ABSTRACT
The various cultures and groups in central and southern Nigeria are the result of many thousands of years of development in the region. Southern Nigeria consists of savanna grasslands, tropical forests, and fresh-and salt-water swamps. The arts of Nigeria prior to European contact have been studied extensively and have served as the basis for many important exhibitions, articles, and books. The royal art of Benin city in Nigeria constitutes one of the most impressive collections of West African sculpture. The several thousand existing works in bronze, ivory, clay, and wood are visual historical documents, ranging from the fifteenth to the end of the nineteenth centuries. The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were periods of great upheaval in Nigeria, as well as in surrounding West and Central Africa, with extensive African and European trade in slaves as well as intertribal warfare. The Yoruba people of southern Nigeria and southeastern Benin are one of the most prolific art-producing peoples in all of Africa.
