The Benin Empire was a pre-colonial African state in what is now modern Nigeria

Nigeria

Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...

. It is not to be confused with the modern-day country called Benin

Benin

Benin , officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It borders Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east and Burkina Faso and Niger to the north. Its small southern coastline on the Bight of Benin is where a majority of the population is located...

, formerly called Dahomey

Dahomey

Dahomey was a country in west Africa in what is now the Republic of Benin. The Kingdom of Dahomey was a powerful west African state that was founded in the seventeenth century and survived until 1894. From 1894 until 1960 Dahomey was a part of French West Africa. The independent Republic of Dahomey...

.
The original people and founders of the Benin Empire, the Edo people

Edo people

Edo is the name for the place, people and language of an ethnic group in Nigeria. Other Edo-speaking ethnic groups include the Esan and the Afemai...

, were initially ruled by the Ogisos (Kings of the Sky) who called their land Igodomigodo

Igodomigodo

Igodomigodo is the ancient name and home of the Edo people of Nigeria now located at Edo State, Nigeria. According to oral history of the Edo, Igodomigodo was the named given by king or ogiso Igodo. The ogiso, Igodo, was the first ogiso who took on the title and the ogiso era was the first dynasty...

. The city (later called Benin City by the Portuguese in the late 15th century) was initially founded by the 8th century AD and was surrounded by autonomous settlements protected by large earthen walls.
It was not until 15th century during the reign of Oba Ewuare the Great that the city began to be known as Ubinu, an Itsekhiri-derived name for the royal administrative centre of the kingdom of Edo.