Benin was the capital of the Kingdom of Benin, the empire of the Oba of Benin which was probably founded in the 13th cent. The kingdom flourished from the 14th through the 17th century. The kingdom was ruled by the Oba and a sophisticated bureaucracy. From the late 15th century, Benin traded slaves as well as ivory, pepper, and cloth to Europeans in Dutch and Portuguese ships. The Bight of Benin's shore was known as the "Slave Coast." In the early 16th century, the Oba sent an ambassador to Lisbon, and the king of Portugal sent missionaries to Benin.

Some residents of Benin could still speak a pidgin Portuguese in the late 19th century. The kingdom of Benin declined after 1700, with the decline in the European slave trade. However the country revived in the 19th century with the development of the trade in palm products with Europeans. To preserve Benin's independence, the Oba gradually banned the export of goods from Benin, until the trade was exclusively in palm oil. In the 'Punitive Expedition' of 1897, a 1200-strong British force, under the command of Admiral Sir Harry Rawson, conquered and burned the city, destroying much of the country’s treasured art and dispersing nearly all that remained. After the fall of Benin in 1897, the British set apart Warri Province, to punish the Oba of Benin and curb his imperial power. The Benin monarchy was restored in 1914, but true power lay with the colonial administration of Nigeria.