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] The putative Flag of the Benin Empire is a West African flag that was allegedly brought to Britain by Admiral F. W. Kennedy after the 1897 Benin expedition. 〔http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/557.html〕 The original flag is currently held by the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich near London ((see a picture of the original flag here )). Little is known about the flag, and indeed it has no proper name. It is commonly referred to as the 'Flag of the Benin Empire' because it was found/recovered from territory under the Benin Empire's control, even though it isn't known whether the flag had any official usage or connection to the Empire's central government. ==Overview== The Greenwich Museum, to which the flag currently belongs, describes this flag as follows:〔http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/557.html〕
It is therefore confirmed that the flag ((see a picture of the original flag here )) was a real African flag that was brought back by the British from their 1897 final expedition against the Empire of Benin (which was then finally overcome and annexed by the British Empire). The fact - stated by the Royal Museum - that the flag was brought back by Admiral F.W. Kennedy from the 1897 expedition against the Empire of Benin would indicate it clearly came from the Benin Empire. Several sources in the Internet give it as a fact that the flag was indeed the official flag of the Benin Empire.〔http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Nigeria_native.html〕 The first of such assertions seems to trace back to now defunct website (GreatBenin.org ). The Maritime Royal Museum (which holds the original flag), on the other hand, propones that the flag is "probably of Itsekri (sic) origin" (the Itsekri were tributary and allies of the Benin Empire),〔National Maritime Museum: Barbara Tomlinson, Curator of Antiquities, February 2010〕 basing such assumption on the supposed similarities between the disputed flag and three other flags brought to Britain after campaigns against then-Itsekiri Chief Nana Olomu, taken place three years earlier than the campaign against the Emperor of Benin from which the red flag was brought. (Pictures of the red, disputed flag, as well as of the three definitely Itsekiri flags, can be seen here. ) 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Flag of the Benin Empire」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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