Ambush that changed future of a nation.

BENIN is a tiny country squashed between Nigeria and Togo in West Africa.

The prosperous monarchy and empire of Dahomey was established in the 12th century under the first Oba (king), Eweka I.

The Portuguese began trading slaves in 1485 at the coastal villages of Porto Novo and Ouidah.

After the 17th Century the country was ravaged by conflict with the Yoruba nation in what is now Nigeria.

The country's pivotal historical event occurred in 1897 when an official British delegation was ambushed.

In retaliation, the British sent the Oba into exile and burnt the royal palaces.

Artifacts, including nearly all the nation's Benin bronzes, were looted.

In the 1950s, some of the bronzes were sent to Nigeria, still a British colony, to establish the National Museum of Lagos.

When General Gowon, President of Nigeria, made a state visit to Britain in 1973 he told officials he intended to present the Queen with a copy of a Benin antiquity.

But recent research by London-based Art Newspaper claims he removed a genuine bronze head, dating back to 1600.

It is not known how many other statues were removed before General Gowon was deposed in a bloodless coup in 1975.

Bronze casting is said to have been halted around 200 years ago when a leader became so enraged that one of his predecessors was immortalised in a statue that he banned working with bronze on pain of death.