysystem of Benin. The data from these sources were required for a satisfactory historicalunderstanding of the Benin past, and were utilised in such a manner without departing fromthe accepted critical canons of historical research. The Benin past has been reviewed in thelight of information that has not been available previously or that has long been overlooked.118 See, Adam Jones, 1983, German Sources; Noel Matthews, 1973, Materials for West African History; and A.38