Sungbo's Eredo, great Yoruba earthwork
Eredo de Sungbo, gran terraplén yoruba
- Date
- c. siglos IX-XV (datación discutida) · confidence medium
- Place
- Ijebu-Ode, Ogun, Nigeria
- Credited to
- Ijebu kingdom (Yoruba)
- Field
- Tools
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A ditch and rampart some 160 km in perimeter and up to 20 m deep, enclosing Ijebu territory. Radiocarbon-dated to c. AD 800-1000, it is one of the largest earthen monuments of pre-colonial Africa.
Patrick Darling mapped it in the 1990s; the date rests on few samples and the link with the Queen of Sheba legend is folklore, not history.
What it led to
- defence and control of trade towards the Lagos coast
- a counterpart to the Benin earthworks (iya)
- the oral tradition of Queen Bilikisu Sungbo