Christianity had been introduced at Benin in the fifteenth century by Portuguese Roman Catholic priests who accompanied traders and officials to the West African coast.

Several churches had been built to serve the Portuguese community and a small number of African converts.

When direct Portuguese contacts in the region were withdrawn, however, the influence of the Catholic missionaries waned and by the eighteenth century had disappeared.

Continued expansion of the Lagos and Oil Rivers Protectorate is accomplished largely by diplomatic means, although military force is employed to bring the kingdoms of Ijebu, Oyo, and Benin into compliance with dictated treaty obligations.

The conquest of Benin in 1897 completes the British occupation of southwestern Nigeria.

The incident that sparks the expedition is the massacre of a British consul and his party, who had been on their way—despite being told not to come, the king being occupied in a religious ceremony—to investigate reports of ritual human sacrifice in Benin City.

In reprisal, a marine detachment promptly storms the city and destroys the oba's palace, engaging in widespread looting of what will become known as the Benin Bronzes, consisting of brass plaques, elaborately carved wooden ceremonial masks, and ivory sculptures, including two matching lions ultimately given to Queen Victoria.

The reigning oba is sent into exile, and Benin is administered indirectly under the protectorate through a council of chiefs.